Bali Dua

Full disclosure: I'm a yoga junkie. I love different styles and practices. Changing things up keeps my body on its toes, so to speak. Different parts of my body respond differently to different asanas. One style that I recently discovered was yin yoga. I have a lot of chronic muscle pain, especially after I gained weight. My legs and feet hurt. My back hurts, especially my upper back. 

Yin yoga is very different from most yoga flows. You hold poses for up to five minutes (!) to stretch out muscles and fascia (your connective tissue). I was a skeptic at first, but after a few classes, I was hooked. The poses, or asanas, are similar to other yoga practices, except you really deepen into them.

You also use more props, which I've never really done with yoga before. Bolsters, blocks, straps and blankets are all part of it. They help you deepen into poses you may not necessarily be able to get into-especially if you are new to the practice.  I wind up lying on a cloud of pillows, because that's how I roll.

There are only about 15 poses used in a yin yoga practice. This is compared to maybe 15 used is a traditional warmup for most other styles! These poses are designed to help open your hips, lengthen your spine and stretch out your legs. I generally feel all wobbly after a class because I'm so relaxed & stretched out.

There are some great you tube videos that are a good place to start. 

http://youtu.be/LQB2KPp-3vc

 http://youtu.be/c2hkO5olZAg

http://youtu.be/NtNSPnrBdAE