Yin Yoga

[sean]

Yin Yoga, by Paul Grilley

 

Yin Yoga is one of those rare books you come across every so often that is just the right amount of information. Neither dumbed down, nor overflowing with unnecessary details. this book is obviously years of the authors experience and practice, distilled into an elegant, highly digestable presentation. In practice, Yin Yoga is simply based on holding Yoga asanas for 3-5+ minutes each. I've been dabbling with hatha Yoga for over 10 years and I've held poses for this long plenty of times. But the idea of structuring an entire practice out of long holds on each asana is so brilliant, and so obvious I could have slapped myself in the forehead after reading it. I frequently do a set of asanas before meditating. And this is exactly how it felt. Asanas and then meditation. Yin Yoga is the opportunity to unite this division through stillness. Intellectually I've known that seated meditation is just another asana. Yin Yoga drove the point home in my body-mind. Now I can spontaneously move from asana to asana, bringing my awareness deeper into stillness before my final seated meditation. I might move from a 4 minute "Plow", to a 5 minute "Embrace the Tree", to a 2 minute handstand, to a 5 minute forward bend to finish with 20 minutes in siddhasana, each pose invigorating my chi flow and bringing me deeper and deeper into emptiness. The book also contains some theory that highlights just how complementary the best of Taoist alchemy and esoteric Yoga can be. Highly highly recommended.

 

IMO, this kind of Yoga does open your chi channels.

 

Thanks irkk for getting me into this and explaining so much about it.

 

Sean

 

This topic and this topic here also discuss Yin Yoga.

[DanC]

I ordered my copy from amazon yesterday and it should arrive in a week or so (Im in Australia), after reading everyones positive comments regarding this book I had to order it, I really like the idea of stretching to increase Chi flow through the meridians and entering stillness.

 

Sean, does the book also have meditation and breathing exercises (pranayama)?

 

Daniel

[cloud recluse]

.... does the book also have meditation and breathing exercises (pranayama)?

 

Holding it right in front of me & flipping through it.Yes,there is cool stuff on meditation & breathing.It may be stuff your allready familiar with (the copy Ive got here is printed in 2002),but the simple fact of it being there reassures me of the broad compatability that Irkk referred to.Im going to try to get the dvd tommorrow Regards,Cloud.

[thaddeus]

Yin Yoga, by Paul Grilley

 

Yin Yoga is one of those rare books you come across every so often that is just the right amount of information. Neither dumbed down, nor overflowing with unnecessary details. this book is obviously years of the authors experience and practice, distilled into an elegant, highly digestable presentation. In practice, Yin Yoga is simply based on holding Yoga asanas for 3-5+ minutes each. I've been dabbling with hatha Yoga for over 10 years and I've held poses for this long plenty of times. But the idea of structuring an entire practice out of long holds on each asana is so brilliant, and so obvious I could have slapped myself in the forehead after reading it. I frequently do a set of asanas before meditating. And this is exactly how it felt. Asanas and then meditation. Yin Yoga is the opportunity to unite this division through stillness. Intellectually I've known that seated meditation is just another asana. Yin Yoga drove the point home in my body-mind. Now I can spontaneously move from asana to asana, bringing my awareness deeper into stillness before my final seated meditation. I might move from a 4 minute "Plow", to a 5 minute "Embrace the Tree", to a 2 minute handstand, to a 5 minute forward bend to finish with 20 minutes in siddhasana, each pose invigorating my chi flow and bringing me deeper and deeper into emptiness. The book also contains some theory that highlights just how complementary the best of Taoist alchemy and esoteric Yoga can be. Highly highly recommended.

 

IMO, this kind of Yoga does open your chi channels.

 

Thanks irkk for getting me into this and explaining so much about it.

 

Sean

 

This topic and this topic here also discuss Yin Yoga.

 

The anatomy DVD reviews on Amazon seem pretty impressive. I'm going to get it..

T

[turbo]

Check out his teacher.

[cloud recluse]

Check out his teacher.

Gratifying to read a reference to "wild spirit" as an aspect of awakening Regards,Cloud.

[sean]

Check out his teacher.

OMG, I am so buying that DVD set! I can't wait.

 

Sean

[tumoessence]

OMG, I am so buying that DVD set! I can't wait.

 

Sean

I want to go to his Santa Monica workshop as well as get the dvd's

[sean]

I want to go to his Santa Monica workshop as well as get the dvd's

Hey, let's go together. I'll shoot for that one in September definitely. Maybe we can drag Trunk out of his cave as well. Also, I was just talking about you today. RedFox is coming down from Oregon through Northern California mid-May ... maybe I'll drive up there and we could have a Tao Bum meet up and get into some trouble.

 

Sean

[thaddeus]

Check out his teacher.

There seems to be some bashing of yin yoga on the part of paulie. The reference to grilley only studying 'a year' and such and that blurb on the home page about 'you can learn some fundamentals from yin yoga teachers...' hmmmm.

[irkk]

There seems to be some bashing of yin yoga on the part of paulie. The reference to grilley only studying 'a year' and such and that blurb on the home page about 'you can learn some fundamentals from yin yoga teachers...' hmmmm.

 

The Yin Yoga of Paul Grilley shares most of the postures with Paulie Zink`s Taoist Yoga.

The more difficult postures that can be seen on Paulie`s homepage are not covered on the Yin Yoga DVDs by Paul Grilley or Sarah Powers.

 

The big difference cannot so much be found in the execution of the postures but in the internal aspects of the (in my opinion) different systems.

 

In Yin Yoga DVD by Paul Grilley the internal aspect is not covered as deeply as in Sarah`s DVD.

 

Sarah mixes Taoist and Buddhist concepts but the Taoist concepts covered by her are different from the aspects covered by Paulie Zink.

 

Sarah emphasizes the balancing of water and fire (Kan and Li) using ujjayi breathing as practiced in ashtanga yoga.

She also covers organ and meridian relationships.

I would say this material has very much in common with Winn`s Fundamentals I and Meridian Chi Kung by Dirk O.

The internal aspect of Paulie Zinks tape from Unique publications in my limited understanding concentrates more on balancing the 5 elements in the body as a whole and does not concentrate or does not emphasize so much the balancing or healing of one organ or meridian at a time.

I would say it has more in common with higher level alchemy practices.

 

 

That there is a difference in the internal aspects becomes obvious if you look at the meditation DVD coming from Grilley in the fall of 2006.

It emphasizes the Indian Chakra system and not the microcosmic orbit.

Grilley seems to be more influenced by his Japanese teacher as far as the internal aspects are concerned.

 

 

For those interested in Yoga and Buddhism I would like to recommend another book that combines Yoga with vipassana and gives a very good overview of Buddhism and its relationship to Yoga.

 

It is Mindfulness Yoga by Frank Jude Boccio.

 

I think this book is especially helpfull for those with experience in Ashtanga Yoga and the works of Jon Kabat-Zinn, who also have an interest in Buddhism.

Edited April 20, 2006 by irkk

[tumoessence]

Hey, let's go together. I'll shoot for that one in September definitely. Maybe we can drag Trunk out of his cave as well. Also, I was just talking about you today. RedFox is coming down from Oregon through Northern California mid-May ... maybe I'll drive up there and we could have a Tao Bum meet up and get into some trouble.

 

Sean

Sean

A taobum get together is very appealing to me. I am using some of my family karma credits to go to the Glenn Morris new and improved chi kung workshop that he is not teaching since he recently passed on. It will be taught by the umma tantra teachers who were students of his, but I am very intersted in Santa Monica in September, and

would like to meet you, Trunk if you are out of your cave.

[Trunk]

would like to meet you, Trunk if you are out of your cave.

Well, two things. One, I hope to be moved out of LA by Sept (still looking as to where). Also, I'm of short stocky eastern european descent - not such a good stretcher (but I just ordered Yin Yoga from Amazon, and we'll see what happens ). But, hey, if you guys are around - and I'm still around - maybe we can meet up outside of the workshop time.

 

Trunk

[sean]

"Dear Sean,I am very happy to hear you will be coming to my santa monica workshop and bringing some friends.The dvd set will be a good primer for it.I will be sending them out tomorrow by priority mail.The workshop will cover alot of things not in the dvds.I hope you enjoy them.Looking forward to meeting you.paulie"

 

...

 

Can't wait! And irkk, thank you for your continued detail in overviewing this work for us.

[Yoda]

"The Mr. Rogers of Yoga." Very fun. Anyone actively following his program?

[GrandTrinity]

I have those dvds as of recent, the 5 elements are nice and the intro one is pretty dank too. Be like a cow and follow the tao. I just got the yin yoga dvd with grill...should be interesting when I get time for it. I am interested to see all the other pratamaya dvds on this yin yang approach, and look foward to attending any workshops in it with Paulie at Omega Inst. next year or w/e...

[Cameron]

I can't committ to it but remember Santa Monica being an awesome place and would be nice to check it out. Will have to wait until like Aug and see what my schedule and work is like...

[sean]

I have those dvds as of recent, the 5 elements are nice and the intro one is pretty dank too. Be like a cow and follow the tao. I just got the yin yoga dvd with grill...should be interesting when I get time for it. I am interested to see all the other pratamaya dvds on this yin yang approach, and look foward to attending any workshops in it with Paulie at Omega Inst. next year or w/e...

Yeah, I was just checking that pranamaya.com site yesterday. I will probably get into some of those teachers in time. Right now I am going to see how much I can settle into Zink's Taoist Yoga. Hey, ever check out Andrey Lappa over there though? That guy is wild! I guess he's Russian and some of his Yoga reminds me of the CST joint mobility drills. Really intricate system, looks like you'd have to really immerse yourself in his work for awhile to get what he is talking about.

 

Cam, that'd be cool as shit if you could come out to Santa Monica with us. My brother lives down around there now and I've been tinkering with the thought of heading there myself in the next year or so.

 

Sean

[Buddy]

You might also want to try:

http://www.pauliezink.com/

Grilley studied with Paulie.

[sean]

You might also want to try:

http://www.pauliezink.com/

Grilley studied with Paulie.

Heh... yes, that is the link turbo put in above. I just got his DVD's actually and am thinking of going down and taking a two day intensive with him in September. Do you have experience with Paulie's stuff?

[Buddy]

D'oh! I should have read the whole thread. No, I haven't seen his stuff yet, but my kung fu brother (just north of you in Albany) has. How do you like the dvds and how would you contradt it to Grilley, et. al? Does he talk about 5 element stuff?

[sean]

D'oh! I should have read the whole thread. No, I haven't seen his stuff yet, but my kung fu brother (just north of you in Albany) has. How do you like the dvds and how would you contradt it to Grilley, et. al? Does he talk about 5 element stuff?

Just realized I never replied to your question here. I don't know enough yet about either Grilley or Zink to really compare, but so far it seems like Grilley has a much stronger emphasis in his book (and I'm assuming DVD) on holding the poses longer. Zink mentions that to make progress you need to hold the poses, but so far in the DVD's I've watched, he doesn't hold them with you for very long at all. He does touch on the 5 elements a bit. On the Beginner DVD there is a Yoga sequence that he teaches that moves through each of the elements, and the poses each have a kind of archetypal feeling, direction, etc. that relates them to the element. Nothing deeper though on visualizing elemental interactions subtle alchemy or anything like from what I've seen so far. He told me there is a lot more covered at seminars though.

 

On the Beginner DVD he has these really really cool Chinese Immortals paintings behind him ... I think I'm going to write him and ask him where he picked those up.

 

Sean