Have you ever been to a Yin yoga class, and just been placed in a position, with little guidance, maybe struggling to get comfortable, wondering why everyone can relax and all you can think is, ‘why can’t I?’ with your head racing with your discomfort and to-do list? 

Feeling uncomfortable, you don’t understand why you’re there so long, what is supposed to be happening internally, why are you feeling frustrated? 


If you’ve answered yes to any of those, you’re not alone. 


Yin, although is sweeping over this side of the world at a pretty good pace, in my humble opinion, there is still much to cultivate in terms of rich understanding and delivery of a well thought out, meaningful, and intelligently crafted practice where the student learns, understands, feel safe and supported so they can really enjoy the practice in their body.


Perhaps the above was your first experience and you’ve thankfully moved on from that, but as a student you want to enjoy your practice and feel the benefit and as a teacher, you likely want your students to really feel the benefits from this beautiful practice and deeply sense into what is happening in throughout their whole mind-body complex when they commit to this practice. 


In comes infusing 5 Element Theory. 


When we study and apply to Yin from the perspective of understanding the elements, it lands differently for the students, and that ripples out beyond the practice on mat. Seeping into self understanding, encouraging adaptation of lifestyle, nurturing self care practices through the cyclical nature of your being, i.e. your Moon cycle, nutrition and so much more. 


Let's look at some of the top benefits;


1) Understanding how your organs are affected by certain emotions. 
When you understand which organs ‘house’ certain emotions, you can learn ways of nurturing and healing using application of the elements, to target the organs you want to heal. How intelligent! 

Finding your ‘way in’, to identify which organs may be out of balance is a fun learning journey, and one which doesn’t happen overnight. (There are experienced masters at this method who have spent years studying to offer services such as acupuncturists for example.) But everyone has to begin somewhere, and everyone has a body themselves to self identify and learn through life experience. We experience emotion every day, in every moment. Learning ways to uncover, move through, self identify and self heal uncomfortable emotional flavours are tools everyone needs. Especially now in modern day living and through the times we are navigating right now.  


2) Identify unserving patterns and use the framework to cultivate richer and more supportive ways of bringing about balance in body, mind and spirit.  
When you begin to learn the language of energy, you will identify where you have (or are creating) certain energetic flavours which may be creating blocks within you, causing emotional disturbances. When you use this method to self identify, we start to become more emotionally resilient and understanding. A beautiful bi-product of this learning is, you will become more self aware, more self accepting and more self compassionate. That will organically ripple out to loved ones and those around you. When this happens, you will witness the capacity for beautiful transformation within your relationships. 


3) Sequencing more intelligently based on the elements
There are many ways to sequence, and there is something for everyone, but the intelligence of this system works with the meridians (energy lines) within the body. Therefore, we have the power to influence our energy and our emotions, through sequencing. 

For example, take a woman's moon cycle (menstrual cycle) a woman can use the elements to support feeling a more balanced emotional barometer within. So when the chemical factory within the body, (the liver) is working overtime around bleed time and causing heightened irritability and frustration, you will know to target the Liver-gallbladder line through postures to support that. Or should you be feeling anxious, you will need grounding postures so will target the Earth element. Struggling with boundaries, or letting go? Target the Metal element. Have you lost the passion and joy in your life? You can look to nurture the Fire element. 

Now naturally, for such a rich and complex system, the examples here are quite reductionalistic, however, as you layer up the knowledge of this system and apply it to life and practice, you will naturally become more intuitive with your own body, and your students will also do the same. 


4) As a teacher, naturally, your students will self identify their physical and emotional imbalances simply from connecting the dots from your guidance. 
I’ve seen this so many times, and honestly it’s just beautiful to witness.  When we begin to discuss subtle anatomy, naturally students uncover and apply it to their own lived experience. I’ll give you some examples of my own students. I had one lady slightly gasp when I was working through the Metal element which is related to the lungs and large intestine. In a gap in the workshop, teary eyed, but a look of witnessing something in herself, almost an answering, a sense of relief, she explained to me how when she lost her husband, she developed Asthma. 

The body will always find a way of showing you how you’re not processing emotion. In this case, this beautiful lady admitted she tried to remain strong for their son who had learning difficulties, and didn’t allow herself to grieve as she should have. The look in her eyes on this poignant moment of self discovery, I will never forget.  

I had another lady once in tears in a forward fold, and when I took the time to explain to her which meridians she was directing me to her back where the pain was (urinary bladder line) she explained to me she had been experiencing bladder issues for some time. Emotionally leaving her fearful (the emotion linked to the Kidneys and urinary bladder line) and how this revolutionary understanding gave her the confidence to do the inner work she hadn’t allowed herself to acknowledge she needed to do. In short, in identifying this, she found courage - the opposing emotion of fear. 


5) Learning and applying the system will naturally encourage a more holistic way of living. 
When you begin to work with the elements, you are working deeply with nature. When this begins to seep into your body, you respond to life differently, you learn to love your body in new ways, you will begin to find ways of self healing, self nurturing and self care, adapting your daily routines, and how you nourish yourself through what you are consuming. By consuming I mean much more than what you’re putting in your mouth, what you’re consuming energetically through relationships, conversations, reading material, media. We become more able to identify our emotional flavours, and are therefore able to select more wisely our choices. 


So many benefits! When you infuse this into your practice, you have so much more to contemplate on than your to-do list :) You’re creating a whole new understanding and relationship of your amazing body. 

If you’re curious to know more,  join me online or sign up to my upcoming workshop series for Yin for the Elements.  



					

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