Become One Living
Welcome to the BecomeOne Living Podcast. While yoga maybe the entry way into a deeper understanding of self, we invite you to dive even deeper into your practice. Here we will explore the transformative power of yogic philosophy, anatomy, and mindfulness.
In each episode, we embark on a journey through the rich
tapestry of yoga, drawing from various traditions and perspectives. From the ancient
teachings of The Gita to the mystical insights of the Akashic records, we delve
into the timeless wisdom that has guided seekers for centuries.
We bridge the gap between science and spirituality, exploring
the fascinating intersection of neuroscience and anatomy with yoga. Discover
how understanding your body's inner workings can enhance your practice and
overall well-being.
We also explore cutting-edge techniques like Internal Family
Systems and Neurosculpting, offering practical tools for personal growth and
self-discovery. Our goal is to equip you with a holistic toolkit for navigating
the complexities of modern life.
We’ll share our endless hours of study and insights, providing
you with a deeper understanding of yoga's core principles and how they can be
applied in today's world. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or just
beginning your practice, there's something here for everyone.
Delve into the world of challenging entrenched beliefs, welcoming fresh perspectives, and unraveling unnoticed habits through our podcast. Join us while we discuss a wide range of topics and how yogic principals can weave its way through all facets of life. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Become One Living
Come to The Edge: An Introduction into Yin
“Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire
Join our conversation as we unravel the fascinating intelligence hidden within your body's connective tissues. In this episode we unlock the 3 principals of yin yoga and transform your practice with insights that challenge conventional yoga paradigms. Discover how this style not only enhances flexibility but also prevents injury by targeting the body's less vascular tissues like tendons, ligaments, and fascia. Learn to master the art of finding your personal edge and experience the intelligent response of your body to stress, akin to non-Newtonian fluids adapting under pressure.
We explore the body's natural mechanisms for maintaining health, such as the formation of scar tissue and bone adaptation, all through the lens of yin yoga's unique approach. This episode sheds light on the holistic benefits of yin practice, emphasizing the importance of respecting physical limits while also navigating emotional and psychological boundaries.
By cultivating stillness and awareness through breath, this style confront the anxious and distracted mind, ultimately leading to personal growth and self-awareness. Hear personal reflections on how embracing discomfort rather than rushing to fix it has been transformative. For those inspired to deepen their practice, explore further training opportunities and connect with us at BecomeOneLiving@gmail.com. Let this episode be your guide to a more connected and mindful life.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
Welcome back to another episode of Become One Living. My name is Dan Boisitz. I'm here with my wife, j Domerstad-Boycets. Today we're going to talk about yoga again, this time specifically yin yoga, another piece of yoga that Jodi has studied pretty deeply, and it brings our worlds together again, me and you. Yeah, the body.
Speaker 2:Yin yoga.
Speaker 1:There's three principles that make yin yin, Differentiate it. Thank you.
Speaker 2:And the first is edge. The first is edge.
Speaker 1:The second is holding, and the third is stillness, and this is all in relationship to how we, how you, do yin. And, and there's another piece, like all aren't, aren't all of the yoga poses and yin on the floor?
Speaker 2:yeah, all most yin poses, it's 99% of the yin poses are on the floor and that's why you hold them for extended period of time. We're not holding warrior two, we're not doing crow pose. These are poses that you're able to stay in. Some people say three minutes, and our yin people hold them anywhere between 10 to 18 minutes, and more isn't better. What we've learned is, over time, our people, our students. I have people that have been taking a yin workshop with me, I think, for five years straight every month. They haven't missed and they can what we call drop in quickly. And because they can drop in quickly, they stay in the pose and the body starts to unwind pretty much like body work when your hands are on someone. But let's go back and start at the edge. I ask you to come into a shape in order to feel a certain sensation. We call that the target muscle group.
Speaker 1:A certain sensation in a specific part of the body.
Speaker 2:Yes. So first is target muscle group, and if I'm going to target the glutes, I will say swan or sleeping swan or the shoelace family. Paul Greeley, who founded Yin, changed all the names of the poses so that you don't associate with traditional poses.
Speaker 1:Simple, awesome.
Speaker 2:Okay, so the shoelace family or the archetype shoelace impacts the glutes.
Speaker 1:Target muscle area.
Speaker 2:Target muscle areas glutes. Now the functional yin that I teach says this I don't feel pigeon swan, but dan does, so I have to find a pose within the shoelace family family that stretches my glutes. That might not look like pigeon or swan. That's what we mean by functional. So in yin there's archetypal poses that hit different muscles and we allow in our yin workshop. We allow people to take whatever pose they want, as long as they're in the target area.
Speaker 1:Right right, right right. Because the point is to feel it.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then, once you find the target area, we then discuss edge Right and I give you time. Is there a?
Speaker 1:percentage Like I remember hearing something like 30% to 50% or no more than 80%, or is there a range?
Speaker 2:I mean because you're not.
Speaker 1:You're not trying to kill it.
Speaker 2:If your edge, if you're at an edge where you can't breathe or you can't relax, you've gone too far. So my type A people and if one of my students is listening she's probably giggling because I remember her face. We're in yin training. She's in the pose, she can't breathe. She's like is this right? Is this right? And everyone starts laughing and I go perfect example, don't do what she's doing. She is so type A, running hiking, go, go, go, even in yin, watching her break her foot and her knee. And she turned around to the group and she's like, that's me right, I should come out. I'm like, yeah, me Good idea.
Speaker 2:So, yes, an edge. How I start with is this If you're past or at your range of motion, right at your range, edge of your range, or past it, trying to get past it, you can't breathe, you're struggling, tightening to hold it and you can't let go. You won't receive any benefits there because you're not able to soften and unwind and allow so you're past your edge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's important for the audience to understand that the the length of time being in these poses allows for the less vascular tissue in the body right, the like um tendons to to to soften yes, yes, so we'll come back to the edge, but since you brought that up, we can go there.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll navigate over there. That yin poses are held for a certain amount of time to impact different tissue, like Dan said, and the tissue is less vascular, it is denser and it has less blood flow and it's called tendons, it's called ligaments fascia and fascia. Yeah, it isn't muscle based right and because muscles are red blood pumps.
Speaker 1:Very meaty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and juicy, some juice to move. And people say I've heard this multiple times you don't want to stretch your tendons, you don't want to stretch your ligaments. We're not stretching them, we're stressing them. Okay, excellent, think of an elastic band. If you don't stress an elastic band, over time it shrinks, stuck, gets stuck and when you go to pull it it breaks, it loses its elasticity. So we're not stretching ligaments and tendons so that they get looser, because tendons, you have a muscle, your muscles then turn into tendons at the end as they insert into your bone. Okay, so we're going to the bone and ligaments wrap around joints to hold them in place. We don't want ligaments to be loosey-goosey. We need to stress them so that as you become more dehydrated, as you age or repetitive motion, if you lose elasticity, something will snap. Is there anything you'd like to add about this tissue?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I suppose it's good for people to know that what lies beneath your skin is very intelligent All of the connective tissue. And when you say connective tissue these days, we're also including the blood, because the blood has intelligence. The way we talk about that is non-Newtonian and Newtonian liquids. Right so a non-Newtonian liquid, a Newtonian liquid?
Speaker 2:This is one of those things. No, I love this part. Please share this.
Speaker 1:This is really cool, yeah but the funny thing for me is this is what, like, like, affect a, f f e c t, or affect e, f f e c t, I can never remember which one's which right, so one or the other. So if it's a newtonian liquid, you can drop a quarter in a bucket of water, and there is seemingly some, but it goes down to the bottom of the bucket nevertheless. Right, not too much intelligence, the intelligence of what lies beneath you, your skin. It both can fasten and it can soften, depending on how you work with it. Right, like a bruise.
Speaker 1:One of the teachers talks about like a bruise, talks about a 2 000 pound tensile strength that scar tissue can have. Right, that's like cement. Essentially, the beauty is that your the body's fluids and connective tissue has that intelligence, so that if you work with it for hold a pose for 10 minutes, you're giving it the ability, you're giving it the time it needs to soften, because it requires that consistency to soften. If you hold the pose just for a minute, it's not going to make much change. Holding the pose for a longer period of time will increase your range of motion at those joints that are not working fully for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and to go back to non-Newtonian fluid, why? It's pretty cool to hear, because when I think of blood, I don't think it has any intelligence whatsoever, it's just doing something. And then when you get into a car accident the next day or three days later, next thing you know you're stiff. That's from the non-Newtonian fluids.
Speaker 1:Those are good examples. Yes, if you've been in an accident and you feel stiff, that's your body's intelligence of what's beneath your skin firming up because it's trying to keep you together, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I'm on the other side of this, smiling because this is what excites us Understanding this allows us to assist you. Understanding these things does not make me or him more intelligent. It's when someone comes in with pain and they're saying, oh, it's no big deal, the accident was like three weeks ago. We know what's going on in the body that somewhere something's fastened or stuck or congealed, right. So in yin, we're not changing fascia, it just gets congealed, it gets stuck, and holding it over time to me is like putting butter on a hot pan, right.
Speaker 1:And an anecdote, really just to interject here I knew a graphic artist who was going through a challenging time in their life, and so they immersed themselves more into their work, which required them to be at the computer for longer periods of time even than they ordinarily would have been, and an x-ray was taken of their head and their body began to make little bony chips in the front of the neck, where no bone belongs. And the result? The reason, was because the body was trying to do everything it could to keep the head on straight. Okay, right, so the intelligence of what lies beneath your skin is incredible, and for those of you who aren't getting this yet, it's like if you hit your body, or somebody punches you really hard in the arm, or if you hit your head, a bump happens. That's the intelligence of that fluid happening because it's resisting, it's trying to meet what's coming in, the force that's coming in to keep you together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also with scar tissue. All right, I'm full of scar tissue. I had five bone amputations in my toe so I have like no bone in one of my toes and from walking it actually impacted my jaw on the other side. So the tissue that bundles up there, the scar tissue cells, move around an injury to try to heal and if we don't move right away or stretch right away it can get stuck in, bundled in a way that pulls the whole body out of alignment.
Speaker 1:Right. Let me share a little more information and anecdote, or just some educational information to support what you're saying about stressing the muscle and body versus stretching it. Stressing, stressing uh, if you feel around on your own body, at your elbow or at your knee and you can find essentially bony landmarks are where muscles, muscles are going to attach. Here's the thing I want to share. When you're a young being, all of the movement that you do stressing, pulling, twisting, pushing, everything that you do with your body stresses your body and your body's response is that the bony landmarks where the muscles attach develop in relationship to the amount of stress that you put on them. So it's crucial in the early stages for development, for healthy development.
Speaker 2:And it's also stressing is crucial because it's shown that when you stress this tissue it actually stimulates more and new cells. So lack of movement and lack of stressing the tissue could deplete or atrophy muscle. Also, and the reason I want to share that is because I hear people say you don't want to dump in a pose or hang out in your limbs, why we're, we're stressing an area. We leave it up to you. I don't say in yin, hey, dan, go for it. I say, dan, back out a little, back out a little. Most people don't. That's not, that is not my responsibility. My responsibility is to teach you an edge in which you learn about yourself.
Speaker 2:And I have people. I'm blessed with my students. I get students that are with me for years and I watch them shift and over years the ones that do go for it stop and they say, wow, I finally learned I need 30% in this pose, not 80. And so what does 30% mean? In yin, you have to feel a sensation. That's what's important. It is not restorative yoga. You're not on 40 blocks and 50 blankets to not feel something. Okay, you can use props. We that's what we do in our yin. We use straps and bolsters and blocks, to support you, to feel an edge of at least 20 or 30% a sensation.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're trying to use a percentage here, but really it's do you feel it a little? And an edge this will be another episode. An edge can be emotional, mental, psychological and spiritual, or physical. Well, that's implied Because I have people where I'll say, they'll say to me I'm not doing this pose, and I'll say, oh, why does it hurt?
Speaker 2:No, it doesn't hurt your knee, no. Then may I ask, can I help you? And they'll say well, I injured this knee 30 years ago and I don't want to bend it because I don't want to hurt it. And and then, because I know them, they will whisper, I'm afraid, I'm scared. That's an emotional edge, and so I say let's find another pose that supports you in this moment, or go into the pose if you want to be with that edge and come out at any time into something else. And and so that's also important to know that, dan, we share this in a few of these episodes over the episodes that we've had that it's about relationship. Yin gives you an opportunity to build a relationship with yourself.
Speaker 2:Because you're in a pose for an extended period of time at an edge, and I watch fidgeters, I got to move, I got to move, I got to move, and so the next piece is holding these study. They're studies. They're pretty old, they could be old, I'll look them up, but again. But it takes 90 seconds to stretch a muscle, so it's like around 90 seconds where muscle tissue starts to move. So it's like around 90 seconds where muscle tissue starts to move, and it's three or more for tendons, fascia, ligaments, because it's thicker, denser, it's like dough.
Speaker 1:Less vascular.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's no fluids, so think of dough with not a lot of water, right and more flour. So we hold it. We need you to stretch it, meaning you pull the attachments away from one another Right One, one this way, one that way, left, right, pulling sensation, and then you stay there for an extended period of time, for heat, for blood flow, for glucose, for blood flow, for glucose, for all your attention and your awareness now move there, because it's over a suspended period of time. You're going. What the heck's going on? The intelligence of your body moves towards that and I want to say and, dan, maybe you have a different word it's like the volume of it changes, the texture of it changes yeah, the muscle, yeah, oh, I mean the tendon, the tendon the whole, the whole area really does blossom, it gets, it gets full yes, and in that it unwinds organically, meaning it releases a little within your range of motion and your limitations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Only the individual knows the thresholds Right. Each practitioner has their threshold and intuitively they'll know if they've gone a little bit too much or if they need a little bit more. It's another piece of deeply listening, deeply sensing, deeply feeling that you have to navigate yin, but at the end of the yin workshops that we do, everyone's so peaceful.
Speaker 2:Well again those people that take our yin workshops that we do everyone's so peaceful. Well again, those people that take our yin workshops have been with us for multiple years because it's a learned practice. Most this yin is opposite of almost every other yoga. It is a complement to every other yoga, though we live again in a society of hustle and go. I got to run, I got to exercise. I have to do this, I have to do that.
Speaker 2:Yin says stop and sit still. Now why does it promote stillness? Because every time you fidget, every time you move, your brain sends signals to there, and now you're distracted, but you're also moving energy to places it doesn't need to go. The idea is to be with what's here, to slow down, be present, use your breath or a focal point. I also teach prompts in my yin training. I teach the yin teachers to be and my students different check-in points if they get anxious or if they start disassociating or attaching to stories like I'm hungry, I want to eat, I hate this pose. I use different prompts to bring them back to focus. Yin was very healing for me because I have a fixer part. My shoulder hurts, let's fix it. My hamstrings are tight. Get rid of it. Got to fix it. My neck hurts, let's fix it. And I found myself in yin, using a pose to get something out of it yes.
Speaker 2:I gotta get my hip flexors open and that changes the orientation of meeting something, because I want to open something yeah, you're just making me think, uh, another.
Speaker 1:Another piece that comes with experience is your ability to I don't want to freak everybody out because it's an energetic thing and it takes time and wisdom and experience to get there. But holding space. Holding space is not a physical thing. Holding space is a very energetic thing, that kind of meanders in slowly over time and you learn how to hold space for a room of people to be able to unwind deeply.
Speaker 2:You can only hold space for others to the degree that you hold space for yourself. I'm going to say that again. It's important for my yoga teachers to hear, for practitioners to hear hear this you only can hold space to the degree that you hold space for yourself and for your parts, and I mean for all of you, the good, the bad, the ugly, and I have people that want to help others. They don't help themselves. So that that's the degree that's directly related and that's why I hold a lot of space for me and my pain and I get people that can hold my pain or my discomfort or my sadness and my grief so that when I come to class I'm not afraid of it.
Speaker 2:So somebody I just had this question in one of the trainings I just taught on trauma. Someone asked what do you do when someone's emoting? What do you do if someone's emotional and crying? And I said nothing and they looked at me. I said listen, when you go over and say are you okay If someone is hysterical, crying, I'm pretty sure they're not okay. Right, I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure, obviously something you're good at reading that sign.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you.
Speaker 2:So what I do do is I let them go and I'll walk over after a little time and ask do you need anything?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Not, are you okay? I don't want to stop this process that has occurred through. Now I'm going to go right back to yin, because you're holding, you have an edge which is uncomfortable. Now you're holding it, you're with it, and then your stillness, and in our yin it's usually silent. We don't play music, but Dan does use chanting to help people focus on a mantra to get into their bodies like so hum, and we still leave a lot of stillness and silence. And we teach people to get comfortable with silence and stillness. And now in that, what happens is they have the opportunity for their nervous system to downregulate and in downregulation, emotions rise and people think yoga magically makes crying happen. Or pigeon, it's so funny. Oh, in pigeon my hips open and I release stuff in my hips. You're not holding stuff in your hips y'all. Specifically, I mean we can get into a whole podcast on that, I know I like to run, okay, stay here.
Speaker 2:But what happens is, when you feel safe enough and your nervous system is regulated enough, you will feel that you don't have to run anymore and you can hold sadness. You can hold the tears If you're running and gunning and hustling to get away from emotions and you won't be able to hold them. So in yin yoga, at the end or in the middle from the long, extended period of time in the pose with self and you feel safe enough in community and with everyone, emotions rise to be felt and released. That doesn't happen often in vinyasa, not because vinyasa is bad or bikram is bad. It's more of a faster pace inhale, exhale, and you're standing and you're moving. So you have to be mindful in all that. And yin, you're on the floor.
Speaker 2:All you have is the sensation in you yeah and time to be with that which which is healing, and I find yin also the gateway to meditation yeah, I was just thinking for those folks who are newer into their yoga practices.
Speaker 1:it's like, you know, they could hear this and be like, well, I don't really have time for that crap, you know, but jody's, jody's been along around long enough to to, to have the experience of somebody coming back to her people in their 70s and saying and actually some of them feeling emotion at 70. So you can put it off for a while and keep yourself busy and duck your head into the work and party on Friday night and all that stuff, and that's fine, and I'm sure there's people that can do that an entire life and and I, I probably there's a part of me that's jealous of that, you know. But but really, really, when you, if you want to live a full life, rich in in in feeling and emotion and connection with yourself and others, these are some tools that will take you to this.
Speaker 2:these, these places a more meaningful place I find what I witnessed when I introduced yin to, when I first brought it back from learning it and introduced it in the people that stayed with me. They said that they have never had such a profound experience and result in their other stuff, other yoga practices, that they have never felt that relaxed after yin. And also in my yin workshops. I do four poses in 90 minutes Workshops I do four poses in 90 minutes. So if you're a yin teacher, I invite you to stay longer than three minutes. I've had my students come back and say they took yin yasana. That's a joke. Yin vinyasa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every three minutes, it was like switch switch, switch, switch Every three minutes.
Speaker 2:it was like switch, switch, switch, switch People. The nervous system needs this was a study years ago. It takes 12 minutes. Dan said this in another episode. Judy Lassiter Judith Lassiter, when I took her restorative training years ago talked about this 12 minutes years ago. It took for the nervous system to relax. I've witnessed 30, 40 minutes. I've witnessed people not coming down at all in a 90 minute class with me. So we need to retrain ourselves and our nervous system to come back to down regulation because we've cut off connection with all of our inter interoception, our inner signals.
Speaker 2:Yin is another way of creating a relationship with your signals and relearning. Wow, I just passed my edge. I watch myself sometimes in the morning wake up and feel stiff and I get in a yoga pose and I'm like I want to get it out, get it out. And I have to stop and say, joe, what are you doing? Relax. And next thing I know 20 minutes later I come, come out of half saddle, which is a quad and hip flexor stretch, and I just get up and go to work. I'm a different human the texture of my eyes, the, the tejas, the sparkle, the relaxing in the muscles. So give yourself time to experience yin. If you teach it, don't be scared of holding them, especially if you understand functional yin.
Speaker 1:Right and get comfortable with the fidgeting, witnessing the fidgeting. Get comfortable with that. Let the bodies work through that. Yes, get comfortable with that, let the bodies work through that.
Speaker 2:Yes, One thing is invite them. I'm going to give you two things as we start to wrap this up. One give them an opportunity to explore. So I let them come into the yin pose and I say take a few breaths and explore and find an edge to be with right now. And then, when they're moving and fidgeting, I don't say, hey, you over there, stop moving.
Speaker 2:We don't move in yin. No, you say. I wonder what it would feel like to be still for even a breath, for just one breath. You invite curiosity, not telling them stop moving, but invite. What would it feel like to not move for just a breath? What would it feel like? And and so yin changed my life because it allowed me to be with me and for years I ran from me, so it was just another tool in my toolbox of well, I have yin, and then I have neurosculpting, and then IFS, and I started to communicate with self on a more intimate level. That's when change occurs. So yin yoga rocks man. Right on. Okay, my friends, questions or training. I do a yin training if you're interested. But if you have any questions, just reach out BecomeOneLiving at gmailcom. Bye.
