Yin Yoga - a practice of patience

As those of you who practise yin regularly will know, you can sometimes (or often!) feel hampered by a feeling of stiffness or tightness, particularly as you come into a pose and during the initial stages of the hold. You may have a tendency to push further than your body is willing to go rather than wait for the yielding to occur. Waiting requires patience; patience with your body and your mind, so how can you develop greater patience within your practice?

Noticing when the tendency to push arises is the first step. Once you’ve noticed, can you ask yourself how it would serve you to go deeper or to be sore, tired or in pain as a result of your practice? Rather than doing more or going deeper, can you wait until the time is right, until you’ve yielded and softened? Can you allow yourself to cultivate what you’re seeking in your practice by finding more gentleness and patience and by setting down any striving or grasping and have the patience to see what unfolds in its own time?

Why is patience considered to be a virtue and impatience isn’t? Patience allows you to be more present, to accept what is and to let things that are beyond your control be. It can help you to be more appreciative as well as more compassionate towards yourself and others. When you’re patient, your mind can become more settled and calm. Conversely, impatience takes you away from the present moment in a desire to move on to the next thing and then the next and the next, a process which becomes never-ending, exhausting and can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction, irritability and anger.

If developing patience within your yin practice seems like a challenge or even a struggle, here are some tips which may help:

1. Focus your attention on your breath. This can help to anchor you in the present and helps you to practise staying with each moment, even when the moment is difficult. Steadying your breathing can help to steady your mind.

2. Be aware of your gaze. If you notice of your eyes darting around, encourage your gaze to settle on one point, aiming to keep it deliberate but gentle, or close your eyes completely to eliminate visual distractions.

3. Focus not just on the yoga poses themselves but on the spaces between – the pauses (or rebounds) and the transitions – and acknowledge these as equally important parts of the practice.

4. Resist temptations to fidget. Often, fidgets are the mind’s way of getting involved in your practice and to take you away from the present. If you need to move to make yourself more comfortable or because your body is yielding, pause and take a breath and if the desire to move remains, do so and bring your whole awareness to the movement and let it be purposeful.

And don’t forget, these lessons can be applied off the mat, so as you cultivate more patience in your yin practice, observe how much easier it is to break through the veil of impatience in the rest of your life.

"Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson