Yin Yoga Style – Embodied Personal Development: Wonderful for Your Fascia and for You

#YinYoga #FasciaRelease #EmbodiedAwareness #RestorativeYoga #SomaticPractice #PersonalGrowth #InnerWork #MeridianHealing #SacredFeminine #LotusEnergy #PersonalGrowth #DeepStretch

Last weekend, I took part in a 4-hour yin yoga workshop titled "Yin Yoga: The Power of Change." Over the past two years, yin yoga has fascinated me more deeply, and my experiences and insights continue to take me on a journey deeper into myself, bringing increased flexibility and bodily comfort. Last year, I went on two yoga and Pilates retreats with Azulfit, where -alongside the Pilates sessions - there was a strong focus on yin yoga and the ‘restorative’ style of movement and exercises. As a bodyworker and energy worker, I’m also becoming more and more aware of and attuned to the role of fascia.

When I say yin yoga style, I’m referring to the slow and gentle stretching of your connective tissue and the meridians that run through it. The aim is to find a pose - or a variation of it - where you can relax, meaning a position just before your limit, and stay there for 3 to 5 minutes, softening further through your breath. In this way, you drop into your body, lengthen the tissue in a hydrated and relaxed state, and reduce the risk of tears or injuries. It’s a more respectful way of working with your body than short, forceful stretches at or beyond your limit (which are best avoided without proper warm-up). In yoga, you have the active, warming yang-style practices and the intense, slowing yin-style practices. Yin yoga can help you drop more deeply into your body and find balance in our yang-driven society.

However, it often brings up a different kind of discomfort at first - namely all those uncomfortable emotions stored in our bodies, with frustration and sadness leading the way. Fascia contains a tremendous amount of nerve endings, and our meridians run through it. It has a strong connection with our emotions and emotional bodies. During connective tissue massage, this can sometimes lead to a sense of vague emotionality. The advice in that case is always to just allow it to be—it's the result of releasing what was stuck, and it brings relief and greater freedom of movement afterward.

This is why yin yoga can also bring about psychosomatic release - letting go of emotions is completely normal. This may not only show up as tears, but also as frustration, impatience, or anger. This can be reflected in the initial struggle with the poses, or feelings of restlessness. Sometimes, a pose may be just a little too intense, or you may not have supported your body well enough with props to truly relax. Or perhaps you’re simply having trouble surrendering to the process and remain tense while lying or sitting. As with all other physical practices, yin yoga requires surrender and practice, but the results physically, emotionally, mentally, and energetically, are absolutely worth it!

How lovely it was to feel, during last Sunday’s workshop, how much I’ve grown in this. Much more present in relaxation, no endless fumbling with poses—just checking in, feeling, and dropping in. Only once did I need to switch to a different pose, mainly because I wanted to try a new variation. And the emotions - softer now, no longer so close to the edge of unbearable or overwhelming. I am someone who feels deeply and experiences a lot of emotion. I carry a latent pain, always present, which I’m currently working on in many ways. Or rather, I’m working with it - and I’ve been able to do beautiful things with it on my inside but that’s an alchemic story with multiple layers for another time.

Physically, I’ve become much more flexible, more relaxed, with fewer pains, and more deeply at ease in my body - so yes, I’m becoming more supple as I age! Or better yet, I’m becoming more supple because I’ve chosen bodywork and personal development in an embodied way. Ten years ago, this was very different for me - I was much stiffer.

One of the most fascinating aspects is the connection between certain meridians and specific emotions. Most classical meridians are associated with an organ and come in pairs (a yin and a yang). When you know where they run and which yin yoga poses stretch which areas, you can discover how to support the flow of certain emotions - and address energetic blockages through physical practice. It’s a beautiful way to clear and get energy moving on a theme—on the physical, emotional, and energetic levels.

Of course, over the past years, I haven’t only worked on my fascia and energy pathways through yin yoga. I’ve also used bodywork like connective tissue massage, my own transformative energetic bodywork, transformational cupping, emotional process work, light activations, and even brainspotting. But working on your body awareness, emotional freedom, and physical flexibility through yin yoga remains a true joy!

Want to try it for yourself? Follow me on social media—every now and then I share simple videos with gentle exercises and short explanations so you can experience the magic for yourself.

Blessings!

Maria De Dauw