“The function of yoga asana is to harmonise the flow of Chi in our bodies“– Paul Grilley.
As i already shared earlier Yin Yoga concentrates on stressing our fascia trough longer held traction or compression. Stressing the body in this way makes the cells in our connective tissue react and water structures change and rehydrate.
Fascia reacts slower to stress than muscles would. It is important to hold the amount of stress for a longer period in a relaxed way without using muscular power. By stressing the fascia it actually relaxes after a while.
The stress we apply is usually concentrated on one area or around a joint and is held for 1 to 5 minutes. The more relaxed you can hold the tension for an x-amount of time the greater the effect. Often you feel the transition (sensitivity or deep relaxation) while in the pose but mostly you will feel the energy most in a rebound after.
A few achetypal poses have been found to add stress to our bodies with all their varieties on them (which can be found here).
Yin Yoga focusses mostly on the lowerbody and spine as here many layers of fascia can be found and we experience stagnation of energy easiest because A) this area needs the stability of many layers to stay strong but also B) because of the way we live and stay more still is postures like a lot of sitting.
There aren’t as many layers of fascia in the upperbody covering each other and joints, tendons and muscles are affects more easy/faster than in the lowerbody. Even though there are loads of poses targetting the upperbody mainly Yin Yoga focusses on the lower body parts such as thigh muscles, pelvis and spine.