Spring 2009 - Arizona Yoga Association

connect bone to bone, like our ACL at the knee, and tendons,
which connect muscle to bone, like the Achilles tendon at
the ankle.
Any action affects the connective tissue. This metaphor can
easily be seen with the shirt you are wearing. Sit up straight
and straighten your shirt. Begin to twist any section of the
shirt and you will notice wrinkles forming and lines climbing
in all directions. Our inner layer is constantly reshaped and
reformed due to our movements and our daily actions.
Yet, there is a difference in the effect our practice will have
on the connective tissue around joints, the ligaments,
tendons, and fascia between bones, compared to a practice
that stimulates our connective tissue and the muscle. When
muscles are engaged, they stabilize and protect the joint
connective tissue, limiting the impact. We would not want
our joints to collapse in the midst of an arm balance, or while
balancing in tree pose. This stabilization of our connective
tissue is a primary reason Western medicine considered these
tissues stable and unchanging. Any activity that deemed to
manipulate them was considered dangerous and unhealthy.
Yin Yoga founder Paul Grilley, Dr. Motoyama and Master
Martial Arts Paulie Zink demonstrate this theory is incomplete.
While practitioners should avoid any activity that causes
destabilization, whether in a Yin (relaxed) or Yang (muscular)
interaction, the connective tissue is as malleable as the muscle
fascia, and should be engaged and exercised regularly, as well.
In fact, the connective tissue plays a larger role in the range of
motion our muscles can enjoy, and should simply be engaged
in a different manner, a Yin manner.
This Yin manner places the focus on the ligaments, tendons
and fascia surrounding the joints, primarily the joints of our
lower back, our hips and our knees. Freedom in these joints
will translate to comfortable sitting position for long periods
of time.
Faced in the West with long hours of sitting in a chair, the
connective tissues around these joints contracts, compresses
and over time loses much of its lubricating synovial fluids,
leaving individuals with limited range of motion, discomfort
and pain.
Interestingly, the acupuncturist view of these consequences
is a lack of energetic flow along the meridians of our hips
and back, the Kidney and Urinary Bladder meridians, in
particular.
By engaging our bones to their edge, placing them at their
deepest range of motion, just beyond our comfort zone,
releasing muscular activity, and holding the pose for long
periods of time, five minutes or more, the connective tissues
receives a fresh surge of synovial fluids, which keeps it healthy,
lengthens and elongates it and stimulates energetic flow
throughout the body.
While Yin Yoga will increase range of motion, help alleviate
strain and tension in your joints and leave you feeling
refreshed and alive, Dr. Motoyama points to a greater benefit.
Our life force, the energy that sustains us, is stimulated and
its flow increased. Furthermore, as this energy flows along
the connective tissue channels, relaxed muscles enhance this
stimulation, while tight, condensed muscles limit it.
“Feel, or no feel” Can you feel this energy moving through
your body Thai master Pichest Boonthume urges practitioners
to go beyond the gross expression of skin and muscle, to the
subtle domain of energy in the body. A master of energy,
Pichest can feel where energy flows freely and where it is
blocked. His intuitive experience allows him to simply look
at someone and know where that energy is blocked; yet this
intuitive sensation starts with feeling his own body.
Thai Yoga is an energy-sharing system expressed through the
physical body. An ancient system, based on Yoga postures and
the effect these postures have on our physical and energetic
body, it involves a practitioner stretching and pressing on
another body. Popularly called “Yoga for the lazy person,” it
is founded on the same principles that make Yin and Yang
Yoga so effective.
Thai Yoga is a practice where students learn how to move
their bodies, through very specific positioning and breathing.
Inspired by Thai Massage, the healing system in Thailand,
Thai Yoga’s focus is less on the person who is receiving and
more on the experience of the practitioner. Through practice,
one develops a sensory awareness on where movement is
limited, indicating less energy flow, whether muscles are dense
and hard like taffy, or soft and relaxed like marshmallow, and
the sense of connection that underlies the differences between
the two forms.
Here as well, energetic flow is determined by the softness
and elasticity of the ligaments and tendons. The softer the
muscles, the more relaxed the connective tissue, the stronger
energetic flow through the tendons. Coordinated with the
breath, specific presses and extensions produce a response
that travels throughout the connective tissue, increasing blood
circulation, enhancing neural response and inducing them
into a relaxed position.
Breath awareness, coupled with an opportunity to relax
through external pressure, teaches practitioners the value of
letting go.
We tend to believe that we have to work hard in order to
achieve something. We feel we had the best Yoga class, or the
best workout if we can barely walk at the end of practice. For
10 Spring 2009 • ARIZONA YOGA