Alyssa Ward has been teaching as a yoga instructor at Clayton Yoga since 2010 after she received her 200-hour certification. She teaches an open level Vinyasa style class on Friday evenings from 4:30-5:30pm.
Alyssa also delivers Yin yoga workshop to our Yoga Teacher Training students during the training. We asked Alyssa about her experience with Yin Yoga. Here is what she shared about this wonderful practice:
“Vinyasa flow is the type of yoga that I practice most frequently, but I also really enjoy yin yoga. I think we live in such a fast-paced society today that a slower practice like yin yoga is hard to adjust to for some people who want to constantly keep moving and vigorously work out their muscles.
I think Americans tend to be more yang-friendly. I have fallen into this trap a lot myself. I tend to neglect the yin side of yoga and I am drawn to the more active yang practice. However, every time I take a yin class, I feel really great afterwards. It is always a nice treat when I am able to practice yin. I hope I can find more of a balance between yin and yang in my own practice and bring it to my students as well. Yin is just as challenging as yang, sometimes even more so. It helps one to develop stillness when facing any difficult pose or any difficult situation in one’s personal life. One pose that might be challenging in a yin practice is a pigeon pose, but it is one of my favorites.
I recently taught a yin yoga workshop for the Clayton Yoga Teacher Training. One of my favorite yin poses is pigeon pose. Hip openers are one of my favorite things to teach. I like to explore the full range of motion of the hip joint when I focus on hips in a practice. I like using pigeon pose in a yin practice because it can be performed in various different ways. Students can use props to find a position that is comfortable and accessible. A sleeping pigeon at the wall or just with a mat is another variation. A more intense variation is a double pigeon pose, but this pose too can be modified using props to make it more comfortable. I usually suggest using a blanket between the legs if there is a lot of space between them in this pose.
Pigeon is very beneficial for the body. Hip openers can often help with lower back pain. People who complain about lower back pain often have tight hip flexors. This pulls the pelvis forward and adds more of a curve to the lower back creating that unnecessary pressure. Lengthening and strengthening the hip flexors will eventually help to alleviate low back pain. Pigeon is also useful for people who spend a lot of time sitting at work, because it opens up the hips that sometimes become stiff when people are sitting for too long.
Personally, I have had some discomfort in the past with the piriformis muscle, one of the deep rotators in the hip. Pigeon helps to release the tension in this area and makes the piriformis happy. The longer hold times in a yin practice really allow the muscles to relax to relieve this tension.
The physical benefits of pigeon make it one of my favorite poses to incorporate into a yin practice.”
Would you like to deepen your practice and learn more about individual yoga postures? Are you interested in attending an upcoming yoga teacher training course with Clayton Yoga Teacher Training in the Fall? If so, please have a look at our upcoming yoga schedule here: http://claytonyogainternational.com/training-dates/.
Namaste!
Alyssa is so knowledge and provides a solution to every question asked… not just an answer. You can feel her passion for the practice and it looks good on her! It is a delight to have be graced with her teachings.
[…] I would love to have more students drop by and try out my class! I have previously written a blog post about pigeon pose. In this post, I will discuss garland pose, which in Sanskrit is called […]