The Many Benefit’s of a Yin Yoga Class

If you’re feeling down, stressed, run-down, exhausted, or even fighting off a cold or flu, yin yoga is the best treatment.

To yin or not too yin, that was the question I asked myself when I woke up early Sunday morning. I had made plans to hit up The Egg of The Universe in Rozelle, inner west of Sydney’s CBD with the bestie. The plan was to have brunch, chill and talk and then head-on into a yin yoga class, our favourite type.

Of course, these plans were made before I picked up an icky bronchitis infection in the chest. So when I woke Sunday morning the question was, would I’d be okay to go. Any form of movement which excerpts the breath too much and I end up in a coughing fit.

But yin yoga is a little different to most, with classes designed around floor poses where you settle in for the ride and enjoy deep stretches without having to use too much cardio. I figure I’d be okay. Besides, sometimes the best way to recover from any type of illness, is a little meditation, deep stretches and fresh air. Especially when you’ve been stuck indoors nearly all week, in bed.

Of course, ask me a week ago if I wanted to go to yin and I most definitely would have turned down the offer, as I was simply exhausted and needed nothing but sleep. But one week after being on antibiotics, I began to feel a little of my energy return, I knew yin would be okay for me and probably exactly what the doctor ordered.

So, off I went to yin yoga to have a laugh my bestie and enjoy some much-needed meditation time with some like-minded peeps of Sydney. No regrets, it was the best thing I’d ever done, and I’ll tell you why.

Firstly, when you’ve been doing yoga for as long as I have, which is around seven years, you learn the art of yogic breathing, which is a fancy term for bypassing the lungs and drawing breath from the diaphragm instead.

This, of course, has worked well and truly in my favour whilst dealing with bronchitis, as I’ve been able to do is my breath deep in the diaphragm, instead of the lungs to ensure the breath doesn’t rebound off the lungs and make me have a coughing fit.

Now, I don’t want to pretend I’m a yoga master, but the breath has played an important part throughout my yoga journey for the last seven years, as I’m always prone to catching infections in the lung this time of the year when the cold and flu season kicks in. This yoga breathing technique has helped me a lot over the years and more so this week, to help control my coughing fits.

After the yin class, I felt fairly exhausted as a result of being put and about after being stuck in bed most of the week, and I also felt revitalised from the deep stretches which allowed my body to relax, which was so needed to help with all the muscle tension from coughing all week. And, I didn’t cough once throughout the whole class. Thank you yogic breathing.

I’m so glad I didn’t cancel out of the class, it was the best thing for me and I highly recommend you try it the next time you are feeling stressed, tired, worn out, run-down or dealing with a cold or flu. Of course, just make sure you’re energy levels are right to go to class first. Oh and be mindful of you are contagious too, you don’t want to make anyone else around you sick at class.