SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026 EDITION
The Monday Night Sangha Newsletter
Yin Yoga
“If we stay too long in an unbalanced situation, the universe acts to restore balance. It throws us to the other side: our health may suffer, and our lives may change. If we do not heed the need for balancing Yin and Yang, this transition can be devastating.”
— Bernie Clark, The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga
When the Body Begins to Let Go
There are practices that ask us to do more—and there are practices that invite us to do less. Yin Yoga invites us to slow down, come closer to the ground, and stay.
Unlike more active forms of yoga, Yin is mostly practiced on the floor, with poses held for several minutes at a time. Rather than using muscular effort to deepen a pose, we allow the muscles to soften and let gravity, the natural weight of the body, and the breath gently guide us deeper. With time and without force, we create space for the deeper tissues of the body to respond and open—and, in my experience, for stuck or stagnant energy to begin to move.
These patterns of holding can affect how we feel and move through our lives. As the body begins to release some of what it has been holding, we may experience greater ease, spaciousness, and freedom.
Holding a pose for several minutes may sound arduous. I want you to know that it doesn't have to be. There can be something deeply nourishing about allowing the body time to open. I often leave a Yin practice feeling lighter—and sometimes even joyous.
And then there is the mindfulness component.
The longer we stay, the more we begin to notice—not only what is happening in the body, but what is happening within us. In the quiet of the practice, thoughts, feelings, and insights that are harder to hear in the busyness of everyday life can become more apparent.
Yin has dramatically enhanced my own insight meditation and mindfulness practices. It has also become important to me to help others discover what this practice can offer.
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My Personal Experience
Perhaps the most important aspect of Yin for me is what I have personally experienced as its ability to help release stuck and stagnant energy from my body, including physical holding patterns I associate with tension and trauma.
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This didn't happen overnight. It happened gradually, with time and continued practice.
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Before I discovered Yin, I was already doing a great deal of meditation and healing work, including therapy and Qigong. During that period, if I sat or lay on the sofa for any length of time, my body would sometimes become extremely stiff. I remember getting up and, at times, feeling as though I could barely walk or straighten my body. In yoga the hips are sometimes referred to as the emotional junk drawer of the body.💕
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As I was working through and integrating difficult experiences in therapy, the process sometimes felt intensely physical as well as emotional. My body seemed to be carrying some of what I was working through.
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And then I found Yin Yoga.
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As the muscles soften and we remain in a Yin pose, gentle, sustained stress of the stretch reaches the connective tissues. Given time, those tissues gradually respond to the sustained load—a process known as creep. It is one reason we don't rush a Yin pose. We give the body time.
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For me, that physical opening also creates the experience of an energetic opening. I don't need to claim that difficult emotions or trauma are literally stored inside the fascia to recognize something I have repeatedly felt: tension, emotion, and the physical body are deeply interconnected.
As my body began to soften and release long-held patterns of tension, I also began to experience a sense of emotional and energetic release. Something that had felt stuck began to move.
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Today, I move much more fluidly. I no longer routinely get up from the sofa bent at the hips, waiting for my body to straighten itself out.
I can't separate my physical experience of Yin from the larger healing work I have been doing. Yin has become another way of listening to my body, creating space where there had been holding, and gradually releasing what I no longer need to carry.
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That is why Yin has become so important to me—and why I feel so strongly about sharing it with others.
Bringing a Little Yin Into Your Day
You don't have to be on a yoga mat to experience the spirit of Yin.
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The next time you notice yourself rushing, gripping, or pushing, allow yourself to pause.
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Feel the support beneath you. Notice your breath. Find one place where you are holding unnecessarily and see whether you can soften.
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Stay for a few breaths.
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No striving. No destination. Just noticing.
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Sometimes letting go begins with becoming quiet enough to notice what we've been holding.
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Pause. Notice. Connect.
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Warmly,
Susan
Conscious Calm Presence
With loving kindness and peaceful presence
Susan Keller
Conscious Calm Presence