Mondays are rest days and are also the days I do yin yoga. If you've done yoga before, you've probably done the style that flows from one posture to the next, either vigorously or gently. That's the yang style of yoga, which focuses on changing and movement. Yin is just the opposite. It focuses on the stable and unmoving side of things. In yin yoga, you hold deep stretches for long periods of time--usually between two and five minutes. While yang yoga works muscles, yin yoga works connective tissue. (This is just my own take, and I'm no expert. You can learn more here.)
I first learned of yin yoga a few months after I first started running in 2011. I hurt my hip while running and could barely walk. A yoga teacher friend of mine suggesting trying yin yoga to heal it. She suggested practicing it once a day until my hip was healed and then once a week for injury prevention. It worked so well at healing my hip that I've done it ever since. I hurt my hip a second time in the fall of 2013, and yin yoga again helped me heal. Now I do it once weekly for injury prevention.
I have a home gym and yoga studio, so I do the Yin Yoga DVD by Paul Grilley. There is a practice for the spine and for the hips, each a little over one hour. I rotate between the two each week. Holding deep stretches for a long time can be pretty difficult, but my body feels absolutely wonderful afterwards.
What I Wore
Because I work out mostly at home when I'm not running, I need my workout clothes to do double-duty as casual wear. I've always loved Lululemon, which works great functionally but is cute to wear in general. But for all the reasons that everyone who knows anything about the company knows, I hate the company. So I'm trying to venture beyond Lululemon into other brands, but I will still wear the Lulu I already have. I'll be posting workout outfits and reviews on this blog.
For yoga tonight I wore a Cool Racerback tank in surge and white Energy Bra from Lululemon and grey Revelation Tights from Athleta that are about three years old (so I don't remember the exact color). And that's one of my cats, Elsie. :-)
For lounging around the house I added the Unwind Sweatshirt Dress in black that I recently got from Athleta. This is a great versatile piece I'll be able to wear with jeans or as spring or fall outerwear.
And because I'm always cold, I wore my pique Vinyasa Scarf from Lululemon...which I pretty much wear every day both to work and for lounging. One of my favorite Lulu items!
Labels: rest day, workout outfits, yin yoga, yoga
