To date, I have treated my yoga practice as primarily exercise for the body. I have been aware of, and occasionally experienced, the spiritual and meditative benefits of the practice, but I had not yet linked these together in a holistic mind, body, breath and emotionally beneficial routine. I have found this yin yoga course with Sarah Lo completely revelatory in drawing together these elements, both for my own personal practice and how I approach teaching.

In my career as a doctor I have gone through many years of training in anatomy and physiology, and experienced training wholly centred on the concepts of singular states of healthy versus unhealthy anatomy. Healthy anatomy was learned as a body consisting of a series of static named parts, and unhealthy anatomy was learned as dysfunction stemming from malformation, injury, wear and tear. These issues were viewed as disorders which had recommended treatments that must be prescribed in order to achieve functional normality. Through this yin yoga training course, in particular the anatomy demonstrations of Paul Grilley, I have for the first time been presented with normal human skeletal variation in specimens presented side by side. The variety in normality was astounding, but made absolute sense; up until now, I had been treating the ideas of health and functionality as rigid concepts, without appreciating the spectrum that clearly exists between us.

Through my yoga practice to date in ashtanga and hatha schools I have been focussed on the maxim that all asanas are possible for all bodies with enough time and practice. Because of this, I have often come away from sessions feeling frustrated and upset, comparing myself constantly to others. I have found the evidence presented on the course, demonstrating that this is not in fact true, and that it is perfectly normal for our individual limits to differ, incredibly humbling. This I think has been the most beneficial element of my yin yoga training.

Meridians
My experience of meridians to date has been limited to acupuncture therapy that I had tried for neck and back pain. I had not had a particularly good experience with my acupuncturist and was therefore sceptical about this approach. Interestingly, I think because of my travels in India and affinity for ayurvedic medicine, I was a lot more comfortable with the concepts of chakras and nadis for therapy and for manipulation through yogic practice, but struggled to see the synergies with meridian theory. Through Sarah’s description of the similarities between the traditional Indian and Chinese medicinal foundations, this gave me the space and opportunity to revisit meridians with a fresh and open mind.

Linking together mindfulness, anatomy and the meridians has deepened both my yin and yang yoga practices, by facilitating a much more introspective view on my practice. I am so much more aware of the day to day fluctuations in my body, mind and emotions that have an impact on how my breath and body moves, and am able to use this knowledge to choose the best sequences and styles to meet my needs on that day. I am also so much more forgiving of the changes in my body that mean poses achievable on one day are not on another, and rather than frowning and being frustrated with myself, I accept this with a smile. For my students, I am so pleased to be able to introduce to them a totally holistic and person-centred approach to yoga, which for many I believe will be their first experiences of such a practice.

Dr E, January 2021, Yin Yoga Level 1 Training @triyoga online