Beside the Seaside

The latest knitted wreath!  I love the beach/water theme for the summer holidays.  I snapped this on my way back from yoga.  Tonight we practiced yin yoga, a form of yoga which is slow moving and based on holding postures for several minutes at a time.  Apparently some people struggle with it mentally (to focus their minds for this period of time) but the idea is that you use it to practice calming the mind and use the long held stretches to improve flexibility, not of muscles, but the fascia and connective tissue which surround them.  I found some of the stretches started to feel quite sore after several minutes. Others in the class however said they felt very relaxed in the poses, almost falling asleep in some of them. I am heartened though to read (in the article linked to above) that "Yin yoga is a simple, quiet practice, but – make no mistake – it is not always an easy or comfortable one. One of the leading teachers of yin yoga, Bernie Clark, says: “Yin yoga is not meant to be comfortable; it will take you well outside your comfort zone. Much of the benefit of the practice will come from staying in this zone of discomfort, despite the mind’s urgent pleas to leave.”   I absolutely relate to this aspect of it!