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3 Ways Yin Yoga Enhances Fall Practice

We all feel autumn's unique personality in some way.


Maybe you feel the effect of a deep breath landing differently than it did just a few weeks before, your lungs now hungerly responding to the crispness of air, rather than pressing through a soggy humid summer intake of air.


Do you crave seasonal fruits and root vegetables that digest more slowly?


Many of us become naturally sentimtal in fall, sharing emotions deeply embedded in humanity across time and cultures through holidays like Yom Kippur, Diwali, Halloween and Day of the Dead, each of which carries traditions of reflection, atonement, storytelling, or honoring those who have passed.


Yin Yoga can beautifully complement these seasonal energies by supporting both physical and emotional balance. Yin Yoga invites us to focus on introspection, letting-go, and practice Pratyahara, the withdrawal of the senses, a crucial step on the yogic path to self-awareness. Yin Yoga is a powerful tool for holistic wellbeing, offering a slower, more meditative yoga practice that helps us let go, both physically and mentally.


Taoist Five Element theory associates autumn with the Metal Element, which governs the lung and large intestine meridians. This basically means that the energy in the body runs high in these organs right now, making them particularly sensitive to practices that can either nourish, deplete, or bring them into proper balance.


Here Are Three Ways Yin Yoga Enhances Your Fall Practice:


1. Yin Yoga Opens the Lung Meridian for Deeper Breathing to Access Pratyahara

The lung meridian governs the breath, the bridge between the body and mind, the outer world and our inner world. This season, focus on nourishing the lungs to promote deeper, mindful breathing, and to support the immune system.


Yin postures like Fish and Sphinx encourage chest expansion, helping to open energy flow through the lung channels. While holding these poses, practice Pratyahara by focusing on the inhales and exhales. Allow external distractions to fade away, directing your awareness inward.


Yin Tip: Use heart-opening postures as an opportunity to engage in Pratyahara by withdrawing your attention from the external world and focusing deeply on the sensations of breath and subtle energy within you. Close your eyes to help you.


2. Yin Yoga Supports Digestion, a Key Component in Overall Wellness


The large intestine meridian connects to the body's elimination process—both physically and emotionally. From a TCM viewpoint physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness are intertwined. Just as nature recognizes that release is an imperative aspect of a healthy life cycle, we too can frame our focus on letting go of what no longer serves us as a natural aspect of holistic wellbeing.


Reclined Spinal Twists in Yin help stimulate the large intestine and its corresponding meridians to support digestion and elimination.


Yin Tip: To Engage in Pratyahara during these postures, draw your attention inward, focusing on the feeling of release in both body and mind as you hold the twist. Focus on your exhale breath to support the energy of letting go.


3. Yin Yoga Emphasizes Grounding and Slowing Down


Fall embodies a shift from the active, outward energy of summer to a more introspective, grounded state. In Yin Yoga, the long-held postures naturally lend themselves to the practice of Pratyahara, allowing time to turn our gaze inward.


Poses like Child’s Pose and Butterfly help us ground into the earth and create space for stillness. In these moments, Pratyahara allows us to detach from external stimuli, focusing only on the internal sensations and the stillness within. A fall yin practice is the perfect tool to help us slow down, reflect, and stabilize ourselves through yoga, a perfect preparation for the holiday season ahead.


Yin Tip: Integrate longer meditative holds into your fall practice to allow your body to fully surrender and release, encouraging introspection and deep relaxation. Enjoy deep, slow breaths that naturally move your belly in and out during the quiet moments of your yin practice.


A well-crafted Yin Yoga sequence can uniquely align your body and mind with the season to support physical health, emotional release, and inner balance. With time, you'll deepen awareness of how the body reacts to the hanging seasons and learn how to effortly connect your yoga lifestyle to the seasonal flow.


Ready to Go Further into Your Fall Yin Yoga Practice?


Curious about how to incorporate these meridians into your personal yoga practice or yoga teaching? My upcoming Yin Yoga Teacher Training dives into the meridians of Traditional Chinese Medicine and their impact on yoga, explores Yin principles and the yogic path of self-awareness, and provides ready-to-go seasonal yin sequences. Join our fall session. Don't delay—registration closes October 15th!



See you soon on the yoga mat or beyond!

Thanks for reading,

Lara


PS

Read what students are saying about our Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Programs and West Wind Yoga Teacher Trainings here.



butterfly pose during yin yoga class

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