Yinning & Yanging

There is always the challenge of helping new students recognize the correct feeling when yinning and yanging. I recently learned a little trick from my yoga training that adapted perfectly to this situation: take a yoga strap (a belt or scarf will also work) and put it gently across the back at the kidneys. Place your arms by your side with elbows at a 90-degree angle; hands are forward. The strap comes across the back and then forward on each side of the body and is held with the hands. Just hold the strap with your arms by your side and your forearms and hands forward.

Now for the movement. As you shift your weight into the forward foot the belt is then allowed to just rest gently on the back. As you move back, shifting your weight into the back foot, you move the kidneys into the belt with a gentle push. This allows the student to feel the gentle fluctuations of the hip flexors as you open and close, pivot lightly at the hip flexors, and then rock back at the hip flexors (like a rolling pin just turning up and down). The student is now yinning and yanging with new body awareness thanks to the use of the belt. It works like a charm.

I then check to see that the student has understood the essence of the move by placing my hand on the student’s lower back to feel that the correct movement is being executed. Most students feel an ah-ha movement with the use of the belt. Since yinning and yaning is at the core of the practice, any tools that help a student embody the movement correctly are wonderful. This may be one more teaching arrow to put in your quiver.