WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES BETWEEN KUNDALINI YOGA AND YIN YOGA ?

People have been asking me this question for quite a while. Yoga has been my life path for a little over 50 years; 30 of which I have been teaching. These days we have a fantastic array of yoga styles being offered globally. Some of them endure throughout the decades, others new to the yoga world arrive with a bang and fizzle out, some literally change the face of classical yoga that has been around for a few thousand years. Yoga arrived in the Western world in the 1800’s when the first Indian gurus began to visit the USA and Europe.

I grew up in Kenya, one of the remnants of the once mighty British Empire in East Africa. Back then in the 1950’s girls were either into sports or ballet. As I was shamefully hopeless at anything to do with hitting a ball, I was assigned to ballet classes.

I had the great honour to dance with an incredible Russian woman called Vera Zerkovitz, trained at famous Kirov Ballet school in St Petersburg, Russia. She was interned in Kenya during World War 11 and was still teaching in Nairobi in her 90’s ! “Madam” as she was called, instilled in me a lifelong love of movement and music.

Back in the 1960’s Kenya, no one had even heard of yoga, let alone teach it. It was only when I arrived in South Africa in 1967 that I experienced yoga, attending classes in the gentle Sivananda tradition.

This was followed by many years of Iyengar yoga, the very best foundation a person can receive. However, I began to long for a yoga style that nourished me spiritually. Quite by chance, I was invited to a class at a private house in Cape Town. The teacher was sharing something quite unlike the Hatha style I had been practicing for so long. It was called Kundalini.

I wept with joy for most of the class. I had come home! That was in 1998. In 2000 I joined the first teacher training in Cape Town. I was the first Kundalini teacher in the Western Cape of South Africa. In my enormous enthusiasm I was teaching 12 classes a week. I had just turned 52! As an end note to this story, I opened a yoga retreat called Little Samadhi in Barrydale, a pretty little town in the Little Karoo of South Africa.

Here I first heard about Yin yoga from an overseas visiting yogi.

I fell in love again!

15 years down the line and being a bit of a yogic nomad I have landed in a beautiful coastal town called Plettenberg Bay, where I teach both Kundalini and Yin yoga.

So what is the difference between Kundalini and Yin yoga? I can best describe it in the traditional Chinese concept of feminine and masculine, in other words Yin and Yang.

Yin yoga is a relative new comer that follows on from classical Hatha yoga, where the emphasis is in stimulating the body’s joints exclusively, rather that using muscles, ligaments and joints to get into the asanas ( postures). By concentrating on the joints (ankles, knees, hips, elbows and wrists), full focus is given to these joints by stressing them with slow, constant pressure without using muscles. Stress (not the bad kind) is the tension we put on our tissues, whereas Stretch is the elongation that results from the stretch, if that makes sense!

In addition to this, Yin yoga also works on an energetic level through incorporating the body’s meridians, in yoga known as Nadis and in Traditional Chinese Medicine as Chi. Most of the practice takes place on the floor together with the usual “props” being bolsters, blankets and blocks!

Because the practice of Yin yoga is slow and meditative, one gains insight into all levels of consciousness; physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. I might add that it can also be challenging to hold a pose for 3-5 minutes! The end result is stronger joints and a greater range of movement.

Kundalini yoga is the complete opposite to Yin yoga, in other words the Yang or masculine end of the pole.

Great emphasis is put on breathing techniques that harvest prana (the life force ), as well as rhythmic, rapid movements that both increase oxygen supply, circulation, nerve and muscular strengthening and mental focus. As well as this there are a number of yogic techniques that aid general well-being including a deep dive into the Chakras (energy centres), Bandhas (body locks) Mudras (hand gestures) that create specific circuits in the nervous system and areas of the brain that activate energy flows.

The other three aspects of the yoga are Mantra (chanting) that help our minds to become one pointed, meditation (to learn how to master the mind by ridding our subconscious of garbage) and finally music of an appropriate frequency to elevate our consciousness as well as helping us get through challenging exercises! The practice in its entirety is energising and elevating, awakening our consciousness to higher levels.

I hope this has given you a little insight into the wonderful world of Yoga!

Interested in trying these yoga modalities out? Join me online for my yoga classes!