Mobility, emotional balance and mental clarity. Three things students at the yoga studio referred to time and time again as wellbeing goals. Yin yoga and massage therapy are two practices that support us holistically, providing physical benefits and fostering emotional health. Together, these practices can help enhance life satisfaction and quality of life, as well as address the physical and mental challenges that arise especially as we age.
Here’s how these practices work and why they matter.
Yin Yoga: Physically targeting the connective tissues of the body
If you have taken a Yin yoga class with me before, you will have surrendered your body to floor based poses for extended periods of time (3-7 minutes). These holds target deeper connective tissues, such as fascia, ligaments, and joints. Unlike dynamic yoga practices, the aim in Yin is not to achieve perfect alignment but to reach a point where the body can release tension. Connective tissues respond to slow, steady loads. Holding a pose for a long time will allow the tissues to gently expand and get stronger.
For adults, this focus on deeper tissues is especially valuable. Research suggests that slow, sustained stretching, such as that in Yin yoga, can stimulate collagen production and improve the elasticity of ligaments and tendons, aids joint mobility and reduces chronic pain in areas prone to stiffness like the hips, back, and shoulders. This is why you can walk out of a Yin yoga class feeling lighter in the lower half of your body.
Massage Therapy
Like yoga, massage therapy has ancient roots, dating back to 3000 BCE in India, where it was used as part of Ayurvedic medicine. The practice spread to China, where it became integrated with traditional Chinese medicine, focusing on balancing life energy (qi) through energy pathways (meridians). These systems believe that maintaining energy flow is key to overall health: if your energy pathways are blocked or your energy is out of balance, you are ill or in pain.
Massage is not only deliciously relaxing, it also has real physical benefits: it helps improve blood circulation, which aids in delivering nutrients to muscles and tissues, and alleviate pain from conditions like arthritis. Massage reduces muscle tension, improves your range of motion, and relieves stress.
Yin Massage: Combining Two Powerful Wellbeing Practices
Combining Yin yoga with massage therapy provides a powerful, complementary approach to wellbeing. Yin yoga helps to release tension from connective tissues through deep, passive stretches. Massage therapy further supports this release by focusing on specific areas of tension, allowing for a more targeted relaxation of muscles and fascia.
Both practices encourage the body to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)—the "rest and digest" response. When the PNS is activated, the heart rate slows, digestion improves, and the body shifts its focus from action to restoration. Physical and mental relaxation is essential for recovery and rejuvenation. To alleviate the physical and mental toll of everyday stressors, you need ways to recover from them effectively.
The Mind Benefits, Too
Yin yoga and massage can have a profound impact on your mental health, too. As people age, emotional challenges, anxiety, or depression become more prevalent.
Life satisfaction, a self-assessed judgement of how well your life is going, plays a significant role in overall health and longevity. Research has shown that positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience (1). Higher levels of life satisfaction are associated with lower risks of pain, physical limitations, and chronic conditions.
Interestingly, research also shows that acknowledging and embracing negative emotions, can foster resilience. In The Power of Negative Emotions, psychologists Todd Kashdan and Robert Biswas-Diener (2) argue that emotions like anger and sadness should not be suppressed. Instead, embracing a full range of emotions can lead to greater emotional agility, helping individuals adapt to life's challenges.
I truly believe: escape is not the answer to mental health issues, learning resilience and coping techniques is.
Yin yoga, in particular, provides an opportunity for exploring your feelings. The practice’s slow pace and extended holds allow you to observe your thoughts and emotions without the distractions of the more dynamic flow yoga. Holding a pose for several minutes can bring underlying emotions to the surface, offering an opportunity for introspection, contemplation, evaluation and letting go. This mindfulness element of the practice allows you to recognise and work through negative emotions, leading to improved mental resilience.
Benefits for the Aging Body and Mind
We all age from the moment we are born. After decades of walking this beautiful planet, of having careers, raising families, caring for others, engaging in our communities and generally not making enough time for us, our bodies and minds show the scars of time.
Whilst body and mind age, the brain retains the ability to learn thanks to a process called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity means that the brain can continue to change and adapt in response to new experiences, learning, and training (3). This process involves the formation of new neural connections and the strengthening of existing ones, allowing us to adapt to new information.
Enhanced Mobility: The slow, sustained stressing of deeper tissues in yin yoga can help maintain joint mobility, which naturally decreases with age, reducing stiffness and the risk of injury.
Pain Management: Yin yoga’s focus on connective tissues, and the muscle relaxation from massage, can manage chronic pain conditions such as arthritis and back pain. Studies suggest that massage therapy significantly reduces back pain and improves sleep quality (4).
Mental Clarity and Emotional Balance: Yin yoga helps you connect with your thoughts and emotions. This awareness supports emotional resilience and improves the capacity to manage stress. Combined with the relaxation effects of massage, this alleviates symptoms of anxiety and depression and aids an overall feeling of wellbeing.
Improved Sleep: A regular Yin yoga practice, alongside massage, can help regulating and calming the nervous system and reducing stress levels. This is particularly important, as maintaining a regular circadian rhythm has been shown to support mental health (5).
Conclusion
The combination of Yin yoga and massage offers a holistic approach to supporting the physical and emotional challenges of aging. Through slow, deep stretches and targeted relaxation techniques, these practices help maintain mobility, manage pain, foster emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction, a measure of health and longevity. Embracing both positive and negative emotions through these practices encourages a deeper understanding of the self, contributing to mental clarity and resilience.
Yin yoga and massage therapy, with their roots in ancient healing traditions, provide the tools to approach ageing with grace, strength, and peace, allowing us to age well, with a deeper connection to ourselves and our wellbeing.
Sources:
(1) Cohn MA, Fredrickson BL, Brown SL, Mikels JA, Conway AM. Happiness unpacked: positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. Emotion. 2009 Jun;9(3):361-8. doi: 10.1037/a0015952. PMID: 19485613; PMCID: PMC3126102.
(2) Kashdan, T., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2015). The Power of Negative Emotion. Oneworld Publications. Retrieved from https://www.perlego.com/book/950052/the-power-of-negative-emotion-pdf (Original work published 2015).
(3) Puderbaugh M, Emmady PD. Neuroplasticity. [Updated 2023 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557811/
(4) Arsovski D. Effectiveness of Medical Massage in Reducing Neck Pain Among Multiple Occupational Groups: A Longitudinal Study. Int J Ther Massage Bodywork. 2024 Sep 12;17(3):23-30. doi: 10.3822/ijtmb.v17i3.993. PMID: 39267898; PMCID: PMC11329284.
(5) Walker, W.H., Walton, J.C., DeVries, A.C. et al. Circadian rhythm disruption and mental health. Psychiatry 10, 28 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-0694-0
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