Ahead of her upcoming online myoyin workshop on 26 August 2020, Ruth Voon shares the basics and benefits of myoyin (myofascial release and yin yoga). When practised mindfully, combing these two powerful techniques can help the nervous system find a deep sense of release and relaxation that can profoundly affect the physical, mental and emotional body.Â
If you’ve ever had a really effective massage or practised yin yoga, you know how powerful it can be on your entire system – inducing a deep feeling of relaxation on what feels like a visceral level. Multiply that by two and you get myoyin!
What is myoyin?Â
Myoyin sounds like a fancy new term but is really just the combination of myofascial release and yin yoga, techniques that were founded around the 1960s and 1970s respectively. As with its component parts, exactly when myoyin was established can be a little tricky to clearly define – in my experience people often experiment on an individual level and techniques only become known when formally coined, in this case by Jo Phee. As much as I love physical yoga, there are times when a different intervention is required and touch (even if it’s just with a tennis ball) is a powerful medium and one that can help develop awareness of the body through kinaesthetic feedback. In this way it is also a reminder that we function best in connection.
Myofascial release (MFR) and yin yoga are powerful techniques individually and amplified even more so when used together. Having come across them separately while training as a dancer, using them throughout my dance career and now as a massage therapist and yoga teacher, it felt like a natural progression to start exploring the two together as myoyin. They both affect the muscular and fascial systems, ironing out the kinks in the tissues to bring the body back to optimum health through the uninhibited flow of prana (life force).
As the body returns to its natural state, its potential for range of movement is revealed and it creates a deep sense of relaxation and ease through the release of tension and stiffness.
Cultivating a quality of surrender
Myoyin is essentially myofascial release in yin yoga poses so when practised together it’s a twofer, a high strength dosage, which can lend itself to being extreme if not practised mindfully. If we hold the intention of healthy pranic flow as the aim, we are less likely to overstimulate the nervous system into a stress response that leads it to feeling unsafe. Instead we find just the right amount of sensation that is right for us individually, a Goldilocks amount, in which we can cultivate a quality of surrender, a key tenet in yoga philosophy.
We can bring a mindful approach to the practice by:
- noticing the challenge of the physical sensations
- watching the reactivity and unconscious patterns as they arise (tensing up or closing down in some way)
- connecting with a resource to hold us in that intensity, using an anchor such as the breath to relax and soften, to steady the heart-mind
- allow things to be (surrender) and return to the anchor for support and stability
By approaching myoyin in this way, the power of the practice can help the nervous system find a deep sense of release and relaxation that can profoundly affect the physical, mental and emotional body.
In my workshop on Wednesday 26th August I will be using myoyin to work into the lower body encompassing the feet, legs and hips, our base of support which often takes a hit when we feel a lack of stability and security. If you’d like to restore a deep sense of relaxation and ease in your entire being, please join me and have two tennis balls for the workshop.
Click her for more information on Ruth’s upcoming workshop ‘myofascial release + yin yoga (myoyin) for legs + hips’. This workshop will be held online on Wednesday, 26 August 2020 and includes access to an online recording for 7 days.Â
