Do you also have those seemingly hopeless days of work, stress, frustration… that unexpectedly take a turn for the better when you least expect it?

One such day was a beautiful busy Wednesday that ended up in a fantastic unplanned evening of happy coincidences!

The scene is set at Sanapurna, my “home base” studio where I am currently doing my yoga teacher training course. I spontaneously registered for an evening class, and was pleased that I can try out a Yin & Yang session, a concept which I really enjoyed and tried out a few times at Planet Yoga and HEART motion lounge.

The idea is simple but effective: combine the rough and the smooth, the tough and the mellow, the yang and the yin sides of life. It’s the perfect balance and the ideal combo to get grounded on a hectic day.

As I was chatting away with my fellow trainee before class, it so happened that one of my best friends just rushed into the studio and came to the same class! It was as if we were meant to practice together that day! 🙂 Our teacher Daniela was kind enough to wait for us chatterboxes and brought down the excitement very effectively with intro meditation practice.

But that encounter was not the first coincidence of the evening: only when Daniela mentioned the impending full moon and its effects on her body and mood, did I realize how strongly impacted I was myself. The physical heaviness, drowsiness, light irritability, imbalance – they were not just manifestations of my personal volatility – phew! 🙂 And most importantly, we could alleviate them with yoga practice!

This session was a very fluid, harmonious, and still challenging one. The bulk of the practice was focused on standing poses – split stands such as warriors, high lunges, twisted lunges, triangles. In these poses we could cultivate balance, and refresh strength and energy that the moon phase claimed from us. Daniela took us through flow sequences that fostered stability, equilibrium and made for some effective “yang” practice: a bit of the rough and tough served well!

The “yin” part in the last ~30 minutes was centered around passive poses lying on the back, such as supta virasana, one of my favourites. This is a rather advanced pose which can be demanding for the knees and back and needs appropriate supervision. As many fellow yogis struggled with knee issues or old injuries, Daniela attended to each of them and provided them with less strenuous poses, often using cushions and bolsters. That was particularly admirable and interesting for me to observe, as I aspire to provide custom support in my classes one day 🙂

My friend and I left the class happy, refreshed, relaxed, glowing – I think the cover pic illustrates it perfectly. Daniela gave a beautiful, smooth and playful class that dispelled the mental stress from work and the physical heaviness from the moon phase (yup, I guess that’s a real thing!)

At any rate, I’m sure to return for some yin & yang practice… however full the moon may be! ♥