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WHAT IS TAOIST YOGA?
Taoist Yoga comes from a Chinese tradition, incorporating movements, stretches, breathing, and mindfulness exercises to promote physical and mental wellness. Taoist Yoga encompasses Yin Yoga and Yang Yoga practices, each with a distinct mood and intent to benefit the mind and body. Each practitioner needs a unique balance of Yin and Yang Yoga practices to form a wholistic model of wellness.
"Taoist Yoga weds the insights gained by thousands of years of acupuncture practice to the wisdom of yoga." - Paul Grilley
YANG YOGA refers to fluid, dynamic movement sequences and strong poses to challenge muscular tissues, move blood and breath. A yang practice builds strength, balance, and coordination mobilizing energy and lifting the spirit.
YIN YOGA practice emphasizes relative stillness and static stretching to stimulate deep connective tissues of the hips, pelvis, and spine. This practice is not only therapeutic for the body, it also allows for a calming of the mind and spirit.
TAOIST YOGA is a blend of yin and yang yoga dependent on the mood of day, time of year, and needs of the students in the class that day.
taoist concepts for dinner parties
YIN & YANG
When we say "Hot," it is only natural to think "Cold." Day and Night, Light and Dark, Fast and Slow are two ends of the same spectrum. Two halves of the same whole, Yin and Yang balance one another.
WU WEI
"Don't Force it" as simply described by Alan Watts; wu wei is a mental attitude that goes with the flow.
Describes nature as a system of interrelated parts.
A very brief history of how we learned taoist yoga
There have been four major influences in our approach to taoist yoga:
Paul Grilley for his incredible depth of knowledge of functional anatomy, vedic texts, and chakra meditation.
Hiroshi Motoyama for his steadfast dedication to science and his lifelong work to merge taoist and tantric traditions.
Paulie Zink for his mastery of martial arts and conveyance of the esoteric aspects of the taoist mystical practices.
Damon Honeycutt for sending a leaf down the stream; encouraging the courage to create, expanding our understanding of the taoist spectrum, and sharing elemental embodiment.
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