Persimmon Healing
YIN YOGA
Yin Yoga is a gentle, meditative practice that invites you to slow down, soften, and reconnect with yourself. Postures are held for several minutes, allowing the body to gently release deep and long-held tension in the connective tissues (or fascia) while restoring greater mobility and ease. With an emphasis on self-kindness, inner awareness and breath, Yin Yoga offers space to calm the nervous system, cultivate presence, and restore balance in both body and mind.
HOW IS YIN DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TYPES OF YOGA?
Unlike more active styles of yoga that emphasize strength, movement, and flowing from one posture to the next, Yin Yoga invites you to slow down. Poses are held for three to five minutes (or longer), allowing the muscles to relax so the deeper connective tissues, joints, and fascia can be gently nourished.
Rather than striving for a perfect shape, Yin Yoga encourages you to find an appropriate, supported edge and settle in with presence, honoring your body's unique needs. This slower pace creates space to calm the nervous system, deepen your breath, and cultivate a greater sense of spaciousness and ease. The practice complements more dynamic forms of exercise and yoga.
WHAT MAKES PERSIMMON YOGA UNIQUE?
Persimmon Yoga is the only studio in Sebastopol dedicated exclusively to Yin Yoga, offering a depth of practice informed by decades of experience in myofascial release and therapeutic bodywork. What makes Persimmon Yoga unique is the way Maria brings together these two complementary practices, creating a fascia-informed approach that helps students develop a deeper relationship with their own bodies and the tools to support their ongoing well-being.
For the past 15 years, she's specialized in myofascial release, helping clients by identifying and releasing restrictions within the body's fascial system through skilled, hands-on therapy. Yin Yoga works with that same tissue in a different way. Through long-held, mindful postures, students learn how to gently encourage release within their own bodies.
To Maria, these practices are natural partners. Myofascial release helps to restore freedom in the body with the help of a therapist. Yin Yoga gives you the opportunity to continue that work on your own. Her hope is not that you become dependent on her for relief, but that you develop a deeper understanding of your own body and leave with tools you can return to again and again.
Every class Maria teaches is prepared with intention. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience as a medical massage therapist, her understanding of fascia, and her yoga training in Dharamsala, India, she create practices that reflect the unique needs of the students who will be in the room. Classes are intentionally kept small, allowing her to thoughtfully craft each experience while giving students the space to explore, listen, and discover what their own bodies need.
Maria believes that some of the deepest healing happens when we're given the right conditions to become curious, present, and connected with ourselves. Her role is not to tell your body what it should do, but to create a practice that helps you hear the messages that are already within you.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR CLASS
Please arrive 5 mins early for your first class and a couple mins early after that.
All props are provided.
Wear comfortable clothing that allows freedom of movement.
Prepare to set your phone on a non-vibrating silent setting.