Introduction to Yin Yoga and Poses Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Yoga Popular Types Introduction to Yin Yoga How It's Different From Restorative Yoga By Ann Pizer Ann Pizer Ann Pizer is a writer and registered yoga instructor who teaches vinyasa/flow and prenatal yoga classes. Learn about our editorial process Updated on May 05, 2020 Reviewed Verywell Fit articles are reviewed by nutrition and exercise professionals. Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Kristin McGee, CPT Reviewed by Kristin McGee, CPT Kristin McGee is a certified personal trainer and currently teaches yoga and meditation for Peloton. She is also certified in Pilates and by the National Association of Sports Medicine. Learn about our Review Board Print John Freeman/Getty Images The hallmark of yin yoga is that poses are held for about three to five minutes at a time in order to the stretch the connective tissue around the joints and bring the practitioner to a state of mental calmness. The most prominent advocate of this method is the American teacher Paul Grilley, who learned the basic floor stretching techniques from Taoist Yoga teacher and martial arts expert Paulie Zink. Grilley also studied with Dr. Motoyama of Japan, whose research posits that our connective tissue may actually be the key to discovering subtle energy channels in the body, which are called nadis in yoga and meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Despite having an advanced asana practice, which is supposed to help prepare the body for meditation, Grilley found himself uncomfortable when he began to attempt long, seated meditations. Yin yoga directly addresses the demands that sitting still in one position for a long time places on the body by taking stretching beyond the muscles. Grilley also discovered that holding the postures over a longer period trained the mind to remain calm and ignore distractions. Sarah Powers, who studied with Grilley, is another well-known teacher in this field. She was a key figure in the dissemination of Grilley's teachings. The Best Yoga Mats of 2022 to Use at Home and in Class Yin and Yang In Chinese philosophy, the yin yang symbolizes the duality and interdependency of the natural world. Things that are yang are moving, changing, and vigorous. In contrast, things that are yin are still, static, and calm. The majority of western yoga practices have evolved into being very yang: lots of movement, with an emphasis on stretching the muscles. Muscles are yang, while connective tissues like tendons and ligaments are yin. Sitting for meditation is more yin, and therefore requires a practice that is geared toward this use of the body. While joints like the knees and ankles are fragile and easily over-stretched, the body also contains joints in the pelvis, hips, and lower spine that are naturally much less flexible. It is these joints that yin yoga primarily addresses. Sitting with a pose over time, possibly in discomfort, is very different from moving quickly from pose to pose as in a flow practice. In flow, if we don't like a posture it will be over soon. Yin allows for the possibility of staying with something, even if we don't like it. It's a good antidote to a pleasure-seeking yang world. Yin Poses Yin poses are derived from traditional yoga poses, though they have been renamed to distinguish them. Thus, cobbler's pose becomes butterfly, plow pose becomes snail, and pigeon pose becomes sleeping swan. These postures have similar shapes to their yang counterparts but are taught with an emphasis on relaxing the muscles over the course of several minutes. Yin vs Restorative Though Yin Yoga and restorative yoga are similar in that poses are held for long periods, they have fundamentally different purposes. It is possible to get yin benefits from doing restorative poses, but the goal is not relaxation. Restorative poses are typically much more supported using props. In yin poses, gravity helps intensify the stretch. Some poses, such as dragon (a version of lizard pose), would not work as restorative poses, which are typically done in a supine or prone position. Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Grilley, Paul. Yin Yoga: Principles and Practice. White Cloud Press. 2012. By Ann Pizer Ann Pizer is a writer and registered yoga instructor who teaches vinyasa/flow and prenatal yoga classes. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit Related Articles The 6 Best Yoga Teacher Training Programs of 2022 What to Expect From a Hatha Yoga Class What Are the Most Popular Types of Yoga? Best Online Yoga Classes of 2022 Past the Basics: Yoga Poses for Intermediate Levels Try Gentle Yoga Styles for Stretching and Stillness How Restorative Yoga Can Improve Your Relaxation 31 Yoga Poses for Beginners Did You Know You Have These 5 Body Parts? The Best Yoga Mats of 2022 to Use at Home and in Class Introduction to Vinyasa Flow Yoga How B.K.S. Iyengar Influenced Yoga What Is the Right Yoga Sequence to Follow? The Best Yoga Poses for Your Cool-Down Routine Learn to Hover Like a Dragonfly With This Yoga Arm Balance How to Safely Practice Prenatal Yoga in the Third Trimester When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. 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