What Is Yin Yoga?
Yin is a slow, soothing, and meditative style of yoga that targets the deep connective tissues, bones, joints, fascia, and ligaments in the body. It also focuses on stretching and stimulating different acupressure points from Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In Yin Yoga, we hold mostly passive poses for about two to five minutes to work into our connective tissues.
The more we work our fascial system and deep tissues, the less dense and tight our bodies become as we age. Movement and stretching hydrate fascia and literally help slow the aging process.
Lengthening extremely tight tissues can be an uncomfortable practice, but using this time to focus on breathing is a large part of Yin Yoga and also one of the many Yin Yoga benefits.
Yin Yoga teaches us to reroute the mind and slow the heart rate.
Eventually, your mind will remain relaxed throughout your entire practice and you will be able to release the tension and more easily stretch your connective tissues.
Why Do People Practice Yin?
What Are Yin Yoga Benefits?
As we age, our bones begin to degenerate, we lose mobility in our joints, and our fascia tightens. But a consistent Yin Yoga practice helps to regain mobility and ease pain in the body. Yin Yoga applies gentle, healthy stress to our joints and gentle stretch to our connective tissues.
Yin Yoga is an excellent counter to the more physically demanding – or yang – yoga disciplines. This deep stretching is the perfect follow-up to intense yoga or other physical activity so you can stay balanced and flexible to help avoid injury.
Key Yin Yoga benefits:
- Targets connective tissues including fascia, bones, and joints
- Reduces stress
- Increases circulation
- Balances internal organs and improves flow of prana
- Balances our yang or fast-paced physical yoga practice
- Relieves tension
- Improves flexibility
- Encourages mindfulness and meditation