What’s Yin Yoga? [Infographic]

Yin yoga is a style of Taoist yoga, derived from ancient practices in China. While many forms of yoga focus on strengthening and engaging muscles, the goal of yin yoga is the exact opposite. It focuses on promoting deep stretching, providing a release to connective tissue, joints, and muscles.

A great circulation-improving practice, yin yoga increases flexibility, relieves back pain and promotes relaxation. A major difference between yin yoga and other forms of the exercise is that poses are typically held for longer periods, ranging anywhere from three to five minutes.

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The Journey of Yin Yoga

Yin yoga encourages participants to sink deeper and deeper into the stretches as time goes on, allowing for decompression and promoting levels of focus. Yogis become more in-tune with their bodies and can enter a meditative state as they delve deeper into the poses. It’s common to recite positive, self-love mantras throughout the various poses, as it is believed to help increase the positive energy channeling through the body.

Yin Yoga for Aligning Your Chakras

The flow of yin yoga often focuses on one area of the body per session. The stretches associated with each session usually correlate with a specific chakra. The belief is that through stretching and decompressing each group of muscles, blocked energy can be released, allowing for balance to be restored throughout the body, mind, and soul.