Yin yoga is a passive and static yoga practice. This practice aims to stimulate the deep connective tissue of the body. The yoga poses are all performed on the floor, sitting or lying.

All the yin yoga poses come from hatha yoga, even though its creator, Paul Grilley, renamed them with American names.

A beginner yin yoga practitioner can stay into each pose for a couple of minutes and extend this period to four or five minutes after some time.

The scope of the long hold is to target a specific area of the body at the time. Using its body weight and gravity force, the stress applied to the connective tissue will stimulate the energy flow and restore an equal energy distribution in the body. Therefore, Paul Grilley probably renamed the asanas with the scope to deliver from the beginning the idea of a different way of using and experiencing the poses from hatha yoga.

The underlying motif of a yin yoga class is to observe, surrender, and let go of any physical discomfort and unpleasant thought or emotion that may arise during the practice.

It is usually challenging to approach this type of yoga class because of its slow rhythm and the depth of the practice itself.
To attend a yin class at first may require a lot of patience, resilience, and mental power.
For this reason, yin yoga is a great complementary practice to any yang yoga style or intense sport. It is excellent to release muscular tension, open and relax the fascia, and strengthen the joints. It removes energy blockages, discards toxins from the body, and can even flash out scar tissues from the body.

However, anyone can access this practice; the best would be to start practicing yin yoga after the thirties because the joints begin to change their quality structure and become stiffer.

Yin yoga boosts the production of synovial liquid and lubricates the deep tissues: a panacea against aging.

Yin yoga is also excellent for bringing balance into a hectic and fast-paced lifestyle because it helps calm and relaxes the nervous system. Therefore, yin yoga could be a natural tool to fight stress and anxiety in modern society.

It is also excellent for women to restore and ground during their moon cycle.

Finally, yin yoga is an excellent way to prepare the body and the mind to meditate. Once the practitioners become familiar and feel at ease in the practice, they can hold the poses for longer without battling them too much internally. This is when they begin to approach this practice more completely and subtly for an overall more pleasant and beneficial experience.

Yin yoga is a superior practice that the practitioner can also bring out of the mat for a more balanced ad healthy approach to daily life.