Yin yoga may not be the first thing an average lifter thinks of when it comes to recovery. After all, that one power yoga class you took at your local gym might have left you feeling more sore than you were before. And adding “Yin” to the front of yoga likely means nothing to someone who doesn’t have a membership at an actual yoga studio.
We’re about to introduce you to your muscles’ new favorite hobby — but first, let’s get past a few misconceptions.
First off, many lifters who get into yoga are doing it to reach a singular goal: to be more flexible. And while increased flexibility is the most obvious benefit of practicing yoga consistently, that mindset narrows the scope of athletes and casual gym-goers who could benefit from it.
In reality, yoga can have a host of physical and mental benefits, and there are many different types of yoga aside from the typical styles offered at gyms or online — basically, anywhere outside of a dedicated yoga studio. Yin yoga, a slow-paced, meditative practice that focuses on muscles, connective tissues, ligaments, joints, and tendons, is one such style.
“When you think of yoga, you think of movement, maybe some sensational postures like down dog or a sun salutation,” Alana Kessler, MS, RD, and Expert Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, told M&F. “It’s very dynamic, whereas [Yin] is actually a slower paced practice where it’s mostly on the floor.”
Kessler describes Yin as a more passive practice that’s meant to create energy through breath, visualization, and stillness. The more common and dynamic yoga styles, on the other hand, use up energy as you move.
We spoke with Kessler to find out more about Yin yoga and its benefits for athletes, gym rats, and anyone else who wants to get in tune with their body. And bodybuilders, listen up, because spoiler alert: the mind-muscle connection is involved.
Keep reading to find out what sets Yin yoga apart from the yoga flows you’re picturing in your head right now and, more importantly, to find out why it’s worth incorporating into your routine.
First and foremost, you’ll notice that Yin yoga has you holding poses (or asanas, if you want to get acquainted with yoga lingo) for far longer than you’d expect. We’re talking at least three minutes or more, and even up to about 10 minutes for a single asana. So even if you’re the sort of responsible athlete who makes sure to hold their static stretches for 45-plus seconds, one Yin pose will feel like a pretty long hold at first.
“The difference between [Yin] and stretching is that you continue to push the edge of your body’s limitations in a supportive way,” Kessler said. “So you use soft props, like pillows or blankets, to support the fragile tissues like the joints and the ligaments so that you actually can stretch the capacity of these tissues and the muscle can do an even better job to use this energy more efficiently and get things done.”
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You need to know your body
Part of Yin yoga is pushing your limits and finding the edge of what your muscles can handle. But Kessler cautions that, especially if you aren’t practicing with an instructor in person, you need to be in tune with the cues your body gives you.
“Because you’re using gravity to compress and pull on sensitive tissues, you need to understand your own body,” Kessler explained. She uses the example of doing a posture that compresses one muscle but pulls on another. If the focus is finding the edge of the stretch in your hamstrings, for instance, you’d still want to make sure you don’t pull something else. Say you’re doing a posture that’s compressing something but you’re pulling on something else.
“You can’t just go for one sensation without considering what other part of the body has to be utilized in order to get that sensation,” she said. “And you need to understand, and what props you need to support this sensation.”
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It’s good for anyone, but particularly useful for athletes
Kessler sees a side variety of students practicing Yin yoga, bodybuilders included.
“It helps people connect to their parasympathetic nervous system and helps them to feel sensations in their body and understand them,” Kessler said “It gives them a greater awareness and perspective of what their edges are. And as an athlete, that’s really good because it gives you much better proprioception.”
She noted that really getting to know your body — both its physical and emotional limits — can be helpful to anyone, but especially athletes. By learning to anchor yourself with breathing and taking a more holistic approach to boosting performance, you can be more productive on the whole. And of course, your muscles are also benefiting.
“You’re genuinely also nourishing your connective tissue, which essentially then gives muscles more pliability because the truth is if you’re not nourishing your connective tissues, the muscles will tighten around those areas in order to protect them,” Kessler said. “A lot of times there’s tightness in muscles because we’re not nourishing our ligaments, joints and tendons as well. And ligaments joints get nourished by stillness, by slow compression and pulling with gravity. Then the muscle doesn’t have to get tight around those areas, because it doesn’t need to become the stabilizer because the stabilizer tissues can do their job.”
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Instruction is worth paying for
Since Yin yoga is so meditative — again, you literally hold poses for up to 10 or so minutes at a time — Kessler stresses the importance of investing in at least some sort of instruction. Whether signing up for classes, joining a challenge that includes coaching (like her own month-long challenge), or utilizing things like books or guided sessions, it’s a key aspect of Yin.
“I recommend getting instruction so you can make sure that the sequencing is intelligent,” Kessler said. “And I think that the truth is that you do probably have to pay for that.”
