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​Imagine you're on the website for a local yoga studio, hoping to sign up for a class this week. You see so many different class types listed: hatha yoga, vinyasa yoga, yin yoga, ashtanga yoga... What does it all mean?!

In this post, we'll dive into the two kind of over-arching types of yoga focused on asana practice: yin practice and yang practice.

What is yin yoga?

Yin yoga refers to slower-moving yoga practices that includes longer holds in a smaller number of poses accompanied with deep breathing to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, get into the deeper tissues, and relax into passive stretches. You'll often see a yin yoga class labeled "restorative practice" on a studio's schedule.

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​Fun story: one time I unknowingly signed up for a yin class, thinking I'd be getting my sweat on. I was so confused when the teacher surrounded me with bolsters and blocks and blankets and an eye pillow and sounded the gong but said nothing else for the entire 60 minutes. Ha! Honestly I thought about leaving because I have a much more yang-style personality, but I knew it was good for me to stay! We each need a bit of all of the different styles of yoga--more on that later!

What is yang yoga?

Yang yoga refers to the type of yoga we see more often in the western world--where one pose moves into the next, you're increasing blood flow, and you're often building muscle tone with active stretches and body weight lifting. Yang yoga encompasses vinyasa flow, power yoga, rocket yoga, ashtanga yoga, yoga for weight loss, and any other of the dynamic forms of yoga you can think of. Basically whether it's graceful movements or a faster pace, just the fact that you're moving at all means it's yang yoga. A yang yoga class is a more active practice than yin yoga practice. The main difference is whether or not you're moving.

Sun salutations are a great example of yang yoga: you pair one breath per movement, and you're constantly going from one pose to the next: mountain pose, forward bend, halfway lift, chaturanga, upward facing dog, downward facing dog... Even if you're moving slowly (for example, moon salutations instead of sun salutations), just the fact that you are moving at all means it is more the yang form of yoga.

Which style is best during pregnancy?

In pregnancy and postpartum, your body experiences a surge of hormones that are GREAT for making room for a growing baby but TOUGH on your joints, especially in and around the pelvis (hello inner thigh soreness, outer hip pain, hip flexors aching...!). These hormones allow your ligaments to stretch more than normal, effectively making you hypermobile for a period of time (aka more flexible than normal).

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So because you can already stretch more than normal (and because it's your ligaments, not necessarily your muscles that are doing the stretching--ouch!), I recommend against yin yoga sessions in pregnancy and postpartum. Specifically, from the day you find out your pregnant until a few months after you finish lactating. Why? Because I don't want you to overstretch and leave yourself sore or in pain.

​Note that the only pose or type of pose we'll stay in for long periods of time in pregnancy/postpartum is a supported savasana (ex: laying flat on the ground on your back, queen's chair, etc)--as long as it feels good!

Rather than yin poses, a better choice for pregnancy would be a regular practice of stretching and strengthening, avoiding long holds and passive stretches and instead turning each passive stretch into an active stretch.

​And if you're not sure where to start, I've done all the heavy lifting for you: sign up for my Preparing for Birth program, and you won't have to worry if the yoga you're doing in pregnancy is safe for your joints: it's specifically designed for you on your pregnancy journey!

Yin yoga outside of pregnancy

Generally speaking, yin yoga is a great style of yoga that can help calm the body and the mind as you breathe into the long holds and activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Finding the best props for each style of yoga

The best thing you can do to practice yin yoga at home is to find good-quality yoga bolsters and blocks and even a blanket (I love a folded blanket under my bony knees!) to support yourself and your practice. No matter which style of yoga you're going for, of course you'll need a yoga mat. Click here to see some of my favorites.

A balanced yoga practice

The slower practice of yin yoga should be balanced out with a practice that includes movement and active stretch elements, like you get in a yang yoga practice. If you've seen the traditional yin-yang symbol, you've seen how the two pieces fit together, and the two colors complete each other: black and white, light and dark. Think of these as opposite forces--not necessarily opposing but rather working together and complementing each other to make a whole. Both are needed to complete the yin-yang symbol, and both a yin yoga practice and a yang yoga practice are needed for you to be balanced and whole.

Imagine if all you ever did was 1-legged mountain pose. (That's the one where you're standing up straight, sticking one leg straight out in front of you.) Literally imagine doing this for long hours every day for days on end. What would happen? SORE HIP FLEXORS. Ouch! Like, really sore!! Of course your body would then crave a stretch: a quiet practice where you're just melting into the hip, breathing into those tight hip flexors.

Now imagine the opposite: all you do is a deep hip flexor stretch for long hours every day forever and ever. Also OUCH. It's important to balance the stretching and the strengthening, the yin elements and the yang aspects to give yourself a well-rounded practice.

Applying these concepts to your own life

Yoga can of course teach us so much about our bodies and our minds but even about our daily life, too. Balancing yin and yang yoga is a great practice to see where we need balance in our own life. Where right now are you go-go-going? Where might you need to slow down? And where are you dragging your feet that you should really pick up the pace?