Body · Guide · Let go
Supported shapes: yin and restorative, plainly
Two slow styles of yoga where the floor and a few props do the holding. How they differ, one shape to try at home, and what the research can and cannot say.
Two styles of yoga ask you to do less: yin and restorative. In both you arrive in a shape, get supported, and stay. In the Release passage of our classes we borrow from both, because the aim is not strength or flexibility. It is to let the body stop asking for your attention.
Two styles, side by side
Yin yoga is a floor-based style in which a small number of shapes are held for a long time, often three to five minutes. The muscles are meant to stay soft, and you feel a mild, steady sensation, usually around the hips, spine or legs. You stay until it eases or you decide to come out. It took its current form in the late twentieth century, and its name borrows the old Chinese idea of yin: the quiet, receptive side of things.
Restorative yoga grew out of the Iyengar tradition. It uses even fewer shapes, held longer, five to twenty minutes, with bolsters, blankets and blocks arranged so that the body is held completely and nothing stretches at all. If yin invites a gentle sensation, restorative takes sensation away. Comfort is the point.
What they share is slowness, stillness, and breath that is allowed to be slow. Neither is a workout. Neither needs flexibility, and neither is a test of it.
One shape to try: the supported fold
You need a pillow or a bolster, and a blanket.
- Kneel on a mat or a carpet, knees apart about as wide as the pillow. Place the pillow lengthwise between your knees.
- Sit back toward your heels. If your knees are unhappy, tuck a folded blanket between your calves and thighs. If they are still unhappy, use the chair version below.
- Fold forward and rest your chest and one cheek on the pillow. Let your arms lie wherever they are comfortable.
- Stay for about eighteen slow breaths, which is roughly three minutes. Halfway, turn your head to the other side.
- To come out, press into your hands and rise slowly. Pause on your heels.
Chair version: put the pillow on a table, sit at the table, and fold forward onto the pillow with your arms around it.
If you feel anything sharp, pinching, tingling or numb, come out. A mild pull is information. Pain is not progress.
What the research says
The honest summary is that it is thin. A US National Institutes of Health page on yoga says it is generally safe for healthy people when taught well, and that many reported benefits come from small, varied or lower-quality studies. For yin specifically, one randomized trial from 2018 followed 105 adults who said they were stressed. After five weeks of yin yoga, they reported fewer sleep problems and less anxiety on questionnaires than a group who did nothing. There was no comparison with another calming activity, so we cannot say that yin itself was the reason. We know of nothing that shows yin or restorative doing more than other gentle, quiet activities.
We teach them because they make a good way into stillness, not because the research proves they work better.
Take care
Yoga is generally safe, but injuries happen, usually minor strains. If you are pregnant, older, or have an injury or a health condition, check with your health provider first and tell your teacher. Props are not a sign of weakness. They are the whole point.