Yin yoga

Yin yoga is the slow, quiet counterpart to flowing styles, built around a small number of floor poses held for two to five minutes each with the muscles relaxed rather than engaged. The long, gentle holds work the deeper connective tissue around the hips and spine, and the stillness doubles as informal meditation training.

Three principles define the style: settle to a moderate depth rather than a maximum stretch, let the body rest on its own structure instead of muscling the shape, and stay for time, since duration rather than intensity is what the practice depends on. A short beginner session might use only four or five shapes, such as butterfly, dragon and a seated forward fold, each held for a few minutes.

It suits small apartments and busy schedules well, since it needs no momentum, no flowing sequence and very little floor space. A common mistake is treating yin like a deeper version of a normal stretch and pushing to a sharp sensation, when the useful depth is more moderate and the difficulty comes from staying still and patient, not from going further into the pose.