Find your style
Yin classes in Asheville
Long, quiet holds that release deep tension.
Yin is a slow, floor-based style where you stay in each pose for several minutes, usually three to five, with your muscles as relaxed as you can make them. The idea is to let gravity and time do the work instead of effort.
8 classes coming up at 1 studio.
What Yin does for you
You get a deep, slow stretch in places that rarely get attention: hips, inner thighs, lower back and the backs of your legs. Staying still that long brings a mix of sensations, from a dull pull to surprising ease, and learning to sit with them can feel like meditation in disguise. Many people leave feeling looser and noticeably quieter. It makes a good counterweight to running, cycling or a long week at a desk, and it slots nicely into an evening before sleep.
It suits you if
- you feel stiff in your hips, back or hamstrings
- you run, cycle or lift a lot
- you want something quiet in the evening
- you are curious about meditation but find sitting still hard
Read the full guide to YinWhat a class is like, your first time, history and the words you will hear
What a class is like
Classes run 60 to 90 minutes and stay almost entirely on the floor, seated or lying. You might do only eight to twelve poses in a whole class, each held three to five minutes or longer, supported by bolsters, blocks or blankets as needed. The facilitator talks less than in a flow class, often offering a short reflection, a poem or a few words on anatomy or Chinese meridians while you hold. Lights are often dimmed, music is soft or absent, and you will not sweat. Expect a long rest at the end.
Your first time
- Wear soft, warm clothes and bring socks and a layer, since you cool down while still.
- Use more props than you think you need; a supported pose is easier to stay in.
- Arrive a few minutes early to collect bolsters and blankets and settle in.
Good to know
- Long holds can bring strong sensations; ease out if anything feels sharp, burning or tingling rather than a dull stretch.
- If you are pregnant, very flexible or recovering from an injury, tell the facilitator so poses can be adapted or held for less time.
- The stillness can feel uncomfortable at first, and emotions sometimes surface; that is common, and you can always come out and rest.
Where it comes from
Long, passive holds have roots in Taoist practices from China and in the seated postures of Indian hatha yoga, but yin as a named style is recent. In the late 1970s the American martial artist Paulie Zink began teaching a blend of hatha and Taoist yoga in North America that included long-held floor poses.
Paul Grilley studied with Zink in the 1980s and combined that work with his own study of anatomy. In 1989 he met Hiroshi Motoyama, a Japanese scholar who had linked the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine with yogic ideas of energy channels (nadis). Grilley folded these ideas into his classes, at first calling the approach Taoist yoga.
One of Grilley's students, Sarah Powers, suggested the name "Yin Yoga", and it stuck; Zink adopted it too as a short form of his "Yin and Yang Yoga". Powers's book Insight Yoga (2008) paired yin practice with Buddhist mindfulness, and by the end of the 2000s all three were training facilitators across North America and Europe. The meridian framework remains part of many classes; some facilitators teach it, others stick to anatomy.
In Berlin, yin is a staple of evening schedules. It often appears as the second half of yin-yang classes or paired with live sound such as bowls or a gong.
Words you will hear
- Bolster
- A firm, long cushion that supports you in a pose.
- Edge
- The point where you feel clear sensation but can still breathe easily; yin holds aim to stay there.
- Rebound
- The pause after a long hold where you lie still and notice the after-effects.
- Butterfly
- A seated fold with the soles of your feet together, a yin staple for hips and back.
- Dragon
- The yin name for a deep, low lunge that targets the front of the hip.
- Meridians
- Energy lines from traditional Chinese medicine that some facilitators use to structure a class.