Are There Yin Poses and Yang Poses?: Yin Yoga Poses & Sequences

Sarah Powers proposes that poses are not distinctly yin or yang. Rather, what differentiates a pose in Yin Yoga is how it is practiced, including:

1. Muscular engagement vs. release,
2. Activity that is slow, steady and stationary
3. The length of time in the pose
4. An emphasis on stimulation of connective tissues

Difference Between Yin Yoga & Yang Yoga

Yin yoga activity is slow, steady, and often stationary, with a sense of core softness and surrender. Yang yoga activity is mobile, builds to an apex before calming down, and maintains a core strength that requires appropriate effort… The main difference between these different styles of engagement is a matter of degrees — a shift not so much in which poses we choose (for a yoga pose is not in and of itself Yin or Yang) but in how we practice, [which] determines whether we target the yin or yang tissues more directly or indirectly. – Sarah Powers