South Boulder Recreation Center, 1360 Gillaspie Drive, Boulder, 303-579-9722, yinyangboulder.com

Instructor: Karen Nicholson Cobble, of Boulder, has been practicing yoga for more than 25 years and teaching since 2009. She specializes in Yin Yoga and yoga for kids.

She is a certified yoga instructor through Core Power Yoga, and she also has a master's in counseling psychology.

What is the workout? Yin Yoga is a series of postures that you hold for extended periods of time (like three minutes), designed to stretch the connective tissue of our joints.

"The class offers time to be with yourself, to activate your parasympathetic nervous system so your body and mind get a rest, while rehabilitating your connective tissue (yin tissue) system, consisting of fascia and joints among other things," Cobble writes.

What's different? Yin Yoga focuses on the fascia and joints instead of the muscles. In fact, you need to let go of your muscles and not engage them to sink into the poses.

There is no flow from one posture to the next as there is in traditional Vinyasa yoga, so the class is much slower but that does not mean it is necessarily easier. It's just different.

"We bring ourselves into poses that are uncomfortable and there can be a sense of discomfort, and we practice staying with it," Cobble says.

By practicing how to respond differently to discomfort on the mat, Cobble says, students learn how to also react differently to discomfort and problems off the mat. In that, Yin Yoga can change behaviors and habits.

"It's our habit typically to run away from that," she says. "And all the issues get stored in our tissues."

Continue reading here:
Workout of the Week: Yin Yoga