How Many Calories Does Yin Yoga Burn?

Yin Yoga calories by weight & duration

The roughly 176 calories per hour is a general estimate for a 155-lb person at a MET of 2.5; your actual number shifts with your body weight, how deeply you engage, and the specific sequence your teacher runs. Log your sessions in the Mariposas app to track your personal totals over time.

Calculated as MET (2.5) × body weight (kg) × hours. How this works.

What to expect in a yin yoga class

A first session will likely feel surprisingly uncomfortable in a way that has nothing to do with pain. You'll settle into a shape like a supported dragon lunge or a long saddle pose, and within about 90 seconds the muscles around the target area start to release, which is when you begin feeling the deeper pull in the connective tissue itself. The teacher typically cues minimal adjustment after the first setup, so much of the class is quiet and still, punctuated by slow transitions. Props such as blocks, bolsters, and folded blankets are used constantly to help you find a depth you can sustain for the full hold.

Tips for your first yin yoga class

• Arrive with props already staged: two blocks, a bolster if the studio has them, and a blanket. Scrambling for props mid-hold breaks the tension you spent two minutes building.
• Expect sensation to change and even intensify around the 90-second mark. That shift is normal. The cue to back off is sharp or shooting sensation, not a dull ache or a deep stretch feeling.
• Resist the urge to fidget. Even small adjustments reset the clock on connective tissue loading, so each wiggle shortens the effective hold.
• Come out of each pose slowly and give yourself five to ten seconds of stillness afterward. The brief ache you feel right after releasing a long hold fades quickly and is part of the normal tissue response.

What affects how many calories yin yoga burns

Yin Yoga carries a MET of 2.5, which puts it firmly in the light-activity range, similar to a relaxed walk. The 176 calorie-per-hour figure applies to a 155-lb person; someone heavier will burn more, someone lighter will burn less, and the estimate assumes a consistent, awake effort rather than dozing through savasana. Holding deeper ranges of motion or practicing in a warmer room nudges the number slightly upward, but the real value of Yin is cumulative tissue adaptation, not acute caloric output.

Three things move your number most: body weight (a heavier body burns more for the same activity, that's why the table runs from 125 to 225 lb), duration (calories scale with time), and intensity. A yin yoga you push hard burns more than an easy one, because effort is what the MET value of 2.5 represents, an average for this activity. Your fitness level and how much you rest between efforts shift it too, so treat these as a solid estimate rather than an exact count.

How we calculate yin yoga calories

Every number here uses the standard energy-expenditure formula: calories ≈ MET × body weight (kg) × time (hours). The MET value of 2.5 for yin yoga comes from the published Compendium of Physical Activities, the same reference researchers and fitness trackers use. We convert your weight to kilograms and multiply through, no fudge factors. See our methodology for the full formula and sources.