Yin/Insight Yoga Primary Level Training

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DEEPEN YOUR PRACTICE

This 40-hour primary training is based on Sarah Powers’ book Insight Yoga and focuses on essential teachings of yin yoga and Buddhist mindfulness mingled with active yang yoga sequences. Sarah also teaches Level 2 (based on Sarah’s book Lit From Within) and Level 3 programs for those who have completed the primary level.  

Please come to this primary training with a basic understanding of yin yoga and meditation, having read Sarah’s book Insight Yoga.  

This course is intended to deepen one’s understanding of the experiential, philosophical, and practical application of yoga (especially yin style) and meditation (particularly Buddhist mindfulness).  

As a student or teacher of insight yoga we develop an integral practice and outlook for life, braiding together four main aspects:

1. For the body, we engage in regular receptive and active (yin/yang) asana practices that are designed to develop and maintain pliancy in the muscles as well as the joints, to increase strength and vitality in all the systems of the body, and to cultivate a sensitivity to and refinement of the energy body (the breathing body), as the gateway to an ease of being. Yin yoga is a meditative physical practice that stimulates the balancing of the energetic pathways (meridians) through holding floor poses, while yang yoga involves a slow mindfully based movement practice. Pranayama is often an integral feature of most sessions, as well.
2. For the heart, we skillfully and non-judgmentally turn toward any aspects of our psyche that are needing attention; this can help heal any sense of estrangement, anxiety, or fears that we may be carrying.  
3. Mind training involves practices of visualization, contemplation, concentration, mindfulness, and open awareness drawing from Yogic, Taoist, and Buddhist teachings.
4. Relational awareness practices and community foster kindness, deep listening, meaningful exchanges, and learning to appropriately trust and reveal vulnerabilities with others.

In this primary level training, we will explore:

• Yin yoga: how, why and when to practice this style safely and effectively
• Meridian theory
• Organ and hormonal health  
• Sequences for the kidneys, liver, spleen, lung, and heart
• Balancing the yin style with a yang practice to support structural strength and stability
• Proper physical alignment in active postures
• The primary focus of ujjayi breath in asana: length, depth, and direction
• The four foundations of mindfulness (theory and practice, seated and in yin poses)
• Sequencing of postures for various levels, from beginner to intermediate student
• How to assist those with injuries
• The use of touch and hands-on adjustments
• Skillful verbal communication
• The teacher/student relationship
• Basic Buddha Dharma

NOTE: This training is not an in-depth yin yoga anatomy training. Sarah recommends Paul Grilley’s online course for those interested in this perspective more exclusively.  

Required Reading:

• Sarah Powers, Insight Yoga
• Paul Grilley, Yin Yoga: Principles and Practice
• Bhante Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English
• Huston Smith, Buddhism: A Concise Introduction

Video:

• Sarah Powers, Insight Yoga (video)