Teaching Yin Yoga Will Change You
Teaching Yin Yoga Will Change You
Teaching Yin Yoga Will Change You
Feeling uninspired in your teaching?
Looking for something more balanced than the fast and furious classes you’re trained to teach?
Want to add diversity and substance to your teaching resume?
Be careful – Yin might change your life. (It changed mine).
Let me take a gander at why you're here...
You’ve read a few Yin Yoga books, but don’t feel like you want to just teach from a book.
You’re listless and uninspired in your teaching and need a new spark.
You’d rather take a training that empowers you to be creative and truly help your students, not just another alignment-based or regimented “how to” training.
Well then, my friend, read on…
I’ll be honest with you…
My teaching had become uninspired. I was feeling the monotony of teaching the same styles and formats of classes, and it was getting harder and harder to get myself amped up. The fast and furious yoga wasn’t suiting my body, and I was starting to feel like I was lying to my students. No one told me this was a normal part of teaching yoga – I thought I was inherently flawed.(You’re not flawed if you feel this way, too)
I needed inspiration from a completely different kind of teacher, with a completely different kind of yoga. When a friend invited me to study with Bernie Clark for an extended training in British Columbia, I jumped at the chance. I wasn’t even very excited about Yin Yoga, I was just exhausted and uninspired, and I was grasping at straws. The training changed the way I look at yoga. You see, I think that a balanced practice is more than sun salutations and vigorous or heated classes – a balanced practice has elements that address muscles, bones, connective tissue – it includes breath work and asana, movement and stillness.There is something sacred about stillness.
It feels so much better than the rat race – faster, fitter, more efficient, more robotic. Yin Yoga has changed my practice and my life. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Bernie Clark, and I’ll be the first to say if he’s offering a training, you should take it. Forget mine. Take the plunge. Go spend a week in the wilderness with BC in BC. Bernie and I are similar in many ways – we both have a “hard science” background and a storyteller’s heart, and I hope that I carry his intention forward.I never intended to teach people how to teach Yin Yoga…
…but my friend and co-teacher Jen Wilking of Anatomy for Yogis asked me (a few times) to put together a program based on what I had learned. So I sat down and created an eight hour training based on Bernie’s book The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga, which I used as a required text for my program. I had eight wonderful students, who raved about what they had learned. So I did it again. And again. And the rest is history. Except. My students started teaching Yin, and sharing their inspired teaching with the world. They asked for more, and Level 2 was born, intended for those who have already been teaching Yin but wanted more. And now it is your turn. Is this a leaf you’re ready to turn? A flavor you’re willing to try? Because once you experience what a balanced practice is, you may never go back to your bump and grind practice again…Learn To teach Yin
Level 1
- Successful completion of a YA accredited 200 hour YTT program.
- Review of The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark (required text).
- No experience teaching Yin is required, although we recommend taking a few Yin Yoga classes prior to enrolling.
- Module 1: What is Yin? The History & Lineage of Yin Yoga
- Module 2: Western Anatomical Concepts, Applied to Yin
- Practice 1: Supported Yin Yoga Practice – Introducing Sandbags
- Module 3: Eastern Anatomical Concepts, Applied to Yin (the “dot” activity)
- Practice 2: TCM Inspired Yin Yoga Practice – Assisting and Propping Practicum
- Module 4: Introduction to Sequencing, Common Questions and Adaptations
- Module 5: Drafting Your Yin Yoga Elevator Speech, Additional Resources & Next Steps
- Students will understand the benefits of Yin Yoga from both Eastern and Western perspectives, and how to describe those benefits to interested students
- Basic understanding of the meridians from Traditional Chinese Medicine and how Yin Yoga utilizes these concepts
- Basic understanding of Western physiological concepts and how these apply to Yin Yoga
- How to use blankets, blocks, bolsers, straps, and sandbags to support the practice
- How to sequence a basic Yin Yoga class
- How to adjust the practice of Yin Yoga for certain populations
- Earn 8 CEUs for the Yoga Alliance
Learn To teach Yin
Level 2
- Successful completion of a YA accredited 200 hour YTT program
- Review of The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark (required text)
- Completion of Learn to Teach Yin Level 1 OR significant experience teaching Yin
- Module 1: Yin Yoga for the Upper Body
- Practice 1: Supported Yin Yoga Practice – Introducing Upper Body Poses
- Module 2: Eastern Anatomical Concepts, Learning the Meridians and Pressure Points
- Module 3: Yin Yoga – Introducing the Wall
Practice 2: Supported Yin Yoga Practice – Assisting at the Wall - Module 4: Understanding Connective Tissue – The Fascia Multimedia Experience
- Practice 3: TCM Inspired Yin Yoga Practice – Assisting the Meridians
- Module 5: Intelligent Sequencing Techniques for Yin (and more)
- Practice 4: Supported Yin Yoga Practice – Applied Sequencing
- Module 6: Making Your Class YOURS – The Freedom to be YOU
- A toolbox of upper body Yin Yoga poses
- How to use the wall, with or without other props (great if you teach at a gym!)
- A deep understanding of western anatomical concepts including fascia, fascial lines, and anatomical variations.
- A basic understanding of the meridians from Traditional Chinese Medicine and how Yin Yoga utilizes these energy lines and pressure points
- How to plan, sequence, and adapt thoughtful Yin Yoga classes
- Earn 14 CEUs for the Yoga Alliance
Learn To teach Yin
Level 3
- Successful completion of a YA accredited 200 hour YTT program
- Review of The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark (required text)
- Completion of Learn to Teach Yin Level 1 OR significant experience teaching Yin
Not sure this training is right for you? I want you to be sure.
I’ve already been teaching Yin Yoga – will I learn anything in this training?
Gosh, I hope so. I learn something every time I take a training. If you’re already well-versed in Yin Yoga, I invite you to my Level 2 training. It’s actually designed to add depth to those who are already teaching Yin (and answer a few questions you may never have thought of).Am I going to learn more from your training(s) than from the book? It doesn’t seem that complicated.
You’re very right – Yin yoga isn’t that complicated. But you will learn new approaches to anatomy, from both the Eastern and Western perspectives, strategic ways to use props, and what a correctly instructed Yin practice actually feels like in your body.I’m already a trained Restorative Yoga teacher. Isn’t Yin pretty much the same?
It might look similar on the outside, but I believe that Yin and Restorative are fundamentally different, based on the intention of the practice. I have several experienced Restorative teachers who have taken my Yin trainings who agree – it’s a completely different ball game!Testimonials from students
