For the most part, I find that yoga teachers can guide a pretty solid class by simply reading from a list of poses. If the practitioner pays attention to their own feeling state and does not find painful feelings (burning, stinging, stabbing, or electrical sensations), they can have an enjoyable and beneficial practice.
That said, taking a class from someone who has learned to teach Yin Yoga is a more robust experience. Think about it like executing a recipe. If you buy a bag of chocolate chips, it probably has a recipe on the back for chocolate chip cookies. If you follow the instructions, you’ll make pretty decent cookies! But if you go to culinary school and learn how and why the recipe works, you can make incredible chocolate chip cookies. The same is true for yoga.
You can find a teacher who has studied with me here [hyperlink to my directory page], or you can look for people who have studied with my teacher here [hyperlink to yinyoga.com]. Find someone in your area, and try out a class. It is important that they know what they are doing… and it is also important that you enjoy their style. I believe each teacher has something different – the themes, style of words, music, touch that make a class their own, so I encourage you to find the person who has the right recipe for you.