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).
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...
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...
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...
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Looking for more?
If you have taken any level training with me and are interested in anatomy based upon the Traditional Chinese Medical model, I offer YIN-tensive workshops. In these three hour continuing ed opportunities, you will learn more about the meridian pair, as well as the organ functions according to both Western and TCM perspectives. Students are asked to bring learning objectives, and we will spend the remainder of our time learning specific assists, poses, and hands-on support. Jan 7: Kidney/Urinary Bladder Feb 4: Liver/Gallbladder Mar 3: Spleen/Stomach Mar 31: Large Intestine/Lung Apr 28: Heart, Small Intestine, Pericardium, Triple Warmer Graduates are provided an electronic certificate for the Yoga Alliance for their records following the workshop. $45 each or save when you register for multiple sessions. |
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Learn to Teach Yin: Level 1Level One Prerequisites
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 Level One Outcomes
Learn to Teach Yin: Level 2Prerequisites:
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 Level Two Outcomes
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(Jessica) Heidi Stoker is a yogi and artist who wrote a blog about her experiences in Learn to Teach Yin.
"Yin is a beautiful practice that balances the frenzied pace of life. Kari delivers the tools to develop Yin classes that invite students to slow down and experience the benefits of stillness. With wit and humor, she empowers teachers to get creative with Yin as an intention that reaches far beyond 26 poses. Even if you are well versed in anatomy and yoga, you will pick up golden nuggets of wisdom. Kari has a gift of analogies when it comes to how the body works. You’ll laugh and learn at the same time. Kari gets innovative with mapping out the meridians (garage sale stickers), treat you to the Yin experience (calm voices and massages), and support your journey to teaching and adjusting poses. With decades of experience in teaching yoga and teaching yoga teachers, she knows what works and knows how to share it. She is committed to her students and continue to provide resources and sequences in her Facebook group for graduates of the program. " ~ Jen Wilking, DPT, C-IAYT, RYT-500, Anatomy for Yogis "I was apprehensive at first since I traveled from Miami, FL. to Colorado Spring for this training with Kari but within the first 20 minutes of being there, I knew I had made the right choice. I have been teaching Yin for a little over a year and approached this without knowing if i'd gain enough knowledge to expand my teaching in Yin. Not only was Kari extremely helpful in offering tips of where to stay and what to do while I was in Colorado prior to even meeting her but she's IMMENSELY knowledgeable in the world of teaching yoga, the human body and more specifically in Yin. I returned home fully confident in what I had learned and ready to share with others all my new-found knowledge! And just to serve as a bonus comment, after teaching my first Yin class once back at home, my students raved about how awesome class had been (and yet, I still have so much more to share). Kari is awesome and I will definitely look into taking more training's with her in the future." Libby Gonzalez, Stretch Work Yoga "Kari is an articulate, conscientious, and experienced instructor of Yin Yoga who clearly brings her love of the material to her students in heartful and generous ways. Her class was well organized and incorporated a variety of teaching methods designed to meet the learning styles and teaching experience levels of a diverse range of students. Kari's sharing of some poignant personal anecdotes that highlighted various class concepts was an added delight because it humanized the material and supported the creation of a learning environment that reflected what was being taught in the class. Being able to align "what" is being taught in terms of class content with "how" it is being taught in terms of instructor style is a true art and Kari demonstrated this capacity with natural ease. I highly recommend taking Yin Yoga teacher training with her." R.K. 
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