Welcome to the second quarterly edition of Yin Yoga Insights. We are sending you this edition because you have expressed interest in the past in Yin Yoga. (If you do not want to receive future editions, please click the unsubscribe link.) Through Yin Yoga Insights we take a look at the Yin-side of life and yoga. In this issue we will be exploring how you can create your own yoga studio right in your own home by simply using a wall. If you have an idea for future topics, let us know!
There are also interesting topics being discussed in the Forum, available at www.YinYoga.com. Feel free to join these discussions, or raise new questions and ideas yourself. Finally, Yin Yoga Insights lets you know about several opportunities to learn more about Yin Yoga via our Upcoming Events listing. You can view a short synopsis of all these items on the side bar on the right.
Enjoy the journey! Cheers, Bernie
Wall Yin
Ever have one of those days where you didn’t want to do anything but collapse? You know you should do some yoga, but your get up and go has got up and went? Your yoga buddy, whom you rely on for moral support, has bailed on you? Where can you go for that support now? Well, your support may be as close as that wall over there! Put on some soothing music, clear a space by your longest wall, grab a watch (preferably with a timer) and a cushion or two, and settle into some wall yin.
Wall Butterfly – Like all yoga journeys, you can start with a brief meditation, but this time with the wall supporting your feet. The easiest way to get into this position may be to sit sideways against the wall and then swivel: swing your legs up the wall and lie down. Next, try to snuggle your butt to the corner of the wall and the floor.
For the Wall Butterfly, bring your feet together and let your heels come as low as they can, and allow the knees to go as wide as they can. Since this is your meditation position, place your hands where you feel most comfortable: either place them over your heart, your belly (or one hand over each), or let your arms fall to the sides. Wait here for as long as your intuition suggests. Breath, allow a few sighs to slip out, and be present.
Speaking of the forum, there are several posts there for women who are pregnant, who were just pregnant or who are trying to get pregnant. If you are interested in how Yin Yoga can help you, check out these forum discussions:
Yin is In! And, it is growing in popularity. Yin Yoga has been with us since the beginning of Hatha Yoga centuries ago. But since the early 19th century, yoga has become more and more yang-like in nature. Everything requires balance: yin completes yang. Yin Yoga is the balancing practice for the more active, muscular yang yogas. There are more and more teachers offering Yin Yoga today, and more workshops and opportunities to learn how to become a Yin Yoga teacher. If diving deeper into the yin-side of life is on your 2010 To Do List, here are several opportunities for you. [If you are a student looking for a Yin Yoga teacher near you, check out our Teacher Directory.]
Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings & Retreats
May: 7-Day Yin Yoga Teacher Training & Retreat
With Bernie Clark from May 23rd to 30th, 2010 at the Sea-to-Sky Retreat Centre, Whistler, B.C., Canada
The Spring 2010 Yin Yoga Teacher Training will happen from May 23rd to 30th, 2010. The facility is limited, however we have arranged to use an extension on the pavilion where we be holding the retreat. This extension allows us to increase the number of students to 20. Click here to learn more.
This annual Yin Yoga retreat is quite popular and has sold out in past years. Let us know early if you want to join us. To look at pictures from past retreats just click this web site (with many thanks to Milla for the wonderful work!) or click here.
Aug: 7-Day Yin Yoga Teacher Training Intensive
With Bernie Clark from August 23rd to 29th, 2010 at the Semperviva Yoga Studios, in Vancouver, Canada. Mark the dates! This is early notification of a one-week, 50-hour, intensive in late August. This intensive is being held due to the demand by many students for a Yin Yoga teacher training course to be held in the city of Vancouver over one week, rather than over several weekends. For more details or to register, check the Semperviva web page or call them at 604-739-2009.
The next presentation will be on Saturday, June 12, 2010 1pm to 3pm at The SPEC building at 2150 Maple St, Vancouver, B.C.
Come find out what the latest scientific consensus is about Global Warming, what the consequences of the coming changes will be, and most importantly, learn the 3 Big Easy things we can do about it. Also, learn how to bust the many climate myths that are being spread today to lull us into apathy and inaction. To learn more about how living mindfully can help us end the gamble we are taking visit (please) Mind The Planet
Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers are each planning a full load of workshops in 2010 all over the world. You can check out their schedules at their home web pages:
Many teachers around the world are creating Yin Yoga based workshops and retreats. Some of them are posting these activities on our Forum page. Check it out. There may be one happening near you. (If you are a teacher, feel free to add yours to the page!)
Wall Yin Yin is a very passive, quiet practice where we do not engage the muscles. We allow gravity to do the work and draw us down to the earth; to ground us. One delicious way to soak into the poses is to allow a wall to replace our muscles. In this article you will find a full Yin Yoga session that you can do at home. All you need is time, and a spare wall. Click here to learn more.
Recent Forum Topics On the YinYoga.com website there is a forum where anyone can ask questions about Yin Yoga or other topics, and everyone is free to offer wise commentary. Included in this newsletter are links to postings where students have discussed the ways that Yin Yoga can assist with fertility, pregnancy and post partum recovery. Click here to learn more.
Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings & Retreats There are several Yin Yoga teacher training courses being held by Bernie Clark in 2010. The next one is the annual 7-day retreat held at the rugged Sea-to-Sky retreat centre near Whistler B.C. in late May. There are still about 5 spots open for this one. There will also be a 6-day course in August held in Vancouver. Click here to learn more about these.
Checking out Other Interesting Events There are many teachers leading workshops, Yin Yoga retreats and Teacher Trainings in 2010. Click here to learn more.
Yoga For Our Planet “Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment. To be mindful is to be truly alive and at one with those around us. Practicing mindfulness does not require that we go anywhere different.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Interested in learning how living mindfully can end the risk we are taking with our climate? Click here to learn more.
Social Action Help Fight the Rape Trade
Millions of women and girls are abducted, terrorised and sold for rape every year. The rape traders are running their brutal businesses in the shadows in our communities across the world, but if we join forces with investigators and experts we can expose the criminals, break rape trade rings and free women and children!
Visit Avaaz.org to learn more and help millions of young girls live safely, happy and free.