OmYogaMagazineFebruary2019

STUDYING YOGA

WITH SIMON LOW AND

THE YOGA ACADEMY IN 2019

2019 off ers steps into Teacher Training and

Ongoing Study with The Yoga Academy

Yin & Yang Yoga Teacher Training and Study Immersion

2 Feb – 3 March 2019: Samahita Retreat, Koh Samui, Thailand

We still have a few spaces available on this course, which will be the

fi nal Yin & Yang Yoga Teacher Training and Study Intensive in Thailand

for a few years.

Yoga Academy 200-hour Intensive Teacher Training Course

November 2019 – May 2020: Santillán, Spain

We are excited to present our new intensive teacher training course

based at Santillan in Spain, featuring two 2-week residential intensives.

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

Yin Yoga Training & Study Intensives

(with Yoga Alliance US 500-hour upgrade options)

17–24 March: Samahita Retreat, Koh Samui

This week-long course off ers methodology and training in Yin Yoga

and Chi Kung for yoga teachers.

13–20 July: Santillán, Spain

This week-long experience within Santillán’s extraordinary yoga studio

and retreat centre off ers in depth training and practice in the broad

spectrum of Yin Yoga theory, practice and teaching.

Yoga Alliance 500-hour course with The Yoga Academy

We off er an upgrade course to Yoga Alliance US 500-hour level

featuring dedicated training with Simon Low, The Yoga Academy

and international guest teachers.

Yoga Academy Forums in 2019

In 2019 The Yoga Academy will off er forums for Yoga Academy

graduates and trainees.

NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON

http://www.yinandyang.yoga

For 2019 schedule of

trainings, forums and

workshops see website

http://www.theyogaacademy.org

yin yoga

balanced application are increasingly seen as essential tonics for
fascial health, fluid-form and good function, the yin asana present
themselves as an opportunity to encourage what is now increasingly
understood to be the role of fascia in transmitting and mobilising
energy and information throughout the body. Returning from the
recent Fascia Congress in Berlin my Yoga Academy colleague Gary
Carter reported that Neil Thiese MD’s confocal laser endomicroscopy
suggested a new finding within the myo-fascial body of previously
undetected microscopic channels that appeared to be possible
pathways of fluid energy that transported piezo-electric charge
as the crystalline molecules responded to pressure. Previously in
histology studies this interstitium was assumed by many to be simply
tissue tears. As we grow to understand the mysteries and magic of
the human body our yoga practices become ever more important.
The sukshma sharira, or subtle body, that animates, nourishes
and energises the gross physical body (karya sharira) and plays
an essential part, along with the causal body (karana sharira) in
the ultimate balancing of Indian philosophy’s ‘three-body theory’.
Along with pranayama and meditation, asana is employed toward
such a harmonising process. The yin practice again offers itself
generously to intentional energy stimulation, addressing congestion
and depletion of chi or prana, and ‘dredging’ of the meridian or nadi
channels. The more recent and often westernised chakra system
models are often a focus within yin classes, and of course the
ancient panca kosa (the five ‘aspects’ of our being), and the vayu
(inner energetic currents or ‘winds’) additionally lean themselves
toward inclusion as content appropriately shared within yin classes.
As we become increasingly quiet and internalised (pratyahara) one
can become increasingly aware of our energetic being, and if mind,
breath and physical stimulation and pressure in certain shapes and
states can be prime movers and improvers of our subtle energy, life-
force, (prana or chi), perhaps the yin practice is an essential balance
to similar intentions via the more dynamic movement approaches of
chi kung, tai chi and yang yoga asana.

Good vibrations
At the most microscopic level it is generally considered that
we are simply a vibration. Nada yoga also seeks to attune our
consciousness to our own unique sound or vibration, and that of
nature. As such I view the inclusion of primal and orchestrated
sound within practice as a useful and enjoyable feature that can
be immensely nourishing and calming. I occasionally seek sound
from gongs, quartz crystal and brass bowls, a vibra-tone, thunder
drums, bells and other instruments to enhance experience within
yin classes, while vedic chant is a regular practice at the beginning
and/or end of a practice.
For far too long UK teachers and students have looked abroad
for inspiration and information to support their yin yoga studies, but
I feel the UK currently offers some of the world’s finest and most
informed teachers of this broad and inclusive approach to balanced
wellbeing. Studios and teachers all over the country offer ‘yin’ and
‘restorative’ classes more than ever before. Seek out a class or
teacher near you and you will wish you had begun many moons ago.
Yin yoga is a life changer.

Simon Low offers yin yoga immersions and teacher trainings in
the UK, Spain and Thailand with the Yoga Academy, along with
international workshops throughout the year. His Yin Yoga app for
iPhone offers led-practices that reflect his broad interpretation of yin
yoga, at least as far as asana and breath awareness are concerned.
Visit: yinandyang.yoga