Please read these frequently asked questions which can answer almost all of your questions about the Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings before emailing the office. If your question can be answered here, we will direct you here.
Otherwise we will attempt to answer all your questions as soon as we can. email: office@sarahlo.co.uk
Please see my blog post What is Yin Yoga?
You do not need to have had attended a prior yin yoga or yoga teacher training to do this yin yoga training, but you will need to have a strong motivation to want to learn yin yoga and the related fields of study on this course.
Please read the curriculums thoroughly for each course. Each module is different and it is preferable to do these starting with the Mindfulness module. However many students have done the course in various orders to suit their timetable.
It would be highly advisable to have taken some yin classes or a workshop prior to embarking on this training as well as having a strong interest in yoga.
Yes you can still attend the course. If you are a yoga student with a strong interest in developing a yoga practice, you are able to attend the course to deepen your knowledge and experience for your own professional and self development. If you are a professional in a related field, you may also be interested in how to weave your new skills into a yin yoga practice for yourself and your clients too.
You may decide to study one module or all four modules with a total of 220 hours.
This course is an advanced teacher training recognised at YACEP status with Yoga Alliance USA. It is not a basic or foundation yoga teacher training. To register with Yoga Alliance USA as a ‘registered Yoga Teacher’ they require you to complete a generic basic yoga teacher training program and for other Yoga registration bodies you will need to check this with the organisation you choose to register with. This is the industry recognised standard which differentiates whether you have a foundation teacher training which then allows you to register as a yoga teacher with a recognised body and obtain insurance. There is NO way to fast track a 200 hour yoga teacher training by doing one advanced course for 50/60 hours and then expect to be considered a qualified yoga teacher no matter what any organisation tells you.
You will still receive a certificate of attendance or completion for this course whether or not you are a yoga teacher and be able to use this for accruing continuing professional development hours. If you have already attained your basic 200 hour yoga teacher training, your hours from this course are eligible as continuing professional development (CPD) points or continuing education units (CEU) depending on the yoga body you are registered with.
You will need to check the terms with your own professional body and the insurance requirements to be able to teach with your particular insurer since we cannot answer this question for you regarding insurance.
Required Reading
Please read Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman prior to your course. Second hand copies are a good option too. See the book list recommendations too for other suggestions.
Additional Reading
Please also read the additional recommended book list in advance of the course to best prepare for your learning.
All the links are provided in the section under the relevant training you are registering for.
The courses are made up of contact and non contact hours.
Please refer specifically to the course you are signing up for as there may be variations between course hours.
The course is self paced and can be viewed entirely online if necessary.
Please read the course description and curriculum carefully so that you understand what you are signing up for. The courses are very experiential in nature and there will be a mixture of lectures and practices throughout the day with pre-recorded lectures of theory, practicums as well as classes that you will receive. This gives you ample time as well as the flexibility to practice and watch at a time that suits you.
Much of the work we do in these Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings is self-development work and encourages open mindedness and curiosity to explore and practice in this way.
Yes Sarah Lo is an experienced registered Yoga Teacher Trainer with Yoga Alliance USA (YACEP) and UK. The trainings are recognised qualifications worldwide. Your hours can be used towards your continuing professional development or education units. You will need to check with your own professional body how to log your hours for advancement. All hours will need to be logged by yourselves and it is not possible for us to do this for you.
If you are injured or feeling unwell during the course, there is no need for you to worry or provide any medical note as you don’t need to participate through movement with every or any pose in the sessions. That is something I make very clear in the trainings – that you only participate to your own degree of safety and that this is always your responsibility as a diligent practitioner whether online or in a class situation. No teacher, especially online is able to discern your level of pain. You are not obliged to ‘do’ a posture. You can learn through many ways that do not involve physical movement. Through observation, visually seeing others and through real live time dialogue provide other invaluable ways of learning. Many students have learned well enough when either injured, unwell, pregnant, nursing, in recovery through the visual, the opportunity to read, listen and ask questions and have said that in fact their other senses become heightened when they can watch and learn in these ways. The great advantage of learning online is that you can relax in your own home (or bed) whilst learning online in a perfectly safe environment.
Time converter – please use the time converter to find out the time in your own country. Most trainings and workshops are based on GMT or London timing.
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20210121T190000&p1=224
Can I do the modules in any order? You can but bear in mind that if you do Level 2 first, it does NOT mean that you will have covered the Level 1 material.
Level 1 in Mindfulness, Meridians, Psychology & Anatomy is simply NOT a beginners training and is an advanced teacher training that encompasses a wide area of subjects. So if you do choose to do Level 2 first before Level 1, we recommend you do Level 1 at a later date to complete the syllabus. It is not possible to answer course curriculum questions from Level 1 (which is 60 hours long!) during the Level 2 training.
The courses are structured to follow a deepening layering of understanding from level to level. The whole curriculum of subjects from the Yin Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation courses cover the deconstruction of Yin Yoga poses, why and how the science and anatomy of fascia and soft tissue to the skeletal variation of bones matters in Yin Yoga, Chinese Medicine and Meridian Theory, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Aspiration and Visioning, Presentation and Listening Skills, the properties and function of the Vagus Nerve in Polyvagal Theory, the Enteric Nervous System.
The courses build upon each other and do not repeat the same variations of postures or teachings, so the material is different for each course.
Since we are not able to discern what you have already studied with other teaching curriculums as teachings vary widely in the field of Yin Yoga, you will need to decide for yourself what feels right for you.
Please look at the first curriculum for Mindfulness here to check whether you have studied the curriculum. The curriculum for the second course is here.
It is possible to learn in many ways since we all have different backgrounds of study, levels of understanding and length of practice.
We’ve had several physiotherapists, integrative medicine doctors and similar attend the course who have found immense benefits in the practices and weaved this into practices for their clients.
The curriculums are outlined below on my website and I’d suggest beginning with the Mindfulness and Psychology since all the postures are aimed at targeting both the meridian energy channels as well as the myofascial boundaries and connective tissues.
The postures are not repeated from level to level so to have a good understanding of how Yin could be presented to your own clients I’d recommend starting here. It is a CPD course eligible for 60 hours and certification is with Yoga Alliance.
With regard to Levels 1 & 2, I would say that the first module although it was named Level 1, is no longer called or Certified as a Level 1 training, as it assumes it is a lower level than the following levels which it is far from. In many ways, it is the deepest and hardest to teach and learn, as it incorporates elements of Mindfulness and Psychological Enquiry which, without a clear study and practice of, would mean that Yin Yoga is being taught without a true integration of this and is more about just the physical practice.
So it completely depends on what you have studied in previous curriculums. None of the courses we are aware of incorporate a curriculum of Mindfulness and Psychological Enquiry to the degree to which we offer from many years of feedback from teachers who have studied with myself and other teachers.
Our Level 2 does go more deeply into Chinese Medicine and Fascia and Soft Tissue anatomy but the Mindfulness (Level 1) module is a firm foundation on which to build the Meditative aspects of Yin Yoga and is the most important module, unless you have already have a level of competency with Listening Skills and have studied Skeletal Variation (bone anatomy) and the elements mentioned above.
This question is about levels of competence.
Please read the curriculum properly here and also the testimonials here to see what other student teachers have been able to do in terms of competence to teach after studying programs with Sarah. This may give you an indication of their own level of confidence to start teaching. Some student teachers in Yin Yoga may have 20 years of Yoga teaching but never studied Mindfulness or practiced Meditation and everyone begins somewhere. In short you will find the tools you learn on this course a solid foundation enabling you to begin teaching Yin Yoga and Mindfulness. How you develop as a teacher is through the experience of teaching.
The full course is an advanced 220 hours of training and certification in 4 individual Yin Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation modules. All your points can be accrued as Continuing Education Points and you can register these with Yoga Alliance yourself. The question of whether you can register as a yoga teacher depends if you already have a basic 200 Hour Yoga certification. It depends entirely on where you teach who will demand certain criteria. Mostly it depends on whether you need to purchase Liability Insurance to teach and this will depend on where you live. We cannot answer questions about yoga insurance. Yoga Alliance is a registration body and does not provide a certification to teach.
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Modules
An assignment is set once Level 4 has been completed. Otherwise there is no ‘test’ as such and a reflection of your learning is asked for after each course.
The most important recording to watch will be the practicum as it will relate to the teaching practice each week. The course is highly structured and organised. It will give you the recording sessions in a structured order with the timings for each session so you are able to plan your practice and accommodate your own learning style. The notes and the lectures will explain if you need to be watching, practicing or simply listening in the background.
No you will not be assessed or tested in any way shape or form! This is a supportive and safe learning environment that emphasises the learner’s autonomy to be able to learn in any way they wish to. This supports all learning styles as well as disabilities or discomfort with learning online.
With the learning styles on my courses, there is absolutely no issue having babies, children and pets on screen or with you. Learning from home has to be adaptable to accommodate home life. If you need to nurse or attend to your children you are free to do whatever you need to do with your screen turned towards any direction you are comfortable with.
There’ll be time to ask questions after live class sessions during your teacher training.
A Level 4 Mentoring program is scheduled for 2025 where personal coaching and mentoring are included.
We implemented a credit card facility and absorb these fees to help with payments but if you wish to pay in instalments please enquire for details.
Please write to Office@sarahlo.co.uk
In comparison to previous years prior to covid where Sarah often had numbers of up to 100 people online and in studio, covid has impacted the whole yoga community.
This is not an institute or school or studio which can normally afford large reduction in fees, and we have kept course fees low in comparison to other courses taught by senior yoga teachers without increasing fees over the course of covid and inflation. Where possible, financially disadvantaged teachers who wish to complete further levels of training after their initial training may be an eligible for a further contribution towards their fees.
We would be happy to discuss payment options though you will see from the FAQs this year that I have kept fees to an absolute minimum and even reduced fees considerably this year because of the COL crisis and the impact that it has had on the yoga community of teachers who rely on their teaching as sole income.
Please write to the office@sarahlo.co.uk to set out your reasons why you think you qualify and enquire if there is the possibility for a further reduction in fees because of your circumstances.
I am glad you are looking into Yin Yoga trainings and the possibility of being coaching or mentored. With an integrated Mindfulness approach the practices are truly transformative and I am only able to say this after some years having followed the lives and feedback from hundreds of students following and practicing this approach.
Read more about coaching here: https://www.sarahlo.co.uk/coaching/.
Currently Sarah can only accept those who have attended her trainings after completion of Level 1 who already have a base of knowledge and practice. Students can apply for 1 to 1 coaching on a personal level.
Mentoring you in your progression as a teacher is scheduled for the next Level 4 curriculum in 2025.
Hypermobility is covered within the context of the curriculum and the particular yin asanas covered.
It’s not possible of course to give individual instruction to any one student in a large group training with a vast amount of subject matter to cover. The course is interactive in that cameras are live and there will be dedicated question and response time, small group work and dyad time. At each level of the training the course develops in depth and understanding of how to teach yin yoga safely. Depending of course on your reasons for presentation of hypermobility, this would very much determine what would be more appropriate for you as a personal practice i.e. when and where to strengthen and stabilise and when or how best to stretch. If it is skeletal variation in terms of your own natural ability to access a greater range of motion without pain or destabilising your particular joint or joints, or a condition within your connective tissue or due to an injury would very much determine your own best practices. This is a course about learning to teach yin yoga safely and practicing safely not individual tuition.
It is important to realise that just because you can’t access the range of motions you witness in text books or in other practitioners, that you can’t teach well. Sometimes the most injured teachers or the ones with the least mobility are the best teachers to pass on their experiences clearly.
Yes Levels 1, 2 and 3 teacher trainings online are flexible and self-paced.
Do you plan to offer in person trainings?
I plan to try to offer some in person workshops but as far as trainings are concerned the program I offer now far exceeds what I can offer in an in person in consecutive days. The learning process online now offers the chance to repeat lectures for up to 6 months which has never been possible in an in-person setting where recordings of live lectures are not permitted. It takes a lot of repetition for any learner to filter down and remember what is said during a lecture, so online learning is by far a superior way to present information via clear slides and in a format where you can pause, rewind, repeat and take notes at your own pace.
With my online trainings I am able to offer far more personal time with each person than I am able to in person with monthly online classes. Since most of my students are now nationwide and as far away as New Zealand, I am continuing with offering online trainings and classes. It also means that studying is more flexible with lectures online accessible for months as opposed to minutes in person and a huge variety of classes to do in your own time.
With in-person courses the numbers are usually too large to have any meaningful time per student. The numbers of students learning from overseas has remained strong in an online presence. These students and teachers would not have the ability or opportunity to study in this way otherwise with the current COL crisis. I also feel that the environmental imprint is significantly reduced and my own carbon footprint compared to years where I travelled frequently overseas.
From so many graduates who have completed the training, I would expect their initial experience of starting to teach yin somewhat trepidatious. If you recall your very first time teaching yoga, remember how you felt about it then?
Even long term teachers have worries over the quietness of the practice and if they should be talking so it’s no wonder that someone new to yin would also feel this wasn’t within the norms of their regular teaching. Many teachers who complete the full training say they feel as if they are just at the start of their journey and I would say ‘Really? You remember what your classes felt like at the beginning compared to now’… and they reevaluate and realise we are our own worse critics. Imposter syndrome runs high especially when it is a new style you are introducing.
We are really thrilled to now be able to offer Level 1, 2 and 3 courses as fully self paced courses online for the very first time, allowing you to study and practice in your own time frame.
You’ll get the best of both worlds being able to study at your own pace and also repeat the sessions.
Hundreds of teachers have studied this course with Sarah in various formats live and online over the past two decades and we believe, from the countless feedback of teachers worldwide, that we have encapsulated the essence of the training and amassed all the essential teachings here in an online format that will stand the test of time.
Many teachers have written to speak of their preference for learning online in this way without the pressure of having to absorb this much information in a short span of time or in a crowded studio. Attention spans often wane and learners zone out with the amount of concentrated listening.
It is no surprise that learning online has never been more cost efficient without the need now to travel and bear the cost of hotels, air BnBs as well as transport.
This is a registered teacher training course with Yoga Alliance and is recognised worldwide.
