Please read these frequently asked questions which can answer almost all of your questions about the Yin Yoga & Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Trainings before emailing the office. If your question can be answered here, we will direct you here. Since Covid, there is limited capacity to be able to respond to every question personally.
Frequently Asked Questions
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. 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. 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 level of 50 hours or all four levels with a total of 200 hours.
This course is an advanced teacher training recognised at YACEP status with Yoga Alliance USA. To register with Yoga Alliance USA as a ‘registered Yoga Teacher’ they require you complete a basic yoga teacher training program. You will need to check this with the organisation you choose to register with.
You will still receive a certificate of completion for this course whether or not you are a yoga teacher and be able to use this for accruing 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 courses depending where it is being held.
Yin Yoga – Levels 1 & 2
The assignments for each course are usually due within one month of the end of the course. You will need to submit your assignment directly to Sarah Lo via email. Sarah@SarahLo.co.uk.
The assignments will be given during the course and not before. Non English speakers should not be concerned about the use of language for this as this will be taken into consideration. The assignments are reflection based which is to show your understanding to date. It is not graded.
Sarah reads each assignment herself and will let everyone know when their certificates are ready.
A generous deadline is set to submit and extensions are not possible and since Sarah responds to each assignment personally and allocates time to do this within the promised time period, it is important that special requests are not made. Sarah is not able to make exceptions for one person as it would not be fair to the next who asks since everyone is busy and has extraneous demands.
A deadline is a deadline just as an exam or driving test is due at the set time. The best way to complete the assignment is to write from the heart and to do it soon after the end of the course. However most enjoy having some reflection and need a break too from all the downloading of information. So however you know you work best, do this!
Yin Yoga – Level 3
The particular requirements for this course in relation to the assignment are sent to you by email upon registration. There are 2 book reports required for this training and all details are set out clearly for you in the confirmation email.
Post training
If there is insufficient time to complete the assignment prior to the start of the training itself you will have approximately one month to complete the written assignment after the training to be eligible for certification. No extensions permissible.
Your assignment will need to have demonstrated that you have dedicated the necessary time outside of the live teaching hours to show sufficient understanding of your reading and research on the recommended texts, readings and viewing.
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 it requires your willingness to explore and practice in this way.
As these are all online intensives there will not be the opportunity for any personal mentoring during the course itself.
All Level 2 and 3 graduates are invited to apply to assist future trainings and will be mentored to prepare for this.
A Level 4 Mentoring program has been introduced for 2022/23.
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.
To obtain a Yin Yoga Certificate of completion for the particular course you are attending, you will need to have attended 100% of the training to comply with Yoga Alliance requirements.
In the event you are unable to attend a day, you will have the opportunity to meet with an assistant to go over any missed material. There will be an additional charge for this at a reasonable rate payable directly to the assistant.
In the event that you are unable to attend more than one day, we will do our best to accommodate you at a future training to cover the part of the training you missed at no additional cost. This is subject to availability on the next training and provided it is scheduled. In the event that another training does not go ahead, there can be no recourse to a refund for missing any or all of a teacher training.
Provided you have maintained your commitment to the course, you will be given an opportunity to resubmit your assignment within a 2 week time frame. All assignments must be submitted directly to Sarah@SarahLo.co.uk
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.
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
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 2 who already have a base of knowledge and practice. Students can apply for 1 to 1 coaching on a personal level or as an assistant where basic mentoring is given in regard to teaching.
Mentoring you in your progression as a teacher is at the heart of the new Level 4 curriculum for 2022.
Can I do Level 2 before Level 1? Yes you can.
Depending what you have studied from the curriculum in Level 1 you may feel comfortable to do Level 2 first. Level 1 is not a beginners training and is an advanced teacher training that encompasses a wide area of subjects.
The courses are structured to follow a deepening layering of understanding from level to level. The whole curriculum of subjects for the Yin Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation courses from Levels 1 to 3 is vast covering 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.
Level 2 builds on Level 1 and does not repeat the same variations of postures or teachings from Level 1, 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. Many students have studied Level 2 before Level 1 and found them both of equal depth.
Please look at the curriculum for Level 1 here to check whether you have studied the curriculum. The curriculum for Level 2 is here.
The main teachings of Mindfulness Meditation and how to convey this in your classes is a strong part of the Level 1 curriculum as well as skeletal variation. Some students have done Level 2 before Level 1 because of timing issues and have integrated the material after attending the Level 1. It is possible to learn in many ways since we all have different backgrounds of study, levels of understanding and length of practice.
It is possible to do Level 2 prior to Level 1 provided you understand that you may have a knowledge gap and that there might be better integration once you complete Level 1 at a later date.
Please read the curriculum properly here and also the testimonials here to see what other student teachers have been able to do after studying this program. It 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.
It is not possible for any teacher to answer the question “Will I be able to teach well?” Legally, you can teach whatever you choose to teach. There is no legal requirement to become certified in Yin Yoga to be able to teach it. There are many untrained teachers teaching Yin Yoga. Whether or not you will teach it well depends on so many factors. What is your background in teaching and how many years have you been teaching and practicing? How regularly do you teach and practice? Do you have any meditation training or a consistent practice? Meditation is a skill that can takes years to develop through a consistency of practice and it may feel more natural if it becomes part of your daily routine.
The curriculum is taught according to the Buddhist applications of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and you’ll experience a led Meditation practice that is specific to each foundation physical, mental, emotional and external phenomena. The practices are experiential and many have found them pivotal to being able to understand Mindfulness through these deep and transforming practices.
Most students on this course undergo an experience that gives them a strong motivation to want to practice in this way because of their own internal shifts that are powerful enough for them to see the benefits of the practice and why others might benefit too. Many have said that the way the course is taught has given them the confidence to introduce the teachings to others at a very early stage upon leaving the course.
The full course is an advanced 200 hour training and certification in Yin Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation (50 hours X 4 teacher trainings from Levels 1 to 4.) 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.
The new Level 4 in Yin Yoga & Mentoring will be released in November 2022.
If you miss a whole day of the live training, we would offer you an opportunity to make up for the missed part of the course with an assistant. There will be a nominal charge for this payable and arranged directly with an assistant. We will not otherwise be able to certify you for hours that are unattended just as you would not be able to receive a certificate for any course or exam that you were not present for! Recordings are not able to be made for the breakout rooms where significant learning takes place. You cannot receive certification or verification for hours that you were not present for just as with any other test or course.
It may be possible to offer you a place for that particular session on a future training date but there is no guarantee of this. You would need to request to join on the next day once the new course dates are received and make a special request at that time.
We implemented a credit card facility and absorb these fees now so that students organise their own finance and don’t currently have a way to split credit card payments and track them as purchases for all online courses are final.
The only way to split a fee is to request to do this manually by bank transfer. 50% now and 50% prior to the end of the early bird date if you want to take advantage of the early bird pricing.
Please write to Office@sarahlo.co.uk if you wish to organise this way of payment.
How many hours of recordings are there each week? This varies for each training depending which training you are attending. For each live day of training, additional hours of recorded lectures of the theory and science of Yin Yoga, detailed Practicums for each Yin Yang Yoga pair and Yin Yoga Classes for you to practice that relate to the relevant Yin Yang organ pair as well as some reading links. You are able to view these at a time when it suits you so there is plenty of time to view the material and practice when it suits you as well as to repeat the sessions. Each course will have a set amount of time provided for you to watch the additional material.
The most important recording to watch will be the practicum as it will relate to the live session 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.
The live sessions are interactive and in order to take the attendance register as well as participate with the others in the group in the breakout sessions, it will be helpful and also a matter of courtesy to the other participants to have your cameras on. If there is a broadband issue or you need to angle the camera away for privacy at any time (for instance to deal with children, office etc), that is completely understandable.
This is a registered teacher training course with Yoga Alliance and is recognised worldwide.