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 via email from the office@sarahlo.co.uk
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 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 courses depending where it is being held.
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Modules
An assignment is set once Level 4 has been completed.
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 Certificate of completion for the particular course you are attending, you will need to attend the live components of the training to comply with Yoga Alliance requirements. If you are unable to attend any part of the live components you will need to make up the missed hours either with an additional session or at a future course. Please email the office@sarahlo.co.uk in advance to ensure eligibility before any absence.
In the event you are unable to attend a day, you may have the opportunity to meet with an assistant to go over any missed material if deemed necessary. 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.
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 2023.
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.
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.
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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. Teaching from your own experience as a learner is one of the most authentic ways of imparting knowledge i.e. teaching.
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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.
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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.
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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.
All sessions will be recorded for replay for those who miss a session.
We could offer you an opportunity to make up for the missed part of the course with an assistant or possibly some time after the next session. There may be a nominal charge for this payable and this can be arranged directly with Sarah or an assistant.
It may also be possible to offer you a place for that particular session on a future training. You would need to request to join on the next day once the new course dates are received and make a request at that time.
Please note that not all the live session are able to be recorded when in breakout rooms but we do record all of the sessions in the main room.
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.
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.
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 live sessions. That is something I make very clear in the interactive sessions – 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.
In comparison to previous years prior to covid where Sarah often had numbers of up to 100 people online via a studio, the trainings are now highly personalised for small groups of teachers and as such have a far higher value with no increase in cost.
This is not an institute or school or studio which can normally afford to reduce fees to some students with a high volume of participants, and we have kept course fees low in comparison to other 60 hour 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 are eligible for a contribution towards their fees.
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 reduction in fees because of your circumstances.
Almost all the women taking the course have children or are pregnant or have just had a baby and have learned how to adapt their practice accordingly. The priority is always to feel safe in your practice and to ensure you are taking care of yourself and staying with your capacity each time you practice. You do not need the teacher’s permission as to how you practice and what you choose to do or refrain from. Learning can take place effectively in many different forms.
There shouldn’t be any reason you couldn’t do this course and learn effectively within your parameters adapting your learning style to accommodate how you are feeling each day.
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.
The courses are in much greater detail now compared to previous live trainings and sets of lectures and practicums released each week to prepare you well for the live interactive sessions. Following the live sessions, relevant classes are suggested as practice to consolidate learning.
There are a number of videos to watch to prepare for each live day and these will be clearly laid out for you each week. Students will need to be disciplined as well as motivated enough to watch these within the given time frames.
Feedback from teachers has confirmed that students prefer to be able to learn in this way by being able to repeat lectures as well as watch the systematic dedicated lectures that support the live interactive sessions.
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.
This is a registered teacher training course with Yoga Alliance and is recognised worldwide.