Name: Alchemy of Slow - 60 hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training — Sarah Zandbeek
Brand: Sarah Zandbeek
Price: 950.0 CAD
Availability: InStock

Welcome to your Yin Yoga Teacher Training. Or, to put it differently, welcome a step deeper into the growing webwork of healers, learners, seekers and wisdom keepers who overlap and co-inform the Culture of Slow.

We need not bore you with much of a reassertion of how much our wider, westernized culture is in need of this particular medicine, of creating space for the sake of space itself. To live, work and play at an overstuffed, high pace within it is to already be aware (practically everyone to some degree or another) that we are, in the words of anthropologist Chris Ryan, being “civilized to death.”

Be that as it may. Rather than citing scary statistics to affirm how woken we are about how broken it all is, let’s instead devote this bandwidth to learning and doing what is actionable. Or in the case of Yin Yoga, to do what is actionable at a purposeful, re-wiring, and very, very slow pace.

In the mid 2010s, Sarah and I were both lucky enough to be yoga teachers at a space called Noorish. Downstairs was a yoga & movement space, upstairs was a Superfood focused vegan restaurant & elixir bar. It was commonplace to seek to carve out enough of your day or evening to not only get on your mat downstairs, but make some time before or after to wander up into the cafe. Maybe have Keir fix you up a chaga chai, or chat with Ayaaz about the new shilajit jing tonifier that was new in stock.

One of my favorite words to port over from Superfood world, and apply to yin yoga in particular, is adaptogenic. A simple definition of an adaptogen, that will suffice for now, is an “herb, root or other organic substance that helps us to manage stress and/or restore balance.”

Adaptogens do not nurture by solving any particular malady or imbalance in the body or mind. Rather they provide an experience, an influence, a window of opportunity, for the body (and all of its functions, including the chemistry that shapes our state of mind and spirit) to amplify and maintain its own homeostasis. A balance that is not fixed or rigid, but dynamic, resilient, adaptable.

We offer ourselves, our nervous systems, our students and our culture, this exact same resiliency by dimming the lights (lesson 1 of curating the space of your yin class: always dim the lights), giving one another permission to rest, to know gravity, to know long, luxurious exhales.

There are myriad ways to deeply care for the body, mind, and spirit, and we are gifted to have available more of the panoply than ever before in human history. But if we simply shove these medicines in our backpacks to bring along on our tipped forward, over-hurried days, we grant them little space with which to work their magic.

Yin Yoga, then, and the settled spaciousness it creates, can be seen as undergirding every other practice of self love we offer ourselves and our students: so that we may thoroughly absorb, be re-wired, be adapted by, all the beauty in the world around us.

TOPICS COVERED:

How exploring Yin Yoga through the lens of the nervous system, and toning the vagus nerve in particular, is of great insight and benefit
A framework to construct your own Yin sequences with continuity & creativity
The somatics of not just the poses themselves, but how to safely and supportively guide bodies out of one shape and into the next
How to ‘read the room’ and tailor an exceptional experience for those who come to your class on any given day
The important role of sound/music (or lack thereof) in cultivating a restful space
How to sequence and teach Yin in such a way that new students aren’t overwhelmed and regular students aren’t underwhelmed
How to make your Yin classes distinctive in a way that will have students coming back for more
Ways to weave a ‘big picture’ of why we are all on our yoga mats into your classes, something so often overlooked
The use of teas, herbs, nootropics, superfoods, and other allies for enhancing your own Yin practice and daily well-being, and to incorporate into workshops and retreats
Chinese Medicine Theory on the Elements
Study of the energetic Meridians that run through our bodies and how to access them through the postures
Fascia
Somatic experience practices to embody the the content learned
How to utilize touch to potentially support someones experience

This training is a fusion of Traditional Yin taught through Graham and Restorative Yin taught through Sarah with the use of props and adjustments (aka enhancements).

We are excited to witness and assist you as you craft your own ways by which to offer forth this essential, slow medicine. All together, and from wherever we each currently are, let’s get started.

**You do not need to be certified in a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training to take this training.

2024 DATES:

Training Components:

(All content online via Zoom, with all recordings available)

Every Sunday, 9am-2pm MST

Deep Dives into the background knowledge, structure and intangibles of teaching Yin Yoga

Weekly Tuesday + Thursday Classes

90 minute Yin Yoga Practices led by Sarah & Graham to rest into and allow what we are learning to land in the body

September 8 - 3 hour Opening Ceremony

September 15 - First full day of Training

October 27 - Last day of Training

All sessions will be live and recorded for replay.

** If you can not make a session live or have to leave early, you can simply watch the replay.

COST:

$950

FACULTY:

Sarah Zandbeek

Sarah is a deep lover of steeping. Her path has always been that of the hungry snail - slow and steady allowing all to unfold in its own time and learning through observing the process.
Sarah has been facilitating yoga asana classes since 2008 and Yoga teacher Trainings since 2014. She graduated from the Acupuncture program in 2014 and has continued to weave her knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine into her work ever since.
I look forward to sharing my slow steep wisdom with you and how Chinese Medicine can be infused into your yin sequencing and practices via the organ meridians to promote an overall more healthy and stable existence.

Graham Parsons

Graham first found his way into a subtle experience of slow body meditation through Taoist Tai Chi and conscious dance in his early 20s. Upon discovering Yin Yoga in 2005, when it was just beginning to rise in prominence, he was fortunate enough to study under the legendary Yin author and teacher Bernie Clark. He was then invited to begin offering his breath-centered take on Yin Yoga at local Edmonton studios, blissfully unaware that his Yin training to that point was meant only to be an add on to a more formal 200 hour yoga teacher certification! This all worked out for the best as it allowed Graham to shape much of his teaching style through real world experience of different bodies and capabilities, rather than simply theory (and yes he did certify in his 200hr not long after).
Graham is a strong believer in utilizing all the elements a teacher has at hand, including sound, lighting, rhythm and presence throughout the space, to curate a rejuvenatory experience that stretches far beyond the asanas themselves. He looks forward to bringing thousands of hours of yin experience to helping others grow and refine as they step into teacherhood.

This training came into being because two friends, who both love yin yoga (but teach it very differently!), wanted to share their learnings and refinements drawn from a combined 25+ years of holding space for people to slow down, restore, re-pattern, and remember.

Perhaps you’ve been to a yin class where the teacher demonstrates a pose, tells you to get into it, then sets their iphone timer for 3 minutes. Maybe mentions something about relaxing.

Then tells you to get out of it. You could’ve done this at home on an app.

What we’re offering is a considered, and compassionate way to teach yin yoga that will have your student base ever growing and coming back for more. Because they feel the value of all the little things you’re doing, feel cared for, feel able to step outside the bustle of daily life and truly soften.

The Alchemy of Slow 60 Hr Yin Training with Sarah and Graham was a much-needed addition to my personal practice, teaching capabilities, and overall sense of self. I had reservations about a teacher training that was entirely done in a virtual space, but Sarah and Grahams presence were so palpable. It felt like we were all together, the entire time. Their presence and offerings resonated so deeply during the zoom sessions, and in the hours, days, and months after as well.
I particularly loved what each of them brought to the training in terms of different styles of yin, but also how their personalities, teachings, and discussions were also complimentary to each other. Collectively, a curated sense of calm and slowness was presented from day one of the training. This pace that was held steadfast throughout the training. The training had so many great conversations about philosophy, importance of breath, anatomy, sequencing, transitions, opening and closing of classes, what sounds to offer, continuous learning/book recommendations. Sarah so thoroughly and profoundly sharing her knowledge in TCM, and Graham so eloquently teaching different styles of breathwork. One of my favourite parts were the coherence practices they taught before we started between sessions, and the quality of the yin classes they taught. They were a perfect balance on where challenge meets warmth and growth. The training manual was a perfect reflection of the training, and is an excellent resource to have moving forward.
I felt as though my teaching was impacted immediately after starting this training. I noticed a shift in level of confidence and control in the room and within the space between students and myself. More confidence in sequencing, entering and exiting asanas, and a whole new sense of interest in TCM. I have such a higher appreciation and connection with slower style classes. I find myself integrating moments of yin into all styles of classes I both take and teach now. Really focusing on the importance and the quality of transitions, calming of the mind, tuning into the breath amidst all asanas not just as a connection between poses, and sinking with strength and ease into asanas.
This training supported me in my life as a welcomed change of pace amidst a chaotic and hard season in my life. I learned so much about myself, functions (or lack of) in my body, and the challenge of meeting myself in a hard practice. I am still in the midst of a challenging season, but I have such a better view, outlook, and approach to the ebb and flow of life. I highly recommend this training if you are looking for an opportunity to deepen your practice and teaching, to focus on dropping in to your mental and physical bodies, and to be enveloped into a compassionate environment that you can receive and then give to others.
~Emily Cross-Wilkinson

Alchemy of Slow - 60 hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training