The Benefits of Teaching Yin Yoga

The Benefits of Teaching Yin Yoga

Yin Yoga is a holistic practice that can support individuals to realise optimal health and well-being on the level of the physical, mental, energetic and emotional body. Yin yoga is growing in popularity. In the west we live in a typically ‘yang culture’; it is fast-paced and there is a lot of emphasis on ‘doing’ and ‘getting’ with never enough time. It is therefore not surprising that many people are now becoming drawn to the slow and passive yin style of yoga, where we are encouraged to simply ‘be’, to pause, notice and reflect and we are offered an abundance of time and space. Teaching yin yoga can be a wonderful gift to offer your students. It is a gift that is in high demand, the perfect anti-dote to a fast-paced lifestyle and the ultimate compliment to an otherwise yang yoga offering and practice.

On a physical level, yin yoga teachers support students to release myo-fascia, stimulate connective tissue and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This helps students to improve digestion, lower inflammation and increase their immune functioning, and is the perfect complement to yang yoga practice and lifestyle.

Amidst the demands of daily life, many people have few opportunities to connect with themselves and calm their busy minds. Teaching yin yoga is a beneficial way to introduce meditation and conscious awareness to students and have a positive impact on supporting mind-body balance and soothing the central nervous system. Yin yoga teachers often find that by teaching these calming techniques, they too receive the benefits to their mental health!

Yin yoga teachers are skilled energy workers and have knowledge of subtle acupressure points and energy pathways. Students are drawn to yin yoga classes because of the support yin yoga teachers offer in harmonising energy flow and restoring their bodies natural systems.

Yin yoga teachers learn and develop a high level of emotional intelligence and they can support their students to do the same. Part of the role of being a yin yoga teacher is to facilitate a safe space to welcome and interact with emotions as they come to the surface during practice. Practicing mindfulness of emotions is one of the best things that we can do for our emotional health, and yin yoga teachers are in a privileged position to support and hold space for this powerful process to take place.

There are many benefits to teaching yin yoga, especially amidst the demands of today’s typically yang, fast-paced lifestyle. Yin yoga is a valuable and powerful practice to train in and yin yoga teachers can support both students and themselves to realise optimal health on a physical, mental, energetic and emotional level.

To dive deeper into this topic and learn more about how to teach yin yoga, Shanti Atma Yoga offers a variety of trainings exploring the many avenues to self-healing, teacher development and deepening your yoga practice: