Melanie McLaughlin - Yin Yoga & Facing Yourself

Melanie McLaughlin has been practicing, teaching, and experiencing all that yoga has to offer since her lengthy sojourn in India over 20 yrs ago. She has trained with some of the worlds most respected teachers of yoga, energetics, and bodywork, and her real passion is Yin Yoga which, fused together with her studies in TCM and Qi Gong, Mel found a platform to create her own unique teaching style, which is a blend of Western/Traditional Indian and Taoist approaches. Born in the UK and one of the original leading teachers to bring YIN YOGA into the public eye in Australia, building a yin community from the ground up, Melanie is now the director of her very own "The Yin Space" online and is based in Sydney, Australia teaching in person at Body Mind Life. In this dialogue, we dig into: •her intuitive call to India and the unexpected spiritual sojourn •her stay at the Sivananda ashram, her first teacher training •Mel's experience in starting out teaching yoga in Sydney, Australia •the integration of traditional yoga with modern power yoga •studentship under Paul Grilley and Mel's greatest influences •her experience of the Bhagavad Gita and what is on Mel's bookshelf •a love of energy medicine and body work •why Yin Yoga is so important •why Mel was nicknamed the Velvet Hammer •what we are doing in Yin Yoga •why yin is not the "easy yoga" •unraveling trauma •progression on the spiritual quest •the seasonal application of yin yoga •what life looks like, living in alignment Mel is deeply curious about the energetic and esoteric, and includes this in her teachings with the belief we cannot address one body without the other. As an avid student of Paul Grilley, she is a registered senior teacher, blending the physical, mental, and energetic bodies together within the context of yin yoga and teaching in general. Connect with Mel on her website, Instagram, and Facebook.