Yin Yoga Podcast

S 2| EP. 12Is Yin Yoga 'safe' for Moms to be? Or what about Moms who have recently had babies? What do Yoga teachers need to know about Pre/Postnatal and Yin Yoga?I'm excited about today's guest. I'm stoked about it, not only for the subject matter but because Clare is an expert in her field. But also selfishly because our guest is a fellow Canadian and a fellow, Albertan.So my guest today is Claire Newman. and Claire is, if I must, I would say prenatal postnatal fertility. An expert in getting pregnant, being pregnant, post-pregnancy, and then also teaching little babes. So she's got a wealth of information.Allow Me To Introduce Our Guest:Claire Newman is the founder of Mamata Yoga, a mother of 3 with over 23 years of experience. Claire's journey into the birthing world began after the completion of her first certification program in 2005,After assisting in a prenatal Yoga class. she was overwhelmed with the raw beauty while witnessing the connection between mother and baby, during a set of inspirational breathing and guided meditation at the end of class she knew she wanted to be a part of this extraordinary and blessed gift with expectant mothers in preparation for her own journey into motherhood (one day).She wanted students to be confident in her ability to teach Yoga Asana but needed the knowledge to help create a calming and nurturing environment for expectant mothers as she didn't have any children of her own at the time.So she enrolled in a program with the Global Birthing Institute in 2005 to prepare for another journey as a doula. Then she volunteered with the Terra Association and assisted in helping teens prepare for labour, delivery, and motherhood.She continued to teach several weekly prenatal Yoga classes in Edmonton and surrounding cities. and she served with much gratitude as a doula for many local couples.Retirement as a Doula called early when she discovered she was pregnant with her son, and decided to dedicate her focus to her teachings of Yoga. After the birth of her son. In 2008 she returned to teaching Yoga and became passionate about uniting mother,  and baby through the use of traditional Yoga practices like Pranayama breath meditation, mantra and healing sounds while incorporating mindfulness techniques that she learned as a Doula.So she created Mamata Yoga in 2011. After discovering that she was pregnant with her daughter. Clare decided to create a prenatal teacher training to help create a solid unification of current Yoga teachers and professionals who are interested in assisting women and birth through pregnancy, preparation for labour and birth, and inspiring healthy postpartum recovery.Clare is a Yoga practitioner with over 20 years of experience. She studied Iyengar Yoga intensely for over 4 years and attended teacher training at the Yoga College of Alberta in 2005 (which is the program that I also took)  and is an experienced Yoga teacher, a children's Yoga teacher, and a prenatal Yoga teacher. She's now been a full-time Yoga teacher for over 17 years, with over 24,000 teaching hours, and she's assisted and led 200-hour trainings since 2007.  She's also honoured to be the program director of the 200-hour online embodied soul Yoga Teacher training program.So that's just a little bit about my guest. Claire Newman. I'm going to see how off the mark I am with my knowledge of prenatal and postpartum and when it comes to mama's, see if I've got some misconceptions myself. I hope you enjoy this interview with Clare on Pre/Postnatal And Yin Yoga.Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

S 2| EP. 11How Do We Hold Brave Space? I think first, it's important to explain what I mean by Brave Space.We often hear about creating a 'safe space' or hear Yoga teachers say that their classes are a 'safe space'.But I would much rather create a Brave Space. Unlike a safe space, brave spaces are designed to handle risk and discomfort. The people within them might be dealing with discomfort there may be a moment when someone feels challenged, uncomfortable or emotional. In a Brave Space, the teacher can hold space for whatever may arise in the Yin Yoga Practice, without feeling like they need to fix it or 'make everyone comfortable' (which is impossible anyway).I believe when we can hold Brave Space for our students it allows them to experience the healing powers of a Yin Yoga practice.When I was thinking about this episode I knew the perfect Guest for this conversation would be Grace Tempany!Grace is not afraid to dive deep, and swim in the shadows. She's a truth-teller, critical thinker, teacher trainer and Brave Space Holder. About Grace: Grace Tempany is a former high school teacher turned Yin and functional Yoga teacher and trainer. She is the founder of I S F Y T the integrated school of functional yoga teachers, a leading Yoga Alliance professional and a Y A C E P Yoga Alliance school renowned for its original contribution rooted in educational expertise and lived experience.With a postgraduate diploma in education, over a decade of Yoga teaching in various realms, and some 3000 hours of yoga teacher training behind her, Grace has studied with some of the most renowned teachers in their fields. A student and assistant of My son, Sidboe, hopefully, I pronounced that right, who is herself an Australian-based assistant to Paul Grilley.Grace's foundation in YIN has been deeply functional since her introduction in 2015. That same year, Grace trained with Sarah Powers, integrating the best of both approaches to the practice, and then continually going deeper with further training and her own research. Grace has made Of Yin, a transmission in her life's work, emphasizing the integration of mind, body, and soul in her teaching and her practice.Grace's teaching really is experienced as true Yin therapy. Currently, in psychotherapy training, Grace's dissertation research is investigating the potential role functional Yin can play in the treatment of trauma. And when she's not talking about Yin, yes, it does happen or getting geared up for another training.Grace can be found planning trips, reading, or finding yet another rabbit hole to get lost in writing and speaking our passions. And she's super eager to return to her podcast, which is awesome, by the way, it's very brave and very soulful. I have listened to that. It's called Fallen from Grace.You can find Grace here: Website: https://isfyt.com/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/isfyt_yoga/Podcast: https://isfyt.com/podcastAlso mentioned in this episode: Yin Yoga and Emotions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2f6cYiRFhMYin Yoga is Not Chinese Medicine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLnX-n2N7ow&t=22s https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/Yoga Teachers: https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/ at both the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes On Zoom https://nykdanu.com/students/yoga/online-yoga/To subscribe to my https://nykdanu.com/students/yoga/video-library/Full Show Notes: https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul Grilley : https://pranamaya.com/courses/anatomy-for-yoga/?ref=20

S 2| EP. 10Hypermobility and Yin Yoga: What You Need to Know Hypermobility is a word that is unskillfully tossed around the Yoga-verse like confetti. Teachers labelling their students as Hypermobile with a good understanding of what Hypermobility actually is.Hypermobility is a term often used when a person’s joints appear to have more range of motion than “average” and is sometimes referred to as being “double-jointed.” Some people who appear to have “hyper-mobile joints” to the untrained eye may actually have a normal range of motion for their individual skeletal structure, and there is no harm in that person mindfully exploring the range of motion in their joints. As Yoga professionals, we need to be very careful about tossing the word around casually because Hypermobility is an actual medical condition, one that as Yoga Teachers we are not qualified to diagnose.Regardless of the style of Yoga, as Yoga teachers, I hope our intention is to encourage our students to practice within a pain-free range of motion. So if a student is experiencing pain due to a previous injury, we should encourage them to seek out a different pose or the use of props to support their practice. In some cases, the pain could be a joint hyper-mobility syndrome like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, but we can't tell by looking at them, and as Yoga professionals, we need to stay within our scope of practice and not attempt to diagnose people Because of Yin Yoga's relationship to Fasica and Connective tissue, it often gets a bad rap when it comes to hypermobile folks.Yin Yoga is not likely the best choice for those who have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome but does that mean that those people can't practice Yin Yoga?Well as the case often is in Yin circles the answer is It depends. Meet My Guest Expert for Today's Episode: Libby Hinsley is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Yoga Therapist specializing in the treatment of hypermobility syndromes and yoga-related injuries.She has taught yoga since 2005 and has trained yoga teachers since 2010. Her teaching and practice have been most influenced by the lineage of TKV Desikachar.Her book — Yoga for Bendy People: Optimizing the Benefits of Yoga for Hypermobility — explores how people with joint hypermobility syndromes can use the tools of yoga to support their thriving.As a person living with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, she is committed to raising awareness about hypermobility syndromes in the yoga community and beyond. Libby is also the founder of Anatomy Bites, a monthly membership for yoga teachers who want to learn anatomy in a fun, supportive, and relevant way.You can find Libby Here:WebsiteInstagram Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

Today's episode is highly requested.So today's topic is Sequencing Yin Yoga First, I want to mention that these are just my opinions. I will say that my framework for sequencing comes from a few different places.1) My original teacher training was in the Iyengar Yoga tradition, which does have some different sequencing rules than those of you who were trained in the Vinyasa Ashtanga system. I will dive into that more coming up.2) the other thing to note is that when I'm talking about sequencing in Yin, I'm talking about it from a therapeutic lens, because I'm a yoga therapist, so I cannot see the world through any other glasses other than therapeutic. And so there might be some things that I say that you hadn't considered because that's sort of the lens that I am seeing this through. 3) also when I'm sequencing in yin, I'm also thinking a lot about the fascia. and how it's going to respond as opposed to the muscles.Ok, Let's dive in.Also mentioned in this episode:https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-podcast/yin-yoga-podcast-what-is-yinyang/ https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-podcast/yin-yoga-is-not-chinese-medicine-with-dr-karina-smith/Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

S 2| EP. 8In this episode, I'll discuss whether or not you should theme your Yin Yoga classes.I think that sometimes when you graduate from your teacher training program,, you feel like there are these gaps in your knowledge and then you look around and you see all these fancy classes that people are doing with themes and all this extra stuff, it can feel like a lot of pressure.So, let's talk about that. Let's talk about do we need to theme a class, yes? No? Maybe so?What are the advantages and disadvantages of having themed classes? Is it worth the work? And how would you even decide what themes to use?Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

S 2| EP. 7When we're a teacher who has moved from a movement form of yoga into a quieter form of yoga. There can be this awkward feeling about all the silence. There can be discomfort with not talking as much and allowing space for quiet exploration. Sometimes this comes just from it being a habit from having taught a more movement form of Yoga.And so as teachers, we can think that we want to talk, all the time in class in these quieter classes like Yin because we feel like we have to make everyone comfortable.And we feel like we need to fill the silence. We try to come up with a boatload of inspiring quotes or full-on Dharma talks so that there isn't silence in the practice. And I'm going to argue that when you do that, you are stealing from your students. You are stealing this experience of growth and healing that comes from the silence. On the other side of that discomfort is where the growth and the healing is. That is where the evolution is. It's on the other side of our comfort zone. Other episodes mentioned In this episode:Emotions in Yin YogaThe Mind In Yin YogaShould You Use Music In Your Yin Yoga Classes? Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

S 2| EP. 6This is Part 2 of a Two-Part Series: Why I Boycott Yoga Alliance. In this episode, we hear from two guests:Brea Johnson of Heart and Bones YogaBrea's InstagramAndAlex Crow of  Yoga PhysicsAlex's InstagramYoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

S 2| EP. 6This is the beginning of a little mini-series on the subject of the Yoga Alliance.I always meant to do an episode on Yoga Alliance because there are so many misconceptions about Yoga Alliance, what they are, what they aren't, and whether or not you need to be registered with Yoga Alliance to teach Yoga (spoiler alert the answer is no).My Therapeutic Yin Training is not registered with Yoga Alliance and neither am I.So I'll talk in the second half of this first episode about my own story with Yoga Alliance and why I don't use or support Yoga Alliance, but I'll get into that in the second half.I wanted to serve as an introduction to the two-part series. So there will be this week's episode with an interview with, Suzanne Dulin, so she will start off the series. And then you'll hear from me and then in the second half of this episode, Next week for Part 2 I have two more guests as well, Brea Johnson and Alexandra Crow.So I'll introduce them in that in part 2, but I just wanted to plant the seed that this is a two-parter.So this is a mini Yoga Alliance series. I always intended to do a podcast on Yoga Alliance, an episode on the Yoga Alliance. And then actually it was requested as well so here we go.The original video of Suzanne's that I mentioned https://youtu.be/0nfqAcDix58?si=L4AeuAdGGeyaIcmJSuzanne's Website: https://www.getabiggerboat.com/Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show Notes https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/yin-yoga-podcast/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra 

S 2| EP. 5For this episode, we have a guest interview, which I'm doing a little bit differently than how I've done. Guest interviews in the past. Typically speaking,me when I do guest interviews, I get their whole origin story. We talk about the topic, and then we do some sort of icebreaker questions at the end.The reason that I'm doing this one differently (and I have a feeling there'll be a couple more like this) is because of the connection that I made with today's guest Dr. Karina Smith, she reached out to me on Instagram because she had heard some of the episodes, and just wanted to kind of connect and touch base and nerd out about Yin Yoga and Traditional Chinese Medicine. And because of that her back and forth with her and I in Instagram messages was so good.And then we met on Zoom, and just had like a chat, and just 2 colleagues kind of chatting it up. I realized that I think the best way for me to have her on the podcast was to have a little bit more of what I would call a fireside chat.So yes, we're going to hear about Karinas' Yoga journey and things like that. But there's a lot more of her, and I kind of going back and forth. It's more conversational than an interview style.When we have these connections on Instagram, and then, when we met on Zoom, it just felt like the conversations were so good and so rich, and so nuanced, and there was so much there that I just kept wanting to hit record.And so this time we hit record.😉There was so much that came out of this interview that the recording was nearly 2 hours long 🫣So I have edited the audio down significantly but if you want the whole thing you can get that here in the Yoga Tube Video.There were so many nuggets in this episode that it was difficult to even narrow down the subjects to come up with a title!But upon listening to it again I think what will stand out to so many teachers here is the chat we had about Yin Yoga and Traditional Chinese Medicine and some of the mistakes we see in the Yin Yoga world when it comes to lumping these together. So that's the part of the conversation I'm spotlighting but please know there is so much more richness to this conversation.Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the Page https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-teacher-training/To Join my Yin Yoga Classes on Zoom: https://nykdanu.com/students/yoga/online-yoga/To subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library: https://nykdanu.com/students/yoga/video-library/Anatomy for Yoga with Paul Grilley: https://pranamaya.com/courses/anatomy-for-yoga/?ref=20Find Dr. Karina Smith on:Her website: https://www.drkarinasmith.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkarinasmith/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drkarinasmithHer Podcast: https://www.drkarinasmith.com/podcast

S 2| EP. 4If you are newer to Yin circles, then you may not know. That we don't follow these kinds of "alignment" rules in Yin Yoga.If you're not familiar with the work of Paul Grilley my teacher.He has what was a DVD (and is now an online streaming presentation) called Anatomy for Yoga. and one of the geniuses of Paul, and one of the biggest contributions he's made to the yogaverse is understanding that skeletal variations are a very real thing. Meaning if you and I were to stand next to each other, even if we were exactly the same height and weight. Kind of general body. Proportions like our arms, were similar in length, etc., etc. We do not look the same on the inside. So inside our body, our bones are not the same from one person to the next.So based on the fact that we are all different, inside we can't expect our poses to be the same on the outside either!Yin Yoga is a functional form of Yoga, not an aesthetic form of Yoga.Meaning in Yin Yoga it doesn't matter what the pose looks like. It's what the pose feels like that matters.So if you are feeling the shape in the intended area, in the 50-60% range and you aren't in any pain then you are doing the pose right, regardless of what it feels like.In Yin Yoga, we are looking for Function over Form.Yoga Teachers: Join The Waitlist for my Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training at the bottom and top of the PageTo Join my Yin Yoga Classes on ZoomTo subscribe to my On-Demand Video Library:Full Show NotesAnatomy for Yoga with Paul GrilleyHang Drum Music by Fred Westra