Sarah Powers' teaching draws on an inspirational blend of yin, yang and Buddhist teachings. Lucia Cockcroft caught up with her after a workshop at London's Triyoga.
Q Yin yoga has had a strong influence on your teaching and practice. What can practitioners of other disciplines learn from a yin practice?
A Yin yoga is a way of tapping into our receptive nature. It allow us to surrender to who were are. Yin complements other practices well, forming a bridge between asana and meditation by integrating physical and psychological difficulty that, as human beings, we all have.
Q What exactly is yin?
A Yin poses involve coming into a pose in a consciously slow yin way. Staying in the poses for minutes at a time helps us go into deeper corridors within our natural ranges of motion in the joints of the hips and lower back, were the meridian chi can become most deficient.
Q What effects can a yin practice have?
A Doing a yin practice is a little like having needle-less acupuncture session. It activates the meridian channels - as the Chinese refer to them - that run up and down the body. Indian yogis call these channels Nadis. If you never go into the deeper connective tissue - as you do a yin practice - it becomes denser and less flexible, making it more difficult to go deeper into asanas and more comfortable to sit in meditation.
Q Yin can be quite an intense practice and perhaps something that people ease into?
A Yin practice challenges you to re-think what asana is about. It marries meditation and asana into a very deep practice. Some people, beginners especially, are not interested in this - to sit inside their discomfort and just watch their reactions instead of trying to change the pose. Yin yoga challenges you to sit in the pure presence of awareness. It's hard in a different way to active asana practice, but in a way that's more profound and satisfying."
Q How did you become interested in Buddhism?
A I was a studying psychology, on a graduate programme. I noticed that a lot of the teachers had Buddhist practices which were humble and persona. I saw that they were at ease, and wanted to find a way into that.
Q Do you mostly teach yin now?
A I teach about two thirds yin; the rest, yang. The dynamic yang practice I teach is a blend of Iyengar, Ashtanga and Viniyoga. I feel it is important for yoga practitioners to be receptive to outside influences, instead of getting stuck in one tradition, or way of doing yoga. It is important to be inquisitive.
Q Do you feel that you integrate Buddhism into your style more than other teachers do?
A Yes, with my emphasis on mindfulness and yin, I do focus on buddhism more than average. But this balance is growing in popularity.
Q In the past you have studied under yin founder Paul Grilley. Who are your teachers now?
A I used to take Paul's classes after my ashtanga practice and liked the depth of his approach. Now I have three teachers, two of whom are female - all are steeped in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. I see one monthly and the others yearly, mostly at retreats.
Postscript
Sarah Powers has been teaching yoga since 1987, drawing on elements
of Buddhism, as well as ashtanga, viniyoga and Iiengar. She came to yin
yoga after realising the practice could help her to sit comfortably in
meditation. She also draws from studies in Transpersonal Psychology,
and training in the Vipassana and Dzogchen practices of
Buddhis.
Sarah Powers' new book, Insight Yoga.
looks at the cross-over between yoga, Chinese Medicine and Buddhism.
She lives in Marin, California.
Sarah Powers' recommended reading:
Yin Yoga by Paul Grilley
The Yogic Path by Georg Feurtstein
Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar
The Yoga of Breath by Richard Rosen
The Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar
Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunartana
Breath by Breath by Larry Rosenberg
Zen Mind Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
.jpg "Baddha Konasana - Bound Angle Pose")
