500 Hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training Course In Rishikesh

Rishikesh is a center for spirituality and embodies India’s deep-rooted, ancient culture. The intense sadhanas (meditation practices) carried out by the ancient sages have created many locations near Rishikesh where spiritual vibrations are at their highest.

As it is surrounded by imposing green mountains, lovely waterfalls, and the mesmerizing turquoise-blue Ganga River flowing through the town, one can immerse themselves in the beauty of nature here. These beautiful settings have a charm that can calm the soul, which is difficult to find in the hectic pace of city life.The entire state synthesizes numerous wonders, whether treks, climbs, meadows, camping, rafting, temples, or cultural festivals.

Yoga involves training the mind to become still, and Rishikesh, whose name means “Lord of Senses,” is the ideal location for this.

According to the Skanda Purana, Lord Vishnu appeared to Raibhya Rishi here as the “God of Senses,” Hrishikesh. In addition, this location’s serene surroundings and strong spiritual vibrations make it ideal for yogic practices for anyone looking to find solitude, tranquility, and self-transformation.

Many famous people have spoken highly of Rishikesh’s spiritual energy. Thousands of yogis and gurus have lived their lives of austerity here. While some yoga studios are situated in the city’s heart, many others are far from the commotion of the crowds, offering the ideal setting for yoga enthusiasts to learn and practice tranquility and peace amidst nature. And that is the way it ought to be! For those looking to advance spiritually in life, this location offers a wide range of educational opportunities, including yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, Pranic healing, sound healing, and much more.

Rishikesh, also known as the “Yoga capital of the world,” has Shree Hari Yoga, providing excellent learning opportunities in this field. These include yoga philosophy, which covers the knowledge downloaded from our great saints, meditation techniques that help us to be more appreciative of life, pranayama practices that teach us to be more aware of our breath, shatkarma practices that help in cleansing the body from the inside out, yoga anatman, and yoga nidra.

What is Yin Yoga?

Now, you can avail yourself of the chance of a lifetime, to engage in Yin Yoga practice. You may already be motivated to be on the mat, as the perks like flexibility and strength can lure just about anyone. However, Yin Yoga brings in some benefits for all those who want to relax a bit. There are athletes and runners among you, who may do good from a stretch. And that too, without too much exhaustion. This yoga form happens to be the one for such individuals.

To make matters easy for you, this form of yoga can trace its origins to Taoist traditions. Yang relates to warmth and energy, whereas Yin refers to cooling and balance. You can practice this form, sitting in one position for a considerable length of time.

There are no Surya namaskars, or standing poses. You will be dressed in comfortable attire and will mostly do seated poses and supine ones. In the Yin Yoga class, you can hold the position for a good 2-20 minutes at a stretch. In this form, you will be using more English names, as against Sanskrit ones. So, it will be another experience altogether.

What Will You Learn In Yin Yoga?

About Yin Yoga

You will learn many new principles, as a part of the 500 Hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh. When you are learning or teaching this yoga form to someone, you should keep a few things in mind. When you stress on the deep connective tissues in the body, it can lead to the proper flow of prana. And, that is exactly what Yin yoga is all about. In functional Yin form again, there is no perfect pose. The hand and foot movements help to stress that body part. Moreover, Yin yoga practitioners take into account, the fact that all bodies and skeletal structures are different. So, what works for one may not work for the other. There are three kinds of stresses, that you must use in this yoga form. They are compression, tension, and contraction. In this realm, you will concentrate more on connective tissues, fascia, and ligaments.

Pranayama In Yin Yoga

Maharaja Pranayama is the most effective pranayama, which you can use as a part of Yin Yoga. It is also called ‘Royal breath’. You will practice three part inhalation and three part exhalation as a part of the breathing cycle. As a part of the breathing practice, you have to fill the lower belly, then the ribcage, and then the chest. You have to exhale in the reverse order, too. You have to maintain strong focus, by concentrating on the breath. Apart from the Maharaja Pranayama, you can also try the slow breathing. This type of breathing suits the Yin Yoga practice, just fine. When you practice slow breathing, you can enter the alpha stage. Reduce all your mental oscillations through the practice of Yin forms. In our mundane lives, everyone exists in the beta state. However, through proper pranayama, you can also enter theta states of consciousness. Alternate Nostril Breathing is one of the most common breathing modalities for you, that suits Yin Yoga.

Asana In Yin Yoga

Yin Yoga is a gentle yoga form, which you practice to reach deep down into the connective tissues. The main focus of the yin poses is to relax, while exerting deep tension on the tissues that are hard to reach. Moreover, you will find an amalgamation of the Indian Vedas and Chinese medicine, to some extent in the practice. The poses or asanas are mainly themed around the meridians or organs. There are a few important poses in yoga, which concentrate on the 10 myofascial groups and 14 skeletal portions.

The poses that we are talking about here are-

• Saddle pose
• Caterpillar pose
• Dragon pose
• Twist pose
• Dog pose
• Shoelace pose
• Dragonfly pose

These are the poses, which mainly target the leg areas, like hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors. Moreover, you will be able to use as many props as you want, in your yoga practice.

In the 500 hour yin yoga teacher training course, you will learn about many other forms or poses like-

1. Anahatasana
2. Ankle Stretch
3. Bananasana
4. Bridge
5. Shavasana
6. Shoelace
7. Snail
8. Sphinx and Seal
9. Square
10. Squat
11. Dragonfly
12. Swan & Sleeping Swan
13. Toe Squat
14. Camel
15. Cat pulling its Tail
16. Caterpillar
17. Child’s Pose
18. Dangling
19. Deer
20. Dragons
21. Frog
22. Butterfly
23. Half butterfly
24. Happy Baby
25. Reclining Twists

Mantra

You will learn a wide variety of mantras as a part of the 500 hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training Course. They can clear the energies around you and also heal the mind, body, and the soul. The mantra is nothing but an affirmation, of sorts. It helps to draw positive vibes from the universal cosmos. Amazingly, each meridian that corresponds to an organ has an emotion in the realm of Yin Yoga. When you go deeper into the studies and understand the metaphysical aspects, deeper healing can occur. When you repeat a mantra over and over again, then you can bring about a change the neural pathways. Moreover, you can connect with the meridians more easily.

Art of Teaching

In the Yin Yoga teacher training, the learned and experienced Yin Yoga teachers from Shree Hari Yoga School, will teach you the best cues to take the practice to a deeper level. Words, just like in the mantras are just perfect for the practice. They are also the main source of power that humanity has. Yin yoga is quite difficult to teach, as a teacher. So, when you learn the same, you ought to pick up all the nuances from the teachers, who manage to drill it into your psyche. Yin yoga revolves around silence and meditative poses. There is also stillness around you. You will learn about the basic guidelines, that you will use later as a teacher.

The physical cues come first and are the most important ones, after which, you should allow some silence around you, followed by communication. It is necessary to let your teacher know, what emotions you are going through. Guide the emotions toward the breath, and then the poses. Almost all the time, you have to meditate silently, with light music playing in the background.

Anatomy and Physiology

In Yin Yoga, the functional anatomy approach is extremely crucial. In the texts that you study as a part of the Yin Yoga practices, you will discover myriad information, about the bones, tissues, and the fascia. It does not matter, whether you are a novice or a trained Yin Yoga expert, the body types that you will encounter in the course of your career, will never be the same. Unless you know where the organs are, or the bones are, it may get difficult for you to work around the body’s limitations. Compression is something, that you will need to handle as a part of the teacher training. The spine and the upper torso assume a lot of importance in the realm of Yin.

Philosophy

Yin Yoga is based on the Daoist concept or Taoist concept of Yin and Yang. You will get a basic understanding of the above philosophical principles, to understand how Yin yoga asanas affect the deep-seated connective tissues. Moreover, you will also learn about the meridians, their emotions, and energy shifts. In this form, when you work on the meridians, you are also working with Qi or Chi, around the organs. In this form, you have to work with the forces of mother nature. A larger part of the practice as a student or teaching as a teacher goes towards balancing the energies. The field has a lot of transformational power. You have to go through the entire experience to know and feel it.

Sound Healing

You will be a bit happy to know, that sounds and Yin act complementary to one another. Sounds take the journey to an all-new personal level. If you combine sound bath sessions with Yin yoga, the result can be best described as therapeutic. There are a variety of instruments, that you can use today. There are gongs, bells, chimes, tuning forks, and drums as well. Each instrument has a characteristic sound of its own. There is another amazing fact, that you will discover today. The human body being made up of seventy percent water, reacts to sound in a profound manner. Sound healing can directly go into the body and impact it.

Shatkarma (Cleansing)

Like other forms of yoga, Shatkarma kriyas are good for this yoga form as well. There are six cleansing and purification techniques that you can practice to clean the internal organs. When your body is clean, the mind also gets purified and you can concentrate on the higher energies. The various kriyas that you will learn are Neti, Basti, Trataka, and Dhouti, to name a few.

Mudra

The mudras are also quite important in Yin yoga, as the mere contact and pressure created between all the finger tips can help the impulses travelling through the body. Mudras Play an important part in the 500 hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh. After you do the mudras, you will start feeling the energetic effects of the pose. Mudras and the Yin yoga poses will help you to reach a deeply meditative state and also get the benefits from the nerve’s relaxation. Moreover, mudras have the power to affect you on a deeply emotional as well as spiritual level.

Bandha

There are three main bandhas in Yin Yoga and they are the Mula bandha, Jalandhara bandha and Uddhiyana bandha. In Yin yoga, you will learn about the Yin implications of the bandhas. In the practice, the mulabandha is used most of the time. In this realm, the practice of the bandhas is very subtle.

Yoga Alliance Standard We Maintain For Yin Yoga

The 500 hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh is one of the most renowned courses for any beginner or professional. After you complete the course from Shree Hari Yoga School, you will gain access to the 500 RYT certification. Moreover, it helps you to teach anywhere across the globe. The school as well as the courses are all accredited by Yoga Alliance.

Yoga Sequencing Classes (Practicum) for Yin Yoga

In the ideal Yin Yoga class, you are supposed to practice with the help of props. They can be either cushions, bolsters, or pillows. The Yin Yoga practice is mostly seated or supine. You will never stand up and do standing poses or the Surya Namaskars. Meditation is the precursor to the course. You have to flow from one pose to another, rather seamlessly in this form, after 2-20 minutes hold time. Initially, your teacher will ask you to keep the holds for a shorter duration. However, once you become a pro, you can do them for longer duration.

Schedule of Yin Yoga at Shree Hari Yoga School

You can start with Pranayama and meditation, as always. It is followed by some simple seated forward bends, seated twists, and seated contortions. Have breakfast. After you resume, you will learn about the theory behind the subject, which in this case includes the five elements of Yin Yoga, yoga anatomy, and physiology. After that, you have to head for lunch. After lunch, you have to practice deeper Yin yoga asanas. The art of teaching is scheduled around this time, mostly. Self-study of Yin yoga follows. You can do mantra chanting sessions as well, that takes place on a general level. Yoga Philosophy is also included in the Yin Yoga schedule.

After Class in Rishikesh

• Ganga Aarti (ritual of worshipping the Ganges)
• Visit temples and ashrams
• Visit nearby waterfalls
• Rishikesh (no, not an actual Rishikesh beach! It’s a place on the river bank frequented by people who come to sit, read, meditate, or chant)
• Shopping at local markets
• Hiking/walking