Yin & Yang    3 Vehicles    Psycho/Spiritual Inquiry

The Insight Yoga Institute offers five and ten-day residential retreats that help practitioners integrate yoga, Buddhism and spiritual psychology into a skillful practice to balance the body, heart and mind. The program can be enjoyed as individual retreats or as an advanced studies YA 500 hour yoga teacher training. Retreats are offered in CA, NY, France, and Thailand. IYI retreats bring together the dynamic and receptive aspects of yoga, the three schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana), and the skillful methods of psycho-dynamic personal and relational work.

At the Insight Yoga Institute we feel that integrating essential teachings and practices from these wisdom traditions amplifies our insights and generates the potential for them to dawn as wisdom, while becoming evident in how we live our lives and benefit others.

Program Description

Insight Yoga involves 4 main aspects of development that are each interdependent. The body (physical and subtle), the heart, the mind, and relationships.

For the body we engage in regular active and receptive (or Yin/Yang) asana practices that are designed to develop and maintain pliancy in the muscles as well as the joints, to increase strength and vitality in all the systems of the body, and to cultivate a sensitivity to and refinement of the energy body- the gateway to an ease of being. Yin yoga is a meditative physical practice that stimulates the balancing of the energetic pathways (meridians) through holding floor poses while Yang yoga involves a slow alignment based movement practice.

For the heart, we engage in awareness practices that hold and help heal the wounded heart. We practice opening to and at times dialoguing with emotional patterns of reactivity, often uncovering hidden insights and gifts that can blossom into genuine self-love and compassion, causing the release of our self constructs and the compensatory strategies of armoring (protecting, shutting down) that naturally follow. This has a direct and lasting impact on our relationship to ourself and others.

Mind Training involves practices of visualization, contemplation, concentration, mindfulness, and open awareness drawing from Yogic, Taoist, and Buddhist teachings.

Learning to maintain a connection to our body, heart and mind when in relationships is probably the most challenging aspect of all. Relational awareness practices foster kindness, deep listening, meaningful exchanges, and learning to appropriately trust and reveal vulnerabilities with others. Practices include generating loving-kindness and compassion, as well as engaging in contemplative dialogues with others on specific subjects.

What is the focus of Insight Yoga? And what is the primary objective of the practice?
Each retreat will be exploring in depth the possibility of living with awareness in an embodied and interpersonal way, learning to meet all the psychological defenses and fears we inevitably collect during the maturation process. We bring together the dynamic and receptive aspects of yoga, the 3 schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Zen and Tibetan), and the skillful methods of psycho-dynamic personal and relational work. We feel both body/mind awareness and healing the psychological wounds of the heart are essential elements for developing a connection with our unfettered ground of being. This is the doorway that enables us to abide more regularly in uncontrived joy, elicit insights into the nature of existence, and most importantly, to be of genuine service to others as a teacher, lover, parent, and/or fellow human being.

Who founded the school and when?
Sarah and Ty Powers in 2010 (Bios on Faculty page).

YA 500 Hour TT modules
(can be taken in any order with an option of taking up to 4 years to complete) All 500 hours below are required
See dates below

10 days Insight Yoga Teacher Training with Sarah Powers 10 days with Paul and Suzee Grilley www.paulgrilley.com 5 or 10 day Silent Retreat with Sarah, Ty, Thanissara, Kittasaro 5 or 10 day Silent Retreat with Sarah, Ty, Gregory Kramer 5 or 10 day Psycho-spiritual retreat with Sarah, Ty, John Welwood, Jennifer Welwood Additional 5 day options (can replace one 5 day silent retreat with Sarah/Ty Powers) 5 day non-residential retreat with B. Alan Wallace and Chandra Easton 5 day non-residential retreat with Lama Tsultrim Allione, Sarah Powers and Chandra Easton

100 hrs 100 hrs 50-100 hrs 50-100 hrs 50-100 hrs   40 hrs* 40 hrs*

2012 Schedule

SUMMER June 18-24 5 day silent retreat with Sarah and Ty Powers Bordeaux, France Details July 18-22 5 day retreat with B. Alan Wallace/Chandra Easton yoga. Marin, CA Details August 3-12 8 day Insight Yoga TT with Sarah Powers Kripalu, MA Details FALL October 18-23 5 day silent retreat with Sarah and Ty Powers Phoenicia, NY Details October 23-28 5 day silent retreat with Sarah/Ty Powers and Gregory Kramer Phoenicia, NY Details WINTER December 6-11 5 day silent retreat with Sarah/Ty Powers, Kittisaro, Thanissara, Thailand Details December 11-16 5 day silent retreat with Sarah and Ty Powers, Thailand Details

50 YA hrs 40 YA hrs* 80 YA hrs   50 YA hrs 50 YA hrs   50 YA hrs 50 YA hrs

2013 Schedule

SPRING February 22-27 5 day retreat with Paul and Suzee Grilley Marin, CA Details Coming February 28-March 5 5 day retreat with Sarah/Ty Powers and John Welwood Napa, CA Details March 5-10 5 day retreat with Jennifer Welwood and Sasha Papovich (Insight Yoga) Napa Details SUMMER May 21-31 10 day Insight Yoga TT with Sarah Powers Bordeaux, France Details Coming June 30-July 5 5 day silent retreat with Sarah and Ty Powers Bordeaux, France Details Coming July 31-Aug 4 5 day retreat with Lama Tsultrim Allione, Sarah and Chandra, Marin, CA Details Coming August 6-15 10 day Insight Yoga TT with Sarah Powers, Marin, CA Details Coming FALL October 17-22 5 day silent retreat with Sarah and Ty Powers, Phoenicia NY Details Coming October 22-27 5 day retreat with Jennifer Welwood and Sasha Papovich (Insight Yoga) Details Coming WINTER Nov 21-Dec 1 10 day Insight Yoga TT with Sarah Powers Koh Samui, Thailand Details Coming December 5-10 5 day silent retreat with Sarah and Ty Powers Koh Samui, Thailand Details Coming December 10-15 5 day silent retreat with Sarah, Ty Powers and Gregory Kramer Details Coming * non-residential retreats are 40 YA hours

40 YA hrs* 50 YA hrs 50 YA hrs   100 YA hrs 50 YA hrs 40 YA hrs* 100 YA hrs   50 YA hrs 50 YA hrs   100 YA hrs 50 YA hrs 50 YA hrs

What are the major influences in the creation of the Insight Yoga Institute?
From the yoga lineages the influences are the physical and subtle body teachings in the Hatha Yoga Pradapika, the postural integration teachings of Iyengar Yoga, the grace and flow connected to breath of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, the personalized breath based slow flow of Viniyoga, the long floor poses that nourish the energy body of Yin Yoga, the teachings of inner yogas in Tibetan Buddhism, and the energy gathering practices of Qi Gong.

From the Buddhist schools, the emphasis is on The Eight Fold Path of early Buddhism from Theravadin teachings, the emphasis on compassion as represented by The Bodhisattva vow and enlightened living in the teachings of the 6 Paramitas of the Mahayana path, and the skillful means and wisdom teachings of Vajrayana Buddhism.

From the psychological world both the teachings of Buddhist Psychology (Abhidharma), as well as western psycho-synthesis models (Spiritual Psychology) that relate to the possibility of healing our individual emotional wounds, and discovering and dispelling our compensatory strategies of armoring (defensiveness), while identifying and working with our limiting self constructs (fixed ideas about who we are), as well as the recognition of our universal essential nature, what buddhism calls our un-contrived openness and clarity.

Who are the yoga teachers at the Insight Yoga Institute?
Sarah Powers, Paul and Suzee Grilley, Chandra Easton, (see Faculty page)

Who are the other esteemed teachers?

Renowned Buddhist teachers Thanissara, Kittisaro, and Gregory Kramer.  The spiritual psychology teachers are John and Jennifer Welwood.

Do you certify Insight Yoga teachers? What does certification entail?

In order to be endorsed to teach Insight Yoga, we ask that you complete our entire 500 hour program: residential retreats, daily meditation practice, monthly readings and writings, regular check-ins with your assigned mentor, and upon completion we ask you to send us an hour long video of one of your classes for review.

NOTE: We recommend you to have completed 200 YA hours before joining our 500 YA hour program as we do not exclusively focus on teaching you how to teach yoga asana, but how to integrate yoga with buddhism and spiritual psychology.

If you are interested in learning the basics of teaching yoga we recommend you take Tias Little’s 200 hour program before joining the Insight Yoga Institute. If you are not a yoga teacher, but would like to be exposed to yoga sequences that you can begin implementing at home while developing your Buddhist and psychological practices, you are welcome to apply.

What makes the Insight Yoga Institute unique (that is, different from other styles/schools of yoga)?

The skillful integration of genuine paths of Yoga with all three major lineages of Buddhism and training in graduate level Spiritual Psychology. Teachers at the Insight Yoga Institute are dedicated to introspection, self-inquiry, and living with awareness in the body, heart and mind. Through a dedication to daily practice and regular personal retreats, one becomes more of a refuge for oneself. Developing the ability to respond, rather than react, allows us to become more compassionate and intimate with the inevitable changes of life (sickness, old age, death, loss, pain), and to more authentically share that quality with others.