Teacher Spotlight: Sarah Powers

6th Annual Yoga Journal San Francisco Conference, January 16-19 2009

November 2009

Click here for Sarah Power's conference schedule.

Sarah Powers began exploring yoga in her early twenties as a requirement in her Graduate program in Transpersonal Psychology. Two decades later, her practice and teaching has evolved into an integrated path that she calls Insight Yoga. She describes Insight Yoga as a body/mind yogic path of awareness that creates a regular vehicle for insights to occur. It draws from the wisdom of Yoga, Buddhism, Chinese medicine and Transpersonal psychology.Insight Yoga involves 4 main quadrants of development that are each interdependent: the body, the heart, the mind, and relationships. Although her teaching includes emotional and relational work, during the conference her main emphasis will focus on the body and mindfulness practices of yoga and Buddhism.

In her asana classes she will guide people into alignment based active and receptive (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 a re-balancing and refinement of the energy body. Using instruction followed by practice, her meditation classes will articulate the differences between practices of concentration, contemplation and open awareness, often drawing from Buddhist mindfulness.

Sarah feels that insights into ourselves serve as a foundation for transformation in our relationships with others, fostering a natural desire for deepened intimacy and service. In 2007 she co-founded Metta Journeys, a unique organization that offers retreats in Africa (and elsewhere) that blend the daily practices of yoga with offering emotional and financial support to under-privileged local women fortunate enough to become involved in life enhancing organizations like Women for Women Int. (the NGO that Metta Journeys collaborates with in Rwanda). The yoga teachers on the retreats teach both the people traveling on the retreat, as well as the staff of the local organization. As they see it, "offering essential nourishment to the care givers". 

In her own words, "for me personally this yogic path has not only dispelled the separation between life on and off the mat, but has opened me to a continually renewable freshness and poignancy in the face of life's ubiquitous changes. I wish for everyone this quality of aliveness. This is why I am inspired to teach."

Retreats

August 22–27, Stockbridge, MA
Insight Yoga Retreat at Kripalu
www.kripalu.org

Feb 15-20, 2011
Insight Yoga Silent Winter Retreat
Laurel Springs Ranch
www.laurelspringsretreat.net

Classes

Please check our schedule for classes offered through partnering yoga studios, websites and other organizations.

Books, DVDs & CDs

Insight Yoga Book

Yin & Vinyasa Yoga Practice DVD

Yin Yoga Double CD Set (Audio)

Insight Yoga with Sarah Powers

Stay Informed

Enter your email in the field below and click "subscribe" to receive occasional emails about upcoming classes, retreats and other Sarah Powers Insight Yoga information.

Click here for the Sarah Powers Recommended Reading List