Introduction to Chapter 1 – Reflections and Course Readings

Welcome to our special Yin Yoga and Yin Meditation Teacher Training – The Heart of Wisdom.

I’m really excited to have you in this course. The Heart of Wisdom is the “other half” of our two NEWLY developed meditation modules that explore Yin Meditation, and I’m really looking forward to sharing this material with you.

For this first chapter of study and practice together, I’d like to invite you to focus on a few key things.

    1. Lesson Overview. The course materials this week may be familiar to some of you if you’ve taken the Mind Sublime, or a previous meditation module with me. This repetition is intentional. Without a firm grasp of the basics, the subsequent lessons will be harder to comprehend. (A math student will never comprehend calculus if they have not mastered algebra, first). Please listen to and review these lessons and begin putting them into your personal practice.
    2. Personal Practice. The essence of this training is to support the development of wisdom within your practice. To that end, I highly recommend you establish at least a daily 30min practice. That could be 30min of sitting meditation, 30min of Yin Yoga, 30min of Qi Gong, or any combination that works for you. It’s important to safeguard the time. And I recommend trying to do your practice as one of the first things you do in the day. You can be creative in terms of what you do in your 30min block of daily practice, but do try to plan your schedule to prioritize this practice. Please use the Yin Meditation instructions and the Guided Yang Meditations as the basis for your practice.
    3. Keep a Journal. Please refer to the attached document Contemplative Journaling: Field Notes on the Path, which offers some reflections and prompts around the practice of journaling. I encourage you to journal for a few minutes (or longer) after your practice session.
    4. Listen Well. Several of the lessons in this chapter are audio-only talks. This is intentional. I invite you to settle into some Yin Yoga or restorative yoga poses as you listen to these lessons.
    5. Course Reading for this Chapter. You will find the course manual below, and for this chapter, I am going to ask you to read sections of the manual that are effectively transcripts of this chapter’s lessons. This is also intentional. In order to instill the core principles of Yin and Yang Meditation, I would like you to listen to and read the content at least once.

I hope you enjoy these foundational lessons on Yin and Yang Meditation and that they support your experiential development of calm and insight.

Warmly,

Josh

Course readings:

Please read this essay on journaling about your practice:

On Contemplative Journaling

Please read pages 19-49 from the Mindfulness Manual:

Mindfulness Manual