Sarah Powers blends the best elements of
yoga, Buddhism, and traditional Chinese medicine in her new DVDs, Insight Yoga
Earth: Balancing Yin Energy and Insight Yoga Heaven: Balancing Yang Energy.
Her thought-provoking style of practice
(appropriately dubbed Insight Yoga) seeks to balance two opposing yet
complementary energies described in traditional Chinese medicine: yin, which
she describes as “earthly stability,” and yang, an “open expansiveness” or
heavenly energy.
Insight Yoga Earth provides viewers with
ayin-cultivating sequence of standing and balanceing poses, a sequence of
seated twists and core strengtheners to increase circulation and break up
stagnation in the body and mind, and two guided meditations to train the mind
to let go of distraction and reaction and begin cultivating pure awareness.
Insight Yoga Heaven’s two asana segments,
designed to harness wayward yang energy (which ideally moves downward in the
body but can be lad upward and astray as a result of our hectic daily lives),
include inversions, backbends, and supine poses. Heaven also contains a lovely
karuna (compassion) meditation to help ease your reactions to life’s
difficulties.
Powers gently encourages students to take
charge of their lives and do the work necessary for spiritual growth. Heaven
and Earth provide the insight and the tools to begin that journey.
