ABOUT SARAH AND TY
ABOUT SARAH
Sarah Powers is the co-founder of the Insight Yoga Institute as well as the author of Insight Yoga and Lit from Within, which interweaves Yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, and Transpersonal psychology into an integrated practice to enliven the body, heart, and mind. Sarah has been teaching for 30+ years, blending both a Yin sequence of long-held floor poses to enhance the meridian and organ systems while often engaging in inquiry practice, with a mindfully-based flow yoga practice. Sarah is trained in both Psychosynthesis and the Internal Family Systems psychological models, and has been a student of spiritual psychology for over 35 years. She draws from her education and participation in long retreats in the Vipassana, Tantric and Dzogchen practices of Buddhism.
ABOUT TY
Ty Powers is the co-founder of the Insight Yoga Institute. He teaches yoga and meditation retreats around the world with his wife, Sarah Powers. He has been teaching Vipassana since 2003 as a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training program and has been practicing Dzogchen Buddhism for over 20 years. Ty is also a Certified Integral Coach and has also completed all levels of Internal Family Systems Therapy training. He also leads workshops on personal transformation as a graduate of the SkillfulChange Strategist Training Program, a program led by Phillip Moffitt.
APPROACH
Whether prompted by a crisis or a profound curiosity to discover that which is hidden within, the path of awareness arouses a heartfelt dedication to uncover insights into both our human potential to open, and our human predicament to struggle. As genuine practitioners we find that we are not alone – that there is common ground amongst us all reflected in a teaching that the Buddha gave over 2500 years ago in the Four Noble Truths. These truths recognize the base of our human condition – that we all experience stress and suffering, or dukkha, but also that miserable conditions need not become misery; that there is a genuine path to meet and transform our relationship to all of our challenges in life.
Using yogic, Buddhist and psychological methods, Sarah and Ty offer encouragement and support in meeting the human habits of resistance to unpleasant experiences, as well as increasing one’s inner capacity for self trust, simplicity and joy.
WHY RETREAT?
In removing ourselves from our familiar surroundings and busy schedules, retreats afford us the opportunity to see, among other things, accumulated habits of distraction and begin to see where and why we feel we need them. In removing everything we do that is not supportive of living with freshness and wakefulness, practice retreats realign us with our deeper and more current values, helping us discover ways to upgrade how we live our lives. We often uncover not only what habits are destructive and learn how to work skillfully with them, but are also encouraged to attend to that which is pulsing softly within us, under all the noise or numbness, something Sufis call our Hidden Essence; Taoists call it the tranquillity at the center of all storms, the Tao; Hindus say the Self or Brahman; Buddhists refer to this as our Buddha nature, while others say inner spirit, All That Is, or God. Skillful dedication to a yogic path of awareness uncovers this intrinsic inner dimension, teaching us about the suffering inherent in our perceived (not actual) disconnection from wholeness. In inner silence and increased stillness, we often glimpse and learn to sustain a truth larger than our self-definitions allow.
We offer many opportunities to be on retreat through our Insight Yoga Institute. Retreats can be taken independently or as part of a 500+ hour Yoga Alliance certification program.
ABOUT THE INSIGHT YOGA INSTITUTE
Sarah and Ty Powers created the Insight Yoga Institute (IYI) in 2010. Having both interwoven Yoga, Buddhism and Psychological approaches for over three decades in their retreats and trainings, they decided to create a more formal umbrella to draw people together in a like-minded community.
IYI retreats bring together the dynamic and receptive aspects of yoga (Yin Yoga and a mindful slow flow style), the three schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana) and the skillful methods of psycho-dynamic personal and relational work and are often held in social silence. The teachers on retreat are not silent but will be leading classes and seeing people individually.
If you would like to apply for our 500+ hour Yoga Alliance certified program please refer to our Program Overview.