Two of HYA’s beloved instructors are teaming up for an HYAcademy workshop this month in honor of the Fall Equinox. Booie Young and Dianne Lancaster join forces to bring the Yoga Nidra Experience to HYA on Sept. 22 from 5:30-7:00p.
Their goal is to cultivate mindfulness and awareness, leading a soothing Yin yoga practice designed to release tension and encourage deep relaxation, followed by the restorative practice of Yoga Nidra, a state of conscious relaxation that allows for profound rejuvenation. The theme for the workshop is balance in honor of the equinox, which marks the day when there is the same amount of light and darkness.
Booie has taught at HYA since it opened in 2008 and in fact, taught the first class ever at the studio. She has been teaching the Hot 26 series since attending Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in 2000, and actually taught Bikram-style classes in her home before HYA was founded. Over the years, her practice has grown to include more meditative aspects.
“I started diving more into my meditation practice and took some tantric meditation courses,” she said. “I practiced Yoga Nidra occasionally, using audio files mostly. Then I largely self-taught myself to teach it and taught a few classes. It was Dianne who helped lead me to get certified.”
Booie has completed two levels of Nidra training and will take an advanced level training later this month in Arizona.
“I find it to be one of the deepest healing modalities out there,” she said. “It has been monumental helpful to me and the benefits just grow over time. The more you practice, the more you are able to go deeper and deeper.
“I know people really want to meditate but it’s hard. People get distracted and they think they can’t do it. With Yoga Nidra, it’s so much easier to be led into it, to reach into that deep inner silent state. It’s so effective. You just have to follow along. You can get deep into meditation even if you have no experience in meditating. It’s pretty remarkable.”
Dianne started her yoga journey in the late 1980s when she was drawn to a yoga retreat at the Kripalu Institute. “I had no idea what I was getting into, but I loved it,” she said.
Back then, she practiced at home to audio tapes and then VCR tapes. She moved to Asheville in 2011 and found her way to HYA after it was founded. She is a dedicated Hot 26 practitioner, but when she began to explore teaching, she was called toward Yin yoga and meditation. She took her first teacher training in Yin and Restore in 2017 and has taught Yin classes at HYA as well as Yoga Nidra.
“When HYA used to have a meditation class, Booie taught a little bit of Nidra in one of them and I wanted to learn more about it,” Dianne said. “Eventually, I took a deep dive into it and became certified to teach it.”
This month, Dianne is completing a 500-hour training in Meditation in Motion at the Amrit Yoga Institute in Salt Springs, Fla. “Where it goes, I don’t know but I can see me, being that I’m 73, teaching and encouraging people my age or anyone 50 and over who really are beginners,” she said. “Because although Hot 26 is a beginner class, it’s still intimidating for people who have never done yoga.”
She has a special love for Yoga Nidra because of its calming effects. “I like that it’s guided, so my monkey mind can quiet down as I just follow the teacher’s words. It’s like being in a deep sleep. I feel refreshed and energized afterward and it helps me sleep through the night. And I’m not as reactive as I move through the world.”
Join Booie and Dianne for this deeply relaxing experience on September 22!
