Sarah Powers

Sarah Powers began yoga in 1986 at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, as a component of her degree there.{{sfn|Gates|2006|p=114}}

Her career was driven by a life-changing accident in a yoga class led by "a senior yoga teacher".{{sfn|Powers|2008|p=8}} The teacher instructed the class to begin with Sirsasana, yoga headstand without warm-up preliminaries. From there the woman suggested the class drop straight into a headstand backbend (Dvi Pada Viparita Dandasana, an advanced pose, rated 24 by B. K. S. Iyengar{{cite book |last=Iyengar |first=B. K. S. |author-link=B. K. S. Iyengar |title=Light on yoga: yoga dīpikā |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZXaAAAAMAAJ |year=1991 |orig-year=1966 |publisher=Thorsons |pages=373–377|isbn=9780805203530 }}). Powers, "with the lethal combination of a bendy back mixed with unbridled enthusiasm to try new things",{{sfn|Powers|2008|p=8}} complied. The teacher asked them to do it again, and as Powers lifted her legs from the backbend, her lower back gave an audible crack and a searing pain from a vertebral subluxation in the lumbar region. Recovery was lengthy, involving "chiropractors and acupuncturists".{{sfn|Powers|2008|p=8}} She lost the ability to perform such advanced backbends, but learnt therapeutic yoga under T. K. V. Desikachar and Gary Kraftsow. The injured back led her to try the gentler Yin Yoga under the instruction of Paul Grilley.{{sfn|Powers|2008|p=8}}{{cite book |last=Eliot |first=Travis |title=A Journey Into Yin Yoga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPJ6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |year=2018 |publisher=Human Kinetics |isbn=978-1-4925-7537-5 |pages=18–19}}

Powers began teaching yoga in 1987.{{cite web |title=Lead Teachers and Co-Directors |url=https://sarahpowers.com/iyi/instructors/ |publisher=Insight Yoga Institute |access-date=26 April 2019}}

In 2008 she created Insight Yoga, a combination of modern yoga, transpersonal psychology and Buddhist and Taoist philosophy including Chinese meridian theory,{{cite web |last1=Sexton |first1=Michael |title=Sarah Power's Yoga Philosophy + The Creation of Insight Yoga |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/yj-interview-delight-insight |publisher=Yoga Journal |access-date=26 April 2019 |date=5 April 2017}}{{cite journal |last1=Maria |first1=Lisa |title=Insider's Guide—A veteran teacher explores the depths of yoga and self-inquiry, creating a manual for inner peace |journal=Yoga Journal |date=Feb 2009 |pages=111–112}} co-founding the Insight Yoga Institute{{cite web |title=Insight Yoga Institute |url=https://sarahpowers.com/iyi/ |publisher=Sarah Powers |access-date=2 May 2019}} with Ty Powers. Insight Yoga's style is a blend of the soft, slow and gentle Yin Yoga, a name that she devised,{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Bernie |author-link=Bernie Clark (yoga teacher) |title=The Complete Guide to Yin yoga |year=2012 |publisher=White Cloud Press |location=Ashland, Oregon |isbn=978-1-935952-50-3 |page=22}} with a more typical "hatha yoga" practice, that she calls Yang (harder) by contrast, influenced by schools such as Iyengar Yoga and Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga.{{cite web |last1=Powers |first1=Sarah |last2=Powers |first2=Ty |title=About Us |url=https://sarahpowers.com/sp/approach/about-us/ |publisher=Sarah Powers |access-date=26 April 2019}} She has given workshops at the Esalen Institute and other centres around the world.{{cite web |title=Sarah Powers |url=https://www.esalen.org/person/sarah-powers |publisher=Esalen |access-date=26 April 2019}}{{cite web |title=Sarah Powers |url=https://yogamoves.nl/teacher/sarah-powers/ |publisher=Yoga Moves |access-date=26 April 2019}}{{cite web |title=Insight Yoga Training with Sarah Powers |url=https://8limbsyoga.com/offering/insight-yoga-training-with-sarah-powers/ |publisher=8 Limbs Yoga |access-date=26 April 2019}} She was identified by Yoga Journal as one of the people who had "each, independently, discovered the benefits of merging mindfulness with asana", leading to "something we might call 'mindful yoga'."{{cite web |last1=Isaacs |first1=Nora |title=Bring More Mindfulness Onto the Mat |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/peace-of-mind |publisher=Yoga Journal |access-date=11 April 2019 |date=21 October 2008}}

She is married with Ty Powers.{{sfn|Gates|2006|p=114}} They have a daughter and live in the San Francisco Bay Area.{{cite web |last1=Maria |first1=Lisa |title=Teacher Profile {{!}} Sarah Powers |url=https://www.sarahpowers.com/sp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/teacher-profile.pdf |publisher=Yogi Times |access-date=26 April 2019 |date=July 2004}}

Insight Yoga, introduced by Powers's 2008 book of that name, balances Yin Yoga with conventional 'Yang' yoga, and integrates both with Chinese Medicine, in particular its meridian lines, and with the Vipassana meditation style of Buddhism, emphasising mindfulness. Powers describes the integration with Chinese Medicine as making her yoga practice more skilful, "like learning to be my own personal acupuncturist—only without the needles".{{sfn|Powers|2008|pp=9–11}}

• 2008: Insight Yoga. Shambhala, {{ISBN|978-1590305980}}
• 2021: Lit from Within. Shambhala, {{ISBN|978-1611808506}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Janice |author-link=Janice Gates |title=Yogini: Women Visionaries of the Yoga World |date=2006 |publisher=Mandala |isbn=978-1932771886 |pages=113–118 }}
• {{cite book | last=Powers | first=Sarah | title=Insight Yoga | publisher=Shambhala | year=2008 | isbn=978-1-59030-598-0 | oclc=216937520 }}

• {{official website|https://sarahpowers.com/sp/}}

{{Yoga as exercise}}

{{Modern Yoginis}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Sarah}}

Category:Living people

Category:1963 births

Category:Mindful Yoga

Category:American yoga teachers