Anatomy of a Public Yinscape Class

Rest in the Goodness of Your Heart

Greetings, Gentle Reader

I thought you might enjoy a bit of a breakdown in how I approach constructing a 75 minute Yinscape (yin yoga and soundscape) for the general public - and when I have to bring instruments with me rather than have everything here in my home studio

Yinscape is a term co-created by me and the amazing folks over at Sneha Collective here in Lawrenceville (pittsburgh). It’s meant to communicate that this will be a yin experience and that there will be soundscapes involved :-)

I incorporate healing frequencies and tones meant to assist your brain in relaxing and insight during class.

My specialization is Yin Yoga, and I approach it through a Taoist lens, so some of the factors I’m contemplating when I put tougher an offering include:

  • time of day

  • time of year

  • vibe of the space i’ll be in

  • physical theme

  • contemplative prompt

  • the acoustics of the space

  • the weather

  • and more..

The offering I’m deconstructing in this post has to do with Heartspace, so that was the central contemplation I held while doing my prep. After decades of facilitation, I know my “ingredients” well, so my first question is ‘do we start seated or lying down?’ and I take it from there .

As I was contemplating sequencing and positions, I was also aware of spirals and the spiral line of fascia, and so this is where the sequence landed:

For the soundscape, I used a noise machine to generate a low tone to both anchor the soundscape, AND address the size of the studio — I want richness and texture to fill the space…. I selected 4 brass bowls using F as the centering tone. In the chakra system that many yogis follow, F is assigned to the heart - so it works contextually. I used a low F and then 3 smaller bowls, one of which is an octave higher than the larger bowl, to generate over-and-undertones of harmonics and vibrations. Thanks to the class size, I was even able to offer individual attention with the bowls as well, offering one at the crown of each of the folks who attended. Prior to arriving at the space, I tuned into the bowls with some mindful playing.

I’m offering public and private experiences locally in Pittsburgh and globally online. Would LOVE to chat about what we can create together.

Katherine ZitterbartComment