What do you think?
Rate this book
The Language of Yin: Yoga Themes, Sequences and Inspiration to Bring Your Class to Life and Life to Your Class
Finalist in the Prestigious Ashton Wylie Award for Excellence in the Mind Body Spirit Category
From the Author of the bestselling book The Inspired Yoga Teacher ' The Language of Yin ' is more than a book on themes. It is a comprehensive guide to becoming the type of teacher that inspires and moves people beyond the skin and bones. Starting with some proven techniques for teaching, the book moves into setting the beginning scenes to connect students to their practice. The book then presents over 40 universal themes that will provide inspiration for both you and your students. Long after the poses have faded, the students will remember how you made them feel using the descriptive and connected language provided. Each class has three categories; mind, heart and body. These categories define, embellish and connect the poses to the heart and soul, making the themes relatable and exciting. In this book you will find; ♥The eight limbs from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, wisdom traditions, deities and chakras ♥ Ayurveda and Yoga Nidra ♥A comprehensive resource of pick up and go sequences for teaching or home practice ♥Yoga sequences that can be adapted to any style of yoga ♥Scripts and readings to embellish your lessons or for personal contemplation ♥Quotes that are meaningful and thought provoking ♥A guide to planning and teaching your classes so they flow effortlessly ♥Essential yin methodology and pedagogy ♥Basic techniques for guiding a yin class ♥Meditation scripts, including yoga Nidra ♥Easy to follow, photocopiable graphics for quick class planning ♥Pranayama, mudra and mantra Wherever you are in your practice, this book will provide you with many ways to inspire you or your students and ultimately your life. Suitable ★Any yoga teacher who wants to bring more depth to their teaching ★Home practitioners who want to have laid out sequences they can follow with ease, just set your timer! ★Those who want to understand how to incorporate some of the most useful yoga philosophy ideas into their class or their life ★Those new to teaching yin and seasoned practitioners If you are on the run to teach a yoga class and need a shot of inspiration or you would like to fully explore the practice of yoga in more depth, this easy to use resource will inject a shot of inspiration into your practice and ultimately your life. The poster to accompany this book is available on my website.
From the Author of the bestselling book The Inspired Yoga Teacher ' The Language of Yin ' is more than a book on themes. It is a comprehensive guide to becoming the type of teacher that inspires and moves people beyond the skin and bones. Starting with some proven techniques for teaching, the book moves into setting the beginning scenes to connect students to their practice. The book then presents over 40 universal themes that will provide inspiration for both you and your students. Long after the poses have faded, the students will remember how you made them feel using the descriptive and connected language provided. Each class has three categories; mind, heart and body. These categories define, embellish and connect the poses to the heart and soul, making the themes relatable and exciting. In this book you will find; ♥The eight limbs from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, wisdom traditions, deities and chakras ♥ Ayurveda and Yoga Nidra ♥A comprehensive resource of pick up and go sequences for teaching or home practice ♥Yoga sequences that can be adapted to any style of yoga ♥Scripts and readings to embellish your lessons or for personal contemplation ♥Quotes that are meaningful and thought provoking ♥A guide to planning and teaching your classes so they flow effortlessly ♥Essential yin methodology and pedagogy ♥Basic techniques for guiding a yin class ♥Meditation scripts, including yoga Nidra ♥Easy to follow, photocopiable graphics for quick class planning ♥Pranayama, mudra and mantra Wherever you are in your practice, this book will provide you with many ways to inspire you or your students and ultimately your life. Suitable ★Any yoga teacher who wants to bring more depth to their teaching ★Home practitioners who want to have laid out sequences they can follow with ease, just set your timer! ★Those who want to understand how to incorporate some of the most useful yoga philosophy ideas into their class or their life ★Those new to teaching yin and seasoned practitioners If you are on the run to teach a yoga class and need a shot of inspiration or you would like to fully explore the practice of yoga in more depth, this easy to use resource will inject a shot of inspiration into your practice and ultimately your life. The poster to accompany this book is available on my website.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2019
228 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 11, 2021
Update: It's been a year and I find that I look at this book as a reference almost as much as my Bernie Clark book so I think this has been a good resource for yin yoga class sequencing inspiration!
***
My philosophy, up to this point, has been one of resistance to books that provide advice for yoga teachers when it comes to structuring and theming yoga asana classes. I generally stay away from these books because I want to curate my own class and explore cues, themes, and asanas that sound true for my voice.
However, I loosened up a bit and after someone from my yin yoga training recommended this book and I thought, why not. I still believe that practicing and practicing with teachers you admire is the best way to find your voice and create classes that you want to share to the world. You cannot get this from a book, especially one written by a teacher whose classes you haven't taken before.
However, the benefits of these books is that it is shop talk, and shop talk can fire up the neurons. I became interested about Harris' process, and several times throughout the book, I simply paused to think about some of her suggestions and how it would feel to apply some of the more intriguing ones to my classes. As a resource, I found flipping through to the sections that I wanted to read much more conducive for my purposes than reading it in a linear fashion, and I suspect I'll do that when I'm building classes.
I haven't used the sample sequences in my classes, and I don't think I will, but the theming, and seeing how she lays everything out is very beneficial, and I feel like I'll probably purchase other books like this in the future... just for some more shop talk lol.
***
My philosophy, up to this point, has been one of resistance to books that provide advice for yoga teachers when it comes to structuring and theming yoga asana classes. I generally stay away from these books because I want to curate my own class and explore cues, themes, and asanas that sound true for my voice.
However, I loosened up a bit and after someone from my yin yoga training recommended this book and I thought, why not. I still believe that practicing and practicing with teachers you admire is the best way to find your voice and create classes that you want to share to the world. You cannot get this from a book, especially one written by a teacher whose classes you haven't taken before.
However, the benefits of these books is that it is shop talk, and shop talk can fire up the neurons. I became interested about Harris' process, and several times throughout the book, I simply paused to think about some of her suggestions and how it would feel to apply some of the more intriguing ones to my classes. As a resource, I found flipping through to the sections that I wanted to read much more conducive for my purposes than reading it in a linear fashion, and I suspect I'll do that when I'm building classes.
I haven't used the sample sequences in my classes, and I don't think I will, but the theming, and seeing how she lays everything out is very beneficial, and I feel like I'll probably purchase other books like this in the future... just for some more shop talk lol.
June 1, 2021
The Language of Yin: Yoga Themes, Sequences and Inspiration to Bring Your Class to Life and Life to Your Class is an incredibly comprehensive compendium of yoga concepts. From strong yoga verbs, scripts, and visual renditions of sequences to asana, tattvas, the 8 limbs of yoga, meditation, Buddhist teachings and Deities, Traditional Chinese Medicine elements, chakras, doshas, koshas, mudras, and mantra, it’s all here. Granted, at times, it’s a bit oversimplified, but just what you need if you’re teaching an hour class with a theme that’s one of the above elements. Or if you’re new to yoga and you want a quick and dirty on the doshas. Or if you’ve been teaching for a while and need a refresher on the organ/element pairings.
Honestly, I was using the book as a reference months before I actually read it cover to cover. I recommend it either way. Compared to a Bernie Clark book, there’s no science and there’s no form, but there doesn’t need to be. The Language of Yin is about feeling one’s way through the practice based on the themes highlighted by the instructor. By all means, bring the functional Yin into the practice alongside the spirit of this book. Like the yin and yang organs, we need both.
Harris has a good voice. The teacher in her comes across on the pages. I commend her for putting together all of these concepts in one space. She even referenced a Kemetic tradition which white yoga authors never do. She’s also heavily influenced by Kundalini which she isn’t transparent about, but for the average reader, there’s no reason for her to be. It’s clear she’s an agnostic healer and is down for whatever is going to work. She encourages the reader to pick a tradition that works for them and their students without being dogmatic about it. The Language of Yin is a boon for Yin, and also not limited to Yin traditions which is what I found most valuable. I will be using it as a refresher for years to come.
Honestly, I was using the book as a reference months before I actually read it cover to cover. I recommend it either way. Compared to a Bernie Clark book, there’s no science and there’s no form, but there doesn’t need to be. The Language of Yin is about feeling one’s way through the practice based on the themes highlighted by the instructor. By all means, bring the functional Yin into the practice alongside the spirit of this book. Like the yin and yang organs, we need both.
Harris has a good voice. The teacher in her comes across on the pages. I commend her for putting together all of these concepts in one space. She even referenced a Kemetic tradition which white yoga authors never do. She’s also heavily influenced by Kundalini which she isn’t transparent about, but for the average reader, there’s no reason for her to be. It’s clear she’s an agnostic healer and is down for whatever is going to work. She encourages the reader to pick a tradition that works for them and their students without being dogmatic about it. The Language of Yin is a boon for Yin, and also not limited to Yin traditions which is what I found most valuable. I will be using it as a refresher for years to come.
February 10, 2024
This book was okay. There are many typos and spelling/grammatical errors, which is almost expected by self-published books. However, there are far fewer than the books by Jaime/Jamie Wishstone.
I'll list my thoughts throughout the book consecutively.
On page 16, we find the phrase, "Teachings that shake up ideas we have about ourselves or remind us of something we have forgotten tend to be have a 'stickiness' to them." This doesn't make sense. The author should eliminate the word "be." There are several sentences throughout the book that are similar to this one with regard to grammar, spelling, and/or typos.
On page 20, she says, "When we use -ing at the end of verbs, we dilute their power." This is not true. When we use -ing, we are using the progressive tense of the verb, indicating that the action is still/currently happening.
There are some contradictions. The following is an example. On page 21, Ms. Harris tells us "avoid telling students how they will feel--this is their experience, we don't know how they will feel in any given pose," but on page 23, she advises, "Tell students where they are likely to be feeling the posture or what the functional objective is."
She had some really nice advice with, "Remind students that the shape of the pose is not as important as what and where they are feeling it," on page 23.
Also helpful is the rebound language section.
I did not understand why Ms. Harris calls the "songs" sections "songs for ____." They are more like meditations. Maybe that's just the literalist in me.
Her metaphors didn't work for me. For example (from page 43), "Sukhasana Eagle Arms: sit comfortably and interlace your arms like soft ropes." I would never consider eagle arms "soft."
I wanted much more from chapter 4. I enjoyed the content in this chapter and wish she had included more of it in this book.
She included a lovely quote from Abraham Hicks, "How you feel is your indication of your alignment or misalignment with who you are."
She sometimes gives instruction to read a certain section of the book, but then gives no guidance as to where to find that section. For example, on page 60, she tells readers, "see: Focus to Meditate," but doesn't tell readers where to find this information, leaving the reader to wonder if this is another section of her book or if it is another book or what. A page number would be helpful here. This is consistent throughout the book, seen in many of her chapters.
It was at page 70, when I became exasperated that she needs to hire an editor. She has the following sentence, "This pose as an opportunity to consider the ways in your life where you engage in activity that is detrimental to your precious life force." I'm sure that is just a typo, but when publishing a book, typos need to be addressed before professional publication.
On pages 72 and 73, she references a source, but spells the source Saphire Rose in one place and Safire Rose in the next.
I don't care for her proclivity for changing word meanings. If a word doesn't mean what you want it to mean, use a different word; there are so many to choose from!
The author does not have a good grasp on the difference between the words breath and breathe, as evidenced by the section on pranayama in chapter 6 as well as the following sentence on page 166, "breath a deep crystal blue breath into the throat space..."
As a Christian, I have little knowledge of the god and legends in Hindu tradition, so I greatly appreciated Ms. Harris's inclusion of some of those legends to give context to the poses and sequences in her book.
Her flows are... fine. I wish they had times associated with each pose (or a time frame) and its transitions in and out, but we don't get that until page 200, which I find disappointing. Some of the flows list asymmetrical poses, but don't give instruction to do the same pose on the other side. I recognize that she likely assumes people will know to do that, but it would be helpful to have some clearer instruction on transitions among these poses and when to repeat on the other side.
I don't care for the incorrect vocabulary she uses. For example, on page 158, she tells us that the associated sense is "sound." Sound is not a sense. Sound is just waves. Hearing is the perception and processing of sound."
I could not understand this passage, "In Western medicine, the spleen's primary role is in the lymphatic and immune systems. It keeps our tissues, muscles, and thoughts, moist, supple, adaptable." The first sentence is fine' as it's a fact. The second sentence is complete nonsense.
A fun departure: she reminds us of the phrase, "venting the spleen," which is a phrase I've never heard used before. It means expressing your anger. I find this fascinating and want to learn more about this idiom, although that is more for an etymology book than a yoga book and would be a bird walk from the subject of the book.
On page 200, she gives us a true gem, a sentiment that I greatly appreciate. She says, " Like a sculptor working with a lump of marble, the job of the yogi is to remove the parts of us that conceal our true beauty until we reach the heart, the place within that is perfect and complete."
In Chapter 8, she quoted Sri Swami Satichananda. I wish she hadn't, given his proclivity for sexual violence. I wish she had found someone else to quote. I'm certain there are boundless other sources. While I recognize his contribution to the development of yoga in the west, I'd prefer we glorify him less.
I did not include all my thoughts on this book, just a sampling. So I will take the good with the bad and use this book to inform and inspire some of my yoga teachings.
I'll list my thoughts throughout the book consecutively.
On page 16, we find the phrase, "Teachings that shake up ideas we have about ourselves or remind us of something we have forgotten tend to be have a 'stickiness' to them." This doesn't make sense. The author should eliminate the word "be." There are several sentences throughout the book that are similar to this one with regard to grammar, spelling, and/or typos.
On page 20, she says, "When we use -ing at the end of verbs, we dilute their power." This is not true. When we use -ing, we are using the progressive tense of the verb, indicating that the action is still/currently happening.
There are some contradictions. The following is an example. On page 21, Ms. Harris tells us "avoid telling students how they will feel--this is their experience, we don't know how they will feel in any given pose," but on page 23, she advises, "Tell students where they are likely to be feeling the posture or what the functional objective is."
She had some really nice advice with, "Remind students that the shape of the pose is not as important as what and where they are feeling it," on page 23.
Also helpful is the rebound language section.
I did not understand why Ms. Harris calls the "songs" sections "songs for ____." They are more like meditations. Maybe that's just the literalist in me.
Her metaphors didn't work for me. For example (from page 43), "Sukhasana Eagle Arms: sit comfortably and interlace your arms like soft ropes." I would never consider eagle arms "soft."
I wanted much more from chapter 4. I enjoyed the content in this chapter and wish she had included more of it in this book.
She included a lovely quote from Abraham Hicks, "How you feel is your indication of your alignment or misalignment with who you are."
She sometimes gives instruction to read a certain section of the book, but then gives no guidance as to where to find that section. For example, on page 60, she tells readers, "see: Focus to Meditate," but doesn't tell readers where to find this information, leaving the reader to wonder if this is another section of her book or if it is another book or what. A page number would be helpful here. This is consistent throughout the book, seen in many of her chapters.
It was at page 70, when I became exasperated that she needs to hire an editor. She has the following sentence, "This pose as an opportunity to consider the ways in your life where you engage in activity that is detrimental to your precious life force." I'm sure that is just a typo, but when publishing a book, typos need to be addressed before professional publication.
On pages 72 and 73, she references a source, but spells the source Saphire Rose in one place and Safire Rose in the next.
I don't care for her proclivity for changing word meanings. If a word doesn't mean what you want it to mean, use a different word; there are so many to choose from!
The author does not have a good grasp on the difference between the words breath and breathe, as evidenced by the section on pranayama in chapter 6 as well as the following sentence on page 166, "breath a deep crystal blue breath into the throat space..."
As a Christian, I have little knowledge of the god and legends in Hindu tradition, so I greatly appreciated Ms. Harris's inclusion of some of those legends to give context to the poses and sequences in her book.
Her flows are... fine. I wish they had times associated with each pose (or a time frame) and its transitions in and out, but we don't get that until page 200, which I find disappointing. Some of the flows list asymmetrical poses, but don't give instruction to do the same pose on the other side. I recognize that she likely assumes people will know to do that, but it would be helpful to have some clearer instruction on transitions among these poses and when to repeat on the other side.
I don't care for the incorrect vocabulary she uses. For example, on page 158, she tells us that the associated sense is "sound." Sound is not a sense. Sound is just waves. Hearing is the perception and processing of sound."
I could not understand this passage, "In Western medicine, the spleen's primary role is in the lymphatic and immune systems. It keeps our tissues, muscles, and thoughts, moist, supple, adaptable." The first sentence is fine' as it's a fact. The second sentence is complete nonsense.
A fun departure: she reminds us of the phrase, "venting the spleen," which is a phrase I've never heard used before. It means expressing your anger. I find this fascinating and want to learn more about this idiom, although that is more for an etymology book than a yoga book and would be a bird walk from the subject of the book.
On page 200, she gives us a true gem, a sentiment that I greatly appreciate. She says, " Like a sculptor working with a lump of marble, the job of the yogi is to remove the parts of us that conceal our true beauty until we reach the heart, the place within that is perfect and complete."
In Chapter 8, she quoted Sri Swami Satichananda. I wish she hadn't, given his proclivity for sexual violence. I wish she had found someone else to quote. I'm certain there are boundless other sources. While I recognize his contribution to the development of yoga in the west, I'd prefer we glorify him less.
I did not include all my thoughts on this book, just a sampling. So I will take the good with the bad and use this book to inform and inspire some of my yoga teachings.
November 30, 2025
This book was one of the recommended reads during my yin yoga teacher training. It’s really focused on theming yin yoga practices and has little emphasis on the other elements of yin. I think it’s a great resource for creating themes in yin and has even inspired me when sequencing my other styles of yoga classes as well.
March 30, 2024
Best book on yin yoga
September 16, 2024
Wonderful reference for teaching yin yoga!
Read
October 22, 2020This book is an actual gold mine for yin language, wow. I read it slowly on purpose and I feel like I could start it again immediately. Great book to reference forever!
January 15, 2021
Somewhat interesting, but the amount of "inspiration" offered is outweighged by the amount of repetitions.
April 9, 2022
This is a gorgeous book! The language and theming are so lovely, it is obvious that the author is close to this material. Whenever I have opened this book, I have found little gems to incorporate into my classes, and I have been, at times, both madly inspired and wildly discouraged! It is hard to imagine being able to create classes this layered and full of meaning, but I keep trying.
This year, I read the book cover to cover and have organized it with colored tabs, many, many colored tab, so I can try to absorb all this goodness into my yoga brain. Highly recommend this book for yoga teachers. Regardless of whether you teach yin or not, I think you will find inspiration here. Since I won’t be able to attend Harris’ classes in person, this book is the next best thing, and I can’t wait to read her second book, The Inspired Yoga Teacher.
This year, I read the book cover to cover and have organized it with colored tabs, many, many colored tab, so I can try to absorb all this goodness into my yoga brain. Highly recommend this book for yoga teachers. Regardless of whether you teach yin or not, I think you will find inspiration here. Since I won’t be able to attend Harris’ classes in person, this book is the next best thing, and I can’t wait to read her second book, The Inspired Yoga Teacher.
April 29, 2025
The nature of this book is one for skimming rather than reading outright, although I did read quite a bit of the narrative. I purchased the book because I was looking for new ideas on theming my yin classes. Author Gabrielle Harris provides a wealth of information, offering themes that connect to subjects like the eight limbs of yoga, Buddha's teachings, the elements from Chinese medicine, etc. I've used or adapted several of her themes already. I particularly like how she discusses not just "body" (i.e., the yin poses themselves) but also "mind" and "heart" for each sequence. I just wish she had talked a bit more about WHY she choose the poses she does. For example, the sequence on Satya or truth focuses on poses that have the legs in right angles - but why? Is she using right as a metaphor to equal truth? Overall, however, this is a great book that I expect to refer back to often.
March 13, 2024
This was a decent read. I loved all the different classes you can incorporate with different themes. I wished the pictures were in color and a bit easier to understand, but I think I can fumble my way through a themed class.
There is a lot of information in this book. It took a little while to read, but still a very easy read.
There is a lot of information in this book. It took a little while to read, but still a very easy read.
May 2, 2020
Really useful to bring new elements to a class
July 6, 2020
My favorite Yin book yet. Great class plan ideas!!
December 22, 2020
Me encantó, lastima que no esté en español. Pero es un gran libro.
May 18, 2021
Love this book. I use it all the time to help theme my classes
October 16, 2021
It had lots of good ideas for theming a yin class.
February 18, 2020
I love this book, it’s more than just poses. It’s quotes, history, knowledge and yin.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews