A 12-week training for yoga teachers and committed practitioners, placing different maps of human experience alongside one another without pretending they are the same.
Maps of Experience
Yoga philosophy, physiology and the nervous system
50 hours · Live online · Wednesday mornings · 17 March to 2 June 2027.
Previously Nervous System and Yoga Foundations.
A DEEPER UNDERSTANDINGDifferent maps, one experience
We use maps all the time, but I don't mean Google Maps. Physiology helps us understand activation, recovery, sensation, and adaptation. Modern psychology offers another perspective, using the biopsychosocial model and the diathesis-stress model. For centuries, yoga has explored questions about attention, suffering, steadiness, change, and what it means to be human. In Maps of Experience, we bring these approaches together and explore what each helps us discover.
STUDY
Learn a framework or model, a text, or a part of physiology.
PRACTISE AND NOTICE
Explore it through movement, stillness, breath, and attention. Notice what happens before deciding what it means.
RETURN
Bring your questions and teaching examples to share with the group.
This training is for you if
You teach yoga and want to understand nervous system language and use it more carefully
You are interested in yoga philosophy and want to explore it in conversation with contemporary science
You want to think more deeply about regulation, activation, challenge, capacity and rest
You want to use language with more clarity, humility and professional responsibility
You are a committed practitioner or bodyworker who is comfortable with sustained study, practice and discussion
Four maps…
Yoga philosophy
The gunas and selected ideas from Patanjali, read as philosophy: attention, fluctuation, steadiness and how we relate to experience.
The body and nervous system
Autonomic physiology, activation and recovery, interoception, stress responses and capacity.
Contemporary models
Window of tolerance and polyvagal theory, taught as working maps: what they help us think about, where the evidence is debated, and where yoga language overreaches.
Lived experience and teaching
Practice, inquiry, language, sequencing, choice and scope. What does this understanding change in the room?
What you’ll leave with
A working understanding of the autonomic nervous system that moves past calm-good, activated-bad. The ability to use models as maps while knowing their limits. A clearer line between sensation, interpretation and the claims we make about someone else’s experience. A working relationship with the gunas and Patanjali that honours yoga’s rich history and doesn’t collapse them into neuroscience. More precise language for group teaching.
Greater knowledge. Better questions. More confidence in your own teaching.
Key areas you will learn
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Sympathetic and parasympathetic activity in context, activation and recovery, and what regulation may and may not mean.
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Tamas, rajas and sattva in their own context, and selected sutras on attention and steadiness.
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What each model offers, where some aspects are debated, and how to treat it as an evolving map.
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Noticing sensation without assigning meaning and the effect of expectation and language on experience.
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Stillness and time, breath and pranayama, activation and the arc of a practice, without avoiding the challenge.
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Invitational language, meaningful choice, co-regulation claims, and where yoga teaching ends and clinical claims begin.
Dates & Format
17 March to 2 June 2027
Wednesdays, 10:00 to 12:30 UK
live online (Zoom)
The 50 hours include 25 hours taught live with me and 25 hours of recorded lectures, practice, workbooks, practical tasks, and home study between sessions.
10 Live teaching sessions (2.5 hours each)
Recorded lectures are uploaded within 24 hours of the live session
Workbooks recorded lectures and practices
50-hour certificate counts towards Yoga Alliance Continuing Education (YACEP)
Session Schedule:
Wednesday 17 March: Opening, maps of experience. Samkhya, Patanjali and the body
Wednesday 24 March: The autonomic nervous system, foundations
Wednesday 31 March: Stress, activation and capacity, alongside the gunas
Wednesday 7 April: Integration week, no live session
Wednesday 14 April: Models and their limits, polyvagal theory and the window of tolerance
Wednesday 21 April: Interoception and felt experience
Wednesday 28 April: Somatic practice and application
Wednesday 5 May: Integration week, no live session
Wednesday 12 May: Yin, stillness and time
Wednesday 19 May: Breath and pranayama
Wednesday 26 May: Vinyasa, activation and sequencing
Wednesday 2 June: Language, integration, Teaching Lab and closing
Meet your teacher
I’m Gem. I’ve practised for over twenty years, have taught since 2011, and have trained more than seventy Yin teachers. I’m completing an 875-hour yoga therapy diploma. Maps of Experience grew out of my Nervous System and Yoga Foundations training, which I first planned as a self-paced course. My own somatic and therapy work has changed that. To begin with, the material needed time to settle in me first and foremost, and I needed to get to grips with what teachers and their students would actually experience. There is such a fine line between this work and therapy, and I wanted to have worked through where that line is before teaching this publicly and at this level. It feels right now, and it belongs in a group. I would rather we study this together, week by week, than leave anyone to meet it alone.
From teachers who trained with me
“It showed me how to offer possibilities rather than instruction, and how valuable it is to create space for observation. Less really is more.”
Bela, February 2026 Yin Yoga Trainee
“It wasn’t just about learning how to teach Yin Yoga. It changed how I approach both my practice and teaching. I feel more grounded and more confident in how I hold space.”
Nicola, Health & Wellness Coach (February 2026 Yin Yoga Trainee)
Questions
Is this therapy training?
No. This is continuing education for yoga teachers. It is grounded in yoga philosophy and nervous system education, and it stays within the scope of yoga teaching throughout.
Do I need to be a yoga teacher?
The training is written for yoga teachers. Committed practitioners and bodyworkers are welcome. Email me if you’re unsure.
What is the time commitment?
About four hours a week across twelve weeks: a two-and-a-half-hour live session on Wednesdays, plus recorded material, reading and practice between sessions.
What if I can’t attend a live session?
Every session is recorded so you can catch up before the next one. Live attendance is best, because that is where discussion and teaching practice happen.
Is there a payment plan?
Yes. The full price of £650 can be paid in three monthly payments. The early bird price is paid in full. Your certificate is issued once the final payment is received.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. On completing the training and assessment, you receive a 50-hour Maps of Experience certificate from Gem Maryan, E-RYT 500, YACEP, which counts towards Yoga Alliance Continuing Education.
What happened to Nervous System and Yoga Foundations?
Maps of Experience replaces it. The nervous system material is still here, now placed alongside yoga philosophy rather than standing on its own.
What if I need to cancel?
You have a 14-day cooling-off period from the date of booking. After that, bookings are non-refundable. Please get in touch if your circumstances change.
What if I’m not sure it’s right for me?
Email me at info@gemmaryan.co.uk, and we can have a wee chat about whether it fits where you are in your teaching.
Price
£650, or three monthly payments. Your certificate is issued once the final payment is received.
Interest list early bird: £550 if you book by Friday 19 February 2027. The early bird is paid in full.
Your place includes all live sessions, recordings, lectures, practices and workbooks, and one year of access until 2 June 2028.
12 places. Enrolment opens Monday 1 February 2027.