If you love yoga and you love writing...
- Learn how to establish good self-care habits that support you in your writing life.
- Free up your creativity through mindful walking and writing meditations.
- Learn how to write more sensually by mindfully bringing the five senses into your writing.
- Acquire skills that enable you to write in a more inclusive way that engages your reader.
- Free up your imagination so that you write in a way that surprises your reader and keeps them turning the page.
- Learn how to edit your work and build your confidence to submit a finished piece of work for publication.
- Deepen your understanding of yoga and fall in love with the writing life!
The Yoga Writers' Handbook
If you love yoga and want to write about it, this course is for you. If you love writing and want to approach your writing in a yogic way, this course is for you. This course will show you how to write in a mindful way that enhances your wellbeing, and how to write in a way that engages your reader. This course is for you, regardless of whether you want to write a yoga book or simply wish to deepen your understanding of both yoga and writing.
This self-paced course can easily be fitted into a busy lifestyle.
This course is ideal for aspiring writers who also practice yoga. The level of the course is aimed at writers who have done no formal training, or courses, and who want to integrate a meditative approach to writing into their life and improve their writing skills. You will develop a regular writing routine that compliments your yoga and meditation practice.
Praise for this Course
"Jilly is an incredible tutor and made me feel so much more confident in my writing through her beautiful feedback. I have never felt so held before as a writer, and I would definitely recommend the course to anyone who wants a fresh perspective on their writing."
Mookaite (they / them)
"The course was a great success, I loved it … I felt very supported all of the way, have learned a lot and gained the confidence to put my words further ‘out there’ in the form of blogs, and maybe one day the book I have rattling around in my head!"
Lindsey
"I am pleased to have done this course and the biggest learning relates to my language when teaching and needing to be clear with instructions. Looking from a different perspective and using the techniques you introduced me to is enabling me to understand myself better."
Marie
"I enjoyed all the modules and the way it was organized in bite-sized, digestible pieces. I enjoyed the writing tips and selections, suggestions for writing prompts, and I appreciated Jilly's feedback. I also learned some great tips throughout the course about point of view/narrative voice, and received a huge boost in confidence that using writing as a tool to heal is itself a yogic practice that I will continue, regardless of whether it gets published or not! I appreciated Jilly's vulnerability in sharing her life's story as it opened the space to do the same."
Jessica
The endorsements above are from students who took part in the pilot, tutored version of this now self-paced course.
Empower Your Writing!
Find your feet as a writer and build firm foundations for your writing life. Establish a regular Writing Meditation and Walking Meditation practice, to enhance your wellbeing and release your creativity. Commit to yoga and meditation practices that will ensure you are a happy, healthy, and productive writer.
Get Your Writing Flowing
Mindfully use your five senses to make your writing more sensual and readable. Discover how yoga and meditation can remove creative blocks and get your ideas flowing again.
Tune into Your Inner Wisdom
Cultivate the art of mindful listening and access a deep well of inspiration for your writing. Tune into your Inner Wisdom and trust yourself to be guided by it. Dive deep into the depths of your imagination, and reconnect with the curious, playful, imaginative side of your nature. Make your writing an awesome experience for both you and the reader.
The Yoga Writers' Handbook Course Programme
Module One – Getting Started
This module will help you find your feet as a writer and build firm foundations for your writing life. You will be encouraged to establish a regular Writing Meditation and Walking Meditation practice, to enhance your wellbeing and release your creativity. You will consider practical ways to integrate writing into your life.
Module Two – Getting Your Writing Flowing
In this module you’ll mindfully use your five senses to make your writing more sensual and readable. You will learn how to convey abstract concepts by using concrete images (bringing the spiritual down to earth). You will consider how to use yoga to remove creative blocks and get your ideas flowing again.
Module Three – Empower Your Writing
This module is a journey through perspectives and their impact on your writing. You’ll read examples of yoga writing in the first, second, and third person, and through a series of exercises, you’ll explore how a piece of writing changes depending on the point of view. We’ll also play about with bringing fun, surprise and original points of view into our writing.
Module Four – Tuning into Your Inner Wisdom & Navigating Stormy Waters
In this module we’ll focus on cultivating the art of mindful listening to access a deep well of inspiration for our writing. We’ll consider ways of tuning into our Inner Wisdom and trusting ourselves to be guided by it. We’ll also tackle the thorny problem of how to keep writing when difficult emotions arise, and how to navigate these stormy waters.
Module Five – Harnessing the Power of Your Imagination
In this module you’ll dive into the depths of your imagination, and reconnect with the curious, playful, imaginative side of your nature. You will experiment with collaging your writing, keeping a dream diary, and you will go on an artist’s outing. We'll investigate the power of rules to either restrict, or to expand, our freedom of expression.
Module Six – Blossom into Your Full Creative Potential
In this module you’ll be encouraged to recommit to all those practices, such as Walking Meditation and Writing Meditation, that keep you a happy, healthy, and productive writer. You’ll hone the skill of editing and polishing your finished manuscript. You will explore ways to begin and end a piece of writing. You will discover how to make your writing an awesome experience for both yourself and the reader. We’ll touch briefly on publishing options, and the journey of a book from first ideas to publication.
Each module is designed to be completed over approximately two weeks. However, because the course is self-paced you can work through the modules at a pace that suits you and your lifestyle.
Write Your Yoga Book!
“This course gave me the confidence to not only complete a whole book but also send it off to a publisher, who accepted the manuscript for publication (due out at the end of 2025). The book idea developed through the course, especially the final assignment. The modules helped me find my yoga writing voice, and Jilly's feedback on assignments was instrumental in giving me the tools to take this book idea forwards. She also gave me advice about how to send it to a publisher. I'm hugely grateful to Jilly for believing in me every step of the way. She's the mentor and champion you need on your side! I couldn't have made this leap without her support. I would recommend Jilly's teaching to anyone thinking of writing about yoga.”
Mookaite Jasper (they/them)
Praise for the tutored version of this course
Your Tutor Jilly Shipway
Best Selling Author
Jilly Shipway is a writer and a qualified yoga teacher with over thirty years teaching experience. Jilly is the author of Yoga Through the Year, Yoga by the Stars, and most recently, Chakras for Creativity. She regularly contributes to various magazines and yoga publications, including the Yoga Magazine, Spirit and Destiny magazine, Writers’ Forum, Kindred spirit, Om Yoga, Llewellyn’s Witches’ Datebook, and Llewellyn’s Moon Sign Book.
On this course, Jilly is excited to share yoga and meditation practices with you, that underpin a productive, happy, and fulfilled writing life. She is also keen to teach you skills and techniques to help you to blossom into your full potential as a writer.
Example Curriculum
- To Begin is the Victory!
- Finding Your Feet
- What Do You Love to Read?
- Finding Time to Write
- Quietening Down the Inner Editor & Self-Doubt
- Exercise: Describe a Grounding Yoga Pose
- Nourishing the Writer Within
- Walking as a Creative Superpower!
- Write Your Way to Happiness & Healing
- Exercise: I Discover Yoga
- Writing for Yourself & Writing for the Reader...
- A Writer's Notebook
- Exercise: Sensual Writing
- Befriending the Muse
- Seeing the World Anew
- Exercise: Yoga to Get your Writing Flowing
- The Courageous Path to Healing
- Using Concrete Images to Convey Abstract Concepts
- Write to Reveal the Light Within
- Exercise: A Day in the Life of Your Yoga Mat
- Point of View: Opening to New Possibilities
- What Motivates You to Write?
- Choosing Your Point of View
- Writing in the First-Person: Getting Personal
- First-Person Plural: We're All in this Together!
- Second-Person: Here's Looking at You Kid!
- Second-Person- Sounding Sinister!
- The Third-Person Narrator: Seeing the Bigger Picture
- A Tale of Two Yogis
- Rewrite Yogi on a Motorcycle...
- Exercise: Describe a Yoga with Cats Session
- Tuning into Inner Wisdom & Navigating Stormy Waters
- The Art of Creative Listening
- Locating the Beating Heart of Your Creativity
- A Balanced View of Healing
- Finding Time For You
- Working With Difficult Emotions
- Compassionate Walking Meditation
- Exercise: Describe a Yoga Pose
- Yoga Writing Style Guidelines
- Read Your Work Aloud
- Assignment Four: Write About Overcoming a Challenge
- Harnessing the Power of Your Imagination
- Writing is a Messy Process
- Give Your Writing space to Breathe
- Keep Your Reader in Mind
- The Magic of Words
- Blogging Guidelines
- Read: Write for OM YOGA Guidelines
- Exercise: Write a Yoga Magazine Article
- Rules & Rule Breaking
- Go on an Artist's Outing
- Keep a Dream Diary
- Exercise: Write About a Yoga Class
- Every Ending is a New Beginning...
- Blossom into Your Full Creative Potential
- Beginnings: How to Grab Your Reader's Attention
- Endings: How to Conclude Your Work
- Bowing to Chance
- Create a Collage
- Exercise: Cut and Paste
- Make Your Pitch in a Lift...
- The Journey of a Book From First Ideas to Publication
- Feedback is a Gift
- Becoming Your Own Editor
- Exercise: Write a Longer Piece of Work
- Congratulations!
Yoga Through the Year Online Courses & Resources
Transformational Courses to Deepen Your Understanding of Yoga