YUJMU is about finding your potential and sometimes that requires creative, playful ways of thinking and acting.
You will find your own way to process and express the material we present to you in our trainings. We can't imagine anything more beautiful than that.
This Sanskrit root word variously translates as "to unite" or "to merge". The word and concept of Yoga comes from this word.
This Japanese word is variously translated as "nothing", "not have" or "no". It is used in Zen to refer to emptiness, the way an empty tea cup has the potential to be filled by anything.
YUJMU was founded in 2014 by TJ Maher while completing his 500 hour Yoga training in New Brunswick Canada. YUJMU began as "MU Yoga" a title for TJ's Yin Yoga and Meditation workshops that were offered around the town of Fredericton NB. It later became YUJMU when it was clear that the scope wanted to be further reaching than Yoga.
Many workshops were offered in these early days including some of the foundational characteristics of what would become the Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings. Themes such as Yin+Zen, Yin & Reiki, Yin & Anatomy were all being explored to see what resonated with people in the local community.
Many of these workshops would be collaborative efforts pairing the skills of individuals and friends in other fields with Yin Yoga. This emphasis and aim of merging Yin beyond itself still informs the direction of YUJMU and its training development.
The next phase of YUJMU's growth was in and around NYC. Several workshops were offered in the suburbs of Long Island, in Brooklyn and in Manhattan.
While visiting the Capital it became clear that there was a lush and diverse Yoga scene there and the decision was spontaneously made to grow the seeds of YUJMU in this fertile soil. After some incubation time the first training found a home at Yoga Heights soon followed by the first international home for the training at Wild Wolf's Yoga in the U.K.
Always evolving and refining, the YUJMU Yin Yoga Teacher Training is an art project of sorts. TJ's root Yin Yoga teacher Bernie Clark, author of The Complete Guide To Yin Yoga, has reviewed the training and given it his blessing. We continue to honor the significance of that to us by always looking for ways to better serve our students.
YUJMU has grown so rapidly beyond our expectations. In only one year from the birth of our teacher training program we have booked hosts for nearly one training per month in 2018 in 4 different countries in North America and overseas. Our YINfinite Family (graduates from our program) is growing rapidly and we are overjoyed to be seeing so much Yin going out into the world.
In 2019 and beyond we are expanding to more studios across the globe and continuing to nurture our local roots. We are also excited to have begun development of a Level 2 expanding on the curriculum in the current 100 hour training. Long term YUJMU will provide a variety of differentiated offerings by a spectrum of international collaborators helping others around the world to explore and learn about themselves and their unique path to balance, health and enlightenment.