You're Teaching Yoga: Know Your Limits and Your Students

Teaching Hatha Yoga: Physical Limits of Your Yoga Students


Have you ever seen a Yoga student who was so competitive that it caused an injury? How do you reason with a person who cannot put competitive feelings aside during a Yoga class?

Concerning students who push themselves too far - A Yoga student's number one teacher is his or her body. If the student does not listen to the body, the lowest form of awareness cannot be developed.

In this case, a Yoga student will not reach higher levels of consciousness (meditation or Samadhi) because awareness of the body is one of the fundamental steps in Yoga training. Physical awareness will eventually lead to mental and emotional awareness, at a later point, in a Yoga student's training.

Finally, spiritual awareness will result in a "spiritual awakening." This spiritual awakening will cause a Yoga student to connect physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, which will result in finding one's true purpose in life.

When we find our purpose in life, we find self-worth. Now that you have seen the formula to self-worth, you must realize that none of this can happen if we are struggling back at "square one," dealing with our ego.

Adults who cannot suppress their ego are often in touch with their inner child, but have taken a wrong turn, if they are on a path of self-improvement. It is good for adults to have some care free qualities, but we cannot afford to push our bodies like children often do.

Children commonly push their bodies too far, because they are not familiar with physical limits and their consciousness is limited, but children will usually listen to adult warnings.

When adult Yoga students physically push their bodies too far, it can cause permanent injury to a joint, and possibly, halt physical Yoga practice completely.

However, adult students do not always listen to their Yoga teacher. This is why it is important for Yoga teachers to repeatedly cue students in regard to basic contraindications for specific Yoga postures (asanas).

Sorry to say, the adult Yoga student who still continues to push the physical body too far, after repeated warnings, from his or her Yoga teacher, needs a "baby sitter." You may have to talk to a competitive Yoga student, in private, and express realistic concerns about potential injury, which can result from using force.

Unfortunately, if you have a student who does not listen to your repeated warnings, you may have to ask him or her to leave. This person should not be allowed to hurt him or herself in your Yoga class.

© Copyright 2007 Get Info on Good Yoga Teacher Training from Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Great yoga teacher shares from his depth of understanding

To learn how to teach yoga experience yoga with a Great yoga teacher



This is a video made in 1938 showing the Great yoga teacher demonstrating asana and pranyama. He was the teacher of BKS Iyengar and Sri K. Pattahbi Jois, founder the Astanga style of yoga. The film is so old that any claim to copyright has expired

You're Teaching Yoga...Yoga Teacher Certification for the Rich and Famous

Do you think the high cost of becoming a Yoga Teacher is too far out of reach? Will you have to sacrifice your family's life savings to become a Yoga instructor? How will you be able to justify the time off from work needed to gain your Yoga certification?

There are cost-effective, and less expensive solutions, to learn to teach Yoga by becoming a certified Yoga instructor, without the cost of an "arm and a leg."

Recently, I was talking to an intern from an outside Yoga Teacher Training program, which had paid nearly $10,000.00 for on-site training, on an exclusive tropical island. He was upset, since he had borrowed tuition costs from his parents, and possibly sacrificed his job, in order to become a certified Hatha Yoga Teacher.

He visited my web site for a Yoga teacher correspondence course and discovered my course was a fraction of the cost he and his family paid. He asked me how this is possible. I explained that we do not need to feed, house, or supply hundreds of Yoga interns. On top of that, there are no transportation costs to be concerned with, when using a Yoga home study course. The only cost is for materials, tutoring, and Yoga teacher certification.

Further, I explained that to be trained in a face-to-face setting, by a Master Yoga Teacher, is more expensive due to the "hands on" time spent with his teacher. After all, we have an onsite Yoga Teacher program that is more expensive than our correspondence course.

Time spent learning Yoga from a Master Teacher, or a Guru, is a valuable service. Our course is designed for an experienced Yoga practitioner who doesn't need as much hands on help or who has a local Yoga teacher for guidance.

He continued the conversation to ask me about technical support, and I explained that we handle it by Email, over the phone, and some interns stop by for our Yoga teacher workshops. We have had Yoga teacher trainees visit us from California and Great Britain to attend a workshop. By the sound of his voice, he seemed depressed, and I asked him, "What is wrong?"

He told me that he hadn't been taught anything about the marketing involved in the Yoga business or about business in general. He felt it would take a long time to pay his parents back and didn't know if his job would still be available to him when he gets back home.

Then, I explained that we have Yoga marketing and business tools in our standard course and as a separate course for experienced Yoga teachers. I invited him to come to a Yoga marketing workshop when he gets back to the States, and, we both, made a new friend.

We all feel a "calling" to do work that gives us satisfaction. It helps to have a passion about our work and to know that you are helping others along the way. This is one of the many benefits of teaching Yoga, but I advise you to research the cost of Yoga instructor education, and to be careful not to put yourself too far in debt. Otherwise, your passion for Yoga could turn into a financial worry - well into the future. This would make it difficult to teach the benefits of Yoga to your students, while you are stressed out over your bills.

© Copyright 2005 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

About the author:

Paul Jerard is the director of Yoga teacher training at Aura in RI. He's a master instructor of martial arts and Yoga. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness. He wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students wanting to be a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org

Written by: Paul M. Jerard Jr.

All About Yoga and You...To Be Or not to be a Yoga Teacher

All About Yoga and You


Yoga is both a physical and mental exercise involving the body, mind, and spirit. This meditation technique originated in India, and is designed to create awareness, balance over one’s well-being; it was also designed to cleanse, heal, and strengthen the body, as well as develop a person’s physical fitness.

The most common form practiced nowadays is the Hatha yoga, which has specific movement or postures called Asana, various breathing exercises called Pranayama), and some meditation or (Dhyana).

Yoga was traditionally a spiritual practice, for an individual to be one with the absolute or the divine. The word “yoga” means to join or bind together. And the exercises in yoga bind together the body, mind, and spirit.

The exercises and movements in yoga provide very low-impact workout for people in almost any physical condition. They can ease and relax the muscles, improve flexibility, and enhance strength, balance, and endurance.

Because of the proven benefits it has given, yoga is now practiced all over the world. Over seven percent of American adults practice yoga!

There are other types of yoga, of course, aside from the Hatha. One is the Raja, or the “Royal Road.” Its primary focus is on meditation and it incorporates exercise and breathing techniques with meditation and study. Another is the Jnana, or the path of knowledge or wisdom. It mainly involves the study of texts.

The Bhakti is a form of yoga wherein the path of love and devotion focuses on the guru or chosen deity. It often includes chanting. Karma is the yogic system of action and service while the mind is centered on the divine. One would say that these are activities done selflessly for the greater good. The Tantra is a path of ritual, and is based on the principle of embracing life to unite with the deity. It uses all the energies of the body to transcend worldly attachments.

What’s great about yoga is that you don’t necessarily have to do all the positions. You can work with your own limitations and focus on your specific needs.

Finding a teacher won’t be hard if you decide to try yoga. Ask your regular health care professional or doctor for suggestions first so that you may focus on your specific needs in yoga.

You can also take individual lessons. It’s either you employ a private yoga teacher or you avail yourself of books and videos. However, these would be costly and will not necessarily supplement what you will learn in a class.

You should be aware that the level of training for a yoga teacher is important. May yoga teachers have done little more than complete a weekend training. Make sure to check with the Yoga alliance when choosing one.




SOURCE:

Yoga: Overview. NWHRC Health Center – Yoga, May 25, 2005

teaching yoga

teaching yoga
Simon Krohn (cand.mag.) teaches yoga classes in copenhagen and yoga workshops internationally. ... I started practising Yoga in Copenhagen in 1996. The first couple of years I mainly practised ...

YOUR Yoga Life...Yoga's Latest Position Helps the Planet

Yoga's Latest Position Helps the Planet
Some People Are into It, Some Aren't

By Terri Rimmer CLOUT INDEX


An earth-friendly approach is natural for some yoga studios.

"Green isn't always something you can see…at first," said Erin Wade.

At Breathe Studio, surrounded by concrete and other less earthly goods, staff concentrates more on action to make up for the fact that the facility is in a one-room atmosphere hedged in a strip mall.

"This is Texas, not the East or West Coast, so it's about small changes, not about perfection," said owner Gemma Hobbs. "It's about stepping out and identifying yourself as a green business."

Hobbs decided to expand her eight years of yoga experience into green friendly living when she heard about an organization in California that was doing the same - the Green Yoga Association.

‘The teachings of yoga have always talked about having a relationship with the planet through nonviolence," says Samantha Ostergaard, Green Studio program coordinator at the Association. "We ask the studios to partner with their local environmental organizations to throw fund-raising events together and bring speakers into their studio."

While the organization has always implemented green living it started a pilot program last year to teach yoga studios how to give back more to the earth in daily operations.

Do other studios who aren't members understand the connection to the earth, too?

Ostergaard said when the Association reaches out to other studios many of them are already doing a lot.

"When they hear about our program, they say it makes so much sense to bring it into the business," she stated.

Dallas Yoga Center sells eco-friendly mats and cleaners though they are not affiliated with any association related to this type of interest.

Another studio known for being earth-conscious is Move Studio.

Breathe Studio uses natural light as one way of reducing the toll on the earth. Hardwood floors cover the surface while fans blow a cool breeze.

Hobbs said she makes her own mat spray, sells organic-cotton yoga clothes and recently bought some Himalayan salt rock lamps that are said to be nurturing to the earth.

Despite all her efforts, her main focus, however, is on the client and she does so by inviting them to eco-friendly outings.

As for incentives, Breathe Studio recently offered a contest for clients to earn points while contributing to saving the earth in various ways.

Teaching Yoga... laughing yoga

Now that's an idea...teaching laughing Yoga ;^)



Laugh and the whole world laughs with you...YES