On becoming a yoga teacher

Students in child's pose

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you already know that I’m still an aspiring yoga teacher, but most importantly, I’m still a student and always will be. There’s so much to learn that every journey I take is one step closer to my dream.  I’m always learning, always growing, and my Wednesday evening students teach me more than I teach them.  I like to tell my students, “yoga is a journey, not a destination.” I’ll be saying that when I’m 80 years old, I’m sure.

Becoming a yoga teacher takes strength and courage and also an inner wisdom.  I still have so much to learn, and I’ve planned some pretty amazing trainings in the next several months. On October 16th I’m flying to Scottsdale Arizona to attend a Gentle Yoga & Modification Training being taught by Lanita Varshell, a leading expert in yoga for the plus size and health challenged populations. She is the founder of A Gentle Way Yoga & Joyful Movement Center in San Diego, California, and I’m overjoyed to have the opportunity to train with her, even if it is only for a weekend. I want so much to be able to help my students who have health or weight issues to become more comfortable in their yoga practice and I believe Lanita will show me how.

In February 2010 I’m going to train right in my home town of Salt Lake City with Judith Lasater and Charlotte Bell to become a Relax and Renew Restorative Yoga Teacher. I’m overjoyed and excited for this opportunity, as becoming a restorative yoga teacher is one of my dreams. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t rest and relax in one restorative pose or another. I believe wholeheartedly in the power of restorative yoga and learning with Judith Lasater and Charlotte Bell is going to be the icing on the cake. I can’t wait to lug armfuls of blankets and a big bolster to the training to have the time of my life becoming the yoga teacher I’ve always wanted to be.

If you’d like to become a yoga teacher but don’t have the financial means to travel to an extensive teacher training, train at home in your spare time with a home study yoga teacher training course.  Learn more about Yoga Teacher Training at home.

Yoga teacher is also a student

I’ve been teaching a basic hatha yoga class at my local church for over three years and I’m grateful that I have a very loyal following.  My students think I walk on water when it comes to teaching them yoga, although I walk into class every week with a slight bit of stage fright because I feel like I don’t have enough experience to effectively teach.  I should be patting myself on the back because I teach at all, and that is something.  I actually love to teach, and I can’t wait to get more experience. Sometimes I get tongue-tied or I can’t remember the name of a part of the anatomy when I want to describe how to get in or out of a pose.  Or, when I don’t know what to do for a larger student who trying to get into a pose the rest of the class is doing.  That needs special training, and I’m not there yet.  But I will be.  I’ve had no formal training except for classes and workshops I’ve attended at the Yoga Journal Conference last year, or other classes and workshops I’ve attended locally.  I’m planning a couple of yoga teacher trainings in the coming year and they can’t come fast enough.

But, the questions my students and even other people who have never done yoga before ask me make me pause.  “You’re a teacher and you still go to classes? Why?” or “Well, if you teach, don’t you know everything?”  I don’t understand those questions, but I guess I’m also glad that my inexperience doesn’t show.  My students feel honored that I take the time to teach them. I know that I’m qualified to teach, because in the United States, one doesn’t need a certification to teach yoga, but I’d still feel better if I had one or two of them.  I’ve been told that teaching yoga is my “calling,” and I’m seriously working on that.

What do I say when someone implies that I know everything?  I say that yoga is a journey, not a destination, and as far as I’m concerned I’ll be studying, practicing, and teaching yoga for the rest of my life and I probably won’t know everything in the end. And that’s okay.

Yoga benefits seniors in more ways than one

Gone are the days when Granny sat in her rocker and took to knitting sweaters for her great-grandchildren, barely able to get up, let alone walk around the block.  Instead, many older people today are exercising to keep fit and healthy despite their advancing age.  The are enjoying a more pro-active lifestyle, and yoga has become an exercise of choice. And they’re more healthy and vibrantly alive because of it.

Take Pam Horton, age 71, a yoga enthusiast who’s been teaching five yoga classes a week to 20- to- 80-year-olds for the last 35 years in the United Kingdom.  “Yoga can have a tremendous effect on you, whatever age you start,” she says, “but I find I don’t need to do much practice to keep supple, as my awareness of my body posture has become second nature over the years,” says Pam, in an article called “The Yoga Teacher,” (Guardian.co.uk-The Observer, 21 June 2009). “I’m aware of the fragility of health and that it can change without warning. So I always retain a sense of detachment — I’m not pleased with myself if I do a complicated yoga pose, I’m pleased for myself. You’ve never got life cracked.  Yoga teaches you that,” says Pam.

So, what can yoga do for seniors?

• It helps you to function more independently as it improves overall body health;
• It strengthens your muscles and your bones through weight-bearing poses;
• It improves circulation, cardiovascular health and helps you to breathe deeper, which can increase overall well-being;
• It increases flexibility and energy levels and improves posture and balance;
• It helps keep the mind healthy, especially for those who have a family history of Alzheimer’s Disease;
• It provides a full spectrum of mind-body practices that enhance well-being and provide a spiritual connection to your inner self.

To jump start you on your journey, may I recommend Suza Francina’s book “The New Yoga for Healthy Aging:  Living Longer, Living Stronger and Loving Every Day,” a step-by-step guide for the “sixty and beyond” baby boomers who want to start practicing yoga to look and feel great!

Cultivate awareness in Savasana

Photo credit: www.dietsinreview.com

If you engage in a regular yoga practice, you should be aware that lying down in savasana (also known as “corpse pose”)  is the most important restorative pose to get good at, yet it’s the most diffiult pose to master.    

I’ve seen many students doing their own renditions of what they believe is an effective final relaxation pose, much to the chagrin of their teachers, who have spent several minutes imparting the finer points of body positioning, modifications, and breathwork. I’ve even seen students opting out of savasana entirely and immediately sitting up, ready to roll up their mat and walk out the door, impatient for the next activity. 

I guess not everyone has it in them to completely let go in a pose like savasana, but I personally couldn’t live without doing it after a vigorous yoga practice.  I presume that there is some force keeping them from relaxing completely, such as mental agitation, unreleased tension, sleeplessness (or the fear of falling asleep) or boredom. That is unfortunate, because there is a level of deep consciousness that can be achieved that they will never meet unless they are able to completely let their bodies go and let their practice integrate into their very souls.

If savasana is difficult for you, I invite you to try it again, and again, and again, until you get comfortable in your own skin.  The concept of savasana is simply to be in the present, to relax completely, and to cultivate awareness. Savasana engenders feelings of presence, purity and truth. If you are already experiencing the joys that savasana can bring, and practice it regularly, you have found peace and serenity in your life.

To learn more about the finer points of Savasana, click here.

The best laid plans

I taught my regular Wednesday evening hatha basics class last night and I strolled into the church gym with a pretty firm idea of the pose sequences I wanted to accomplish with my group, but as my students wandered in after a day’s work and set their mats down on the floor, I heard moans and groans and comments about how they’d like a gentle, restorative-type class tonight, because they were too stressed or they were just too tired for anything too vigorous.  So, my best laid plans were instantly altered and I had to come up with a different pose sequencing plan on the spot that would calm their nerves instead of invigorate their muscles. Gentle yet effective was the key. Overworking them to see how far they could go wasn’t. So I bended and reinvented myself to fit their needs, not mine, and they appreciated it afterwards.

Being a yoga teacher doesn’t always mean that your class curriculum should be set in stone.  A good yoga teacher envisions what her students need by asking questions and inquiring as to their physical limitations, their aches and pains, and the overall dynamics of the group at that moment in time.  She bends to the needs of her students and offers solutions and modifications to suit their individuality.  Sure, if you’re a yoga teacher in a health club with a set class description such as “Power Yoga,” you know that your students are there to practice none other than a rigorous type of yoga that revs up their sweat glands.  Otherwise, for a class like mine where I teach middle-aged church ladies who are all at different levels, feeling out the class before starting is important to setting the stage for a comfortable and engaging yoga practice suitable for everyone, no matter their level of ability.

Sometimes I think winging a class and adding spontaneous poses is better than spending hours thinking up effective sequences. Not everyone can do all the poses I dream up, and that is not fair to them. By keeping it simple and in proportion to their ability, they will come back again and again for more.  I still have a lot to learn about teaching, but my students inspire me to keep going.

From the teacher’s mat

I've been teaching what I call a basic hatha yoga class for over three years, but I still feel like a beginner because I get into these stagnant ruts when I don't know how to make a class sparkle. My students are mostly middle-aged church ladies (I teach at the church where I belong), and I seem to stick to the same sequencing over and over, because it's what they like and what we're all used to. But I become proud of myself when I can throw them off guard and introduce a couple of new poses for them to try, and they come up to me after class and praise me for helping them break out of their comfort zone, or helping them to discover a muscle they didn't know existed. Then, my heart shines and my confidence grows. I go home feeling like a new person -- a yoga teacher who's ready to conquer the world.