you do yoga

We believe that to most effectively and safely practice or teach yoga, one must understand certain fundamental principles of anatomy. There are so many different traditions and types of yoga, it is not possible to cover them all – and it can sometimes be difficult to discern the underlying unity. Our view is that it does not matter what style of yoga you may practice, what we all have in common is a human body. First develop an understanding of physical anatomy and form a common language for our discussions. Then learn to apply the fundamentals of anatomy to our personal practice and our teaching, emphasizing above all the important role of individual anatomical differences. We will learn this first through the study of Yin Yoga, as the simple postures and slow pace will allow us the necessary time for posture analysis and discussion. We will then carry this on to the study of yang movement sequences that are a great way to begin your practice and teaching of more dynamic yoga styles.

 

​Develop your understanding and your teaching from a functional perspective, meaning that our focus will be not aesthetic appearance or superficial alignment, but rather the actual intended effect of the technique and how to best produce that effect for each unique practitioner. Without the common ground of physical anatomical understanding this is difficult, but with practical understanding of anatomy the function of the techniques and their application becomes clear. We will discuss the theory of exercise and it’s relevance to yoga asanas. We will experience the function of a diverse array of techniques through direct personal experience.We will become comfortable teaching students with varied levels of ability and experience. Each student you encounter will need something different from you as a teacher. If there is one message that we will carry throughout our training it is that every individual’s yoga practice is ultimately unique, and the teacher’s function is to guide the student’s practice in order to help lead them to their own direct experience of their personal truth.

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Practice and teach fundamental techniques of meditation. We will differentiate between two types of meditation: techniques used for relaxation or stress reduction, and techniques used for personal and spiritual evolution. We will first learn to practice and teach meditation techniques that are very simple and easy to teach to beginners. We will then explore subtle anatomy, the energetic system of the body, including chakras and meridians, and discuss the “bigger picture” of karma and reincarnation. We hope to clarify some of the confusion that can arise from studying any one tradition. We will put our theories into practice in asana, pranayama, and meditation sessions.

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Become familiar with the essential scriptures and philosophical texts of yoga. We believe that the most important information about the yogic sciences are contained in just a few ancient texts. Many contemporary authors write ‘new’ books that are essentially a paraphrase of the wisdom presented in these sacred writings, and often their personal biases can obscure the original message. Not to say that there are not some very good modern texts, but we can read a few hundred modern books trying to sort out these truths, or we can work to really understand a few seminal works. We shall do the latter.

 

We will prepare you for the realities of teaching yoga as a profession. This does not just mean that you will be certified, that’s the easy part…. It means you will be able to teach effectively in any setting that you choose, to any student seeking your guidance. It means you will be able to find or create job opportunities, and effectively negotiate the compensation you deserve for being properly trained. It means you will be ready to go out into the real world and teach real students a practice that really helps them, and that requires an understanding that we will have to work hard for.