Yoga For Beginners Guide

By Kathryn Boland Challenges, Success, and Fun How can you create classes that are a fruitful yoga experience for your students? In Dance Studio Life Magazine's November 2014 issue, master modern dance teacher Bill Evans states that he seeks to offer his students three elements in every dance class - challenges, success, and fun. Challenges offer growth; without pushing the boundaries of our comfort zones, people can't expand their skills and achievements. Success, in some measure, keeps us coming back for more. Without feeling some sense of accomplishment, after a certain amount of time and trial-and-error, we (some might argue, wisely) often move on to other pursuits. Success also brings the confidence we need to be at our bests. Fun engages students, and also puts them in a positive, confident frame of mind.

By Kathryn Boland Are you in challenging yoga teaching environments? It's clear that yoga instructors have a lot to offer with their skills and knowledge in guiding various individuals to greater holistic wellness - Opportunities for doing so range from nursing homes to health clubs to schools. Many resourceful and creative yoga instructors have taken advantage of such diverse opportunities, often apart from the specialized yoga studio atmosphere. It's also clear that yogic philosophy often differs from Western's cultures perspectives on wellness, including the best ways to both work towards and maintain it.

By Kathryn Boland Language in yoga instruction is extremely important. Being invited to something - to a party, to a meaningful life passage event, even to do something that just plain feels good - carries its own special joy. It's even difficult; at least for me personally, to put into just the right words that special feeling of allowance and/or inclusion. Invitation can also be part of when one seeks to direct another in more formalized, structured activity (that which we might not commonly associate with such simple joy). As yoga instructors, we can both direct and ease our students through using "invitatory" language. Furthermore, it opens up opportunities for students to make their practices truly their own - versus our ideas of what we think those practices should be.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Do you want more tips about how to teach Yoga by example? Like most dedicated teachers, you continually strive to make progress in your practice. Most likely, this drive to succeed comes into play in your life, both on and off the mat. As a professional Yoga instructor, you may find that many of your students will emulate your way of approaching the practice in the way that they, themselves, approach their own practice. In addition, many of your students will also model your psychological approach to difficult poses and other personal challenges that arise during class, in their daily interactions off the mat.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. Why is compassion such an important aspect of teaching? During the course of your Yoga teaching training program, you are probably immersed in a great deal of information about correct alignment principals during the practice of the postures, the intricacies of human anatomy and learning the classical Sanskrit names of the asanas. What you may not be so closely connected to is the profound importance of compassion and teaching the finer aspects of how to incorporate the teachings of Yoga into your students' daily lives "off the mat."

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. Throughout the ages, there have been innumerable stories of individuals who faced their fears and surmounted unbelievable odds, in order to achieve their ultimate goals. These goals are far ranging. Some examples of courageous individuals who achieved their goals with courage and persistence are the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest and a veteran who is a certified Bikram Yoga instructor, even though he is a double amputee. In fact, Iyengar, who is credited with being one of the very first teachers to bring the practice to the west, healed himself of a disabling physical condition, through the rigorous and dedicated practice of Yoga postures.

By Kathryn Boland Have you experienced trials with the business of modern Western yoga? Have you seen yoga instructors facing such trials? Did you support them? Were you supported? In most locations, more yoga instructors are being trained in, and interested in, teaching than there are available teaching opportunities. The result is a market oversaturated with teachers.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. Have you learned about effective themes for summer Yoga classes? In many Yoga teacher training programs, you will learn about organizing your classes around specific themes. This concept encapsulates the idea of constructing a sequence, or krama, or Yoga postures, pranayama techniques and meditation instructions around a specific theme or goal. This theme may be the successful practice of a pinnacle posture, such as Crow Pose or Handstand. Or the chosen theme may be centered on a process, such as physical detoxification or calming an overactive mind.

By Faye Martins Bringing awareness to the breath is a fundamental part of any yoga practice, but it is also important for our lives off of our mats. As adults, we feel the physiological and emotional benefits of breath awareness, but children can also benefit from conscious breathing.

By Faye Martins If you are a parent who enjoys participating in yoga exercise at home or in a class, then make sure to get your children involved in yoga. Not only can your children benefit from yoga movements that will increase their muscle strength and flexibility, but also, your children can learn more about their own anatomy.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. Can you think of effective themes for Yoga sessions that are based on the seasons? Although many of us visualize the carefree days of summer, the summertime can also be filled with long "to-do" lists, as many of us plan assiduously to fit in all of the activities we had planned to do, during these supposed "lazy days." The same is true of many of the seasons during the year. For instance, during the fall many Yogis and Yoginis rush to fit in that final trip to the wilderness or to the ocean. In a similar fashion, the holiday season, as festive as it is, is also often a time of heightened stress, because of all the extra gatherings with family and friends.

By Bhavan Kumar If you are a yoga teacher, then it is essential to keep students interested in enrolling in classes several times a week. Students who feel bored by their instructor or the classroom environment may decide to take classes from a different teacher, leading to a loss of income for a yoga business.

By Amruta Kulkarni, CYT 500 Adults from all walks of life and varying physical abilities are discovering the many benefits of practicing yoga and they're not alone. Children as young as three can do simple yoga exercises; in addition to helping a child improve balance, coordination, and body strength, yoga exercises are something that parents and children can do together. In addition to a calming, pleasant exercise, yoga provides opportunities for parents to provide instruction and build trust and communication bonds with their children. And yoga is not just appropriate for small child/parent groups within the home. Larger groups of children respond well to yoga in both classroom and studio settings.

By Kimaya Singh Have you experienced neck and back pain after a long day of sitting at home or at work? In the modern era, as we have increased the amount of time we spend sitting at our computers at work or our televisions at home, we have inadvertently placed increasing amounts of strain upon the skeletal components in our necks and backs.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Teaching Yoga poses that reduce anger will effectively detoxify negative emotions from the body and minds of your students. Angry feelings can be generated by frustration, a sense of powerlessness or the subjective experience of being disrespected, to name only a few possible scenarios. Many Yoga students and teachers alike may experience a low level of chronic anger and frustration, which is often evidenced by having a short fuse and breathing in a shallow manner.

By Kathryn Boland Yoga Rx: What does it mean and where is it going? Have you noticed that yoga is coming more into our Western culture's medical "mainstream"? Do you wonder where you might factor in, as a yoga instructor, in this trend? My father practiced for several decades as an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hands and shoulders. While in my 200 hour CYT training, I forwarded him an article about keeping the wrists safe in weight-bearing yoga postures. The article also explained how the same postures, in an overall balanced asana practice, can help to alleviate many hand and arm medical complications.

By Michael Gleason Can Yoga relieve postpartum depression? Entering motherhood can be an exciting time: buying baby clothes, either turning a spare bedroom or making space in the home for a nursery, and choosing a name. And then the woman goes to the hospital around the baby's due date and comes home as a mother with an infant. Due to the rapid changes in the body - especially when it comes to hormones and core muscles - it is not unheard of for the postpartum period to bring about feelings of sadness or develop a condition known as postpartum depression.

By Michael Gleason Can Yoga help women suffering with postpartum back pain? The literal meaning of yoga is to join or to yoke. And after a life-changing event, such as giving birth, resuming your yoga practice is very important in order for a mother to feel whole again - especially in the singular sense. During the postpartum segment of young motherhood is the reality of back pain or discomfort. First, a mother has been carrying a baby whilst the embryo developed into an infant. Second, the care for an infant includes nursing, skin-to-skin contact in order to bond, and rocking.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 What is the value of Yoga Nidra (sleep of the Yogis)? Deep relaxation techniques, taught in Yoga classes, can become life savers outside the class. Although we should not take sleep period short cuts, Yoga Nidra is effective for bringing the mind and body to a state of rest, while the mind maintains awareness.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Gentle forms of Hatha Yoga can help anyone who suffers from arthritis. Depending on the type, stage, and where arthritis is located in the body, a Yoga session will have to be modified to match the needs of the student. This can make the search for the right Yoga class, and a compassionate teacher difficult, at best.