Yoga For Beginners Guide

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 I am often asked by employers about how to evaluate a Yoga Teacher? Whether you are a health club owner, program coordinator, or a potential student, it is important to accurately evaluate a teacher. It is very important for students to find the best possible teacher. The following is the "CALM check list." These factors are basic criteria that your Yoga instructor should meet before you continue on to a second class. CALM gets it name from four main factors: Communication, Assist, Listen, and Modification. For the right Yoga instructor, you should be answering with a "yes" to all questions. Communication: Does your teacher talk to you, and other students, in a manner of mutual respect? Can you ask a question during class time?

By Amruta Kulkarni, CYT 500 As a yoga teacher, you want to welcome new people with open arms. People new to a yogic way of life are taking a big step, just by visiting a studio or ashram. We may view it as a small hurdle, but new students want to shed the label "beginner" as soon as possible. The best way a yoga instructor can help is to provide handouts, information and explain that some information on the Internet is erroneous or intended for teachers.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed If you are teaching Yoga to students who are struggling with a chronic illness, recovering from surgery or healing from an injury, you may feel intimidated as you try to figure out how to safely include and challenge these students. The very first step to teaching students who need special consideration is to make sure you are generally familiar with each student's current level of health.

By Gopi Rao It is said that the art of yoga may be practiced anytime as long as those involved remove their shoes first! All joking aside, yoga has, for thousands of years, been one of the best ways to maintain a prolifically positive quality of life and well being. The most unique aspect about yoga is that it requires involvement from not only one's mind and body, but the spirit as well. The ostensible meaning of the word "yoga" is not easily nailed down in an etymological sense.

By Faye Martins When you attend a 200-hour yoga certification course, you are often trained to work with athletic types. After a yoga instructor begins teaching, he or she addresses the most common health problems. Sooner, or later, an instructor will have a student who is a diabetic. If you didn't cover special populations and ailments in your foundational teacher training, it's no problem, but now is the time to work on your continuing education. Just so we're clear, continuing education is part of keeping your mind active for life and there is no one course with all the answers to the puzzles of life.

By Faye Martins When looking at intensive courses for continuing education, most workshops and advanced yoga certification courses will generally be organized to address a number of common ailments. For example: A yoga for back pain course is not entirely about sciatica, but the will be addressed during the course. Let's look at some issues concerning the sciatic nerve, which will help us get the most out of a specialized yoga teacher training for back problems.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 The importance of warm-ups, before asana practice, cannot be overstated. The number one reason why we should teach warm-ups is to reduce the chances of student injury. It is amazing to listen to educated people, who believe that experienced students and teachers, do not have to warm up. This mindset that believes warm-ups are only for beginners should have its own mantra: "I am all that!" If you practice a physical form of Yoga, it only makes sense that you should warm up before asana practice.

By Kimaya Singh The Internet is a creative tool that has made life easy or complicated. It is now easier to pay bills, link with friends and family members, purchase products and even learn the course of your choice. Yoga teachers, on the other hand, have found much relief through sending information online. First of all, teachers can reach as many students as possible and send them the latest newsletter to stay in touch. When it comes to Yoga teacher education, the main factor to consider is the manner of how you intend to absorb all of the new information within your field.

By Sangeetha Saran Hot yoga has become a popular option in gyms and fitness centers around the world. It's based on the idea of creating a warm, moist environment to imitate the climate of India. Since its introduction to the United States around 1970, Bikram's heated style has morphed into other various forms of hot yoga. Class structures can vary, but a heated yoga class basically involves a room that's heated to around 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 How can Yoga be a cure for everything? Can Yoga really help prevent depression? Let's take a look at some solutions for depression and see how Yoga can be useful. While it is arguable that depression is not always preventable, there are many cases, when using the following ideas, will keep you in good spirits - most of the time. Unfortunately, we cannot be happy all of the time, but there is something we can do about it.

By Kimaya Singh What can be done about autism for children? Maybe, the first actions on the part of education systems should be awareness, recognition, and a Yogic solution. It is unknown to many teachers that autistic children will benefit dramatically from engaging in Yoga techniques and practice. The benefits are many and varied for the children who suffer from this disruptive condition. Below are six things that children's' Yoga teachers should understand about autism and the benefits these kids gain from Yoga.

By Faye Martins Yoga conjures up images of peaceful meditation, relaxing stretches and trips to the emergency room. Wait, emergency room? Just as with any other activity people can suffer injuries from yoga. Yoga injuries are most commonly mild muscle strains, but torn tendons and severe back injuries have been known to occur. Teachers need to think about yoga student safety when preparing for classes and during classes.

By Kimaya Singh How many of your students have insomnia and how frequently do they have it? A conservative statistic regarding adults who experience nights with sleeplessness is 30%. Some people claim the number to be much higher than studies and reports. This subject may not have come up in your yoga teacher training, but you should know which yogic techniques help one get a night's sleep. Yoga for insomnia is a viable solution and there are no bad side effects that occur with practice.

By Faye Martins In regard to meeting the needs of students who experience depression, there are specialized yoga teacher training courses to meet the need. There are many options within Yoga for students who are looking for a therapeutic method to purge negative thoughts from within.

By Amruta Kulkarni, CYT 500 If you teach pranayama in your classes, you may have come across a student who has a lung disease. We may learn how to modify asanas in a yoga certification course, but how do you modify pranayama? Think from the perspective of a student who struggles to breathe all day long. You have to make your modifications simple, but effective.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Anger is such a powerful, negative emotion. It is much similar to an amusement park ride you wish you had never tried. Many of us believe anger must just run its natural course. How could Yoga really help you with anger management? Yoga helps develop awareness at all levels, and you must be able to identify the triggers to losing self-control. This technique cannot prepare you for every situation in life, but it can help you with knowing the source of your problems.

By Faye Martins Yoga teacher training courses enhance an interns ability to connect with children on many levels. Teaching yoga to children is very rewarding, but there will be challenges in your classes. Perhaps if adults had the energy, optimism and honesty of children, the world would be a different place. Looking at the world through the eyes of a child means taking things one moment at a time, stopping to appreciate seemingly insignificant moments and attractions, and releasing your emotions as you feel them. Essentially, children are living some of the most fundamental of yogic principles: mindfulness, gratitude and inner peace. It makes sense, then, to teach children yoga postures and breathing while they are young and eager to accept healthy, lifelong concepts.

By Bhavan Kumar Although a specialist work shop or yoga teacher training course for arthritis is rare, there is much information available. We know that controlled movement such as traditional asana practice can give pain relief. We also know that too much repetitive motion will cause pain. Therefore, if a student has arthritis, holding asanas are fine, but flowing through them isn't recommended.

By Faye Martins Yoga teachers learn to create lesson plans as prescriptions for ailments. Among the common ailments, which nag at humans, are headaches. Almost every person on this planet has experienced a mild or severe headache at one time or another. Over the counter pain killers are a huge industry and their main use is for headaches. Although this subject is not usually mentioned in a foundational 200-hour yoga teacher training, it should be. The concept of a pain free day by practicing natural yogic techniques should be taught to the public.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Coping with depression is not easy, and severe depression is truly a tough road to travel. Yet, Yoga training contains many alternative methods to lift your spirits beside Laughter Yoga. Hatha Yoga has many aspects, which will aid anyone in times of depression. A Yoga teacher is not a substitute for a psychiatrist, but Yogic practices are beneficial for a holistic approach to mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional health.