Advanced Yoga Teaching Skills - Enhancing the skills that set us apart
This one-week module runs Monday to Friday, 9.15am - 5.15pm at the lake.
You may take this module at a time of your choosing, there is no set order for taking any of the 300 modules
Advanced Yoga Teaching skills does not mean teaching advanced yoga poses - of course it doesn't, unless of course that is what you are drawn to. Indeed, once we have settled into our teaching groove, have found our people & are connecting with our yoga community at large, we will want to learn more, we have come to know how vast this Yoga world is now. The 200 hours wetted our lips & our thirst for knowledge burgeons! It’s time to study again.
This week-long module will thoroughly dissect our communication skills & intensify our way of relating to ourselves & our students. Our own practice, still so important becomes the learning tool for us to become the kind of teacher that changes & transform the practice of our students. Only through introspection, self-awareness & humility can we begin to communicate our understanding to our students, that they may have the experience we have had.
“What is yoga by experience? Anusasanam means “let me have the experience my teacher had.”
TKV Desikachar
Advanced teaching is about listening, watching, feeling & asking questions, getting to know the students & learning by observing, offering rather than fixing & encouraging patience in a world that doesn't recognise patience anymore.
Practicing asana is still the best way for us to ground in the moment as the teacher & the student. Refining asana is a beautiful way to spend a week, thinking about the body, watching & following the breath, recognising our own innate power & fragility. There will be emotions & feelings & frustrations & all of it in a safe place.
Our mornings will be physical & we will look at:
Pose Analysis: Standing poses, forward bends, backbends, twists & inversions. Alignment, recognising form, lineage variations, pose modifications & adding props will be explored. We will talk alignment a lot!
Our afternoons will be theoretical & we will follow presentations with discussions & practicng languaging skills. Our topics will be:
Demonstrating Skills & Languaging: We will assess where it is appropriate to use disciplined & exacting language & where it becomes necessary to activate a more passive tone to bring about relaxation & letting go in pose. How to teach without doing it with the student, how to know when to demo & when to assist.
Theming & Sequencing: Scene setting & the weaving into class planning of mythology, history & philosophy.
A 2-part module, over four days, covering classical yoga pranayama techniques.
Topics will also include the anatomy & physiology of breathing, bandhas & how to apply them correctly during your pranayama practice as well as how to build a regular personal practice & how to progress.
Topics Covered:
Current breath assessment
Anatomy & physiology of breath.
Technique: Ujjayi breathing (Victorious breath)
Technique: Nadi shuddhi (alternate nostril breathing).
Technique: Kapalabathi (Skull shining)
Technique: Nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing with breath hold)
Technique: Shitali and Sitkari (cooling)
Bandhas: Jalandhara, Uddiyana, Mula
Pratyahara, pranayama, mantra, visualisation, digital counting, gaze & mudra
Dosha changing practices: Chandra and Surya Bhedhana
Building a daily practice
Ratio progression path
How to teach
Summer
Part 1 Jul 27-28
Part 2 Oct 5-6
Online follow ups
Saturdays Aug 10, Aug 31, Sep 21
OR
Autumn
Part 1 Sep 14-15
Part 2 Dec 7-8
Online follow ups
Saturdays Oct 12, Nov 2, Nov 23
Two & a Half Hours Studying Yoga Poses that reduce stress.
This is an physical exploration of yoga poses said to useful to the intended focus - it is not a therapeutic workshop
This workshop will look at poses that are familiar simply because they are commonplace & their benefits are clear - we feel better after practicing them. Being stressed is not a prerequisite for attendance! Feeling good afterwards will be a by-product.
A great feelgood workshop for those who love to hold poses & perfect their understanding. Teachers, trainees & students welcome.
Yoga practice taught with inward focus as the guide boosts mental & physical self-awareness. We can learn to feel physical sensations & the minute physiological changes within. From there, we can start to feel the physiological changes associated with emotions & certain yoga poses lend themselves to experiencing these emotions. Meditation practice helps us observe emotions without judgment, which can help us explore them instead of perhaps shutting them away.
Backbends & hip openers are the primary asanas that help release emotional tension. Asanas that work on the throat, chest, shoulders & hips are commonly used to release emotions, although you can use any posture that feels right for you.
Example: Poses on the list...
- Big toe pose
- Boat Pose
- Forearm Plank | Dolphin Plank Pose
- Happy Baby Pose
- Plow Pose
- Seated Forward Bend
- Standing Forward Bend
- Supported Shoulderstand
Advanced Anatomy with Ananda Mello-Costa
A 3 day module in the studio
In this module, we will build on the fundamental anatomical concepts covered in the 200h anatomy course. Applying those concepts to specific yoga poses and deconstructing asanas so that you can build the necessary skills to meet and assist students wherever they are in their physical practice.
Topics covered:
- Anatomy of Forward Bending, variations and common patterns
- Anatomy of External Hip Rotation, Lotus and beyond
- Anatomy of Twisting, variation on Seated Twists
- Anatomy of Arm Balancing and how to take it Upside Down
- Anatomy of Backbending and setting the patterns for Upward Facing Dog and Wheel Pose
An in-depth immersion in the classical origins of Yoga, its true meaning, its original purpose and how we can adapt these profound teachings to serve ourselves and society in the modern world.
We will explore the earliest classical definitions of Yoga and how the teachings we have available today developed from these ancient texts.From the first textual reference to Yoga through the first definitions of Yoga, looking at models of the human system and how to use Yoga to establish wholistic health and allow each of us to realise our very highest potential!
Day 1 - Reference to the Upanisads to explore and discuss the first textual reference to Yoga in the Taitirriya Upanisad and the first definitions of Yoga in the Katha Upanisad and the Maitri Upanisad.
Day 2 - Explore the role of sound in Yoga, how mantra was used to transmit the teachings orally for millenia before the teachings were written down. Also, how sound can be used to develop the breath, initially lengthening the exhalation and then stimulating the inhale as a result. Finally, the use of sound/mantra in meditation
Day 3 - Meditation in theory based on the teachings of Patanjali, Yoga Sutra chapter 3. Sutra 1-4. Presentation on the classical yoga model for meditation and the relationship between asana, pranayama and meditation. Purpose and application of meditation classically and in the modern context.
Each day begins with an hour of Yoga taught by Andy, which will be open to the public.