What should a Yoga instructor know before teaching classes? One 200-hour course will not have all the answers. That is not meant to slight any course, but teaching requires a lifetime of study, which is devoted to a subject. If you teach kindergarten, you prepare for each session every day. If you think teaching any subject does not require continuing education, please do your potential students a favor and move on to a job that doesn’t require learning anything new. With that in mind, we’re going deep in many directions, because Yoga is a family of healing modalities. Just one aspect of Yoga is worthy of research for a lifetime.
Consider Music to Create a Calm Class Atmosphere
Some teachers and students will scratch their heads regarding this tip and music will not work everywhere, but it might be a big draw. Some Yoga instructors teach without music, which is fine. A quiet Yoga class could be considered boring or less exciting, and that’s why you might need some soothing music to uplift your students’ spirit. Although you could enhance your class in various ways, filling the room with some calming music would be surprisingly effective and easy to do. However, a Yoga instructor would be wise to avoid playing loud or inappropriate music, since it will affect the students’ concentration. Lower-volume and soothing music allows students to draw their attention inward.
What should a Yoga instructor know about energy? Teaching a dynamic (flow) Yoga class isn’t easy since it requires you to allow the students some time when getting to the mat, and when ending the Yoga session to allow them to assimilate their experiences. Flowing Yoga sessions begin at a low pace and ramp up gradually. When transiting from moderate Yoga pace to high pace, introduce your students to simple warm-up postures and breathing tips. Feel-good postures like reclined twists and hip-openers should be practiced at the end of the Yoga session. After practicing for about ten minutes, the students should have a “Shavasana” minute and probably a 15-minute rest session (cool down) after asana practice.
Be Yourself
Those who taught you Yoga can highly influence how you teach your students. Instead of copying their teaching styles, use them to create enriching inspiration. Most students can sense when you aren’t yourself or when you have copied some words and teaching styles from another person. When you copy other teachers’ styles and words, you don’t just discredit them, but also deny yourself an opportunity to realize your unique traits and internal creativity. Know what inspires you most before you share it with your students. Develop a playful personality and make it shine. When you use authentic Yoga techniques in the class, you influence the students to stay true to their feelings and attitude to the Yoga sessions. Some students may not like how you do it, but your relationship with them should always reflect mutual trust and respect.
As a Yoga instructor, you should also set intentions, create theme-based classes, interpret yoga philosophy snippets, interact with great Yoga teachers, know your students, practice what you teach, and offer inclusive classes. You should also read the student’s energy in the room before the class starts. Besides teaching your students some new yoga practices, you should also help them invite yoga in what they do daily in their business premises, school, workplaces, or even at home.
What should a yoga instructor know about sequencing? As a professional Yoga teacher, there are an endless assortment of ways to creatively sequence a series of asanas, meditation techniques and breathing exercises to facilitate the vibrant good health and overall well being of your Yoga students. Once you master the basic elements of a safe and effective class, you will be able to creatively engage your students in a series of postures that elicit positive emotional states, as well as strengthen and tone various parts of the body.
You also do not want to choose a pinnacle pose that is so difficult for most of your Yoga students that they are not able to do the posture at all and this failure ends up eroding their sense of competency, which leaves them feeling demoralized at the end of class and ready to throw in the proverbial towel. Part of being a successful Yoga teacher is to maintain a high degree of safety in your class. Another important aspect of being a successful teacher is to keep your students enthusiastic about practicing Yoga with you!
Additionally, a state of courage and the tenacity to follow through on one’s goals is spoken of quite highly in many different spiritual texts from a variety of religious traditions. A challenging Yoga class that is accessible to most of your students will provide a framework within which to cultivate a sense of courage, accomplishment and diligence. Challenging standing postures and arm balancing poses often come to mind immediately as poses that easily lend themselves to the development of courage and tenacity.
Bow Pose is one of the most profoundly opening back bending postures that is quite accessible to most Yoga students. This posture is practiced while lying on a Yoga mat in a prone position. Please note: Upward Facing Bow is a more challenging version of Bow Pose and should only be undertaken by those students who have enough flexibility and strength to practice the posture in a safe manner. On the other hand, Bow Pose can be safely practiced by most beginning Yoga students, assuming the students are able to lie on a Yoga mat comfortably and are not contending with a serious neck or back injury, particularly a lower back injury.
Bow Pose expands the entire rib cage area and releases tension throughout the shoulders, neck and throat. This postures also increases flexibility throughout the quadriceps and hip flexors. Bow Pose is usually practiced after a series of Sun Salutations, standing postures and balancing poses. It is often practiced as a connecting pose between the standing asanas and seated postures. After your students have practiced a series of three Bow Poses for three to five breaths each, have them move gently move back into Extended Child’s Pose, in order to release any tension that may have accumulated in their lower back area, before proceeding onto the next Yoga posture.
When we demonstrate respect to the original Yogis, we cultivate inner humility. That’s a key ingredient in many, if not all, of the Yamas and Niyamas. It also opens our minds to historical and cultural context. Better understanding, and then acknowledging how, when, where, and why Yoga developed positions us to better understand the practice itself. Offering acknowledgment of Yoga’s roots also leads us to greater respect and appreciation for Yoga masters after the original ones, who have continued the work of honing and growing the practice to be what it is today. It builds the same for our teachers, and even our fellow students. All are involved in the process of creating the experience that is Yoga practice.
Some teachers purposely share classical Yogic texts, quotes, philosophies, and methods without also sharing whom and where they came from. It’s akin to plagiarizing in writing. We can also adapt and “modernize” the practice to the point where it widely diverges from classical Yoga, such that the extreme change is almost a form of borrowing – without due clarity on what is what. To teachers who are purists, this can be easily seen in forms like Yogalates and Yoga Sculpt (sometimes practiced with weights). This is also why some Yoga instructors refuse to teach hybrid classes. Yet, there is always the argument about Yoga being a system that has evolved for thousands of years.
With full and proper citation, students can be clear about where the wisdom of Yoga has truly come from. This is even possible in locations that might discourage a religious or spiritual stance. One can find several wise passages and quotes in those texts that are not inherently religious or spiritual. And we can teach the Sutras in a very relatable, secular way. Explain ahimsa as non-violence to self or other, for instance, in truth quite applicable to Yoga practice itself (particularly asana practice). Anyone from any faith or spiritual background (or lack thereof) can get behind that concept.
What should a Yoga instructor know about the source of techniques? It’s possible for teaching to be these things and offer full and due context – it just takes practice and dedication on our part as teachers. A quick mention of “Pilates Hundreds” or “this more classical Yoga asana” suffices to remind students of the traditions each come from, for instance. Additionally, when you may have more time to appropriately expand, the powerful and essential simplicity of truths within holistic movement forms will guide you to frame them in clear and concise ways. Certainly, for the wisdom and rich histories of these teachings, we must at least try.
© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division
Are you an experienced teacher looking for YACEP credits or continuing education?
Subscribe to Our Newsletter for Special Discounts and New Products
Related Resources
The YOGA MIND:
52 Essential Principles of Yoga Philosophy to Deepen your Practice
by Rina Jakubowicz.
RESTORATIVE YOGA FOR LIFE:
A Relaxing Way to De-stress, Re-energize, and Find Balance
by: Gail Boorstein Grossman.
YOGA: THE PATH TO HOLISTIC HEALTH
by B.K.S. Iyengar
TEACHING YOGA: Essential Foundations and Techniques
By Mark Stephens