Things You Only Know If You’ve Taken A Yoga Class
Things You Only Know If You’ve Taken A Yoga Class 1) Yoga holds a mirror up to your face and challenges you to identify what you see. 2) Yoga teachers are like politicians – some are professional bullshit artists, and some are genuinely concerned with making a difference. 3) A yoga class separates those who […]
Winding Down
I’ve just lay down on the couch with the winter storm wind howling past the windows of my flat and my dog curled up asleep against my legs. Today marks the end of in-class teaching for me for 2012, and the past few days I’ve felt this post taking form in my mind. Now feels like the right time to get it all down and attach the symbology of words to it.
Full Circle
My yoga practice started in 1999 when I found my guru living directly across the street from me. Joan Ruvinsky introduced me to my first yoga classes, which incorporated everything from inspirational discussions at the start of class to the most illuminating of approaches to the practice, including Body Sensing and Yoga Nidra. What really resounded with me were the Yoga Nidra sessions where we would lie down in Savasana after making ourselves as comfortable as possible with pillows, bolsters and blankets, and then allow our bodies to fall asleep while our minds stayed alert and focused on the teacher’s voice as she guided us through a meditation. Yoga Nidra is often defined as “yogic sleep”, and the whole exercise consists of letting the body relax and let go while conditioning the mind to not do the same. Every Yoga Nidra experience I have ever had has felt like an awakening, a realization of something I had always suspected was true, but had never encountered. Joan first introduced me to the experience, and her classes were beacons of peace for me when things were volatile in my life, and she gave me the yogic platform from which I have bounded off of in search of all things yoga.
Five (More) Tips For New (and Seasoned) Yoga Teachers
Last week, Elephant Journal published a piece written by Sean Conley listing 5 Tips For New Yoga Teachers. I have been mulling over the mistakes I’ve made as a yoga teacher, both in the earlier days and even more recently, and I know others are making the same errors…so here are five more tips: