I am so glad that I ran the free weekend of yoga that was 19 hours of teachings from Friday through Sunday, on the same schedule that I ran this first weekend of the Yoga Teacher Training.
This made me far more prepared for the balance between theory and movement, so that the teachers to be were not falling asleep or far too overloaded to continue into theory.
Having this opportunity to help bring more teachers into the world of teaching yoga is a huge honor and one that brings a very humbling feeling. I get to learn while teaching and this past weekend has been a milestone in my development as a yogi and a participant in the community.
What yoga has done for me in the context of my life is beyond the scope of being able to articulate within posts on a blog, I can only give mere reflections to the depth of transformation that have taken place within me.
I feel as though the Lotus flower is a great analogy...
I am a seed in the depths of the mud and I have germinated, through a struggle I break through the surface of this muddy depth and start to grow upwards through a dirty water to break the surface and reaching towards the light where I blossom, and as dirt tries to cling to the beauty of my petals it is repelled....
Not in all the years of my life have I imagined that this is where I would be at.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Yoga Adventures
In a more intense class this past Friday my main teacher Tracy Mann stated something along the lines of, "Take this opportunity to see how you react when faced with having to put in a lot of effort into your yoga. Yoga is a reflection of the way you deal with life, hard yoga is much easier than the hard moments of life."
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तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः॥१॥
tapaHsvaadhyaayeshvarapraNidhaanaani kRuyaayogaH
Sutra II.1
Accepting pain as help for purification, study of spiritual books, and surrender to the Supreme Being constitute Yoga in practice.
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Sometimes we can forget that yoga is far more than just an action on the mat but it is something that should permeate the whole of our life and influence all our actions.
Yoga to me is about a state of being, a tuning into the authentic self. That untainted self that is beyond all the labels that we might attach to something. Yoga is not about removing the labels, it is all about being that true self. By tuning into that portion of our being we are better able to handle the labels and all that comes with having those labels.
Clarity & inner calmness happens from having tuned in to the authentic and it should move beyond the mat into your life.
Yoga is often used as a retreat. There is a reason we call it a practice. Real yoga is the life we live, we practice yoga by doing asana, or meditating or the many other elements that are known as rungs/limbs/aspects of yoga.
Do what you need to in order to remind yourself that you have the knowledge and strength to journey through even the most difficult times in life.
Allow a strong and easy practice.
Know your authentic self
Namaskara & Namaste!
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Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Online Training in Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga
Started watching the lectures from the course I am taking online that is put together by Simon Borg-Olivier and Bianca Machliss from Yoga Synergy in Australlia.
Applied Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga
I am going to puzzle through some of the ansignment work here.
A joint complex at its most basic description would simply be 'Neck, Shoulder, Chest, Lower Back, Pelvis, Knee, Ankle.' When we take a deeper look at each joint complex there is much more going on than just having a knee, the knee joint complex has many different movements and you can use the muscle groups that attach to the knee to produce different effects within those movements. A muscle group is a group of muscles that work together to make a joint move in a specific direction and/or to stabilize the joint(s) as the physical body engages with energy.
The study of the joint complexes and muscle groups makes understanding the body much simpler as it is easier to get the idea of the adductor muscle group brings the legs together or allows you to cross the knee through the midline of the body rather than breaking down each of the muscles. It would take some intense dedication to go through the whole body studying each and every muscle.
Taking a look at the 4 states that we can have our muscles in really brings clarity to the concept that Yoga is far more than stretching even when speaking on the level of the asana. It would be injurious and/or frustrating to only focus attention into one state and ignore the rest. Having each state through a practice is going to facilitate ideal conditions within the individuals body. Here are the four states;
State 1 = Relaxed agonist and antagonist muscle groups.
State 2 = Agonist muscle group activation.
State 3 = Antagonist muscle group activation.
State 4 = Co-activation of agonist and antagonist muscle groups.
State 1 makes me think of savasana and most of the restorative postures that I have had in my practice. And even in many active poses when I have suddenly realized that I am holding muscular tension in a place that is not necessary for the posture I am in and by engaging state 1 I was able to be more present in that moment and my awareness seems to expand.
State 2 I really became aware of when I had injured myself in the area of my superior adductor muscle group and the superior hamstring muscle group. When ever I went towards a forward fold it became necessary to be much more aware of my quadricep muscle group activation to help release the tension I was experiencing.
Reciprocal relaxation is becoming more and more a mantra that resonates within my mind when it comes to moving and relaxing the body.
State 3 Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Activation of the antagonist muscle while it is lengthened to aid in releasing tension and being able to move slowly into a deeper stretch. This seems to be utilized a lot in the hamstrings as many of the individuals I encounter enjoy running often so complain that their hamstrings are always tight. I had read once (Ray Long) that when utilizing this stretch method it should be only done once ever 48 hours, not sure if there is any conclusive proof on that?
State 4 The Bandhas of the body. Using the concept of the Bandhas in each of the joint complexes, especially when it comes to extreme movement ranges, can aid in either making a practice easier or allow for further expressions that would not otherwise safely be attained. Co-activation of muscle groups around a joint complex will be something resounding through my mind as often if not more than reciprocal relaxation.
Applied Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga
I am going to puzzle through some of the ansignment work here.
Explain the concepts of joint complexes and muscle groups.
Discuss how the practical study of the body can be made simpler by using the concepts of joint complexes and muscle groups rather than trying to work with indivudual muscles and individual joints.
Discuss the four states you can create with muscle activation and relaxation around each of the 9 main joint complexes.
Discuss how the practical study of the body can be made simpler by using the concepts of joint complexes and muscle groups rather than trying to work with indivudual muscles and individual joints.
Discuss the four states you can create with muscle activation and relaxation around each of the 9 main joint complexes.
A joint complex at its most basic description would simply be 'Neck, Shoulder, Chest, Lower Back, Pelvis, Knee, Ankle.' When we take a deeper look at each joint complex there is much more going on than just having a knee, the knee joint complex has many different movements and you can use the muscle groups that attach to the knee to produce different effects within those movements. A muscle group is a group of muscles that work together to make a joint move in a specific direction and/or to stabilize the joint(s) as the physical body engages with energy.
The study of the joint complexes and muscle groups makes understanding the body much simpler as it is easier to get the idea of the adductor muscle group brings the legs together or allows you to cross the knee through the midline of the body rather than breaking down each of the muscles. It would take some intense dedication to go through the whole body studying each and every muscle.
Taking a look at the 4 states that we can have our muscles in really brings clarity to the concept that Yoga is far more than stretching even when speaking on the level of the asana. It would be injurious and/or frustrating to only focus attention into one state and ignore the rest. Having each state through a practice is going to facilitate ideal conditions within the individuals body. Here are the four states;
State 1 = Relaxed agonist and antagonist muscle groups.
State 2 = Agonist muscle group activation.
State 3 = Antagonist muscle group activation.
State 4 = Co-activation of agonist and antagonist muscle groups.
State 1 makes me think of savasana and most of the restorative postures that I have had in my practice. And even in many active poses when I have suddenly realized that I am holding muscular tension in a place that is not necessary for the posture I am in and by engaging state 1 I was able to be more present in that moment and my awareness seems to expand.
State 2 I really became aware of when I had injured myself in the area of my superior adductor muscle group and the superior hamstring muscle group. When ever I went towards a forward fold it became necessary to be much more aware of my quadricep muscle group activation to help release the tension I was experiencing.
Reciprocal relaxation is becoming more and more a mantra that resonates within my mind when it comes to moving and relaxing the body.
State 3 Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Activation of the antagonist muscle while it is lengthened to aid in releasing tension and being able to move slowly into a deeper stretch. This seems to be utilized a lot in the hamstrings as many of the individuals I encounter enjoy running often so complain that their hamstrings are always tight. I had read once (Ray Long) that when utilizing this stretch method it should be only done once ever 48 hours, not sure if there is any conclusive proof on that?
State 4 The Bandhas of the body. Using the concept of the Bandhas in each of the joint complexes, especially when it comes to extreme movement ranges, can aid in either making a practice easier or allow for further expressions that would not otherwise safely be attained. Co-activation of muscle groups around a joint complex will be something resounding through my mind as often if not more than reciprocal relaxation.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Thoughts on Being the Primary Teacher at a Teacher Training
Some thoughts on being the primary teacher at a 200 hour level of teacher training.
Taking a look at the basic requirement as established by the Yoga Alliance on being the primary teacher at a yoga teacher training - having taught for a minimum of 2 years with at least 1000 classes taught.
And that is not to say that the individual would have to develop up a curriculum that puts into context all the necessary areas of study that are outlined by YA;
1. Techniques Training/Practice 100 hours,
2. Teaching Methodology 25 hours,
3. Anatomy and Physiology 20 hours,
4. Yoga Philosophy/Lifestyle and Ethics for Yoga Teachers 30 hours,
5. Practicum 10 hours,
6. Electives 15 hours (this points back to further defining the 5 areas of study listed above).
Or if you prefer to look at the standards for curriculum with the International Yoga Federation then you would see the breakdown for curriculum as follows;
1. Techniques 130 hours
2. Teaching Methodology 20 hours
3. Anatomy and Physiology 10 hours
4. Practical Teaching 40 hours
*A cursory examination of the IYF site did not reveal to me if they have specific requirements as to the length of time a person is to be a qualified teacher at a 200 hour level and how many classes taught in their yoga career to be considered as a competent teacher at a 200 hour level)
There are numerous other areas around the internet that could be looked into and dissected but it seams to point towards the base competency of a primary teacher having had 2 years teaching experience with roughly 1000 classes taught.
Not all people are going to desire tackling the development of a curriculum, which is astoundingly fun and engaging.
In developing my curriculum because of passing the base standards and at the blessing of my main teacher, whom I have trained with in 3 teacher training's.
This brings me to that concept of how to navigate through the world of teachers of teachers of Yoga.
It is my belief that all-though it is wonderful to have the much more experienced Yogi/Yogini (for the sake of this article I will define the much more experienced Yogi/Yogini as someone who has taught for over 10 years, with well over 1000 hours of teaching experience) should have a greater emphasis at teaching the more in-depth programs; 300 hour bridges, 500 hour, advanced workshops, etc. Not to say that they should not teach 200 hour training but some of us that are on the path of Yoga looking for a more immersive experience could really benefit from some mentoring from these more trained Yogi/Yogini's.
Some of us that will teach at teacher training's will not have nearly the time committed as others and some of us will have a dramatic amount more before embarking on the path of teaching teachers.
Some people will appose the above criteria and think there should be a dramatically different standard and some will fully support those standards.
Part of me believes that this becomes a much more viable career to move into on a full time basis if those of us with the base criteria to have the chance to teach the base 200 hour level without havnig the perspective imposed on us that we are trying to fast track or fast food industry the world of yoga.
At the base as I move into teaching teachers I want to see that by the end of me training up individual people that they can problem solve the world of yoga, to take others safely through a sequence of asana over numerous time frames (20, 30, 60, 75min+), have a basic understanding of the major areas that comprise yoga and were to look at deepening their understanding when they embark in learning on that portion of the wholesomeness of Yoga.
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