Day 19: The Science of Relaxation (Louis)

What distinguishes yoga from other sports is the science of relaxation.

You can control involuntary systems of the body through the breath.

Day 18: How to Best Describe a Pose (John)

The best words that the most people understand
For example, instead of "engage the core," describe the physical action with "draw the belly in."

Day 17: A Day without John (Mimm)

Day 16: Special Populations (Hillary)

Day 15: Why Learn Anatomy (Louis)

You don't need to know anatomy to teach yoga. The requirement comes from a Western attitude of wanting to know, to dissect and analyze every posture. But anatomy is helpful in your own practice, in helping other's practice.

"Each and every joint in my body has its own freedom...I can articulate it piece by piece" - BYS Iyengar

Day 14: Connecting with Students (John)

You want to make an impact on the class as a whole, and a class is made out of individuals. Reach each student at some point during the session.

• Know your students' names
• Greet new students
• Avoid using students as examples

Adjustments

• Adjustments should be done with intention, not like limp handshakes
• Err on the side of safety - don't push, show them where to go
• Ask if they are ok - you don't know when people will snap or break

Day 13: First Teaching Assignment (John)

Wow, I'm pretty elated from today's class. We each led the class through a two pose sequence of our choice. There was a good variety- some taught on, some off their mats, some taught new moves, some winged it. We each got feedback from John, and some general tips:

• remind (don't tell) people to breathe - find ways to say it so that people don't tune it out
• remind them to breathe as often as possible
• begin every command with the breath
• don't say "um," say "breathe" instead
• own the room - fill it with your voice, walk around it

There's many things to say for each pose, besides the breath. Natalie suggested to us on Saturday to have three cues for getting into and out of each pose. And to ease transitions by first naming the pose then giving your cues. 

We do all of this well when leading sun salutations. For sun salutations we've settled into a consistent set of cues and language, which is appropriate for their pace and repetitiveness. But for poses that we hold longer I like how John finds creative ways to draw our attention to our breath and finding our "sukha" in each pose. I think that is the next challenge.