Tag Archive | Teacher

Different Strokes

Apr2

I don’t know about anyone else who is going through / went through teacher training, but it is interesting to me that there are SO many different viewpoints.  Some yogis believe that anyone can teach yoga (and actually should not get certified) because yoga is such a personal experience.  Some teachers give the direction that you should keep directing students with their breath, so that they focus on it.  Others say that including breath direction is too many words.  Some say to create a sequence and to stick with that one sequence for the first year or so of teaching.  You should not get bored teaching the same sequence (because you are a YOGI gosh dang it) and your students should not get bored practicing it because they need it and it helps them build strength.  Others take the more varied approach.

For instance, today in Gwen’s class, we did peacock pose.  For those who care – Mayurasana.This pose is a little nuts. You get into it by:

  • kneel/crouch on the floor
  • holding your arms in front of you, elbows bent, palms up
  • place your hands on the floor in front of you, fingers pointing towards your feet, keeping the forearms and hands less than torso width apart
  • put your weight onto your hands
  • engage your core
  • squeeze your legs together and lift them off the ground

It looks impossible. Legitimately impossible.  But, you know what?  It is not.  I ALMOST got it. Not that I am saying I am amazing or anything, I am not.  I just want to point out that you can learn to do things when you already have the alignment and strength down.  I agree 100% that people cannot just jump into poses safely and that new teachers should not be teaching potentially super-dangerous poses.  However, I do think that once you have the experience and knowledge of your students enough, that it is great to challenge their bodies as well as their minds.

Personally, I find a new level of focus and lack of thought when I am struggling in a particularly difficult pose.  The part that REALLY helps me in life is that I struggle through difficult poses / sequences in yoga (whether it is a large number of sun salutations, or a pose I think is impossible).  When you are spitting in gravity’s face on a regular basis, problems at work seem like nothing.  Well, maybe not nothing, but less awful than they did before.

So, I think what I am trying to say here is that, when you are teaching, take your favorite parts from each teacher and ignore the parts that do not resonate with you.  Unless, of course, the part that does not resonate with you is, “Give your students the tools to help them keep their practice safe.”  That’s an important one.  But, once you feel comfortable and knowledgeable enough about tougher poses – go ahead!  Just be present, be observant, and take care to keep your students as safe as possible.

I left the picture of peacock pose until the end, because in my searching for a picture of it, I got so distracted by the beauty of Rafael Lazzini (the hot Brazilian doing yoga below) that I forgot that I was writing a post. If you can believe it, he looks even better in his other pictures. Google him. You’re welcome.

Image

Yoga is the new football

Jan7

Happy weekend yogis!  If, like me, you live in the northeast USA, you are enjoying an unseasonably warm day. Wahoo!  It made getting my butt out of my delightfully comfortable bed for yoga this morning so much easier.  (However, the treat of practicing with Andrea Fotopoulos would have been inspiration enough.)

Like pretty much everyone in the yoga community, we discussed the recent article in the New York Times entitled How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body in my yoga class this morning.  If you haven’t read it yet, please do.  The basic point of the article is that yoga is extremely dangerous and should not be practiced by the majority of people.  It somehow makes it seem like yoga is more dangerous than football, boxing, etc. Other than this wildly sensational tone, I have some mixed feelings on the actual content.

I would definitely not go so far as to say I agree with the idea that most people should not practice yoga, but I do think that it is important that people see that injuries can occur during yoga practice and choose the type of yoga they practice wisely.  Like anything, there is an inherent risk in the practice, but in the case of yoga, the risk is often downplayed because of all the great healing qualities that are also associated with it.  However, I am not sure how you could ever think that there is NO risk involved in yoga, when some of the postures look like this:

Really, it all has to do with knowing your body and knowing your boundaries.

  • If something starts to hurt – just stop it!  Right away.
  • Like most people, you may be driven to try to do better than (or at least as well as) the others around you.  So am I.  It is hard to stop being driven by ego.  You are not really practicing until you let go of your obsession with “skill”.  Just do what is right for you and heightens your experience of your practice.   Let go of your ego and just practice.
  • If you have injuries, make sure your doctor does not think it is a bad idea.  If he/she thinks it is a good idea, make sure you go to an experienced teacher who will work with you to ensure that you have the best yoga experience you can without getting hurt.  Modifications are key.

I do not want to act like I am immune to the drive to do things I should not do.  Of course I try to do ridiculous postures when I should not (specifically when I have had a few drinks).  Without fail, I wake up the next day with numerous bruises and strained muscles.  I am trying to quit.  The last time, my friend said, “I can do a headstand!  No problem!” He then proceeded to do a handstand into a door, which opened, and he fell right onto the bathroom sink – literally breaking it in half.  So, yeah… yoga can be dangerous.  Practice at your own risk. Preferably sober.

The thing that concerns me about the article is its message of fear, propagated by taking a few extreme cases of injury and highlighting them. For example, one young man spent hours at a time in vajrasana (kneeling, sitting back on your heels).  After a while, he had trouble walking, climbing stairs, etc.  Once he stopped doing this pose for hours on end, the condition improved.  This later became known as “yoga foot drop”.  Okay. I have a few issues with this.  (1) Sitting in any way for hours on end is not healthy.  (2) How many people are actually going to spend that much time sitting in this pose?  Calm down.

Nothing is without threat of injury.  Even though I often hurt myself in some way while dancing – in my experience, dance teachers push you to do unhealthy things much more than yoga teachers – I am pretty sure I have hurt myself more just being me.  For instance, I have had stitches in my chin not once, but twice.  My arches fell during a spring break trip to London on Day 1. I have been known to go into back spasms while just walking.  Does this mean that if you are prone to back issues, you should not walk?  NO!!

If you heed every warning to the point where you stop doing everything you love, what is the point of life?  Follow your bliss – just be careful.

Peace, light and love – namaste.