Teacher Guidelines for Power Yoga

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Teaching Power Yoga can be a difficult task; not only is it fast moving, but it also is meant to physically challenge the practitioners. Keeping an eye on students during a fast-flowing session can be hard, especially if a class is large or if it contains beginners unfamiliar with basic Yoga practices. New students being mixed into a class full of experienced students is the studio management’s call, but it is your challenge, if you teach Yoga classes.

Adaptability

Unless you are an instructor who teaches advanced classes only, you will need to learn how to adapt each session toward the needs of your students. Depending on the size of your gym or studio, your class will likely be filled with a mixture of student levels; even within a session geared toward, say, intermediate practitioners, variations will occur.

Due to the fact that a Power Yoga sequence can be challenging, and flowing; modifying your class too much can seem to slow it down. In cases where only one or two students need more in-depth instruction, it can be helpful to ask one of your experienced students to lead the series while you spend more time with those who need it.

Instruction

Instruction in any physical form of Yoga should focus on alignment issues to help students avoid injury. Beginners must learn how to practice poses correctly in order to both prevent injury and receive the full benefits of their practice. Your role as a Yoga teacher is to encourage, guide, and provide feedback on technique. It is important, especially with the more tentative students, not to over-correct form, but to give each student just enough encouragement and instruction that he or she can continue improving and modifying their poses.

Safety Guidelines for Youths or Beginners

Some instructors believe that a Power Yoga class is no place for beginners or for kids. This is because an unfamiliarity with the poses ultimately means they cannot be practiced in a fast and flowing series. That being said, there are some cases when you may have beginners present in your classes.

When working with beginners, try not to use language that might be unfamiliar or overly anatomical. This can be confusing and discouraging to new students. It is also important to offer support and correction, realizing that beginners are there to learn and to practice correctly. If the beginner’s technique is consistently incorrect and it is slowing down the pose series, incorporate strength postures that are relatively easy to do yet physically challenging. Planks, for example, will keep the heart rate up even through a slower-than-normal vinyasa series.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division
 
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How to Teach Yoga in the Corporate Marketplace, Part 2

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

The previously mentioned benefits of Yoga, for companies, are just the “tip of the iceberg,” when you consider that Yoga also teaches gradual lifestyle changes, exercise as a regular component of life, a moderate diet, anger management, and stress reducing techniques.

For most Yoga teachers, bragging does not come easy. Yet, the public cannot see the obvious benefits of Yoga, unless you point them out. When you decided to become a Yoga teacher, you also decided to educate the public about Yoga.

When Yoga instructors mention these points in their marketing materials, this becomes an offer that defines Yoga’s many benefits, instead of supposing that a corporate decision maker knows what Yoga is. When it comes down to it, you should be able to explain the benefits of Yoga in a paragraph and have it etched into your memory.

This prepares you when you talk to the public about what you do. To state: “I teach Yoga classes,” is not enough of an explanation - if the person you talk to has a mental picture of Yoga as just a bunch of pretzel poses, displayed by show-offs.

Your letters, to local companies, should be as long as needed, but you should also mention the benefits of having a corporate Yoga program in the first paragraph or two. The decision maker, who reads your letter, will see the benefits, or not, but if you have captured his or her interest, he or she will continue to read.

You could refer potential companies to your Yoga website, as well. However, if you have captured a prospective decision maker’s attention, you had better fully explain the benefits of a Corporate Yoga program, while you have captured his or her attention.

I can already hear the complaints, “I wanted to become a Yoga teacher, not a copywriter.” If you can talk, you can write. After you write, have your copy proof read, a few times, by someone who is good at it. If you really need a copywriter, feel free to contact me, but please understand that quality copywriting is not cheap.

Let’s get back to the types of injuries Yoga workshops can prevent. For office workers, Yoga can help stretch out connective tissues in the wrists, hands, fingers, elbows, shoulders, neck, and back.

All of these areas can stiffen up through repetitive motion. Add to this fact, that all of an office worker’s muscle groups can become very tense and create backaches, headaches, anxiety, hyper tension, and many more ailments.

Manufacturing companies, with workers who assemble products, also see a multitude of injuries - from industrial accidents to repetitive motion injuries - specific to the job. Yoga instructors can teach how to shift weight properly without injury. Developing awareness, or “living in the moment,” can also help reduce accidents.

The fact is, Yoga training is totally beneficial to all workers, regardless of their specific duties. It is the responsibility of Yoga teachers to convey this message to the corporate decision makers and the public. Job opportunities for Yoga teachers are all around us, but we must act in order for the corporate world to react.

© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!