How to become a Yoga Teacher? Find out with Samyak Yoga

Know Your Yoga Pose

Padangushtasana

Pada - Foot, Angushta - Big toe, Asana - Posture

It is a wonderful preparation for all the forward bends. Getting the mastery over this standing forward bend will make you practice all the forward folds easier.

Limitations:

People suffering with severe back problems must avoid this posture.

But people having Vertigo, epilepsy, heart problems and hypertension perform this asana carefully.

With an exhalation, keep your feet hips width apart. Keep your hands on the hips. Inhale, lift the torso up. Exhale, fold forward at the hip joints, keep the back straight and chest lifted.  Reach the toes, make a hook with your index and middle finger, palms facing inwards. If you cannot reach the toes with straight back, bend at the knees. Inhale, lift the head and chest, gaze up between the eyebrows.

Exhale, fold forward deeply, engage the quadriceps muscles, and lift   the kneecaps.  Deepen and soften the groins and lengthen the hip flexors. Elbows are drawn out to the sides, the shoulder blades move up towards the hips, the crown of the head reaches to the floor. Let the weight of the head lengthen the spine and neck. Stay in the position for five Ujjayi breaths.

                        Benefits:

1. Improves flexibility of calf, hamstrings and back muscles.

2.  Provides blood flow to the head.

3.  Used as alternative to Shirshasana (Headstand).

Common Mistakes:

1.  Bent knees (Beginners can bend the knees while it is a mistake for advanced               practitioners)

2. Knees are hyperextended. – pull abdomen in and bend the knees slightly. Try to touch the lower abdomen to thighs.

3.  Arching the back while reaching to final position.

Art of Adjustment:

How can you assist your student to enhance the quality of his/her practice?

Stand behind the student so that you can support the thigh muscles on the back of the student while you assist. As the student holds the big toes, ask your student to life the spine up and look front. Ask them to be aware of their straight spine. Keeping a palm on the loa back and another on the mid back in a way so that the finger tips are facing towards the tip of the head of the student, ask them to inhale. As they exhale, you will slightly glide them downwards. You will feel that the student is folding from the low back instead of mid/upper back. 

Keep an eye on the shoulder blades of the student. If they are tight, just go closer and tap them gently. 

Enjoy your practice and teaching Yoga!!!

8 Points you consider before taking a Yoga Teacher Training Course

Not sure which Yoga school is suitable for you….?

Some students choose a training program based on their personal holiday schedule or their preference for one style of yoga asana practice, without ever understanding who they will be learning from. 

A Yoga Teacher Training course can be a deeply transformative and profound journey into your innermost self.  Here are few significant points you would definitely have to consider before taking a Yoga Teacher Training Course which then will be transformative and life –time experience.

1. Spiritually focused

Integral Transformation is the very essence of yoga.  Yoga is not limited to stretch the body, get flexible and strong so that you feel lighter and happier. Yoga as it is practiced in the west has changed vastly from its traditional roots here in India.  As such confusion can arise in the minds of students who are unaware of the deeper dimensions of yoga and how it is both taught and learned. A Yoga teacher training Course should offer a complete and holistic system of self-transformation, Yoga in its traditional, pure form that allows for each individual to discover their true Spiritual Self. 

    2. Yoga Anatomy

We will have an introduction to Yoga anatomy, in which we will discuss the anatomical aspects of Yoga practice. It is important to know how to engage/relax the muscles, deepening the stretches yet not injuring ourselves physically and so on. It is also important to understand the structure of our respiration to improve the quality of the breathing by pranayama techniques. A whole new world of Yoga Anatomy which improves the quality of our Yoga practice will be explored during the Yoga anatomy sessions.

 

3. Art of hands on Adjustments:

Art of Adjustments is one of the significant fields wherein Yoga teacher has to work constantly to grow and to keep his/her class special. Hence we try to explore it with all details. How-to-adjust; assist, how to keep ourselves grounded while adjusting, the subtle aspects of art of adjustments are dealt in detail. This is one of the major ingredients in a Yoga Teacher Training Course that you would think to join.

   4. Practice Teaching

You can’t learn to swim without getting into the water and swim. Group class is one of the inevitable parts of the training. You must be asked to take a class every day based on what was already given to you by your teacher for your group which builds the confidence, tones up the teaching skills and other required criteria to be a teacher. The learning curve, which can be full of learning from mistakes, can be easily surmounted in a supportive and nurturing environment in the presence of your fellow students and teachers.  This class will always be supervised by one of the main teachers and a feedback session after every group class session to improve the quality of the participant's teaching will be an added flavor.

      5. Creating Class Modules

You will be asked to design a yoga class module based on what you have been practicing since a week under the guidance of a teacher. By practicing the class modules, you will be able to teach your class back home effectively with creativity catering the needs of different types of people coming to your classes.

6. Lead the whole group 

After building the confidence, skills and other required criteria, you must have an opportunity to take a class for the whole group in the last week. This prepares you to get ready to teach once you go back.

7. Live what they Teach

It has been a tradition to begin the journey in search of the teacher who lives what he teaches and learn from him so that the disciple too would live what he practices. This is how the

bridge between the teaching and practicing could have vanished during the golden era of Yogis.

     8. Practice Yoga in Nature

Ok! You may not find this everywhere 

as most of the schools will not be able to offer you. But if you get explore your training in nature, it will be something really special experience. Yoga is best practiced in a natural environment 

where the earth is clean, the water is abundant, the temperature is mild, the air is pure and the space is clear.  Yoga studios, small rooms, rented halls in cities are probably not the best choice.