intention

My intention over the next seven days is to consciously cultivate a connection to the styles of yoga that I am authentically drawn to and develope a broad understanding of a variety of Styles of Yoga

practice

Practice daily. Use your daily practice this week to create action. Enjoy the Sacred Preparation FIRE playlist. We are working with the third chakra Manipura. The practice theme for this month is Confidence. See the Virtual Class Studio or Live Class Recordings.

meditation

Practice daily for 3-11 minutes. Use your meditation this week to prepare your will, intention, and actions for growth.

coursework

one: Look at a style of yoga through one of the following lenses: 1. a yoga traditional system/lineage 2. modern science/current reseach, or 3. personal experience. Write a statement about this style of yoga through the lens of your choice. ex: Kundalaini Yoga was the key to my mental helath because it decreased my anxiety (personal experience).
two: Design a hatha/vinyasa yoga class
three: Design a restorative yoga class
four: Practice the Katonah Yoga Breathing class (on the platform(

READING

articles: pg. 139-162
books: Continue Reading

journal

one: What is your favorite style of yoga and why? What aspects of the practice are most important to you and why?
two | three | four: Document your reflections in your jounral.

on geneva

one: Share what you love about your beloved yoga style(s).
two | three: Share your thoughts in regards to class designs.
four: What did you think of Katonah Yoga?

FIRE - Week TWO: Session 1: Styles of Yoga

Discussion
There are so many styles of Yoga: [exhaustive list here] The idea to remember is that it all works, the big trick is to get it to work for you and your students.

Benefits of Yoga
There are untold benefits of yoga. Many have been studied extensively and verified by the scientific community. Many are traditionally understood and personally experienced. In any case, understanding the benefits of yoga can help to serve your ability to empower others to explore the fullness of their potential through the practice of yoga. There are several ways of speaking about the benefits of yoga and several lenses with which to view the benefits of yoga.

• Ancient yoga system: yogic text, philosophy, spiritual practice

• Modern science and current research: evidence-based research, published medical documents

• Personal experience and what you’ve learned from your teachers

Per Yoga Alliance
Yoga Alliance® embraces all types of yoga. Given the wide variety of approaches available today, it can be very confusing to determine what type is right for you or your facility.

• Gentle yoga classes are typically calming, relaxing, and less physically demanding than other classes. They may also use props to aid students in their practice.

• Spiritually-oriented yoga classes often include meditation in addition to asana practice. They might also emphasize yoga philosophy, chanting, mantra, or cultivating spiritual growth.

• Flow yoga classes are typically invigorating, and they often include aerobic elements. Each posture is usually held only for a short time before moving to the next posture.

• Alignment-oriented yoga classes give particular attention to precision bodily placement, often with longer holds of asanas. Classes might use props to help students attain the desired alignment.

• Fitness yoga primarily emphasizes the physical dimensions of yoga practice. Typical objectives might include aerobic conditioning, gaining strength, or building stamina.

• Hot yoga classes involve practicing in heated rooms (varying in temperature, potentially up to 110°F). The postures themselves may or may not be physically demanding.

• Specialty yoga classes often customize yoga for particular groups, such as seniors, children, expectant mothers, and those facing serious health conditions. Specialized training is important for teachers who work with these groups.

Common names you may hear or read about include Ananda, Anusara, Ashtanga, Bikram, Iyengar, Integral, Kripalu, Kundalini, Power, Prana, Sivananda, Vinyasa and many more. Each style has unique characteristics, and it can be helpful to consult with a specific teacher or school, or review the details on their profile, to learn more about their approach to yoga.

• Bikram: a set of 26 postures practiced in a heated room

• Hot: a vigorous hatha yoga practiced in a heated room

• Vinyasa: a flowing, athletic style of yoga

• Ashtanga vinyasa: a set series of postures linked together by breath, traditionally taught by Pattabhi Jois

• Yin: postures are held for an extended time, targeting connective tissue, fascia, and ligaments

• Iyengar: a style of yoga with a strong emphasis on alignment, traditionally taught by BKS Iyengar

• Restorative: positions are held for several deep breathe and recovery is emphasized

• Pre/post-natal: yoga modified for the stages of pregnancy and post-natal time of a woman’s life

• Power: a rigorous, athletic vinyasa style class with emphasis on strength and stamina

• Acro: an acrobatic, therapeutic yoga practice with a partner

• Kriya/Kundalini: is best described as the science of the chakras that combine spinal strengthening, eye-focus, sound and hand gestures with precise breathing. The combination is called “kriya” which means action.

• Karma: the yoga of action by way of selfless service to others. Through karma yoga we learn kindness and compassion without an expectation of gain. 

• Couples/Partner: a yoga practice for two people who relate to one another through assisted poses. More gentle and accessible than Acro yoga.

• Kripaulu: a gentle hatha yoga practice with a compassionate approach with emphasis on meditation, physical healing, and spiritual transformation that overflows from the yoga mat into daily life. The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a retreat center located in W. Massachusetts.

• Integral: Integral Yoga® helped pioneer the introduction of Yoga to the western world. Swami Satchidananda came to New York and shared his teachings, which promote an easeful body, a peaceful mind, and a useful life. He taught that selfless service and interfaith understanding were essential for a peaceful world.

• Sivananda: Swami Vishnudevananda made yogic teachings accessible to all through simple discipline, breaking down the practice into five easily understood and practical points: Proper Exercise (Asanas), Proper Breathing (Pranayama), Proper Relaxation (Savasana), Proper Diet (vegetarian), Positive Thinking (Vedanta) and Meditation (Dhyana). The classical Four Paths of Yoga (karma, bhakti, raja, jnana) are integrated; a well-balanced sadhana (spiritual practice) is achievable by those sincerely seeking for change in their lives. There are Sivananda yoga ashrams all around the world. 

• Anusara: A modern methodology to teach yoga, Anusara brings spirit and grace into practice celebrating life’s diversity, the qualities of our heart, and connection to something greater than ourselves.

• Jivamukti: the jivamukti method is grounded in the original meaning of the sanskrit word asana as “seat, connection” – relationship to the earth. Earth implies all of life. There is a strong emphasis on ahimsa through a vegan lifestyle.

FIRE - Week TWO: Session 2: Hatha/Vinyasa

Per Embodying the Flow with Shiva Rea, Yoga is the process by which all of the “vinyasas” of our life are guided by the intrinsic consciousness within. When we feel this consciousness as the guiding force, we are in the flow. Sahaja. The free-flow arising of consciousness expressed throughout our being. 

Flow is really an interdisciplinary term for what is described in yoga as meditation - an unbroken stream of awareness or whatever is being channeled: water, energy, creativity, fire. The very nature of flow is that it requires yoga - a joining of what is disjoined for there can be no flow through a fragmented channel; and there can be no vinyasa without yoga. For vinyasa is also a joining of each moment, each movement, a passing intelligence from one cell to another. 

Any experience that has flow also has vinyasa for it is the sublime unfolding from one note to another, one increasing moment of intensity of a sunrise, one swirling of the river around a bend that is the difference between flow and stagnation, a channeling of energy and random dispersion, progression and the repeating of a pattern. 

Not all vinyasas or sequences have flow. A sequence of events or of yoga asanas can happen quite mechanically or logically. The art of inspired music and cooking give good cues to students of flow in deciphering the missing ingredient in a piece that is played well but lacks the transformative taste of rasa. You can know hundreds of recipes that may make a decent yoga class without really entering the transformative flow. 

We know that the art of yoga is not a set of techniques but the heart of the artist/chef/river guide which brings us to you! To become a river guide - a teacher of flow, our connection to the river as the current of prana is how we embody the flow; and our awakening guides us.

Vinyasa as an Evolutionary Wave
Sri Krishnamacharya defined vinyasa as any cycle with a beginning, middle, and end; the intelligent unfolding of a sequence in practice, life or nature. The vinyasa cycle is also what defines a wave - a cyclical arch through time and space. From this definition, our life is vinyasa. From our first moment of existence to the release of our last exhalation, vinyasa is the cycles or waves that comprise our life: 

• the movement around the sun

• the equinoxes and solstices that form the junctures of seasonal vinyasa 

• the lunar vinyasa from new to full moon and back again

• the weekly vinyasa that forms a wave, organizing the rhythms of community

• the daily vinyasa, sunrise to sunset life

• The many different waves of activities that comprise life (self-care, eating, sleeping, playing, work, love cycles), these waves, like the unfolding of a yoga sadhana, have different energetic qualities from dynamic to meditative, outward to inward, heating to cooling, dense to subtle.
  

Vinyasa Flow is also:

• an evolutionary method of embodied transformation and radiant health cultivating inner and outer strength and fluidity, skill and intuition, vital energy and relaxed being, activation and receptivity through balanced and creative fluid sequences

• a catalyst for transforming old patterns and paradigms of the body, self and the world to uncover the potency and creativity within. Letting go of the past and being present - feeling alive

• a way of liberating the natural flow of spontaneous intelligence - the cultivation of the art of yoga including movement, music, sound, visual arts, and poetry to deepen the flow

• a way to ride the waves of breath, change, challenges, and life rhythms

Classes are ritual sadhanas ("A groove to one's self''). 
Classes are breath inspired journeys that offer a complete spectrum from meditative and rejuvenating to the challenging and empowering. The following can be applied to all styles of yoga. 

Bhava or Feeling Mind: 

• A deep yogic concept that extends to all life as the feeling state, mood that forms the inner soil from which all yoga experience arises. 

• It is the whole body experience that athletes, artists, gardners, anyone who is bringing the power of inner unification with the state they are experiencing into action. 

• "Technique without bhava is like food without taste" - it is the inner state that brings transformation and satisfaction.

Evolution: 

• Stages of development, or kramas, through which peak asanas are cultivated 

• Classes are sequenced around the function and energy of the asanas in a way that allows every student to find their developmental and emotional current that is appropriate for that day. 

• There is no hierarchy between child's pose and scorpion, reclining mediation or seated meditation.

Integration: 

• Through multi-dimensional sequencing the wholeness of the body is cultivated through an integration of intelligently sequenced asanas where all of the major groups of asanas and all the major structures of the body are alchemically chosen for their relations to a peak asana, state of transformation or exploration.

• They are then integrated through a system of sequencing, related asanas and counterposes through the sutra, the thread, of breath.

Energetic Alignment: 

• An experiential approach to conscious inner and outer alignment invites students to discover the natural relationships, actions, and energetic flow from within.

• This involves accessing alignment during the flow which brings awareness of key actions, movements of prana, union of opposites, and lines of energy as it relates to the awakening the inherent function and benefits of a pose. 

• The emphasis is on the unbroken stream of internal meditation and alignment within the flow of the experience.

Collective Flow: 

• Our orientation to collective journey along the river of prana that flows within us and all around us. 

• We connect fully to our experience, syncopating the waves within us, attending to our own flow, and we open fully to the power of the group’s dynamic.

• Moving together can soften cynicism, self-obsession, separation, and all sorts of suffering.

• Yoga is the means of yoking our awareness to the deep rhythms that heal and integrate in an age that challenges our inner compass to stay in the flow.

Common Elements of a (Vinyasa Flow) Class 

Breath, Chanting & Music:

• We begin with universal and natural movement of breath (or by chanting of om) that is related to the intention of the class. Music is a universal tool for cultivating the flow and the dance of breath and rhythm.

Movement Meditation:

• This introduces the direction of the class through invoking movement patterns that initiate the state of flow and connects breath with movement in a ritualized way.

Sun Salutation & Variations:

• The state of namaskar is to bow, to realize the essence, whether it is the energy of the sun or moon as in surya or chandra namaskar, personal dieties or intentions, nature, the elements, etc.

Multi-dimensional Sequencing: 

• Based on krama or stages of evolution; the effect is that vitality is cultivated with creativity and exploration that never habituates, or dulls, aliveness. 

Meditation & Pranayama: 

• is offered as a way to enter the natural, inherent state of meditation and to cultivate healing states of consciousness. 

Healing Savasana

• The great return to home ... the source within yourself.

FIRE - Week TWO: Session 3: Restorative/Yin

Restorative and Yin yoga classes are passive, slow-paced and meditative. In both styles, prop-supported poses are held for a long period of time, from 3 -30 minutes.

In Restorative Yoga, focus is on the breath and releasing tension to bring the nervous system into a calm or healing state - poses are held for 5-10 minutes+.

In Yin, focus is on the connective tissue - fascia, ligaments, joints rather than the muscles - poses are held for 3-5 minutes+.

In restorative yoga form forms are embodied, which over time, allows for a therapeutic experience. The virtue of a restorative yoga practice is found within time spent inside oneself, developing the finest of being in the moment (whatever the moment is). We organize ourselves within poses formally, or archetypically, rather than habitually. Restorative yoga helps to se up the container and redirect a life. Inherent in the definition, restoration implies rehabilitating back to an original state of being or function. (Katonah Yoga)

The goal of this one is that each one of you is a wave in the ocean. Your wave starts in the arch of your foot, it moves to the arch of the knee, the arch of the groin, the arch of your spine, the arch of your neck, the arch of your arm pit, the arch of your elbow, the arch of your hand.

Basically, this is the idea of the surfer. When the surfer surfs, they don't jump waves, they take one wave and they ride it in. You find the crest and the fall in the wave and you surf it. You're made buoyant by your breath. These poses teach you how to ride your wave. Then, eventually, your wave meets with everybody else so you can build a super wave. The art is to take the personal and move it into the universal. To take the archetype and move it into the super organism of humanity. That's why one orchestrates and one plays together - to learn that you are all a part of the same thing. It is whole and you're going to help each other move through it.

So when you're ready. And if you don't know the salutation, don't worry you're going to pick it up, like, in ten minutes/eventually. Bring yourself to the front of the mat. Feet together palms together. Knees together because it's Tadasana. 

Everyone has enough energy, it's where you put it. Be vigilant in organizing your position. If it's all in your bottom, there probably isn't enough in your head. If it's all in your front, there's probably not enough in your back. You just have to figure it out. It will happen.

Sway back and forth. Every time you're inhaling and exhaling, you get to play time. Every time you orient where you're going, you get to manipulate the direction. Know that in life, everybody wants to go to the same place - forwards and moving out with their hearts and reflecting with their liver so that you find your stability in the middle. Everyone wants to feel stable, able and imaginative.

On an inhale, you raise your arms up. With your arms up, just breathe there for a moment, pull yourself apart, give it some time, and be spacious. These are open and easy. Take another breath, bring your palms together. As you exhale, bring yourself all the way down. When you come down, bend your knees, put your palms on the floor, shift your weight forwards, and bring your forehead towards your shins. When you inhale, extend your front body forwards, look out in front of you on the floor. You're looking out. Lunge your right foot back, bend your back knee down and find your crescent moon. Bring your arms up. The first variations, I want to play slow because I want everybody really to be on the same page.  

Once you're in your crescent moon, there are things I really want in it. Your front leg is moving forward into your future,  so bend forwards. Your back leg is anchoring you in your memory, so put the weight on the little toe of your back leg. Your heart is looking at 2 o'clock, so always let your heart look out. Your liver is always traveling, reflecting, so always know that your liver travels around memory. And then, always see the car in front of you. 

Bend deep, bend deep, bend deep. Take another deep breath. Bring the hands down. Pick up the back foot. Bring your front leg back and find dog pose. And once you're in dog pose, give it a moment. Remember that the trick, in all of these, is that every note in music is whole in itself.

Or rather every note will have a character of its own. Sodog pose. You can walk and you can switch your weight from hand to hand. A dog really is very restful because you get a moment to really have enough and that you don't have to worry about balancing. Take another deep breath whenever you're ready and now, be a wave in the ocean.  So as you inhale, wave your wave forwards so that the last thing that comes up is the head. The heels go back and the head comes up. Now if you bend your elbows, you can get through your spine even more. That's it. Then, when you exhale, bring it back to a dog. Beautiful. When you inhale, lunge your right foot forwards, bend the back knee down.

To open these, put the palm flat on the floor. The same hand as the front leg, and bend deep deep deep, deep in your kneecap. The only way the palm goes flat is when you bend deep enough in the knee and then your foot belongs on its line. So your heel belongs right here. We know you're going to lunge much longer. Feel that? Because if  you get the right lunge, now you can use your knee to push your arm and it will open up the heart so that the heat won't be there. Now you're on the real midline. Beautiful. Pick up the back thigh, take a nice deep breath, and take the back foot and lunge it forwards so it meets the front foot. Then you fold in half.

Take the hands and put them on the floor. Bend your knees. Remember that the earth is a giant hot griddle. Remember your hands are a pancake. Mush down and then push up. Bring it all the way up. Exhale bring it back to the heart center, hands together elbows touching.

There are going to be ten steps. First, we're going to play them slow and then we're going to build them up. Feet together. (Or legs crossed over).

Inhale, rise it up. Exhale, bring it down, inhale, extend the spine out, lunge your left leg back, bend the back knee down. This time, put the kneecap in the armpit. Take the other arm underneath, Hold onto the wrist. Make a nice fit. Don't unbend the front leg as you start to bring your chest up. Now if you can get the elbows all the way up. You stay bending (the knee) forwards, forwards, forwards forwards. Exhale, bring the hands down, bring it into a dog. Inhale whenever you're ready and now be that wave in the ocean, and as you wave through find your fluency.

It is the heels going back. Go all the way up, and the heels go back. Exhale into dog pose. Inhale whenever you're ready, lunge the other foot forward, bend the back knee down, put the kneecap in the armpit, and, one time, bring it into a crescent moon that way.

So initially, we're just going to break it down one more round and then we'll really start moving. Exhale, bring it all the way down, pick up the back thigh. Now bring the back foot forwards so you can fold in half. Once you fold in half, bend your knees if you need to and then bring it all the way up. As you exhale, bring it all back to the heart.

There are ten steps. 
Step 1 is when you're inhaling Rise it up. 
Step 2 is when you're exhaling Work it down 
Step 3 is when you’re inhaling Lunge the leg back, bring the back knee down, bring the hands behind the head and use the hands to hold the baseball just like a great baseball mitt and let the ball come from above you. Exhale, bring hands down, bring it into a dog. 
Inhale, be a wave in the ocean and move it through.
Exhale it, move it back. Beautiful. 
Inhale, lunge the foot forwards, put the back knee down, fit the arms behind the head and we'll leverage it up. And that's why every time you change the work, you slightly change how you're going to manipulate. Beautiful. deep, deep, deep in the front knee. Deeper in the front knee. That's it. Bring it down, pick up the back thigh, bring the back foot forwards, fold. As you exhale, you come back in half. The breath moves the poses.

The communal empowers the spirit.

Now we're going to start playing together. We know all the steps, so bring your feet together. Sway back and forth. Bring your palms together. Anytime you're ready now, inhale. Rise your way up. Exhale, work your way down. Inhale, extend your spine out, lunge your leg back, bend the back knee down, find the crescent moon.  Exhale, find your dog. Inhale, move the wave. Be a wave. Find your fluency. Look up. Exhale. Bring it back. Now, as you inhale, you lunge the foot forwards, you bend the back knee down. Exhale, find a hang (forward fold), Inhale, rise your way to your highest. Exhale back into the center.

So first principle. Every height-inhale-has a depth-exhale. Every in-inhale has an out-exhale. Every inhale, find your dawn. Then you have an exhale. Inhale then exhale as you come forwards. Then you have an inhale, bring the back foot forwards. Beautiful. Rise it up. And then you have an inhale. Back into the dawn, here you can exhale.Inhale, rise it up. Exhale, work it down. Inhale, extend the leg back. Exhale, find your dog. Now the waves are moving together. Inhale be a wave. Exhale find your shore. Inhale, ride it high. Exhale, anchor it deep.

Inhale, rise to one.
Exhale descend to two.
Inhale, extend to three.
Exhale, descend to four. 
Inhale, be a wave at five. 
Exhale, find the shore at six.
Inhale, extend into seven.
Exhale, fold to eight.
Inhale, rise to nine.
Exhale, bring it to ten.

One is when you're high. 
Two is when you're deep. 
Three is when you're anchored.
Four is when you're on land, 
Five is when you're a wave.
Six is when you're on the shore. 
Seven is long into the future.
Eight is the fold of the personal. 
Nine is the rise to height.
Ten is the heart.

One is high.
Two is deep.
Three is back
Four is land.
Five is a wave.
Six is the shore. 
Seven is the lunge.
Eight is the fold.
Nine is the rise.
Ten is the heart.

And one is when you arrive.
And two is when you establish.
And three is when you crest. 
And four is when you land.
And five is when you're a wave. 
And six is when you're the shore.
And lunge for it. And fold for it. 
And rise for it. 
Anchor and do it again.

And rise to your heights. 
And descend to your depth. 
After this one we're going to open it. Right here. You're a wave. Back into your dog. And move it through. And then you come forward. And then fold forwards. And rise to the heights. And descend to the heart.

The whole goal is to move water. That's all it is. That's because we're in summer and you have to know, in summer heat, what do you do when there's heat? Find water. If you don't know how to move your water in the heat, you're going to get stuck because water is very heavy. When you're hot and heavy, you can't move. And that's why even when you're doing the same poses, you have to know that you wear the same undergarments but you change the reasons. You change your attitude. You change the colors.

Yoga is about power. You are powerful when you know seasons. When you know time. When you know how to read maps. When you know how to get over yourself. When you get to know your real feelings but they don't measure up. And when you want to do better than you think is your best? Get a good tool of measure. It will let you override your feelings. Working with others is partially a tool of measure. Measure up! Play with others. Keep up.

We're going to do King of the Mountain. Let me warn you, it is so easy. This is where you get to see a lot of people's techniques too. Remember that when anybody does anything they're pulling it out of themselves. 

So I'll pull out what I do but eventually you go home and you do anything you want. First, learn it the way I teach you because it's my recipe, it's my formula. It's how I make my cookie. When I'm teaching you how to make it, that is how I want you to do the first two or three times because I calibrated it that way. But at the end of the day, everybody goes home, everybody will do it however they want because everybody has different ingredients. People have their own recipes and directions they can add to it.

Remember when you want to build spirit, it's communal. Sprint grows when the community grows the spirit. And that's why there are lots of different spirits.

The beauty of a great King of the Mountain is that the outside is very still. It is very stable. On the inside it is very dynamic. 

I'm going to teach you how to do all your circuits so that you don't lose your mind standing there wondering "What am I going to do here for eight minutes?  Well I'm going to teach you what you're going to do here. You're first going to do effort and grace. Then we'll just switch over to breathe of the seasons. By the time it's done, you're going to be so well wrapped up that you're going to forget your arms are up in the air. And once you realize that you can do that, it adds all these other little things that you didn't know. 

With your arms up in the air all the heat will come out of your body. The heat is in the mountain and if you really open up the mountain you see that there's a volcano in there. Also, the water goes down the mountain. So if you have too much water in you, it's going to start pouring out.

Tadasana is a mountain. Bring your feet together. Place your tongue lightly in the center of your upper palette. Bring your knees together. Bring your ankles together. Keep moving. Occupy center, mediate circumference. The goal is to be the sovereign of your dominion. Follow your breathing. Close your eyes. Inhale and exhale. Your heart knows it wants to sing to an audience. Your kidneys are now level and your lungs are at a perfect spot. So now you can open up your windows, get enough air and be in the middle of yourself.

Interlace your fingers. Palms up. Bring your block overhead. This is your crown. The big trick is don't drop the block. Open your imagination. Send the line from the universe all the way through your throat, your torso, your perineum. Descend it into the earth so you occupy the center of your sphere. 

Potential in front. Memories behind. Grace is descending. Effort is rising. And everything is happening around you. So if you know grace and effort, grace descends in front of you as water, effort ascends up your back as fire. So be graceful and make your efforts. Smile. Only because an inner smile is incredibly radiant and it radiates your chemistry in the subtlest way. That's why the minute somebody's smiling at you, you react. So remember you're not smiling at anybody. They might think but you're not. You do it for you. Take your time.

When you're in the heels of your feet, you are in your past. In the balls of your feet, you are in your future. Present becomes memory. Memories push you forwards and you become reflective. Keep moving. Front is your future, behind you are your memories and in the middle, is your present. 

Be present. Keep moving. Inhale, let spring rise. Hold your breath. Let summer ripen. Exhale, let autumn descend, be empty for winter and then do it again. Most of it is, deal. Deal. Know what to remember. Know what to forget. Forget how hard it is. Remember you're going to get through it. At the end, you will totally forget it was hard because you will have gotten through it. 

Organize yourself. When you're well organized, you get ease. It is easier on the heart, your vision is clear, you have options. So what is this for? It is to really own your nature. To know how the elements work. How to hold it together. And how to really achieve dominion as you practice. Isn't that a nice trick?

I have to learn how to hover, to be here.
I do everything I can, but I don't get to leave the pose. That's a very good way to learn a private practice. Pick a piece of music you like and don't stop until it's done. (We used Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.)

Call Notes

WEEK 2 & 3 Combination
Date: 11.15.23 
Friday 11:30am - 1:00pm

Prep
Be prepared to share (in 4 minutes or less)
What do you stand for? What do you seek to offer through your classes?
You will share and listen. When you are listening, circle a few of the words that ring true to you - you will be asked to reflect back to the person sharing. 

Call Flow      
11:30 - 11:45 Start with Forum - Breakout session
What do you stand for? What do you seek to offer through your classes?  
Give + Receive feedback 
11:45 - 12:15 Openings: Quotes on passion, curiosity, words 
12:15 - 12:45 Talk Topics: Growth Mindset, Keys to Transformational Teaching, Conversation on Consent 
12:45 - 1pm Questions and Closings                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Start with Forum: Breakout session - 4 min per person
What do you stand for? What do you seek to offer through your classes?  
Give + Receive feedback  

Openings: Quotes on Passion, Curiosity, and Words  

Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.” - YoYo Ma

“Curiosity is recognizing a gap in your knowledge about something that interests you and becoming emotionally and cognitively invested in closing the gap through exploration and learning.” - Brene Brown          

                                                                                                                          

“Words really do not teach. Your true knowledge comes from your own life experiences. And while you will be a constant gatherer of experience and knowledge, your life is not only about that - it is about fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy. Your life is about the continuing expression of who you truly are.” - Abraham Hicks

Growth mindset   
When it comes to mindsets, there are generally two types: a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
Someone with a growth mindset believes that things, people, and even themselves will develop persistence and perseverance if they do the work.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

If you have a growth mindset, you believe:
-You will get through obstacles if you keep going.
-You will make it to the other side.
-Once you do, there will be aligned opportunities for you and those touched by your work and effort. Those opportunities will be aligned.

If you have a growth mindset, you tend to:
-Focus on the process instead of just on the outcome.
-Find the blessing in the journey, not just in reaching the destination.
-Embrace everything that comes with the process, including the challenges and obstacles you may have already encountered in this 200 hour Yoga TeacherTraining
-View “failure” as an opportunity for reflection, evaluation, and growth.

There is no such thing as failure - in fact, try to fail because that means you are expanding ..

Take a moment to reflect: Are you embodying a growth mindset in your thinking?

I would love for you to see and understand why I want you to cultivate a Growth Mindset. 

Leaders don't wait for approval or permission from someone else to follow through on actions, or to realize their dreams. They trust themselves and their vision and are willing to get back on their feet after every setback. You don't leave a legacy by giving up on yourself and your dreams when things get complicated. Creating classes gets complicated.

You are all brilliant - in your unique, shining, bright way. We all hold every opportunity to make a difference, big or small, in someone else's lives AND in our own lives simultaneously. 

I am a living example. You do not have to be a perfectly healed and ready-to-go leader. You are growing as you are leading. As you commit to leading, you are growing. 

Lots of people (not everyone) like to know the outcome before they take action. Will people attend my classes? Will I be able to keep myself committed? What will they think of my classes / my creative work? Or me? Personally? eesh.

Unfortunately, that is not possible in ANY situation to know the answers to those questions. 

What can be controlled? 
I can control how I move forward. 
I can manage my choices. 
I can influence how I approach every day. 
I can maintain the level at which I forgive. 
I can control what I'm willing to let go of. 
I can control my level of optimism.

There are considerable benefits to having a growth mindset because once you develop a flexible, creative-centered mentality, you will begin to understand that you have the power to shape your future. Think about the detailed steps of your yoga teaching future through your focus and your effort. What are you working towards? Teaching has a lot to do with perseverance, growth, and curiosity. 

I want to give you a few tools to stay organized and persistent.

Keys to Transformative Teaching
source: Selena Garefino

“Don’t go looking for an encounter like this if you have a calm, sustaining thing you don’t want to disrupt. This will likely rattle your peace. Tread carefully when you tread on holy ground. We societally make a fetish of the word transformation sometimes forgetting the question of “into what” on the other side.” - Dr. Martin Shaw

Roshi Joan Halifax defines edge states as states that are necessary for a compassionate, courageous life and teaching. They’re necessary for survival and they are precious resources that can become dangerous and cause harm.

The edge states are altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, and engagement, “assets of the heart and mind that exemplify caring, connection, virtue, and strength”, and yet she says that we can end up sliding in the “mire of suffering” in the toxic waters of the edge states unless our footing is firm.

In this way altruism becomes pathological altruism, when our altruism becomes harmful to ourselves or those we serve. Ahem rescuing. Or no boundaries so we’re draining our inner resources.

Empathy can slide into empathic distress. Taking on too much suffering, identifying too intensely with the pain of others. Or unable to act because we’re overwhelmed.

Integrity becomes moral suffering if we are out of alignment in pursuit of wealth or status or other things.

Respect can disappear into disrespect when we’re in disparaging competition, jealousy, envy, etc. and we move away from kindness and civility.

Engagement in our work can create purpose and meaning but if we overwork as teachers, if we work with places we don’t align with in our core values, if we lack efficacy, if we don’t tend to our own cup, we can cause physical and psychological collapse.

Love is the basis of transformational teaching, the basis of protecting yourself and your students, and the basis of keeping your edge states clean.

Bell Hooks writes quoting Erich Fromm that love is “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth … love is as love does, love is an act of will - namely both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We choose to love.” ...

She goes on to say “to truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients - care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as open and honest communication.” These are topics so clearly discussed in the yoga tradition and in Buddhism. There are the 4 Bramavihara (Divine Abodes): loving kindness metta or miatri, compassion karuna, equanimity upekkha, and empathetic Joy mudita 

Being a transformative teacher is the cultivation that your practice would speak for itself in the ways in which you offer your attention and respect and love.

Other considerations

Theme: theme your classes with intelligence. Take a universal principle, personalize it, bring it into the body, and then again universalize it.

Preparation: come prepared and with a plan.

Nervous System Containment: Open and close classes in the same way. Steady and ground your own energy first. Be trauma informed. (Justine Beck)

Studentship: Remain a dedicated student. For the whole of your life. Ask better questions. Know you don't have to have the answers and know that ultimately practice is the teacher. There is no teaching as powerful as your inner transmission. And be a student of life, be well-rounded.

Do your personal work: Explore your own shadow. Stay committed to your personal work because personal work is professional work. Regularly check your intentions and motivations. Is it for you or for them? 

"Viewing ourselves as “saving”, “fixing”, and “helping” others can feed our latent tendencies towards power, self-importance, narcissism, and even deception of ourselves and others." -Roshi Joan Halifax

Tools
Inspiration
Knowledge
Skill
Patience
Compassion
Creativity
Personal practice
Experience
Ability to listen to your own heart and intuition above all else, train yourself to listen and receive those messages.
Ability to listen non-verbally to your students

What do you seek to offer? - This is what you will bring into your class designs that will give your classes substance. 

Conversation about consent
We will talk about this tomorrow as you will be doing your first practice teaching so before you begin working with each other’s bodies we’ll have this conversation so make sure you have read pg. 115-117 in the Manual

Consent is about respect, kindness and consideration, and recognizing the inherent power differential

"Assisting teaches us about boundaries, integrity, trust, and discernment.” - Janet Stone 

Plan
Class: 9-10am Fire Practice 
transition
Clinic: 10:15am -1pm Styles and Practice Teach
10:15-10:45am (30 min) Check-in and Manual Overview
10:45-11:15am (30 min) Styles of Yoga
11:15-11:30am (15 min) Conversation about Consent
break
11:45am-12:45pm (60 min) Foundational Poses and Partner Practice Teach 
12:30 - 1pm (15 min) Questions and Closing

Manual Overview Week 2 and 3
Styles of Yoga, Demonstration, Instructions, Developing Awareness, Consent, and Safe Assists

Styles of Yoga group discussion naming styles of yoga
What are you drawn to? Discuss.

Conversation about Consent

break

Core Asana see Core Asana Reference Guide
Child’s
Mountain
Standing Forward fold
Chair
Table
Gate
Plank
Down dog
Chaturanga
Cobra
Up dog
Lunge
Triangle
Warrior 1
Warrior 2
Half Moon
Standing wide angle forward fold
Tree
Eagle
Seated Spinal Twist
Bound angle
Head to Knee
Pigeon
Bridge
Wheel
Bow
Boat
Crow
Pendant and Scales
Namaskars
Shoulderstand
Headstand
Handstand
Fish
Savasana

6 Postural Categories
1. Forward folds and 2. Backbends
3. Laterals and 4. Twists
5. Inversions and 6. Extensions

see p.134-135 in Manual
Warm-ups
Standing postures
Standing balancing postures
Laterals
Core
Backbends
Forward bends
Twists
Inversions
Restorative
Savasana

Foundational Poses
Classical Sun Salutations
Sun A
Sun B
Katonah Sun salutations: moon salutation, cross referencing sun salutation
Table top
Plank
Updog
Downdog
Forward folds 
Chair
Lunges
Warriors
Wide leg
Moon
Hero’s
Backbends
Yin: Pigeon, shoelace, twists, bound angle, lotus
Inversions

with a partner teach: 
Review technique clinic poses

*Practice teach in groups of 2. 5 min each. Give/Receive feedback. Same 5 min again.