Whatever your life might hold, it just takes a bit of curious exploration and mindful commitment to find healthful practices that you can regularly maintain. Such rituals can make a world of difference in how you come to approach both consistent and unexpected stressors, as healing and dependable despite any and all of them.
For instructors, we can “take the road less traveled by” through challenging ourselves to grow in the same ways – taking classes, visiting studios, consulting sources that ourselves and others might not yet have discovered are indeed valuable. Our teaching styles can also be beneficially unconventional. If we find ourselves always guiding certain advanced students in our classes (because we might – understandably – want to push them even further to their potentials), we can shift our focus to see what other perhaps more novice students can offer. We can also take (healthy and measured, albeit) risks with alternative approaches to guiding students through postures or imparting yoga philosophy, amongst other elements that we offer in our classes. Whatever the case may be, whomever you might be as a practitioner or instructor, venturing away from the conventional can indeed “make all the difference”.
Although many of us may feel that we are only truly practicing Yoga if we flow through a series of very strenuous Ashtanga Yoga postures and fiery breathing exercises, the practice of Yoga traditionally was focused on creating ease and spaciousness in the body and quietude in the mind, so that a Yogi or Yogini was more easily able to sit in meditation for an extended period of time.
By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Over the last few decades, the popularity of Yoga has grown by leaps and bounds. Experts now estimate that the number of individuals who practice Yoga regularly is in the millions in the United States, not to mention the rest of the world. As Yoga classes continue to become more and [...]
To guide your students through the modified Chair Yoga version of Standing Forward Fold, have them stand approximately three feet behind their chairs with their legs hips’ distance apart. With an inhale, instruct your students to raise their arms overhead and place their hands in Prayer Position. With their next exhale, have your students bring their arms down and place their hands on the back of the chair in a straight line with their shoulders and neck. If any your students are uncomfortable raising their arms over their head, simply guide them into the posture without the initial arm movements.
As I see it, and which I have observed from direct experience, those small efforts can be more than well worth it. As fellow teachers, I would love to hear your suggestions pertaining to, challenges with, and other thoughts related to “supervision”/mentorship in yoga instruction – so please feel free to post your responses below. Thank you for reading and sharing, and let’s keep the invaluable discussion going – for ourselves and for those whom we serve with our instruction! Namaste!
In addition to being an E-RYT, I am also in graduate school for Dance/Movement Therapy. In the field, consistent supervision with a qualified professional is not only advised - it is most often required to practice. Guidance from another wise individual is not a foreign concept in yoga, as I am sure you as a qualified teacher are aware; swamis and gurus handed down the practice to those eager to learn from them, resulting in yoga surviving to be the practice we know it as today.