Teacher Training Course: How to plan a yoga class so it is theraputic and carries the teachings of yoga off the mat.

Here is some notes from a teacher training weekend I taught for InBody Yoga Academy. I taught a public class the immersion students took and then we meet and discussed the way I plan my classes. The 6 elements in every class and how I intelligently sequence for a therapeutic experience. When I was coming up with the format of my time with the teacher trainees these round I thought of what I wish I got in some of my teacher trainings and I would have loved to get into my teachers brains and found out how and why they prepare their class.  

Yoga Class Plan

By Kimberly Achelis Hoggan

Anusara® Yoga teacher, E-RYT 500, LMT

Basic class elements

Heart Quality: What do you want the students to feel?

Alignment Focus: What alignment element will you tie in through all of the poses? That plays a key role in the peak pose? That connects to the theme/ and heart quality?

Theme:  What insight or teaching do you want to weave through the class that is life affirming and can be taken off of the mat? That connects with the heart quality/ apex?

Anecdote: How will you personalize the teaching with connection to your own experience and make it relevant to your students?

Apex: What pose are you building too?

Sequence: How will you intelligently guide students through the postures?

Basic Class Outline

Intro: Introduce the class theme and alignment principles that will be used
to augment it and weave them throughout the class

Meditation/ Chanting

Warm Up: Easy, dynamic, not held long, and opens the body.  Use few instructions and bigger movements.  Connected to heart quality in initial warm-up poses.

Basic: More dynamic warming up muscles. Easier to practice the alignment emphasis.

Harder: More challenging requires, more strength and flexibility. Harder to practice the alignment emphasis.

Apex: Build the sequence into one peek focus pose

Cool Down: a warn-down sequence with gentle twists and forward bends

Shavasana/ Mediation

Conclusion: Wrap it up with a brief summery of the theme, its relevance and how it can be applied off the mat

Theme

Linking a teaching or insight throughout the whole class

Ahimsa- Cultivating kindness in our thought, words and actions toward our self and others on and off the mat.

"Who will be the happiest person? The one who brings happiness to others." -Swami Satchidananda

"If you seek enlightenment, or even if you seek happiness, go to the cause. Nothing exists without a cause. The root cause of happiness is compassion." -H.H. Dalai Lama

"Vocal injury is more serious than physical, and mental injury is most serious. By physical injury one can destroy only physical forms. By vocal injury one can destroy both physical and mental forms. By mental injury one can destroy even the form of spirit." -Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, The Textbook of Yoga Psychology

“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing? (136-137)”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras

ahimsa pratisthayam tat sannidhau vaira tyagah II:35
For the one who is firmly established in non-violence all hostility ceases in the presence of that one.

Ahimsa is a Sanskrit term meaning non-violence. The opposite of ahimsa is himsa, which means harm or violence. There are three classes of himsa, or ways to cause harm:

1. Physical, by hurting someone's physical body.
2. Vocal, by speaking against others, hurting their feelings.
3. Mental, by thinking negatively about others

Physical harming is only one way to harm, and it may not do the most serious harm.

Anecdote

Personalize the teaching with some connection to your own experience or insight making it relevant to your students

Choosing depth of pose over alignment, I view as a form of self violence.  

How can I practice non violence to my children? Not snapping,.

How can I practice non violence to my husband? No negative self talk.

How can I practice non violence to myself? No negative self talk, positive affirmations, nourishing food, alignment based yoga.

How can I practice non violence to others? No negative talk, criticizing, gossiping,  

Alignment focus

alignment element tied IN THROUGH all of the poses

Foundation of Hands 

Foundation of Feet

Muscle Energy (shin loop)

Outer Spiral (knee over ankle) 

How it relates to theme/ heart quality

Violence= Poor alignment in the hands and the feet when they are weight bearing can lead to injuries. Non-Violence/ Kindness= Intentional alignment of foundation.

Violence= practicing without integration and hyperextending knee. Non-Violence/ Kindness= supporting yourself with your muscles and using your muscles to keep your knee in a safe ROM.

Violence= when the knee twists it is very damaging to the joint. Non- Violence/ Kindness= using your muscles especially the glutes to widen the knee over the second toe.

Heart quality (list of possible heart qualities)

Steadfastness
Right effort
Integrity
Boldness
Vitality
Stillness
Patience
Steadiness
Truthfulness
Purity
Confidence
Fortitude
Silence
Forbearance
Resolution
Faith
Courage
Aspiration
Vigor Quiet
Simplicity
Willpower
Trust
Fearlessness
Intention
Equipoise
Tolerance
Self-harmony
Joy
Celebration
Acceptance
Non-harming
Non-stealing
Devotion
Discrimination
Creativity
Generosity
Happiness
Surrender
Love
Compassion
Contentment
Reverence
Gentleness
 Playfulness
Prudence
Enthusiasm
Renunciation
Kindness
Sensitivity
Mindfulness
Gratitude
Humility
Softness
Opening
Yielding
Friendliness
Non-clinging
Wisdom
Freedom
Modesty
Willingness to serve

Heart quality: Kindness

How it showed up in class

Physical body= using alignment as a form of self care and practicing kindness to self.

Mental = bringing awareness to violent self talk and cultivating kind positive self talk

Vocal= noticing negative talk about self and about others and practicing talking kindly about others and self. Positive affirmations.

Apex:

Intelligent therapeutic sequencing building to apex

Trikonasana

Opened Hips

Lengthened Spine

Opened& Strengthened hamstrings, calves and quads to avoid hyper extension and twisting of knee.

Strengthen quads

Strengthen foundation of feet

 

How it showed up in class:

Avoiding hyper extension & knee twisting is a form of self kindness.

Being awareness of mental chatter is it negative or positive.

Practicing Ahimsa.

Using muscles to give a self hug.

 

sequence

Mediation/ Chanting

Self Love Meditation inhale compassion for self, exhale kindness for others

Warm up 

Tadasana foundation of feet (muscle energy to activate shin loop) 

Table foundation of hands 

Table- Shalabhasana- Airplane- Gomukhasana teach about muscle energy to protect wrists/ knees 

*AMS- 3 leg AMS - Airplane 

Basic

Lunge- Standing Balance 3x- Garudasana

 Virabhadrasana 2 knee over ankle

Modified Parsvakonasana - Ardha Chandrasana -Standing Pigeon with Mod. Parsvakonasana Arms can you practice kind alignment actions in a more challenging posture?

Parsvakonasana 

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana active

Harder 

Anjaneyasana with Quad Stretch  

Ardha Chandrasana - Reverse Virabhadrasana 2 

Ardha Chandra Chapasana

Parivrtta Lunge twist- Parivrtta  High Lunge – Parivrtta Anjaneyasana with Quad Stretch 

Ardha Hanumanasana 3 ways

Utkata Konasan with Side Stretch - Spine Circles

Prasarita padottanasana - Trikonasana 

Apex: 

Trikonasana 

Cool down 

Glute Massage 

Agnistambhasana - Baby Cradle - extend leg twist 

Upavistha Konasana root femur 

Shavasana/ meditation

namaste

For more examples of class outline visit:

Authenticselfyoga.Blogspot.com

Youtube video of me explaining how I plan a yoga class a summary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVTd9zv6-8U

kachelis@Hotmail.com

Forgiveness.... lower body loops of Anusara Yoga

Tuesday's Anusara Yoga class at metric Yoga
Theme: forgiveness

We all make mistakes, cause wreckage and have a history. Let go of blame, guilt and shame and open that space up to LOVE and UNDERSTANDING. Forgive! Forgive!

It has been said that “to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” When we hold onto resentment, whether we realize it or not, it becomes a deep pain within us. That pain can manifest itself in different ways that can negatively impact our lives. Whatever you are holding onto tightly, let it go, and forgive! Forgive! Forgive! Forgive! Yourself and others. Don’t let hate be the story of your life. Choose to forgive.

The first paragraph of Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts, teaches us to discern between hate and forgiveness, no matter what the circumstance. “It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while i was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realized somehow through the screaming in my mind that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness I was still free, free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know, but in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.” Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram
Ancedote: Martin Luther King day
Apex: hanumanasana
Heart quality: forgiveness

More quotes:
- "I forgive, heal and release everything that consciously or unconsciously could delay or block the complete evolution of my being." Mario Liani
-“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.” Dale Carnegie
-"We must developand maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies." Martin Luther King, Jr
Principle of emphasis: lower body loops. Ankle loop (creates arches, sets foundation for rest of body) ankle loop (times calf, prevents higher extension) thigh loop (governs health of low back, creates lumbar curve) pelvic loop (tones low belly, stabilizes and maintained lumbar curve, grounds energy)
1. Ankle Loop – Starts at the base of the shin bone just above the ankle. It moves down the back of the heel, forward along the bottom of the foot, then back up through the center of the arch to the front of the shin.
2. Shin Loop – Starts at the back of the shinbone just above the ankle. It moves up the back of the calf muscle to the top of the shins just below the knee, forward through the top of the shin, then down the front of the shin back to the base of the shin.
3. Thigh Loop – Starts at the top of the thighbone in the core of the pelvis (pelvic focal point). It moves down the back of the thigh to the top of the calf muscles, forward through the top of the shin, and then up the front of the leg through the lower abdomen back to the Focal Point.
4. Pelvic Loop – Starts in the core of the abdomen in line with the middle of the lower spine and a place just below the navel. It moves down from the middle of the lumbar to the buttocks in line with the bottom of the sacrum, forward through the floor of the pelvis (pelvic focal point) to the top of the pubic bone, then up the lower abdomen to just below the navel. The Pelvic Loop has the same direction of rotation as the Thigh Loop. However, they have opposite effects on alignment of the body. The Thigh Loop moves the top of the thighs back. While the Pelvic Loop moves the top of the thighs forward in opposition.


Sequence:
Warm up
Sun salutation one legged from down dog- Lunge- urdhva dandasana- tadasana 4x
Basic
Tadasana lower body loops demo
Tadasana- half moon stretch
High runner lunge twist - scandasana
Parsvotonasana- manual AL- standing splits- handstand hops TL
Uttanasana AL SL TL (bend legs- work loops- keep actions- straighten legs)   3x
Harder
prasarita padotonasana  (bend legs- work loops- keep actions- straighten legs) - Trikonasana  (bend legs- work loops- keep actions- straighten legs) - half moon (bend legs- work loops- keep actions- straighten legs)
 High runners lunge - urdhva dandasana- warrior 3- standing splits - handstand hops TL
Pigeon- add quad stretch
Apex
Half hanuman - hanumanasana
Cool down
Bridge
Bridge wall feet out TL PL windshield wiper
Seated Dandasana
Pachimotonasana
Partner supta loops partner stands on yogis upper thighs to root thighs back (thigh loop) yogi bends elbows and presses elbows into ground to lift heart (shoulder loop)
Supta loops
Shavasana
Meditation

Intentional action

Tuesday
Upa focus: inner spiral and shin loop to lengthen hamstrings
Apex: Vishvamitrasana (warm up hips, hamstrings, shoulders, side bodies)
Theme:  taking time to set up the conditions so you can open/blossom/grow what you want to wantp
Example: gardening if I just fertilize and water my garden what will grow and blossom will be weeds. So I need to move slowly and intentionally pulling weeds so I can harvest what I want.
Example: my toddler. I really want to have him share and get along with others. But if I just set him with a bunch of kids and toys. There will be lots of pushing and tears. I have to be slow and intentional and help explain and monitor the toy sharing so I get the outcome I want which is a ️toddler who is okay with playing and sharing with others.
How this applies to asana and krouchasana? If we move into this pose quickly we will often round the low back maybe hyper extend the knees both of these actions keep the hamstring short and tight. Let's move through these poses with the sit bones back and broad (inner spiral) while keeping the knee slightly bend (shin loop) pointing toward the second toe knuckle (inner spiral) this combo lengthens the hamstring. When we move through these poses with intentional actions we can participate in a way to get the results we want. In this case open hamstrings. The hamstrings are the muscles on the back of the thighs. The back of the body represents the Universal. Keeping this my mind lengthening the hamstrings can be more about the physical body but opening up emotionally to something that is bigger then ourself and that constantly supports us.

Warm up:
Half moon side stretch - 1/2 sum salutations 3x

Basic:
Hrl- standing hip stretch- uttanasana manual s.i.t.o with inner spiral and shin loop
Falling warrior w2/ams
W2- mod. Parsvak- rev warrior
W2- clasp hand bow- Parsvak - rev. Warrior
Side plank - Pigeon - widen knee pigeon
Baddha konasana block
Wide leg forward fold clasp- twist
Scandasana is/shinLoop
Trikonasana - Half moon- standing splits


Harder:
Dolphin - pincha prep
Half hanuman normal - front foot closer to midline- front foot more broad then midline- koundinyasana prep
Supta pada a- cross hands- reclined vishvamitrasana
Double pigeon
Baby cradle- compass
Mod. Vashvamitrasana

Apex:
Vashvamitrasana or modify with knee down

Cool down:
Supta pada c
Happy baby

Shavasana
Meditation

tele skiing and anusara shin loop!

Today I went tele skiing with my husband at Alta. It was a wonderful day! the sun was shining, no clouds, fresh powder, just wonderful. Now I am not a skier I was a professional snowboarder for awhile but I kept getting hurt (broke my back and hurt my knee). These injuries are what motivated me to start my asana practice. Anyways thats a different story. After my body heeled I could still snowboard and still do ticks but through all the yoga I was getting into the “completive mindset” no longer interested me. So last year I switched to tele skiing.

Today was my 4rth day skiing this year and I was still trying to get the hang of it. One thing I always struggle with is putting weight into the front of my boots when I ski rather than leaning into my heels and putting my weight back on the ski. As I was working with this today I was reminded of shin loop in Anusara yoga. Shin loop starts at the base of the shinbone just above the ankle. It moves up the back of the calf muscle to the top of the shins just below the knee, forward through the top of the shin, then down the front of the shin back to the base of the shin. (this helps you not hyper extend your knee). This is the same action we are creating when we put weight into the front of our boot.

When you ski like this with shin loop you are taking a very aggressive attitude, “I am in control, and can choose where I want to go”. When you don’t do shin loop and lean into the back of the book and collapse onto the heel, although you think it is less scary, it says “oh no! Where am I going? I have no control! I might get hurt, AHHHH!”

I feel this way in my life too. If I shift my weight forward and have an aggressive attitude that I want to take control of my life. I want to be in the driver’s seat. I want to be making actions that serve me fully. I want to consciously respond to situations I am in, instead of reacting impulsively. When I have this attitude I can control where I want to go with more skill. However sometimes (just like in skiing) I think if I just lean back, let things happen, blow things off it will be easier. That is when I start to make bad choices. I start to hurt the people I love. I get way off of the path I want to be on.

Today was really fun because I was working with dropping my knee way low in powder and turn. In each turn I could feel myself lean back into of my boot and I would think, take control of your life, take control of your turn. I would shift my weight forward and it was like magic. I have never done such nice pow-pow turns. Made me smile big, and remember that Anusara freaking rocks! The principles, the loops, the philosophy, isn’t just to be practiced on that mat but can be applied to anything or situation in your life.

I see this a lot in students feet when they practice. They naturally shift their weight back and collapse on their heels. I remind them we actually can create more health, and stability in the body if we distribute the weight evenly and creating the calf energy of shin loop.
FUN FUN DAY!

**I am teaching the practice this week (Friday)at the yoga center 540-740 by donation. I am very excited**