Posts

Yoga Teacher Training in India - Week 2

Image
Things really heated up this week in Rishikesh . It is hot in May, the heat is helping to keep my muscles loose and aiding in detoxification that’s for sure! We continued our 5:30 am to 8:45 pm schedule this week and I really feel that I am getting into the groove of the day and it flows quite well. This week we began to teach each other in the afternoons. This really gives us the opportunity to learn from each other and receive feedback on how we can improve and become better. We are given the space to discover things on our own, but when the inner guru doesn’t suffice, Krishna or Roshan step in. We have a new evening yoga instructor , Jeet who is teaching us Ashtanga Vinyasa in the evenings, it is a very challenging class but I leave feeling liberated! After three days of Jeet teaching us, we began to break into groups to teach each other sun salutations: Surynamakasar A and B as well as a few other asanas or postures. Repetition of these short sequences creates a context for go

Yoga Teacher Training in India - Week One

Image
Yoga teacher training in India at  Rishikesh  - RYS 200, 500 . I arrived in Rishikesh seven days ago to join the 300 hour hatha yoga teacher training in India . I came here with a purpose of self-healing and to deepen my yoga practice and knowledge. I did not expect that I was about to meet so many amazing new friends. I have never been surrounded by so many beautiful souls. The people who work here and all the students here are absolutely lovely.   Being in the yoga capital of the world on the Ganges River at the foothills of the Himalayas is truly magical. I feel right at home here and can sense a genuine, loving and open vibe from everyone I meet. We start the day bright and early with morning tea and sinus cleansing using a neti pot, which can feel awkward the first time but it really cleans out your sinuses so you can breathe! After cleansing our sinuses we go up for morning practice, then breakfast with a lot of fresh fruit followed by theory class. In theory

Attributes of an Accomplished Yoga Teacher

Image
Yoga teacher training and instructor courses in India - RYT 200, 500. A good yoga teacher is one who has acquired a good training and is a certified teacher as that is the minimum qualification required to begin teaching. The teacher needs to be familiar with all aspects of yoga in order to answer any questions that a student could ask. Along with parting instructions, a good teacher will grow their own personal practice and enhance knowledge on a continuous basis. Just like the teacher is an individual a yoga teacher must realize that each student is an individual, with individual needs and a body that may not be able to cope up in a collective teaching environment and would need some individual attention. Any teacher who can understand the needs of each of their students by merely studying the body is definitely accomplished.   A teacher must understand anatomy so thoroughly that they know exactly what effect the moves are having on the muscles, bones, and joints of t

Yoga Dreams - Why I Decided to Go to India

Image
I showed up to my first yoga class when I was 16 years old. I can’t remember what got me interested enough at such a young age to pursue it, but I kept showing up every week for more. I think the teacher liked me because I was so young, by far the youngest in her classes. One thing I will always take away from these beginning days are the loving smile and support of my very first yoga teacher, and her wonderfully relaxing savasanas topped off with Bergamot-infused shoulder and neck alignments. That smell is still nostalgic for me today. I found yoga to be a magical, happy place where anything lingering on my mind would melt away and my body and breath came to life like a well-oiled machine. It was nurturing, honest, luminous. I felt whole. Over the years, I’ve relocated a few times and explored many yoga studios and teachers. I’ve recently deepened my practice and begun to create my own routines at home, infusing them with meditation and energy practices. For the majority of

Yoga As Therapy

Image
If you would like to use yoga as a therapy or as an alternative medical treatment then you will have to learn yoga differently than what is offered in a general yoga class. You would probably like to target a particular medical condition like cancer. For this, you will require a personalized yoga program and a yoga teacher who is not only trained with good anatomical knowledge but who has experience in conducting yoga classes for someone with your kind of condition. Yoga Teacher training in India Yoga Chikitsa or yoga treatment uses natural methods including Ayurveda to treat medical conditions. Yoga therapy is mostly used as a preventative method but is now being used along with other modern medical interventions as a curative measure too. Traditionally yoga is a practice that leads to spiritual awareness and yoga was used to ensure that the body remained in good health so deep meditation, which required being in one position for long periods of time, would not have a negat

Importance of Breath in Yoga

Image
Yoga is being seen more and more as a means of merely exercising the body and keeping it slim. Breathing which is the most important aspect of traditional yoga like hatha yoga is being overlooked. Without breathing in the correct way when undergoing yoga asanas the benefits of the asana will only be superficial. Breath is the vital force that energizes the body. It helps to harmonize the body, mind, and spirit and when all three aspects are in harmony then healing and immunity will ensue naturally. Somehow we have forgotten how to breathe in a deep and beneficial way through the belly. We all breathe in a shallow way and through the chest. This does not bring oxygenated breath to the lungs fully and so does not circulate in the body with energy. Yoga in Rishikesh, India Besides the physical benefits, breath is the source that can take us to through that space where peace is supreme and this can only be achieved through the correct method of breathing which makes us awar

Stress-free Workplace With Yoga

Image
The corporate environment is bristling with the stress that comes from having to meet deadlines, making a deal or just office politics or it could be related to stressful situations like traffic congested roads or home and work balance issues. Physical health problems could arise from constantly bending over computers or sitting for long hours at the desk. Executives need to be in a relaxed frame of mind to be productive. This is the reason that corporate bosses are now encouraging regular wellness programs in the office which includes relaxation techniques and regular yoga practice that will bring mental relief, health benefits and raise energy levels. Corporate yoga is now of age and yoga packages are being designed exclusively for office personnel. The yoga kriyas are such that they can be done in work clothes and besides the office desk easily and without yoga mats.   Yoga trained teachers who have corporate yoga experience are now being sought out by businesses who want