Yoga Teacher Education at Studio Yoga

B.K.S. Iyengar has said, “The sun shines everywhere, it does not shine only here and there. In the same way, yoga is for everyone.” By everyone, he does not mean only those who hear, speak, and see, who have two arms and two legs, are strong and vibrantly healthy. Guruji said everyone. Full stop.

But everyone does not have access to yoga. The Deaf and hard-of-hearing community is one of the most underserved populations. According to the DeafYoga Foundation, there are 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the United States; only a few yoga classes and 20 instructors serve them.
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I really enjoyed this quote from Cyndi Lee.

“I love being a yoga teacher. Every day I have the chance to connect with so many good-hearted people. How amazing it is to feel someone’s breathing and their heart beating beneath my hand.”

Self knowledge, through self-examination and observation, is the foundation of our practice. Without knowledge of the Self, I must depend on other people to tell me who I am. When I depend on others to tell me who I am, I have given up control over who I truly am and can never be truly free. Read more

Preparation and clear intent will help you keep a class on track when students have questions.

As a teacher, you want to share what you know with your students, both in classes and in workshops. When students have questions, it feels natural to give a full answer. But it can be tough to walk the line between addressing students’ questions and giving in to the more vocal in the group, sometimes to the detriment of the quieter members of class. Here’s how to receive students’ questions without deviating from the session’s original intent. Read more

“Although thirty spokes meet at the hub,/it is the empty space at the center/Which makes the cart move.”
from Lao-Tseu philosophes Taoistes

TEANECK NJ–After an almost-30-year relationship with Yoga, I still pride myself on many things, and priding oneself on many things is like walking through a completely darkened room where there is a lot of small, sharp-cornered furniture located precisely at shin-height.

One of the things I habitually pride myself on is my almost-spook-like intuition about others’ intentions/abilities/challenges. I like to think I “read” people pretty well. (Ahh, you might say: then how in the world did she marry two closeted homosexuals?)

Pride goeth before a fall. Many prides goeth before many falls. . .and I have the bruises on my shins to prove it.

But you would think that, as an Iyengar-style Yoga teacher of two (mere) years’ standing, I might at least notice if a one-legged Yogini (female Yoga student) “walked” into my classroom.

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