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Leave your assumptions at the door and open to your full potential

April 4, 2012 By 3 Comments
Brooklyn, Wellington

by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching I live in Brooklyn, Wellington. If you’re not familiar with Wellington, Brooklyn is at the top of a hill. A very long, steep hill. To cycle from work to home is just over 3km. Brooklyn hill makes up about 1.5km of uphill climb. It’s a monster. Why am I telling you all this? Because when I first moved to Wellington I spent weeks telling myself I couldn’t cycle up that hill. Finally one day I decided to give it a go. I got … [Read more...]

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How to get the most out of any yoga teacher training – ask questions!

March 15, 2012 By 5 Comments
Having access to a skilled senior teacher can do wonders for your practice

by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching I’ve had the same conversation a countless number of times since I started training to be a yoga teacher - a conversation about continuity in access to a skilled senior teacher. Traditionally yoga was taught over many years from a guru to a student. This student would often live in their guru’s home and what was given to them for a practice was never once questioned. Times have changed and in this busy world people don’t … [Read more...]

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Managing fear when teaching yoga

February 25, 2012 By 9 Comments
When dealing with doubt and fear, sometimes the best approach is to just lay back and breathe.

Elissa has been writing for The YLB for awhile now, and has decided to officially become one of our regular columnists. She'll be focusing on her adventures as a newbie teacher, plus researching and answering any questions readers might have about becoming, or being, a yoga teacher. by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching Am I good enough? Can I do this? No matter who you are or what you’re trying to do, questions like these can creep up from time to time. And the more … [Read more...]

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How to find the purpose in your teaching

February 10, 2012 By 1 Comment
Have a purpose when you teach and help your students find it in their practice

by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching Once upon a time there was a young yoga teacher who spent her days cleaning the windowsill in her acharya’s home, up on a ladder, terrified of heights, scrubbing away. The other students of this one acharya were packed off to teaching assignments, but our young yoga teacher was made to wait. As days became weeks and weeks became months, our young yoga teacher waited patiently, perched upon her ladder, for her big day to … [Read more...]

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How to answer: what exactly is the energy body?

December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Energy work

by guest author Elissa Jordan It started with a story about a mouse in a toaster. Our second weekend in Nelson, as part of the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with Jenifer Parker of Wellington’s Healium, focused on the energy body. Looking back over my notes from the weekend I see the conversation ebb and flow as only appropriate for a weekend focusing on energy. The movement of stories rode one energetic wave after the next - starting with that mouse in a toaster, and moving to a … [Read more...]

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How to take your teaching even further – assist!

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Assisting trikonasana

by guest author Elissa Jordan As a yoga teacher, over time, a funny thing starts to happen. Walking down the street you stop seeing people covered in their clothes and shoes and hair. Instead you start seeing collections of muscle and bone, alignment and postures carried around in a thin casing of skin. The knocked knees, the hunched shoulders, the sunken chests taunt us. I’ll sometimes mouth the suggestion of taking your shoulders back and down. Sometimes whispering the instruction … [Read more...]

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