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...]
Here you'll find the collected wisdom of a wide range of yoga teachers, who have been generous enough to share the many things they have learned from teaching yoga.
Confessions of a shiny new yoga teacher
by Seka Ojdrovic-Phillips, I never planned on this happening but, in the immortal lyrics of John Lennon: Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. Now I find myself standing in front of a class full of eager yogis and yoginis, all eying me in expectation. Though I’ve memorised my teaching sequence, filled my water bottle and set my (meticulously planned) iPod soundtrack, I feel under-prepared and, well, kind of terrified. No where in my brain does it register that most … [Read more...]
How a Non-certified Yoga Teacher With No Guru Ended Up Teaching (And Should She Be?)
by Kara-Leah, This is a question I have contemplated many times since teaching was first thrust upon me. And it's also one this website has explored extensively in recent weeks. After reading all of the responses from other teachers, I began to wonder... how on earth can I call myself a yoga teacher? I have no qualifications. I've never attended a teacher training of any real length. I've never studied under a guru, nor a teacher for any length of time. I'm a long way from mastering … [Read more...]
Broken Warriors – reaching out to prisoners with yoga
by guest author Adhyatma, Yoga Education in Prisons Trust I first came across the idea of teaching Yoga to prison inmates when I was staying in an ashram in the northern parts of Bihar, India. I had traveled there without much prior knowledge of why I was really going there, what I was in for, or how it had even happened so easily, and so quickly in my life. But it had! I had been attending some Yoga classes in Mt Eden, Auckland for a couple of years with a Satyananda yoga teacher before I … [Read more...]
The Benefits of Teaching Yoga
by Guest Author Swami Nishchalananda, who established Mandala Yoga Ashram in 1986. As students and practitioners of Yoga we are all well aware of the benefits Yoga can have on all levels of our being. Teaching Yoga can be a way of passing on to others what we have received. Teaching Yoga gives us an opportunity to serve others, enabling us to really be of help to others in improving the quality of their lives. Remember that service (Sanskrit, seva) is an essential aspect of Yoga … [Read more...]
What yoga can teach us about opening to the flow of life
One of the reasons I absolutely love teaching yoga is that I learn so much from the experience. My students are as much my teachers as I are them. I am sure this two way flow is common to many other teacher/student relationships, and also professional/client relationships as well. Take a moment to think about your interactions - whether it's teaching yoga or something else - how do you learn from the experience (and feel free to share your insights in the comments below!)? One of the … [Read more...]