by Lucinda Staniland Meet Amy Ippoliti—yoga teacher, author, earth activist and founder of 90 Monkeys, an online professional development school for yoga teachers. One of the first things I noticed when I watched this video interview with Amy was her irrepressible enthusiasm for the practice of yoga. Yes, there's no doubt in my mind that this woman loves yoga, and loves sharing it with the world. And yet, while Amy is incredibly open hearted and enthusiastic, she also cultivates a sharp … [Read more...]
How to get the most out of any yoga teacher training – ask questions!
by Elissa Jordan Adventures in Teaching Revised 2021 by editor Veronica King 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 … [Read more...]
How to find the purpose in your teaching
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...]
Who knew? There isn’t just one right way to do things. Even in Yoga.
by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching One of my Dad’s favourite stories to tell about me as a little girl is the one about my favourite word: why? I carried the word with me everywhere until it was a scraggly, worn-out dirt-encrusted version of itself. There’s some discrepancy as to whether or not this was, in fact, my first word. Dad says yes. Mom thinks it was second, after no. Either way, right from the start I’ve wanted to know the why behind things. Not one to be … [Read more...]
A curious approach to sitting and back-bending
By guest author Oli Wiles, Free to Move Find sthira sukham at your desk and on the mat A friend recently posted a pic on Facebook of his 3-month-old boy sitting propped up on a sofa. The caption read: "Propped up at 3 months, eventually he toppled." It got me thinking about sitting and back-bending … Now, as you sit at your desk, it is likely that the muscles of your back are stopping you from toppling into the keyboard. In playing this important role, however, parts of your back … [Read more...]