“Breath is the bridge between the body and the mind. Joining the breath and the body will help you calm the mind.“ Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root work “Yuj” meaning to yoke, to bring together or unite. In a practical sense (on the mat – for your beginners) we are bringing together our breath and body so the mind becomes still. As your beginners practice develops they will come to explore the deeper meaning of yoga; the uniting of personal and universal consciousness.
Practice 1 – Establishing Effective Breathwork
- You will need your Class Plan 1 and Scripts whilst your are learning this module.
- Print out your “Visual Guide To Your Yoga Class Plan/Course” see below:
The resources above will help support your time management, sequencing knowledge and also keep you guided on tasks until your skills, your timing, tone, observational skills and confidence builds with more practice. Each video below breaks down (in 10 minute chunks) the first 30 minutes of your first yoga class with your beginners.
The first 30 minutes of your class will include:
0-10 Mins# Savasana – coming into the body and learning how to breath with the diaphragm
10-15 Mins# Sitting up and breathing, establishing good posture, simple side stretches and twists
15-20 Mins# Breathwork exercise
20 – 30 Mins# Introducing the transition for Sun Salutation, and getting up to standing pose ~ Tadasana, before you start teaching the Sun Salutation and dynamic section of your class.
Video: How To Teach the first minutes 0-10 of your class – Savasana and “coming into the body”
Video: How to teach the minutes 10 – 15 of your beginners class – Breath awareness, posture, side bends and twists
Video: How to teach minutes 15 – 20 of your beginners class – Anulom Vilom Part 1
Video: How to develop Anulom Vilom minutes 15 – 20 of your beginners class – Anulom vilom Part 2
Video: How to teach minutes 20 – 30 of your beginners class – Exploring the transition for Sun Salutation, to standing
Below is another example of the first 30 minutes of a practice, taken in a living room if you are wanting to teach from home, or online… don’t forget most people DO practice at home in small spaces. This is a little more developed from your very first beginners class.
This is a little more developed, but follows the similar intelligent sequencing.
REMEMBER: These timings will change a little as your students become more familiar with how to execute these practices more effectively and with more ease.
These intelligent sequencing methods introduces your students to yoga in the MOST EFFECTIVE WAY. It teaches them how to calm the mind and bring oxygen into the blood more consciously and effectively with correct breathing, which helps improve cognitive performance, encourages relaxation and balances the right and left hemispheres of the brain, all whilst developing a better awareness of how to breathe correctly. The sequencing also warms up the body safely prior to the next section of teaching you will deliver – Sun Salutations and more dynamic flows. Enjoy your practice!
When you practice these videos – I suggest you use some soothing soundscape music in the background, make your environment comfortable and peaceful, light a candle, or burn some lavender oil or incense.
This practice above includes the following poses
Savasana
Belly Breathing
Spinal twists
Happy Baby Pose
Seated breathing to calm and centre the mind
Side Stretches
Wild Pose
Forwards Stretches
Anulom Vilom
Cat and Cow
Camel Pose
Down Dog
Warrior 1
Rag Doll Pose
Mountain Pose
Sleep and Relaxation
Many people are drawn to yoga because of its power to heal us and bring us back to our centre and sense of wholeness. When we are living in “fight or flight” mode, our nervous system is not having the opportunity to turn itself off and self-soothe. When you live in fight or flight mode, we may experience:
Anxiety, stress, high blood pressure, overthinking, difficulty in sleeping, insomnia, headaches, and gut health issues, can lead to underlying issues such as depression, anxiety, poor skin, brain fog, fatigue, and diabetes.
Included in your practices in this module are sleep and relaxation techniques we use in yoga. These improve your sleep, giving you and your nervous system the opportunity to deeply relax before you go to bed.
Yoga for Better Sleep Demonstration
Yoga Nidra Audio
This is a deep soothing relaxation technique you teach at the end of your practice. Whilst you are training, I highly recommend listening to this whilst you are in bed and ready to fall asleep. We will learn in the course how to effectively use Yoga Nidra in order to re train your mind and manifest your dreams. But first, become familiar with the language, the feeling and the impact it has on you, your body, mind and soul. Enjoy!
After your weekly 121 call, we will look at your needs, and if there is anything specific to your needs, we can now build into these practices. You will then find specific material below here.
- Don’t forget to learn a little more about breathwork and your energy bodies! Please find this in your Teaching Manual – under Philosophy and Anatomy
- Don’t forget to integrate your chakra practice! Find this in the Muladhara Chakra Healing Section of your course