Teaching Yoga & the Body’s Intelligence
Asana Training Course for Yoga Teachers (Second course)
with Lesley Dike
Feb – May 2020
at Sheffield Yoga School, South Rd, S6 3TA
Last couple of places!
A new 5 day course for yoga teachers who are open to renewed exploration & self-enquiry, for a better understanding of the practice and teaching of Asana.
About the Course
This course has at its core the belief that yoga should promote healthy movement, based on an understanding of anatomy. This is a highly practical course, aimed at guiding teachers to improve their competence and confidence in teaching movement.
It will give you all-round skills to offer balanced teaching to your students.
The course provides a forum for discussion and reflection, and each participant is expected to play an active role in the learning process.
Places are limited to 15 people allowing for maximum discussion and close supervision.
What will you learn?
The course will teach key principles which underpin the safe and effective teaching of Yoga postures. Main subject areas will be:
• Is what we teach worthwhile?
• Meeting the world through our feet
• Learning from the cat, the dog and the bridge
• What does understanding the spine teach us about movement?
• A cornucopia of teaching skills ie. tricks, prompts, cues.
Who this course is for?
This course is for Yoga teachers & student teachers. It is designed to build on your previous learning base, with challenging new ideas.
The tutor : Lesley Dike
Lesley has been teaching yoga for many years and is also an experienced musculoskeletal physiotherapist.
She firmly believes that understanding relevant anatomy is vital to being a safe and competent teacher. When we understand more about how the body moves, we are able to bring asana that is compliant with the body’s intelligence to our mats.
Cost
The fee for this course is £450.00. To reserve a place, please fill in the booking form overleaf and return it with either the full payment or a deposit of £100.00.
- Cheques are payable to ‘SYS Courses’
- Contact us if you prefer to pay by bank transfer.
Certificate
A certificate of attendance (for CPD points) will be provided for each day of the course. A final course certificate (dependent on at least 80% attendance) will be presented at the end of the course.
COURSE OUTLINE
This will be a highly practical course. There will be discussion and theory but the primary source of our learning will be by experience.
Theory will be backed up by a workshop style, in-depth exploration of a range of static and dynamic movements.
Please note : This course outline is not set in stone. This will be a dynamic course and the focus may adjust depending on current learning and research.
Day One : What do we teach? Is it time to put down the books?
The starting point for this course is to look at what we are teaching now. As teachers we should always be questioning what we do, and some the questions we will ask on this course include :
• What do we teach? Is it strengthening? Stretching?
• Are we teaching things we are unsure about?
• What are our favorite postures? And why?
• Do books help or do they limit us?
• What is stretching? Is it useful? Is it therapeutic? What does the science say?
• What type of strengthening is typical in yoga asana?
• Is what we teach encouraging movement or discouraging it?
• Is the way we teach balance useful?
• How important is the core?
• What about the breath?
• What is Neural Mapping?
• And many more!!
The Format of this opening day will be one of group discussion and practical enquiry and will set the scene for themes running throughout the course.
We will use various postures to explore these questions. Everything we do will keep referring back to the postures and to the body and we will be working on the mat to explore ideas as we go.
Recommended reading given during this day.
Day Two : The feet and the road to teaching balance
We will begin with some basic anatomy – exploring our own feet and becoming aware of how vitally important they are!
This day includes training in how to teach balance effectively, based on a thorough understanding of how balance actually works.
All the theory will be experienced through a range of asanas such as Tree variations, Warrior 3, Half moon poses etc.
Day 3 : What can we learn from the cat, the dog and the bridge?
This whole day will focus on three very important postures, the Cat, the Dog and the Bridge. We will explore basic versions of these postures and then look at a wide range of variations and progressions.
Through a practical examination of these postures we will develop a deeper understanding of the key principles which are at the heart of this course.
This day, like all the others will be highly practical with loads of personal enquiry & working on mat.
Day 4 : What do we teach the spine in asana? What can we learn from the spine?
• What is the spine for?
• What are we aiming to do with the spine in asana?
• Strength & Flexibility
• Lordoses and kyphoses – how do these affect our movement?
• Facet joint orientation… what are the implications of this structural knowledge.
• Hypermobility
This day will involve working through a range of asanas and seeing how they impact on the spine.
Day 5 : A cornucopia of teaching skills!
Tricks, props, cues, prompts and other tips.
The focus of this day is the practical teaching of asana. We will do this in a ‘workshop’ style, stopping to look at issues as they arise.
There will also be time in this day to review any questions which have arisen over the months of the course.
Course dates
• Sat 8 Feb 2020
• Sat 7 Mar
• Sat 4 Apr
• Sat 9 May
• Sat 30 May
