Bonus Tip: Try Online Yoga Classes
Whether youre nervous about showing up at a studio or you want to feel out yoga before you dive in, online yoga classes are a great way to explore your mind and body. At The Soule Collective, we offer unlimited online yoga classes you can take from the comfort of your home.
Check out our classes and try us out!
*Photo credit: Simbarashe Cha
About Rebecca Soule
Rebecca Cheeks Soule, PhD is a New York City based yoga and meditation teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience. She also leads yoga, adventure and lifestyle retreats worldwide.
Online Vibes
Be Kind With Your Corrections And Help Your Students Feel Successful
This really applies to ALL students, beginners or not however, its something thats especially important for newer students.
Instead of trying to fix whats wrong with your students, shift your focus to genuinely celebrating their strengths.
First impressions count for a lot, and as my mother always reminded me, you only get to make one. So what can we do to help our students walk away with a positive first impression of yoga? Part of it comes down to simply practicing kindness. Honor the individual awesomeness of each and every student who shows up to class. Instead of trying to fix whats wrong with your students, shift your focus to genuinely celebrating their strengths using neutral language and avoiding critical tones when offering corrections or suggestions.
As teachers, the more we can learn about adapting poses for different bodies, the more we can provide everyone who comes to class with an empowering experience. Because ultimately, its far more important for students to feel safe, successful, and accepted in yoga class than it is for them to practice poses that look like they belong on the cover of a magazine
Practice The Breathing Techniques
Say hello to pranayama – the practice of breath control in yoga. While this process helps synchronize breathing with movements between asanas, it is also a distinct breathing exercise on its own. Because yoga requires thoughtful attention to breathing, and sometimes you have to remind yourself to breathe and not hold your breath, especially during more challenging poses, getting good at yoga means spending some time on just the breath work. Proper yoga breathing techniques involve breathing through the nostrils using a specific pattern of inhalation, breath retention, and exhalation. It can take some time to master, so put in some effort working on just the breathing skills outside of your routines.
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It Can Decrease Stress
Stress in our lives seems almost as inevitable as Monday following Sunday, so finding ways to manage and reduce it can be quite helpful. Yoga has been shown to influence our serotonin levels that help balance our mood, shares Howe. It can help link the brain and nervous system, that feeling of balance helps reduce cortisola stress hormone. Brodie shares that breathing through the poses helps clear the mind. Mental clarity brings awareness to how we view ourselves, the world, and others.”
Use Stuff Around The House As Accessories
If you dont have a yoga mat, dont worry about it. If youre short on cash, a beach towel can suffice until you can get a cheap mat. If you need extra traction on your cheap mat, throw a towel on top of it. My first yoga mat was my dads old threadbare Pilates mat, and I made that bad boy work for years.
You can make yoga props out of whatever you have handy. For instance, my first yoga block was a Star Wars VHS box set and my first yoga strap was my dogs leash. Couch cushions are a good stand-in for yoga bolsters if youve got em handy.
You dont need to buy special clothesjust find something that you can move in comfortably. And if youre at home, dont be afraid to practice naked.
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What You Need To Get Started With Yoga At Home
The best reason to start a home yoga practice is that you don’t need much to begin:
- Choose or create a quiet, uncluttered space in your home for your practice, and stock it with the essential basic yoga props mat, strap, blocks, blanket, bolster, etc. The space doesnt have to be large, but it should be quiet, clean, open, and sacred.
- Get realistic goals, starting out with small pockets of time .
- Begin with basic beginner’s yoga sequences and expand your practice as your skills improve.
That said, its your yoga practice so build it to best meet your individual needs.
“When I teach classes, I can tell just by watching who is practicing at home and who is not,” says Yee. “People who are not practicing at home simply try to fit their bodies into my instructions as if they were following orders. They are concerned mainly with whether they are doing it ‘right.’ But people who are practicing at home are inquisitive about instructions and test them out in their own bodies, asking themselves, ‘How does this feel?'”
There Are Several Yoga Gurus Offering Yoga Teaching Certificates But In Its True Form How Is Procedure Of Becoming A Yoga Teacher
Sadhguru: Yoga is a subjective technology, not an objective technology. Whether someone comes for relief from backache, or to explore mystical dimensions, initially, we teach the same thing because it is the change in subjectivity that makes the same device do different things for different people.
So, when something is placed in your hands that is far more profound than you are able to grasp right now, it is important that you keep yourself in a certain way the person sitting in front of you is a more important life than yourself. This is known as upasana. Upasana means you are not sitting on the main seat, you take a side seat in your own life within yourself. For one who wishes to impart yoga, the most important thing is to stand aside to be there but to stand away. If you can do this, then dimensions beyond your understanding and experience will open up. And this is a great blessing because if you can do something way beyond yourself, that is the greatest thing for any human being.
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Prerequisite For Yogic Success Union Between You And The Other
Yoga is nothing, if our relationships with others are not managed harmonically.
Learning yoga is also learning connecting with the other with the stranger whos not you but carries the same core, the same heart as you. We as individuals, possess the inborn feature of Ego the I-consciousness that makes us feel separate from the rest of what makes the wholeness.
This separation is the second of the the five klesah afflictions that stand as major hindrance against the union called asmita or I-am-ness / Egoism , and has to be cultivated and brought to a level of discernment that will lessen our disturbance that comes out the fragmentation between the I-am-ness and the Other-ness.
This is a crucial concept in Yoga and it is inevitable to be worked upon this hindrance in order to reach the inner psychological freedom or the ultimate liberation Kaivalya for which Yoga stands for. But, again, if you are beginner in this part, you want to know how to start dealing with all this. Here is the exercise:
Choose A Teacher Training Program
Number three, you definitely wanna do some kind of training.
Yes, you want to do a yoga teacher training, and the most common format is to do whats called a 200-hour teacher training.
So you cover a lot of material in 200 hours, everything from teaching, anatomy, philosophy. You wanna do research on where you do this 200-hour training, because its really gonna teach you everything you need to know about how to be a successful teacher.
While most yoga studios will focus on vinyasa yoga or vinyasa flow in their certification program, you can totally choose a yoga instructor training that focuses on the yoga and meditation style that most interests you. There are many types of yoga, from restorative yoga, prenatal yoga, yoga nidra, Ashtanga yoga, to yin yoga, you definitely have a lot to choose from.
You can do a 200-hour training all at once, in a month-long in-person intensive, over the course of many weekends, or you can even do a 200-hour training online. There are a lot of different types of training depending on the style of yoga, like:
If you do do something online, make sure that its interactive, and youre getting direct feedback and support from a teacher over video conference.
Thats exactly how my online training works, and if youre interested in the online option, Ill also link that up in the cards and description.
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Get Your Yoga Accessories
All you really need is a yoga mat, preferably non-slip. The yoga mat market is huge but its worth paying a little more for a good quality mat that suits your needs and will last a long time. Blocks are a great addition but they can be replaced with books and other household things. A bolster is also nice to have, but for years I used a stack of pillows and blankets instead.
Accessories or even a yoga mat are by no means a prerequisite to practiseJust be creative! SHARE QUOTE
Accessories and even a yoga mat are by no means a prerequisite to practise: I have been in places where there was no yoga mat, and I found a piece of carpet to practise on. Ive even practised on beds in hotel rooms where there was no space to roll out a mat. Just be creative no excuses
See Yourself In Other Students
Learning to refrain from comparing ourselves to others is one of the greatest gifts that yoga can give you. It can be disheartening, especially for beginners, to continually compare yourself to other yogis.
You may wonder how its possible for these advanced students to do these difficult poses so easily. When you catch yourself comparing, remember that everyone started as a beginner.
This tip will help you to focus on your own yoga practice and see yourself in everyone around you. Importantly, you avoid comparing yourself to more advanced students.
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Best Free Online Yoga Classes On Youtube
Sifting through thousands of yoga videos can feel overwhelming, and the last thing you want to feel is frustration during your precious Zen time. The yoga channels below are my personal favorites and wont disappoint you. There are various types of yoga practice depending on various styles, approaches, and purposes. You can find them on various websites and YouTube Channels.
Remind Students Of Their Breath And Teach To What You See Offering An Alignment Tip Or Two Only As Needed
Look at whats actually happening for your students in the pose. Is there something you could suggest that would make it safer or more comfortable for them? For example, in warrior II, its common for the front knee to drop in toward the big-toe side of the foot , which can put knee ligaments at risk for injury. You dont have to get into all of the anatomy , but a simple draw your front knee toward the pinky-toe side of your foot can be super-helpful here. Or, if you notice that a student is having a hard time with balance, suggest that they widen their stance, walking the front foot a little more to that side, or demonstrate options for practicing with a chair or at a wall.
And then? Is everyone safe? Are they breathing? Fabulous! Theres no need to be super-critical about alignment. The aim in a beginner class is to provide your students with a positive experience of yoga, not to pick at them so much that they feel like they cant do anything right.
Theres no need to be super-critical about alignment.
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This Beginner Yoga Sequence Is The Best Way To Start Your Day
Are you interested in yoga but feel unsure of how to get started? Does it sometimes seem a bit intimidating to you? Believe it or not, if you can go into this healthy habit with an open mind, you can get a lot out of it. Sure, its exercise, but its so much more than that too! Regardless of your fitness level, giving yoga a whirl could have a whole host of benefits. Luckily, trying a beginner yoga sequence could be a quick and easy way to get started.
Of course, there are certain poses that you may find to be useful as you begin your yoga journey. These particular yoga positions for beginners can help you to really get accustomed to what the practice is all about. They can help you to feel the power as you move through poses. If youre looking for a straightforward way to learn about yoga, youve come to the right place. Heres an easy-to-understand introduction to the activity.
Page Contents…
- Downward Dog
- Cobra
You have likely heard of some of these while others will be less familiar to you. All of the above are basic positions, which means that you can try them without having any experience in terms of yoga at all. They may also feature in more complex sequences as you progress.
Think of them as your foundation the poses that you absolutely need to get right. Now that you are familiar with some of the names of the best yoga for beginners poses, we can use some of the above to create an ideal beginner yoga sequence that you can try at home.
The Beginners Exercise Creativity Upon Body
The first and most important element to learn and practice yoga is of physiological and psychological nature: Stillness:
Thats it! Thats the creativity upon the body-mind union. The validity of this creativity lies in the stillness and observance of that union. In this practice you can learn to understand and catch the moment the main ingredient of life.
Life is a sequence of moments and knowing that youre able to manage that sequence is a new level of living life, called dharma the practical and skillful way of living. An essential character develops as a result of practicing this discipline.
However, be aware that we are still talking about outward elements of yoga the gross levels whereas the subtle, inward elements are yet to be approached, learned and implemented. It is on these subtle levels that you can realize the depth of spirituality and the essence of yoga.
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Pay Attention In Class
You could start taking mental notes in class: I really like when we do down dog, low lunge, down dog again, and pigeon, Ill do those three at home. I would be disappointed if my students werent taking some of the things we do on a regular basis and incorporating them into their regular lives, Crandell says.
Today There Is Social Media Youtube And Other Mediums That Teach Yoga While The Viewer Sits At Home Is It Safe To Pursue Yoga In Such Manner
Sadhguru: Yoga needs to be handled in an extremely committed atmosphere because it is a tremendous tool for transformation. If something has the power to transform, it also has the power to cause damage if mishandled.
However, there is something called upa-yoga, which gives you physical and psychological benefits but doesnt touch the spiritual dimension. Upa-yoga does not demand that level of commitment nor does it cause any problem if you do it improperly because you cannot do it improperly it is very simple!
In Indian vernacular languages, the word upayoga, has come to mean something useful, but actually it means sub-yoga or pre-yoga. This can be learnt in five minutes. You can practice it anywhere and the benefits are quite immense. Upa-yoga is a safe way to take yoga to the world large-scale. Once people experience the benefits, they will naturally seek yoga in a more serious manner, and that is when yoga should come into their lives.
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How To Memorize Your Sequence Before You Teach A Yoga Class
One of the most daunting parts about being a new yoga teacher is figuring out how to memorize the sequence you want to teach and deliver it smoothly during class. Whether your class is 45 minutes or 90 minutes long, there are a lot of yoga poses to keep in your mind!
Here are the strategies Ive found most helpful when memorizing yoga sequences:
Ultimately, each yoga teacher will figure out their unique approach to sequencing and teaching. Maybe for you thats memorizing each movement, or maybe its going into a class with a great intention in mind and seeing where the movements take you. As long as the postures are safe and the students are happy then all approaches are the right approaches!
Happy teaching!
