Asana
Asana is a typical starting point in yoga, and what you will primarily teach. As your awareness and understanding deepen in other areas, your asana and how you teach it will develop. The poses have the capacity to open up energy channels, build strength and flexibility, rearrange the nervous system, and detoxify the body’s inner organs.
The course covers traditional Hatha yoga asanas found in classical texts and expanded upon in modern times. Alignment, breath, inner focus, benefits, common mistakes, and variations are covered for each pose. You will learn from doing the pose and adjusting students in it, both in group and in private instruction.
The course will alternate between exploring detailed alignment, dynamic vinyasa and gentle restorative approaches. The asana teaching will also emphasize and encourage the exploration and growth of your individual practice, as we often will break into guided small groups and offer support for you to work into your edges and your own sticking points.
All types of asana are covered: standing, balancing, forward bends, backward bends, twists, and inversions. Sun salutations are a major component of the practice, and both the vinyasa (jump back) and twelve-point approaches will be studied.
Breath & Pranayama
In Patanjali’s eight-limb life-system (Ashtanga), Pranayama is the fourth limb, after asana. Its importance is acknowledged in many classical texts, though today it is typically misunderstood and taught badly. It is a subtle practice that has tremendous effects on the nervous system and the mind. First though it is important to regulate the breath, train it through various techniques that help you use the different parts of the respiratory system for inhale and exhale so it becomes smooth yet powerful.
The training in this course is grounded in the classical teaching of Sw. Kuvalayananda and his primary student, Sri O.P. Tiwari (Kaivalyadhama, India), one of the few authorities on Pranayama. You will learn and practice the preparations for Pranayama together with six of the classical techniques. You will be guided daily and observed carefully as you build a personal practice. Upon completion, you will understand the nature of the inhale, exhale, and retention; the correct performance of each Pranayama; and how to guide someone in basic breathing. You will also study the breath and its mechanisms.
Physical Anatomy
We take a detailed, thorough approach to anatomy and physiology. During the course you will methodically go through the anatomy of the human body as it relates to asanas, vinyasas, and pranayamas. In addition, we will explore at length the nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system, knee and hip joints, the pelvis, the spine, the circulatory system, and other topics.
Philosophy
Yoga is summed up in the Bhagavad Gita and laid down in the sutras of Patanjali. Understanding these texts will open your practice and give you the basis to teach. Other classical texts, such as the Hatha Pradipika, from which Hatha yoga has grown, the Gheranda Samhita, and the Upanishads will be referred to as well. To elucidate the material further, we will also refer to other philosophies, in particular the teachings of Buddha.
Teaching
This is a practical course, in which you will learn chiefly by doing. The first two weeks you will work with your fellow trainees on teaching assignments. The effort of explaining and showing something to someone else serves to embed it into your consciousness. From the third week onward, there will be other (non-trainee) students in the morning asana class. You will progress from observation to assisting to adjusting to private instruction to group instruction.
Your Practice
As your practice is your foundation, you will practice daily Asana, Pranayama, and Meditation. The other elements of the course will gradually be added to your practice. What you build as your practice you will understand and then be able to teach. Your practice will be deepened, cleaned up, and encouraged. What you ultimately practice integrates your personality, develops your mind, and eventually leads to higher states of awareness.
Yogic Anatomy
Awareness and understanding of the vital layer of the body can greatly advance your practice. You will study it and then integrate it in to your practice. The identification of energy lines in practice receives a lot of attention, along with chakras, nadis, vayus, koshas, to be learnt and understood in the light of the process of yoga.
Chanting
In the Vedic system virtually all activities commence and conclude with a chant. In addition, one can increase the feeling of devotion (bhakti) through chanting sessions known as kirtans. Beginning with the simple but powerful Om, chants permeate the practice.
Usually a yoga class begins with a chant. There are some classic chants you will learn, some standard slokas you will become familiar with, and also a few bhajans you could enjoy during any lively kirtans. The differences between all these will be explained.
Diet, Food and Yoga
When it comes to food, much confusion surrounds what, when, and how much. We will focus on this controversial topic from the vantage point of its effect on the body and mind, both in the gross and the subtle.
Food is one of the biggest influences on our practice. Eating well is not just a matter of good health; it affects and nurtures the nervous system and mind.
With a new understanding of food and its effects, you may be inspired to make positive changes in the way you eat. The food at Samahita Retreat is healthy, nutritious, and tasty. All meals are vegetarian, but fish and eggs will also be served from time to time.
Shatkarma Kriyas
Shatkarma Kriyas are cleansing and purification practices that prepare you for deeper practice. All six kriyas will be presented; five will be practiced and learned.
Concentration and Meditation
These are the sixth and seventh limbs of Ashtanga. Building concentration of mind should be developed in all practices. You will learn how to harness the mind while practicing asana and pranayama. It then will become a direct practice when you sit for meditation.
Meditation cannot be “done”; it just happens. But when is that? You will have your own experience.
To help the process along, you will learn meditation techniques, external to internal, which will engage the mind through concentration. Your growth in this area will reveal itself in your practice of the other seven limbs. Progress in Asana and Pranayama is essential, and directly affects concentration. Observing Yama and Niyama (i.e., living yoga) aligns our being, which can then bring about meditation.
Going on to Teach
How to put together a class, what classes to teach, how students will find you, where to teach, and the difference between privates and group classes.
Teaching Special Cases
Not everyone falls under the category of average health. Different approaches, as well as compassion and patience, are needed for children, people with disabilities and overweight cases. Simple approaches will be taught and where possible even practiced. Some cases will also be simulated.
Sanskrit
The language of yoga is Sanskrit. It is the oldest language still in use today, and it is the basis of many other languages. All language is simply vibration, and Sanskrit possesses the highest vibration and the best organized. Hearing and chanting Sanskrit has an extremely positive effect on the state of your mind. You will learn the alphabet, numbers, pronunciation, and the chanting of all pose names, kriyas and pranayamas, slokas, and sutras-all taught in a light and enjoyable way.
Karma Yoga
Translates as the yoga of action but typically taken to mean selfless service. We typically have a program to work on for each course under the work of Centered Foundation. In the past we have worked as a group on some of the local schools for young children here that do not receive enough care or financial support. It is a great task for the group and causes a lot of positive change in these young kids lives. It’s amazing to see the school change as we go to paint it, add new grass, clear up their play frames and more. On occasion we also get out and help Mother Nature by cleaning the beach.