04 November 2007
Learning from my Students Daily
09/11/07 11:56
Welcome to Amy's
blog about Being a Yoga Teacher
It seems that every day I learn something new about my teaching, my relationships and how to live with less suffering and more joy. This week I was teaching yoga at California State University. I was teaching about pranayama ratios and how the four phases of the breath create certain effects in the body. I had studied the theory of pranayama in an educational way. I had even experimented with the effects of breath ratios using my own body. But I had never really studied how pranayama ratios could impact individuals in a large group class (35 students). One student came to me and told me that she felt panicked after the hold on exhalation. I asked if she was asthmatic and she said yes. Another told me that she felt tightness in her chest when she focused on a long inhalation. Turns our she has heart issues. So I began to think about how I might provide each individual in the group with the experience of coming to meditation (at the end of the class) with a clear, calm and alert mind. Was it even possible? The next day I described to the class which techniques promote certain states in the mind and body. I talked about the goal of coming to a calm and alert place by the end of the practice. I then demonstrated each posture briefly and asked them to do several minutes on their own using the pranayama ratio that would bring them to the place they wanted to be (for some students needed to energize and others needed to relax). I walked quietly around the room listening and watching the different breath patterns. It was a beautiful sight to see so many college students tuning in to their bodies and modifying the practice as needed. At the end of class we sat in meditation. It was the most serene meditation period we have had all quarter.
It seems that every day I learn something new about my teaching, my relationships and how to live with less suffering and more joy. This week I was teaching yoga at California State University. I was teaching about pranayama ratios and how the four phases of the breath create certain effects in the body. I had studied the theory of pranayama in an educational way. I had even experimented with the effects of breath ratios using my own body. But I had never really studied how pranayama ratios could impact individuals in a large group class (35 students). One student came to me and told me that she felt panicked after the hold on exhalation. I asked if she was asthmatic and she said yes. Another told me that she felt tightness in her chest when she focused on a long inhalation. Turns our she has heart issues. So I began to think about how I might provide each individual in the group with the experience of coming to meditation (at the end of the class) with a clear, calm and alert mind. Was it even possible? The next day I described to the class which techniques promote certain states in the mind and body. I talked about the goal of coming to a calm and alert place by the end of the practice. I then demonstrated each posture briefly and asked them to do several minutes on their own using the pranayama ratio that would bring them to the place they wanted to be (for some students needed to energize and others needed to relax). I walked quietly around the room listening and watching the different breath patterns. It was a beautiful sight to see so many college students tuning in to their bodies and modifying the practice as needed. At the end of class we sat in meditation. It was the most serene meditation period we have had all quarter.