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| Hi,
I have been taking this Teacher Training Course with my Hawaiian master trainer for about 3 months now and i will be expecting to graduate end of January. Hence will become a teacher soon. My teacher has always told me to develope my own teaching style and therefore it is important for me to understand what I'm good at.
My problem is, i've always loved asthanga but what i've seen many accomplished asthangis are male, could it be female has weaker arm & ab strength naturally?
I've been doing yoga for more than 3 years and I've thus developed flexibility of the body but not my arm and ab strength. I still have problem balancing on my arms when doing handstand and many arm balancing postures. Will that affect me if i were to teach asthanga in my class in the future?
Edited by Joeyee 2006-12-04 5:30 AM
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| Hi Joeyee,
Welcome to the forum.
I hope that what your teacher was referring to was finding your own style of teaching (strict, relaxed, fun, serious, easy, hard, etc) as opposed to which Yoga style to teach.
The simple answer (and in my opinion, the ethical answer) is to teach what you have been taught, and only that.
If you are studying an Ashtanga Vinyasa focused teacher training, then after you graduate you should be competent to teach that style. If your teacher training is not Ashtanga based, then you really shouldn't be teaching it unless you are very experienced in that style.
Regarding arm and ab strength. Unless you have any specific injuries, you should be able to build the appropriate ab strength in about six weeks of serious practise. The same holds true for arm strength. If you speak to nick nicely, Im sure he'll suggest something horrible for you to work on at home... 
Jonathon |
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| Thanks for your advice Jonnie.
The teacher training course im doing is Iyengar based but i partake in the asthanga workshops every now and then to deepen my skills. Therefore my yoga practice would be a combination of Ashtanga and Iyengar.
I try to strengthen my arm and ab strength by doing chaturanga everyday but if oneday i overwork my muscle, say i hold too long in handstand or too many times of chaturanga i get really sore muscle the next day and i couldn't perform yoga for couple of days. And after few days of complete rest, i find my strength hasn't improved at all.
Any way to improve my weakness?
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| Hi Joeyee
On my Ashtanga teacher training, the teacher was unhappy with the abdominal strength of many of us. He gave us a (horrible) 30 minute routine to practise every day for a month until we met again for the next teacher training weekend. You could really see who had practised and who hadn’t. Personally I noticed a massive improvement in my functional abdominal strength. If you PM your e: mail to me and wait a few days, I’ll scan the routine and send it to you.
For my chest, shoulders and arms, I looked outside of Yoga to build strength. I bought a pair of push up bars and included a push up routine in my morning practise. I make sure that my elbows are kept close to my body and slow the move down, timed with my breath, as opposed to just trying to pump out lots of reps. I prefer push ups on the bars so that I can increase my shoulder and chest stretch as lower.
I find practising the full arm balance against a wall is useful as well. The wall allows me to work on alignment and hold the pose for longer to build strength.
If I am specifically working on strength then I usually will not repeat another strength workout the next day to allow my muscles to recover.
Is that you in Kapotasana?
Jonathon
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| jonnie - 2006-12-04 9:53 AM
30 minute routine to practise every day for a month until we met again for the next teacher training weekend. You could really see who had practised and who hadn’t. Personally I noticed a massive improvement in my functional abdominal strength. If you PM your e: mail to me and wait a few days, I’ll scan the routine and send it to you.
I've just PM you my email, thanks
jonnie - 2006-12-04 9:53 AM
Is that you in Kapotasana?
yeah its me
Edited by Joeyee 2006-12-04 10:35 AM
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Joeyee - I would just note that unless you are becoming certified in Iyengar yoga with an Iyengar training program you should not call yourself an Iyengar teacher or even say you are Iyengar influenced. |
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| tourist - 2006-12-04 10:42 AM
Joeyee - I would just note that unless you are becoming certified in Iyengar yoga with an Iyengar training program you should not call yourself an Iyengar teacher or even say you are Iyengar influenced.
Why? I agree that you should not call yourself Iyengar teacher if you are not certified by them. But, why not say you are influenced. That shall amount to saying: If one does not attend their teacher training, they should not read Light on Yoga. And, if they read Light on Yoga, they should not be influenced by it.
Coming to OP: It is ridiculous to do Iyengar Certification and Teach Ashtanga Class, since they are different from each obviously. Better to follow your teacher and call it HathaYoga and then teach whatever you like to mix in a way you wish. I disagree that men are better at Ashtanga than women. In fact the truth is otherwise. In USA, women are superior to men in any and every aspect of Yoga. Those men who are able to longer arm balance due to strength in the arms alone, while sacrificing the flexibility, can not call there exercise Yoga, but it should be called as Reverse Weight Lifting. |
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| yeah, i don't get your question. if you like astanga, practice astanga. and no, i don't think that males are more accomplished at it.
i teach my own style which is free form vinyasa with emphasis on alignment in both asana and transitiong. it's deeply rooted in the basic teachings of yoga--self realization and actualization.
that's what i teach.  |
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| I think of teaching style more as developing your teaching "personality". That's not to say you put something on but that you must find yourself in that which you teach. I don't think it really matters if you're teaching Ashtanga or not - generally speaking. That choice is up to you based on your beliefs about yoga relative to your training and study.
I could not teach Ashtanga and would not be comfortable teaching a "Flow" class here int he U.S. (though I'm told by friends in Israel it is different in Europe).
Point is I can only teach what I fell and believe based on my studies.
I don't preceive any gender issues with your teaching choices.
Your quality as a teacher has very little to do with your physical body and your muscular strength. This is pure rubbish. It is your ability to comprehend, to give instruction that can;t be misinterpreted. It is your looking and your seeing, your listening and your hearing. It is your commitment to help others and to continue to help yourself. It is your life that mirrors yoga that should determine you as a teacher, not your ab strength.
Edited by purnayoga 2006-12-04 2:05 PM
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| purnayoga - 2006-12-04 2:02 PM
Your quality as a teacher has very little to do with your physical body and your muscular strength. This is pure rubbish. It is your ability to comprehend, to give instruction that can;t be misinterpreted. It is your looking and your seeing, your listening and your hearing. It is your commitment to help others and to continue to help yourself. It is your life that mirrors yoga that should determine you as a teacher, not your ab strength.
May be I did not understand these statements exactly what you meant. But, I feel sure that the physical body as well as strength of a teacher has great influence and bearing on what students shall perceive, get, etc. I am prepared to go through an opinion poll from students, actual examples of successful teachers, and statistical data of any kind. |
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| Mr. Iyengar will tell you he practises 'Yoga'. His student's practise 'Iyengar Yoga'. His certified teachers will tell you that they teach the Iyengar style/system/method/type/Yoga.
There are people such as Vanda Scaravelli, Ruth White, Elizabeth Connelly (to name but three) who were/are exceptional teachers and both trained and were certified to a high level by Mr. Iyengar himself, though later decided to evolve independently. They now have many graduates of their teacher trainings who are obviously 'influenced' by Iyengar.
To 'officially' teach the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga of Pattabhi Jois, you need to have travelled to Mysore and trained with him for a few months at least three/four times and be proficient (in his opinion) in the primary series. And that's It! While actually achieving that is certainly a tall order, there is no additional A&P training, no teaching practise, no theory and no first aid taught.
In the U.K (where I'm from) there are very few official Ashtanga teachers and hundreds of unofficial (and very good) ones. Personally, I believe if a person has a quality certification in Hatha Yoga and is proficient in Ashtanga, then there is no reason why they shouldn't teach it.
Jonathon |
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| kulkarnn - 2006-12-05 10:36 PM
purnayoga - 2006-12-04 2:02 PM
Your quality as a teacher has very little to do with your physical body and your muscular strength. This is pure rubbish. It is your ability to comprehend, to give instruction that can;t be misinterpreted. It is your looking and your seeing, your listening and your hearing. It is your commitment to help others and to continue to help yourself. It is your life that mirrors yoga that should determine you as a teacher, not your ab strength.
May be I did not understand these statements exactly what you meant. But, I feel sure that the physical body as well as strength of a teacher has great influence and bearing on what students shall perceive, get, etc. I am prepared to go through an opinion poll from students, actual examples of successful teachers, and statistical data of any kind.
I don't think Pattabhi Jois has demonstrated a pose in twenty years....
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| jonnie - 2006-12-04 2:51 PM
kulkarnn - 2006-12-05 10:36 PM
purnayoga - 2006-12-04 2:02 PM
Your quality as a teacher has very little to do with your physical body and your muscular strength. This is pure rubbish. It is your ability to comprehend, to give instruction that can;t be misinterpreted. It is your looking and your seeing, your listening and your hearing. It is your commitment to help others and to continue to help yourself. It is your life that mirrors yoga that should determine you as a teacher, not your ab strength.
May be I did not understand these statements exactly what you meant. But, I feel sure that the physical body as well as strength of a teacher has great influence and bearing on what students shall perceive, get, etc. I am prepared to go through an opinion poll from students, actual examples of successful teachers, and statistical data of any kind.
I don't think Pattabhi Jois has demonstrated a pose in twenty years....
I agree. And, that is an exception. But, it is also not something to be proud of. However, that is an exception because he was not looking the same in the past. If always looked the same and did not demonstrate no one shall take the trouble to go to Mysore. Same with Pune or Europe, and definitely USA/UK! |
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Deciding which style to teach
