| Welcome |
Yoga Teachers' Monthly offers inspiration and information to yoga teachers who want to improve their ability to help their students grow and shine.
From Aadil Palkhivala, world-renowned yoga master, yoga therapist, author, federally registered Doctor of Naturopathy, Ayurvedic Health Science Practitioner, certified Shiatsu and Swedish massage therapist, with degrees in law, physics, and mathematics.
|
| Quick Links |
|
 |
|
|
Welcome to Yoga Teachers' Monthly! Many of you have been reading both our newsletters, Yoga Therapy Monthly and Inspiration for Yoga Studios. As I am certain you are busy teaching and want to reduce your time spent at the computer, I have merged these two newsletters into one. I hope you enjoy it! Please keep sending me your yoga teaching questions. I really enjoy hearing from you.
In joy and light,
Aadil |
| Safe Forward Bends |
|
|
Forward bends are as soothing to the mind as they are injurious to the lower back.
Backward bending is an extension of the spine, and forward bending is the flexion of the spine. Extension increases space between the vertebrae, while flexion decreases the space. The only way you can ensure that your students don't injure their backs in forward bending is to make sure that they are extending their spine while they are bending forward. This requires opening the hamstrings and lifting the bottom of the belly.
Therefore, for students with stiff hamstrings, it is  definitely dangerous to do forward bending. While doing forward bends in class, make sure these students in particular hold a belt wrapped around the foot of the extended leg, and tell them to pull on the belt to keep their spine erect while the rest of the class folds forward. If you have a wall rope, have your stiff student do forward bends with feet on the wall, using a belt around the middle rung to pull on, thereby creating traction in the spine and increasing space between the vertebrae.
When you look from the side at a student doing a forward bend, the sacrum should be tipped forward, or else the lower back will suffer strain. The lower back should never be rounded but should remain straight or, ideally, concave. To repeat, the two critical actions in forward bends are the lengthening of the hamstrings, created by moving the sitting bones away from the heels, and the lifting of the bottom of the belly to bring a concavity into the lower back.
|
| For Your Inspiration |
|
|
"Nowhere will you be able to find peace unless you have peace in your heart." -The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, India
This quote can appear to be both a blessing and a disappointment. It may at first appear to be a disappointment to realize that you cannot find peace anywhere in the world. While we spend many hours looking out in the world for peace, we will not find it. However, this same point can also be a blessing when we realize that we do not have to go anywhere to find peace, since it can only be found in our own heart. We then get to create the experiences we desire, be it peace, joy, happiness, or love. These qualities have been in us all along.
When we don't feel peace, it's because the mind is very busy creating disharmony. Experiment with a meditation snack that guides the mind to the Heart Center where peace resides.
- Bring your hands to either side of your head at ear level, hands cupped, fingers together.
- Inhale, and on your exhalation slowly bring your hands together at the center of your forehead, gathering the thoughts of your overactive mind.
- With the hands together at the center of the forehead, inhale again, and on the exhalation, slowly bring your Namaste hands down until the thumbs rest on the Heart Center (located a few inches below the sternum)
- Say "I offer my mind to my heart where peace awaits."
Practicing this several time a day will help peace grow in your life and therefore in the world.
|
| The Mind |
|
Excerpt from Fire of Love 
The mind will strive to create in the body exactly what it believes to be true. As self-help author Earl Nightingale puts it, "You become what you think about." At age ten, my daughter came back from school one day and said, "My teacher told me again that I am not good at math. If she keeps telling me that, how will I ever become good at math?" My daughter apparently feels the power of the mind more clearly than her teacher does. In Milton's immortal words, "The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
Fire of Love is Aadil's new book on the true meaning of yoga. Yoga is less about asana, and more about bringing our inner and outer worlds into Oneness. To order your copy click here
Follow Aadil on Facebook and Twitter
|
| 200 Hour Teacher Training |
|
| May 31-June 27, 2009
This one-month intensive format is perfect for those who  wish to complete a Yoga Alliance certification course in a swift but thorough way. Drawing upon Aadil's 30+ years training yoga teachers, the College of Purna Yoga offers a holistic curriculum in alignment-based asana and pranayama, teaching methodology, meditation, nutrition, applied philosophy, business, anatomy, the natural energetics of healing, and poetry (yes, poetry!). For more information, visit The College of Purna Yoga | |
|
|
|
