asanas Archives

What to do when you finish your yoga teacher training
What to do when you finish your yoga teacher training

What to do when you finish your yoga teacher training

What to do when you finish your yoga teacher training You’ve completed your yoga teacher training course, taught your final exam class, taken your written exam and enjoyed your graduation ceremony. What do you do now? Well, first of all, enjoy the moment because ones like these don’t come along very often. You’ve probably worked hard in one of the most intense periods of your life – whether it was a weekend-based two-year yoga teacher training course or a four-week one, you’ve likely been through something that has changed your perspective on life permanently and [...]

What to do when you finish your yoga teacher training

Humble Warriors – leaving your ego at the door in Yoga Teacher Training
Humble Warriors – leaving your ego at the door in Yoga Teacher Training

Humble Warriors – leaving your ego at the door in Yoga Teacher Training

Humble Warriors – leaving your ego at the door in Yoga Teacher Training My ego almost stopped me doing my yoga teacher training. I had a shoulder injury caused by doing chaturanga incorrectly for a long time and I couldn’t even consider the thought of starting a course at such a low technical par. At that time, I thought that yoga was primarily about performance in asanas, and as part of the signature sequence – the sun salutation – I thought I’d get marched out of the room for not being able to do all [...]

Humble Warriors – leaving your ego at the door in Yoga Teacher Training

Nine Signs You Are Ready For Yoga Teacher Training
Nine Signs You Are Ready For Yoga Teacher Training

Nine Signs You Are Ready For Yoga Teacher Training

Nine Signs You Are Ready For Yoga Teacher Training You may be ready for Yoga Teacher Training and not even know it yet. For one thing, you’ve clicked on this blog so you must be a little bit curious. Let’s see if any of these signs apply to you… 1. You’re passionate about yoga You’re at that point where the hashtag #yogaeverydamnday is actually your life. Somehow you started with one or two classes per week and ended up with six or even seven. Your day doesn’t feel right unless it starts or ends with [...]

Nine Signs You Are Ready For Yoga Teacher Training

Seven yoga poses to cleanse your post-Christmas body
Seven yoga poses to cleanse your post-Christmas body

Seven yoga poses to cleanse your post-Christmas body

Seven yoga poses to cleanse your post-Christmas body A yoga teacher of mine once described spine twists and folds in a yoga class as a way of ‘wringing out the sponge’ of our bodies and getting rid of all the toxins that reside within, allowing fresh blood and energy into the body parts that most need it. So here’s our top six yoga poses and pranayama practices for a post-Christmas detox, focusing on the digestive organs that need it most. But let’s start by giving our brains a thorough cleanse… 1. Kapala Bhati – “skull shining breath” This is a [...]

Seven yoga poses to cleanse your post-Christmas body

How Yin Yoga can help you combat the winter blues
How Yin Yoga can help you combat the winter blues

How Yin Yoga can help you combat the winter blues

How Yin Yoga can help you combat the winter blues One of the main benefits of a yoga practice is its calming influence on the mind as well as the body. Asanas (poses) are intended to bring the focus inwards to prepare us for meditation where our busy minds can find some peace. Perhaps we simply want to take some quiet time for ourselves after a busy party season; maybe we’re struggling with the long darkness of winter or feeling helpless during a period of change in our lives. Whatever is causing you stress and anxiety, yoga will always be [...]

How Yin Yoga can help you combat the winter blues

Six tips for teaching your first yoga class
Six tips for teaching your first yoga class

Six tips for teaching your first yoga class

Six tips for teaching your first yoga class So you’ve completed your 200-hour yoga teacher training and are at the cusp of beginning your yoga teaching career? Even though you have probably taught fellow-students in small groups during your yoga teacher training, your first real class can be an intimidating experience. While your practice teaching sessions might have been nerve wrecking, you were teaching in a safe and encouraging environment. So now what happens now that you have become a yoga teacher and are about to teach your very first class back home? How do you transfer what you’ve learned [...]

Six tips for teaching your first yoga class

What do we mean when we say namaste?
What do we mean when we say namaste?

What do we mean when we say namaste?

What do we mean when we say namaste? It’s one of those things we do almost without thinking, at the start and end of a yoga class, palms pressed together at our hearts, bowing our heads. Some have even turned it into a piece of theatre at the end of a class, prostrating themselves to floor in a gesture intended to show complete humility and gratitude. I remember the first time someone explained to me what the gesture and the word actually meant. A teacher at Sampoorna - Yoga Teacher Training School in India told us that it was an [...]

What do we mean when we say namaste?