Being A Yoga Teacher 👥

Soulshine, better than sunshine.

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Dear Yoke Folk,

The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see.". - Alexandra K. Trenfor

First, my apologies for the delay in February's bulletin. There are few extra things going on behind the scenes pulling my attention (more to come on this).

Since 2012, the number of practitioners of "Yoga" increased by fifty percent in the US. The number of registered teachers in the US (with the major national registry, Yoga Alliance) was recorded as almost 15,000 in 2016. Besides these numbers there is a multitude of other folks who aren't registered and/or went through a Yoga teacher training (YTT), exact numbers are difficult to assess.

The explosion of YTT offerings stem from a few factors. An additional income revenue stream for yoga studios is noted as the number one reason most studios offer trainings. Secondly, is the growing demand for practitioners to delve deeper into understanding Yoga beyond the physical postures (āsana) and mediative practices. And they don't necessarily aim to become a teacher. The educated guess is about 50% of folks going into trainings actually want to teach.

This month Ripples, theYoke blog is a sharing from Emerald Ralston. She shares her struggle to define her Yoga path post a Yoga Teacher Training. Kelly Wulf joins us for thePods she also speaks to her reason for entering a YTT, spoiler alert it wasn't because she dreamed of being a Yoga teacher.

Hoping Your Monday was a Good One, LauraLynn,
theYoke's executive director

by Emerald Ralston

“I….. I just don’t think I enjoy teaching yoga…” I muttered to a friend, a fellow graduate of my 200-hour yoga teacher training. We were warming up at a studio of another fellow graduate, preparing to take class there, and I was contemplating her offer for me to teach there as well.

We’d all been teaching intermittently, subbing whenever we could and getting as much experience as possible, to attempt to bring to others what yoga had brought to our lives.

“Well, maybe you just haven’t taught enough classes, or you’re just not confident enough in the words,” she offered, in the purest, most encouraging way possible.

I allowed myself to sit with this suggestion, one I had considered several times before.

Maybe I’m just not confident enough. Maybe I just don’t quite fit the mold of the studios I’ve encountered or the students I have had in front of me. Maybe I’m just simply not a good teacher, maybe I’m just not good enough.

The doubt spiral took hold and didn’t let me go until I was halfway into Savasana. That is when I realized that it wasn’t true. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy teaching Yoga… it was that I simply didn’t enjoy teaching Asana.

Read on..

theYoke.Yoga:
A Yogic Hub*

Are aware Yoga isn't just about the āsana/postures?

What is āsana?

Ok now that you know what āsana is... here is a breakdown of many of the different main styles you may encounter. Yogāsana Styles

*your resource for Everything Yoga

theYoke out & about

* We are offering low cost to no cost Yogāsana and meditation based classes several times a week at a US Air Force base. This base houses personnel from every branch of the military.

* Wounded veterans are taking advantage of classes led by LauraLynn (Yoke executive director) at the Veteran's Administation of Colorado. We offer this class in partnership with Comeback Yoga (https://www.comebackyoga.org)

We are honored to be part the building momentum bringing this path of wellness to military members, their dependents and civilians working on military bases. If you haven't seen the latest Yoga Journal article on this movement you can read it here.

Are you following us on social media?

Each day of the week we offer up inspiration, practical tools for living a Yogic life, and other thought provoking and fun stuff.

Kelly Wulf: Comeback Yoga

Kelly provides her unique view into the Yoga world as an athlete turned director of a veteran's Yoga program turned Yoga teacher. Her perspective on Yoga and teaching (in military settings) is highly unique and an important one to consider.

View

As we expand our offerings to communities across the country your contributions keep us humming along.

We are appreciate your support!

Donate

Looking for Communities without Access to Trained Teachers

Do you know of a community... without Yoga? .
A place without access to professionally trained Yoga teachers?

Somewhere folks want to become a teacher of these ancient practices but don't have the resources to do so?

We want to help.

The creation of a 200 RYS mobile Yoga school is now being formulated by theYoke's executive director/founder, LauraLynn Jansen and theYoke's board president, Dr. Douglas Files.

Not only is the the mobility of this Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) an unique opportunity, so is the way it is delivered.

theYoke YTT Format
Immersion: the first 72 hours of the program focus on beyond the usual class experience immersion into what Yoga on many levels (beyond just Yogāsana). Anyone can participate in this portion of the training, meaning you don't have to want to be a Yoga teacher.

Teacher Training: the remaining hours,128, are specifically designed to provide a well-rounded educational experience of delivering the multiple paths (mārgas) of Yoga from hatha to jana to bhakti to raja.

Post Training: All students who complete the 200 hour training will be asked to consider doing a seva (service) offering in a community. While doing the seva project they will receive a year of mentor-coaching for a full year post the YTT.

Meets:
when your community is ready

Please drop us an inquiry message if you are interested in creating a collaboration to bring a Yoga Teacher Training to your community. drop us a line
& we will keep you loop as we develop the next session.

Includes:
72 hour Yoga Immersion
128 hour Yoga Teacher Training
= 200 registered Yoga teacher training

Your investment: TBD, based on available scholarships and costs of hosting in local community. This offering is part of theYoke’s sustainable communities Yoga program. Our aim is toe make this training as financially accessible as possible.

Want more details? contact us at: hello@theYoke.Yoga.