Just received conformation that I'm on the course.
Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama Yoga
There are scores of Yoga Teacher Training Programs and almost every
promoter(me included) claim that his/her program is unique. The 200 hr
program I offer (registered with Yoga Alliance) is designed to give
a broad exposure and some in depth coverage of my understanding of
Yoga as I have learnt from my Guru. I must admit that my guru had the
uncanny knack of teaching what he considered to be important and
relevant to the particular student. Hence all his student –teachers,
though they have studied with the same preceptor, show different yogic
characteristics in their teachings that are obvious to even casual
observers. A three decade study under him helped me to assimilate a
lot of what he taught me, practice and reflect. What he taught
appealed to me profoundly. And I thought it might to a few others
with requirements and tendencies similar to mine who would be
interested in and may benefit from the Yoga I imbibed from my Guru.
Hence this 200 hr Vinyasa krama Teacher Training Program. Here are the
details.
1. The 60 hr Vinyasakrama asana course runs for 20days, three hours
per day. It consists of 10 major sequences broken into more than 120
or so subsequences built around well known asanas. There is a flow of
asanas/vinyasas with each slow movement synchronized with the
appropriate (brahmana and langhana) aspect of breathing. There are
about 700 Vinyasas. It is a systematic way to learn asanas. Even
though one may not be practicing all these asanas and movements in a
daily workout, it is necessary for a yoga teacher and serious students
of yoga to learn all asanas and vinyasas in a systematic manner. A
teacher or a yoga therapist has to have in her/his arsenal all the
yoga movements and asanas so that one can design an appropriate
program for one’s own practice and for varying individual requirements
of others. The word Vinyasa is widely used in several arts like music,
etc. In fact one meaning of Vinyasa is art itself and so vinyasakrama
would mean doing asanas as an art. Vinyasa is an artful expansion of
the physical culture called asana within certain specified parameters.
There is a certain nicety about Vinyasakrama approach. The sequencing
is a logical progression of Vinyasas. It is a yogasana gift from my
Guru and in it there is something, nay, everything (almost, that is)
for everyone (almost, that is) from a toddler yogi to the consummate
yogi.
2. The 20 hr Pranayama program is spread over 10 days of 2 hr
sessions. My Guru, as the old Hata yogis did, gave considerable
importance to Pranayama, which is another name of Hata Yoga. Orthodox
Indians as they do their rituals to the Sun, do a minimum of 40 mantra
pranayamas every day. It is considered a prerequisite of meditation,
dhyana. In this course the theory and practice of different types of
pranayamas will be taught and the various parameters. Practice is an
important aspect of this course. Many participants end up making
pranayama an integral part of their daily yoga routine.
3. The third subject will be Mantras and Meditation another aspect of
daily yoga practice. Mantras are a convenient and powerful vehicle for
taking the mind along the path of one pointedness. Sanskrit alphabets
also known as matrukas, or mother mantras, along with some of the
important mantras like Gayatri will be taught. Using mantra, a step by
step approach to meditation will be taught and participants will be
given the opportunity to practice meditation on these lines. It is a
20 hr program--10 sessions of 2 hrs each. Participants will also be
introduced to Sanskrit recitation, another form of meditative
practice, an important aspect of Sri Krishnamacharya’s teachings
4. There is a 25 hour segment of Yoga for Health. It consists of 10
hours of Anatomy and Physiology, a requirement of Yoga Alliance with
which this program is registered. 5 hrs of subtle anatomy will
explore the conceptual basis of the human system from the yogic point
of view and will be discussed in some detail, based on old texts like
Yoga Yogyavalkya, etc. and attempts will be made to relate these
concepts with modern ideas. My Guru was a great exponent of Cikitsa
krama or the therapeutic approach of yoga. In the 10 hr session of
Yoga for Internal Organs, the six main kosas** or organs and the
systems they support will be gone into in details and the yogic
practices that are beneficial to these systems will be discussed.
(**hrudaya kosa or heart and the circulatory system, svasa kosa or the
lungs and the respiratory system, anna kosa or stomach and the
digestive system, garbha kosa or uterus and the reproductive system
etc.)
5. A 25 hour segment is reserved to study Yoga as a darsana or a
philosophy. In this 5 hrs are allotted to learn to chant some of the
yoga sutras. In the remaining 20 hrs, the entire YS (Yoga Sutras) will
be gone through word by word and sutra by sutra, so that during this
first reading the participants will learn to stay close to the text
and get a good understanding of the sutras and the thought process
contained in this ancient text.
6. Sri Krishnamacharya’s works is the title of this 20 hr program.
Even though my Guru is well known, his works remain somewhat hidden.
In this course reading of his works, “Yoga Makaranda” and “Nathamuni’s
Yoga Rahasya” will be taken up. It will hopefully help the
participants to have a first hand view of some of the concepts of
Krishnamacharya’s Yoga.
7. In this short segment, 5 hours will be allotted for Yoga Business
and 5 hours for Teaching Methodology
8. A twenty hour program titled “Visesha Vinyasas” made up of 5
sessions of 4 hrs each completes the 200 hours of instructions. In
this special sequences like Sun Salutation, Salutation to Directions,
etc. will be taught. It will also cover all the parameters required
to be considered to design individualized programs based on these
courses. Sri Krsihnamacharya’s ingenuity lay in his ability to offer
what the students or patients needed . Yoga takes care of the needs of
everyone, all through the life--to everyone according one’s changing
needs. A teacher has to equip herself/himself with as much information
as possible in a logical way. Yoga is a comprehensive subject and has
enough breadth and depth to meet the evolving requirements of everyone
all through the life.
Well, the program is scheduled to start on June 15, 2010 and runs for
five weeks at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. You or one
of your friends may resonate with this program. Registration is open
and for details please contact:
Alana Bray
Yoga Coordinator,
Loyola Marymount University
1,LMU Drive, Suite 1840,
Los Angeles, CA
Yoga@lmu.edu
(310)338-2358
