(Fire is the sign of transformation 🕉.
"Fire ritual", in Sanskrit is referred to as "Hawan" This is conducted in the beginning of the Teacher Training Programme as an opening ceremony. Here, we perform a ceremony asking for blessings of the Universe and pray for the cosmos to guide us, lead us to the light of its knowledge. In this ritual, we offer various medicated and spiritual herbs and ghee into the divine fire to purify the surrounding environment and to enhance the energy/Aura of the place.
Now, what will you learn in the 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh?
In Patanjali Yogasutra, “Asanas” is defined as
“sthira_sukham_asanam” – “Steady_Comfortable_Posture”
(The Asana is a state when the body and mind are Stable, Comfortable, and Relaxed). Here at the Vinyasa Yogashala, we follow the traditional practice of Hatha Yoga, going hand in hand with the modern yoga style, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, for the practitioner to understand the balancing of the energy, synchronization, and movement from one Asana to another. This blend of traditional and modern yoga helps deepen the practice at a gross and subtle level.
Apart from Hatha yoga and Vinyasa yoga classes, we also have classes for Adjustment Alignment to understand the asanas, their alignment, and how to learn modifications that deepen the practice.
Our Vinyasa Flow teachers show you how to energize the body through movement and breath, and how to stretch the muscles and clean the body internally.
Our Hatha yoga teacher is an expert on alignment and will demonstrate how to safely teach your students asanas without risk of pain or injury.
Pranayama is the practice of increasing the “Vital Energy” “Lifeforce which is in constant motion through Breathing” well. Breathing is not just the function of the Lungs and Heart but is also related to one’s state of mind.
Today when short breathing is very common in the modern world, Respiratory problems like Asthma, Blood Pressure, and Psychosomatic problem like Stress, Anxiety, Diabetes, Hypertension seem to be increasing by the day to counter these problems. Pranayama is the solution here. We need to understand the concept of Pranayama because it is the bridge between mind and body. Here, you learn a number of breathing techniques like Diaphragmatic breathing, Chest breathing, Alternate Nostril breathing, etc. Here, good control over your breathing can help you practice for longer, with much stability and less tiredness.
“Chiti jal pawak gangan sameera” - “Earth Water Fire Ether Air”
“Panchrachit ati adham sareera” - “Five element constitute Body”
According to the Ayurveda, these five great elements constitute the body and we get mixed up in these elements when we die. Yogic Anatomy and Physiology teaches the concept of the human body, its composition, its dosha’s (vata, pitta & kapha) according to Ayurveda as well as the present medical representations of our body, its movements, limitation, the working of different systems, etc. This will in turn create a sense of awareness of the body.
In our yogic Anatomy, the structural anatomy is discussed-:
- Bones, Joints, Anatomical planes and Movement of the body.
- In Yogic Physiology, we learn about how different systems like Digestive system, Respiratory system, Central Nervous system, etc work. We also get the whole picture of these systems to correlate various yoga practices like asana, Pranayama, Shatkarma, Mudra, Bandha, Meditation, etc to the different systems of the body.
“Yoga stops the fluctuation of mind”.
It is the second verse from Patanjali Yoga Sutra, which means Yoga bring calmness to the mind from unnecessary thoughts;
Philosophy is the fundamental aspect of Yoga, without which it is merely an exercise of balancing and stretching. In Philosophy we learn the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of yoga. The ultimate aim of all yoga practices is Moksha/Nirvana (Liberation) and to understand this concept, we first need to learn the origin of Yogic, what are Vedas? What does Shrimad Bhagwat Gita explain about life? What is Chitta? What Are Attachments? Many more questions get explained in a yoga philosophy class so you get the complete benefit from Gross to subtle level, from physical-mental to spiritual level.
“Chanting Mantra shield from all trouble”.
The Sanskrit word ‘Mantra’ is the combination of two words ‘Man’ and ‘Tra’, where ‘Man’ means feelings/inner voice/mind/thoughts/perception and ‘rarefies to instrument/to tune. So in simple words, we understand Mantra as strong/powerful/sacred words that when chanted right, can tune/harmonize the body and mind. In Vinyasa Yogashala Yoga Teaching every yoga class begins with a mantra to balance the energy. Here you learn about Mantras, its types, how to recite them? What is a Mantra for Chakras? What is the Discipline for Mantra chanting?
Finally, we include a course on teaching methodology to refine your teaching skills, where we talk about how you can develop your “teaching voice” and also learn to prepare classes, improve your confidence and achieve the right qualities to be a teacher.
It is very important for a yoga teacher to efficiently perform the different practical applications of class planning and preparation. At Vinyasa Yogashala, our students learn how to create positive and peaceful class environments for an enjoyable and transformative experience. These include:
- Positive & conscious communication.
- Friendship and trust.
- Time management
- Qualities of a teacher
- Principles of demonstrating, observation, assisting, correcting.
- Use of voice in class
- Mental & emotional preparation for teaching.
- Class preparation
- Step by step class structure planning.
Our busy routine can get us to forget to spend time with ourselves. Meditation which also means reflection is one way to check your mental as well as your spiritual health. It trains your mind to be calm and keep you from being overjoyed or too emotional. This is one of the most powerful techniques of Yoga to explore different levels of awareness. Many great yogis like Lord Buddha, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, Swami Rama are great practitioners of Meditation. How to sit for Meditation? Sitting in Lotus pose, keeping hand in Gyan Mudra, with closed eyes and relaxing the mind. These are some of the ways to Meditate, where the steadiness of the body induces the steadiness of mind, bringing awareness of the present and creating mindfulness.
In our Yoga Teacher Training In Rishikesh, we teach Shatkarma (yogic cleansing method) and Yogic diet that help detoxify the body. Why is detoxification important? Well, if your body does not eliminate toxins, these can either enter into the cells through the digestive or blood circulatory systems to cause problems. When you detox, you get to increase the age of your internal organs, build immunity and tackle skin problems more naturally without chemicals/cosmetics and many more.