| Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniques |  | Author: Mark Stephens
Creator: Mariel Hemingway
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $14.12
as of 9/6/2010 17:00 EDT details
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 2,707
Media: Paperback
Edition: Original
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 1556438850
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.704607
EAN: 9781556438851
ASIN: 1556438850
Publication Date: May 25, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Teaching Yoga is an essential resource for new and experienced teachers as well as a guide for all yoga students interested in refining their skills and knowledge. Addressing 100% of the teacher training curriculum standards set by Yoga Alliance, the world's leading registry and accreditation source for yoga teachers and schools, Teaching Yoga is also ideal for use as a core textbook in yoga teacher training programs.
Drawing on a wide spectrum of perspectives, and featuring more than 150 photographs and illustrations, the book covers fundamental topics of yoga philosophy and history, including a historical presentation of classical yoga literature: the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Pataljali, and the main historical sources on tantra and early hatha yoga. Each of the eleven major styles of contemporary yoga is described, with a brief history of its development and the distinguishing elements of its teachings. Exploring traditional and modern aspects of anatomy and physiology, the book provides extensive support and tools for teaching 108 yoga poses (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation. Teaching Yoga offers practical advice for classroom setup, planning and sequencing classes, as well as the process involved in becoming a teacher and sustaining oneself in the profession. The book has over 200 bibliographic sources, a comprehensive index, and a useful appendix that lists associations, institutes, organizations, and professional resources for yoga teachers.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
Required reading for a yoga teacher August 30, 2010
G. A. BRAVO-CASAS (New York, NY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
With the increasing number of training programs for yoga teachers and the proliferation of yoga studios, many people, and especially yoga students, are demanding higher standards from their yoga teachers. There have been many debates as to whether or not it is advisable to have the yoga profession, and particularly the training of teachers, regulated. In 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that in the previous three years, around 13,000 Americans suffered yoga-related injuries as reported by doctors' offices and emergency rooms. Many injuries are the result of teaching practices from incompetent teachers. Many teachers have not received proper training or do not have any certification; it is estimated that among the 70,000 yoga teachers in the United States, only three quarters have any sort of certification. Furthermore, while there are strict training programs that demand a minimum of 200 hours of training, others provide a diploma after a few days of exposure, or just by e-mail.
In the middle of such a situation, the arrival of Mark Stephens' book is more than a blessing. The author has trained more than 700 yoga teachers and is the Director of the Teacher Training Program at Santa Cruz Yoga (CA). He has studied various yoga styles (Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa, yoga therapy, and Vinyasa Flow) and is well versed in yoga history and philosophy. The book includes various practical tables for easy consultation, numerous photographs, a rich bibliography, a very helpful list of yoga teaching resources (yoga websites, yoga associations, and institutes and research centers), a comprehensive list of yoga poses, and a summary of the yoga sequences followed by six major yoga schools.
The first four chapters present the roots of modern yoga and the physiological and mental components of yoga practices. Other chapters deal with teaching yoga poses, breathing techniques and meditation. Three excellent chapters (5, 6 and 10) give useful guidelines and tips for yoga teaching, such as options in conducting a class, the teacher's language and voice, the relationship between teacher and student (including how to deal with feelings of attraction), the use of props and music, how to organize the sequencing of a class, and many other critical subjects. In these chapters, Stephens shares with the readers the lessons he learned as a seasoned teacher. He properly illustrates his instructions with the philosophical foundations of yoga, based mainly on Patanjali's almost two-thousand year old Yoga Sutras.
Inspired by the idea that in yoga, like in travelling, what is important is the journey, not the destination, Stephens affirms, "Yoga is not a practice of attainment; it is an unending process of self-discovery and self-transformation," and teachers are just facilitators and guides. Through the entire book, he is guided by the idea that the role of the yoga teacher is to assist in the discovery of the inner teacher that all of us have inside ourselves; this is indeed the Socratic approach to teach. He also insists on the beneficial powers of adaptation and innovation in teaching yoga to better respond to the needs of every student. The last chapter is dedicated to the yoga profession; here, Stephens mentions some difficult topics such as regulations, teachers' fees, liability insurance, teacher's training and certification, how to start teaching as an apprentice, and other interesting subjects. Although he does not provide his personal views on many of these points, he raises them and alerts us to give proper consideration to them.
This is an excellent book, full of wisdom and information for anyone interested in yoga practice or in teaching. Nevertheless, the book could be improved by taking care of some caveats. It is desirable that in a revised edition the index would incorporate all the authors, as well as the yoga poses mentioned in the text. The name of the poses should appear with both the Sanskrit and English names.
Any new age or yoga collection must have this! August 14, 2010
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
TEACHING YOGA: ESSENTIAL FOUNDATIONS AND TECHNIQUES is the first comprehensive guide written for practicing and would-be yoga teachers and their students, covering yoga's history, philosophy, and basic teaching methods. It follows the teacher training curriculum standards set by Yoga Alliance and blends traditional yoga with modern techniques and over 150 photos and anatomy illustrations. Any new age or yoga collection must have this!
Great July 19, 2010
Kendra Fairman (Homer city, Pa United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am working on my teacher training currently, and this book (although not recommended or required for me) is the best I've read!
Greatest book for new teachers July 8, 2010
S. Schewe (Singapore)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is just great! It contains everything a new teacher needs, is really comprehensive and will be my most valuable tool I will use to prepare classes (sequencing, how to instruct poses in general & also specific poses), I am sure about that one! I can only recommend it to every young teacher.
well crafted instructor's manual June 30, 2010
Jon Manjushri (Western USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A really well structured guide to teaching hatha yoga and pranayama, some basic meditations, and detailed instructions on teaching yoga asanas. As a meditation instructor who began his own hatha yoga training with BKS Iyengar and several of his students, I find this a useful contemporary contribution to the field. While one could quibble with some details of the book's historical and philosophical sections, at least there is an overview of yoga philosophy, ethics, etc., which many similar books are lacking. The book's greatest strengths are its in-depth exploration of hatha yoga instruction, detailed notes on the asanas, and organization of classes, which are the author's areas of expertise. Highly recommended for hatha yoga instructors and advanced students.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
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