Teaching What Needs to Be Taught

As a student, we feel motivated when we are interested in something. We can sit up all night with our face in a book. Its harder and less rewarding to study the topics we’re not so interested in. It can be difficult to build up enthusiasm.

As a teacher, you need to be motivated by your student. Not by your self.

Teach What the Student Needs to Know

That means that sometimes you have to bend the curriculum of what you have prepared, and move around and open up another box of information or wisdom.

The Jesus and Buddhas’ teachings are full of stories. They are similar stories, but they are different, depending on their audience. And finally, when they have spoken taught as best they can, they say, ok then, for those of you with ears, listen!

As an instructor, we need to move fluidly around the material we want to teach. If you see your students/class not responding. Its not their fault. Its yours. You need to take responsibility for doing your best to fulfil their requirements. Sometimes your students won’t like you for it. It doesn’t mean just making them happy. It means, making them grow and develop.

Remember that some of our harders, and yet rewarding lessons in life, have been difficult and even traumatic. If we survive them, we feel enriched and empowered.

The next time you stand in front of your class/student, take a moment to ask yourself ‘How much am I just talking about me? How much am I answering the student’s needs? How can I explain what needs to be taught, so that the student understands me, like a flash of light?

Training Tips for Travel

I live on the road. We’re constantly going on trips and I need to find ways to maintain my training. If you have any ideas to contribute, feel free to contact me.

What I train at home
- Yoga
- Qigong
- Meditation
- Pilates

What I typically train while traveling
- Yoga
- Qigong
- Pilates
- Hiking
- Elastic band

The problems of travel and training

Its finding the time. It has to fit in with the people you are traveling with, or the things you have to do while traveling.

Sometimes traveling means a change of diet, often an increase in fast food or negative calories (high energy food with little nutritional value).

Its finding a place to train.

Solutions

I train in the morning, before breakfast. My family know that I will be gone for an hour, and they fill their time appropriately. Knowing how important the time is to yourself, its integral to communicate your needs to those around you. Of course, sometimes it doesn’t fit in. But be flexible and don’t be hard on yourself if you miss a day or two. Traveling means you have to be patient about a change of place and pace.

Spend some time thinking about what you are going to eat while away. Get to know when you’ll be hungry. The negative calories are dangerous at times when you are rushed for time and you haven’t planned your meals. Its worth taking the time to think about it before you leave, having a few healthy snacks as back ups in case of time restrain. How many times have I heard people complain about coming back from a holiday with an extra two kilos of body baggage?

I train activities that I can do pretty much anywhere. I need a small amount of space and little equipment. I travel with a yoga mat and an elastic band. I can train in my underwear if its in my room, or casual clothes if I go outside.

One of the things we do when we are traveling, is walking. We go on suggested walks, we hike in the national parks and we trek across varied landscapes. It doesn’t feel like exercise at all, but its one of the healthiest methods of exercise on the planet.

Training at home – or on the road

Yoga – Typically the biggest problem with training yoga asanas at home is remembering the sequence of poses. There’s no getting around it. You have to learn a sequence, or have a book, piece of paper, a video or audio device to help you. This is a nice website for some tips for training at home – it even has pictures.

If I can, I practice yoga outside. Yes, I look strange, but I honestly don’t care. Most of the people who see you are only inspired to do it themselves. You are selling the idea of yoga. If you’re shy, just do a few stretches after a walk and see how it makes you feel. As you gain in confidence, you can add a few more. Before you know it, you’ll look as strange as me.

Qigong – Qigong is great to train outdoors. Again you have to combat the social pressure. See it as a concentration challenge. If you know what to do, do it. Outside the air is usually fresh and more beneficial than in your hotel room.

The best link I’ve found to explain qigong exercises for new beginners is here.

Meditation – Finding a quiet spot to practice meditation can be done anywhere. If you’re in the middle of a city, you can find a park. If you can’t find a park, perhaps a Buddhist meditational technique for developing compassion would be good for a change? Let your eyes settle on a random person. Imagine their lives, and what has occurred to them for them to look and be where they are right now in the world. Imagine the good things and the bad. The life they have lead that produces their choice in clothes, the lines of their face, their body shape, their hair, their movements. Realize each and every person has a story, just like yours. Open your heart to understanding their importance in the world. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Pilates – Of course, the trouble with doing any of the afore mentioned exercises, is you have to know what you are doing before doing it. Its not like an aerobics class at a gym where the instructor tells you what to do. For traveling and training, and doing it on the cheap (IE not going to a gym for the safety of routine and music and professional instructors) then you need to educate yourself, or at least, learn a sequence of exercises. The best link with the least amount of advertisements is this one. However, you’ll still need to read each exercise and learn what to do. There is no way around this!!!

Elastic Band – I take this with me to help tone my muscles. The link here has some examples of exercises. Again, the more information you know before hand, the better your use of this simple, light and perfect travel training tool.

Hiking/Walking – yes! For the people who don’t want to remember anything except how to get back to their camp site/hostel room/hotel room/apartment – here it is. The perfect exercise. There are many interesting links about walking and its benefits. This one covers pretty much all the information I’d want you to know about.

Remember, if you’ve got some training tips for travelers, let me know and I’ll post them.

Induced Chi Flow

Feel the Flow

recommended for intermediate qigong students

What is it?

This is a method of Qigong training. A practitioner increases the flow of chi (energy) in the body, and allows the chi to direct the body's movements for self healing.

How? (notes taken from SIFU WONG KIEW KIT'S Book The Art of Chi Kung)

Begin by standing relaxed and upright. Place your middle finger (left for men and right for women) on your dan tien and gently press about ten times. Then drop your finger to your side.

Use the other middle finger (right for men and left for women) to gently massage the baihui vital point, at the crown of your head, about five times. Then drop the finger to your side.

Perform a simple two breath qigong exercise about 15-20 times. Pause between each sequence to feel the chi flowing down your body.

Perform a different two breath qigong exercise 15-20 times. Pause between each round to feel the chi flowing through the body.

Stand relaxed with your eyes gently closed. If you are already swaying or moving follow the movements gently, don’t go against them. The movements are enjoyable and agreeable. To begin with your eyes are closed.

If you are not moving, then imagine a cascade of energy running down your whole body, and enjoy the pleasant tingling feeling, if you feel it.

If you start to move too vigorously, tell yourself gently to slow down. You are always under the control of your mind. Remain calm.

When you’re ready to stop, then stop slowly and gracefully. Its that simple.

Chi self massage at the end of the session and walk about briskly.

For more information about this technique, click below -

http://www.wongkk.com/general/chuah.html

Personally

I love it.

I find it the most effective way to clean my body. I like to trust my body and allow it to move into positions it knows will benefit my health. I feel refreshed and positive when i've finished.

What happens?

After a short amount of time (and I have been practising for over 12 years), I feel the heat and energy of my body begin to swell and take over my actions. I allow the heat to move and direct my physical motion.

Often my head falls backward, stretching my thoat and releasing energy in the throat energy centre. I learn about my self from the sessions. I am face to face with the negative build up in my body. I see directly the relationship between my mind and body.

If my throat is hurting, or swelling, it is usually in direct relationship to my inability to express myself, or it can represent something 'negative' I have said. The energy builds up in my body and i can feel it.

After some time, anywhere up to 30 minutes is usually enough, I wake slowly and regain full control of my senses

How Often?

Once a week is enough, for me, for health maintanence. More for spiritual and meditational growth.

Exercises to Help Reduce Stress

• Before we begin any stress reduction exercise, we need to put our mind into the right gear.
• It helps to consider your environment, including space, noise, comfort, distractions and air flow.

The exercises

Sample class one

Warm up/ Self awareness (10mins)

Abdominal breathing (breathing gently into the stomach)
Shake it loose (gently shaking different parts of your body)
Roll downs (feet are shoulder width apart. bend your knees. slowly drop your head and roll down)
Shoulders lift and drop

Standing Strength/ balances (7 mins)
Posture awareness - mountain pose
Variable squat options
Tree
Eagle
Triangle pose
Wide legged side stretch
Chest to leg extension

Back bends (7 mins)
Cat stretch
Cobra /child’s pose
Half bridge/happy baby pose
Rocking chair

Forward folds (7 mins)
Cross legged forward fold
Cobblers pose
Three limbed forward bend
Boat pose
Chin to chest wrap and extend

Inversions (7 mins)
Down face dog
Shoulder stand
Plough pose
Knee to ear press

Twists (7 mins)
Passive reclining twist
Dynamic rolling twist
Seated cross legged twist

Warm down (12 mins)
Corpse
Posture
Rolling the eyes
Kneeling clasped knees upper back
Neck stretches
Self massage

Meditation - Tips for Insightful Instruction

For teachers of meditation
or other forms of mind and body disciplines

Questions that we as instructor’s need to answer honestly.
Why do you meditate?
Why did you begin to meditate?
What would honestly induce you to meditate if you didn’t already? (imagine one of your family or friends)
What are the benefits you gain from meditating?
Will students also gain these things?

Ask your students to identify what they want from meditation.

Meditation facts
It clears the mind, relaxes the body, offers us distance to the every day concerns, allows us to gain another perspective. What else?

What types of meditation are there?
(Be careful of giving too much information for new beginner students)

Steady gaze
Moving meditation (tai chi, shojin (cooking), sumi-e)
Affirmations/Mantras
Guided relaxation
Breathing
Chakra
Inner beauty
Visualization

How will you practice?

I like to introduce several different methods, for example, exercises from

Tai chi -
wu chi
ball
look back at the moon

using affirmations -(I prefer to introduce affirmations to a new beginners class rather than the traditional mantra because I think the idea of ‘positve thinking’ is modern and appealing, whereas new beginners associate the word ‘mantra’ to be something less pertinent to their lifestyle.)

Examples of affirmations
I am centred and feel satisfied with my life.
I am fearless
I am one with the universe.
I now let go of any sadness and pain I have experienced.
I am filled with inspiration and divine energy.
I am at one with mother nature and feel safe and secure.

Extra Tips
In my experience, short and frequent sessions are more productive to new beginners than longer sessions.
Listen to student’s experiences with an open mind.
Give something of yourself when you teach. A typical example is to introduce a topic, or style of meditation, and give, honestly, your real life impressions.

I hope you liked the article! If you have more tips to add, let me know!

Yoga for Kids - Example lesson plan

Greet with Namaste

Intro and setting the mood
Lay down (ideally have a mat)
Tune into your senses (Relaxing the body, breathe, sounds, body sounds)
Chant om three times

Spine
rock the boat
dead bug
dynamic roll twist
dynamic easy bridge
rocking chair

Shake it up…. (to some fun. lively music - similar to hokey poky where each body part is highlighted and shaken)

Poses
mountain (still, patient, calm)
Tree
Triangle
Warrior
Sitting sandwich
Camel
Rocket – (shhhhh) neck back- counter stretch
Cradle the baby
Building the bridge
Walking the dog
Bunny hops

Sun salutations

Making the fire

Growing seed


Animals
Albatross
Rooster
Pigeon King
Eagle
Lion (ugh)
Kicking mule (mouse)
Snake
Cat (angry, happy)
Mosquito
Little butterfly
Big butterfly
Spider
Mouse cat dog

Cool down

Tune into your senses
Relaxing the body, breathe, sounds

Basic Yoga for Kids

Benefits
Stimulates posture awareness, improves breathing, calms the nervous system, increases physical and mental confidence, develops mindfulness.

Goal
The first priorities of a class are enjoyment and safety. We avoid the competitive spirit or perfectionist mentality. Our aim is to simply allow children to enjoy being in the moment.

Time
Classes can range from 30 minutes to 75, depending on the level of interest and age group.

A typical class structure
We start with a few minutes of quiet time where the thoughts are directed internally. The focus is on tuning into the senses. This is followed up by gentle spine stimulation and a general warm up. Then we’ll start on the yoga postures, which include animal games, using the body to express the self, and role play. Finally we conclude the class with a few minutes of breathing and relaxation.

General guidelines for maximizing the child’s participation
Relaxed loose clothing or leotard.
No shoes. Socks are optional
Ensure an empty bladder
No eating an hour before the class (fruit is ok)
Bring good humour


Ideas to make up a class

Be a
Tin soldier
Helicopter
Balloon (you are a balloon that is filled with air)
Troll (walk like a troll)
Elf
Snake
Dog
Racing Car
Kangaroo
Ball
Cat
Tarzan
Monkey
Tree blowing in the wind
Stomach dance
Man on the moon

Walking
Relaxed shoulders
Walk in one line
backwards
side ways
Scissors
Knees up
Legs back
Walk as tall as you can
Walk as small as you can
Slowly
Fast
Short steps
Long steps

Can you lie on your stomach and drag your body?

Jumping
Frog
Bend deeper in the knees and jump as high as you can
On foot
Tripple jump
Turn in the jump

Balance
One leg (change)
Hand stands (kicking horse)
Head stands
Stomach
Back

Dance
Listen to the music
On your stomach
Make a dance while you are on your bottom
Dance on all fours

Copy each other

Magician
Hockus pokus, you are now a .......

Obstacle course
star jumps
climb up ladder, across, and down
balance on the ball for ten seconds
3 forward rolls (look at your stomach when you roll. Can you jump up after you roll?)
jump over the mat

We’re going for a walk in a forrest.
We are walking.
We see a bear.
Its windy and the trees are moving.
We’ve come to a river! How do we get over?
We meet a hare.
We hear something that goes ’meow’.
Who else do we meet in the forrest?
We go home, but the gate is shut!
Let’s rest.

Circus

The bottle spins and turns to me!

Blind man’s buff

Body Harmoni

What is Body Harmoni?
Body Harmoni is a combination of qigong, yoga and body awareness exercises.

Body Harmoni’s Aim
The aim is to introduce a new awareness and appreciation of the body to each member of the class. (ie NOT force feed a particular theory of breathing or yoga or qigong) The class is primarily about the STUDENT, not the teacher.

Why Body Harmoni?
I created Body Harmoni in 2005 as a softer, introductory class for people who were interested in a gentle form of exercise and were not particularly fond of the idea of yoga or qigong. It was a way for me to rename (and hence remove some of the stigma attached to yoga/qigong) and reinvent beneficial exercises.

Who is Body Harmoni for?
Instructors - This information is aimed at opening the minds of Western instructors of the Eastern arts. Its designed to inspire other instructors to combine the knowledge they have into interesting and new class ideas.
Students – Body Harmoni is for people who are looking for a softer, relaxed and gentle class aimed at slowing the breath down and increasing body awareness.

Who can teach this class?
Any one who has a broad base of knowledge of differing exercises and who is not hung up on their technique being the best one. If you understand that the real purpose of this exercise is to promote love of movement, enjoyment of breathing, heightened awareness and that yoga/qigong/pilates are ONLY tools to get us to the next stage, this type of class is for you.

What do we do?
There will be a brief explanation of the class before each lesson. Then we will concentrate on the exercises them selves. Each lesson plan has a 10% lesson change after two weeks when we’ll introduce several new exercises into the familiar pattern. The over riding themes for the class are exploration and enjoyment.


Class Samples

Class 1

The class begins with
Yang Breathing (Tan Tien breathing)

We warm up with
swinging arms and ten minutes of qigong exercises designed to warm the entire body.

Learn
Scoop the stream (exercise one of the precious eight)

Then we move on to
Yoga-
Building awareness
Roll downs
Pelvis tilt

Mountain pose,Warrior II,(standing strength)
Tree, Eagle,(balance)
Down ward facing dog, (inversion)
Cobra, camel, (back bends)
seated wide angle pose sequence, (forward bends)
cross legged twist. (twists)

We finish off the class with
Savasana (guided relaxation)


Class 2

The class begins with
Yang Breathing (Tan Tien breathing)

We warm up with
swinging arms and ten minutes of qigong exercises designed to warm the entire body.

Learn
Press the sky (exercise two of the precious eight)

Then we move on to
Yoga-
Building awareness
Roll downs
Pelvis tilt

Mountain pose, side angle stretch (standing strength)
Hand to foot, warrior III (balance)
Down ward facing dog, hare pose (inversion)
Cobra, bridge (back bends)
Wide legged forward fold, cobblers pose, (forward bends)
Revolved dynamic laying (twists)

We finish off the class with
Savasana (guided relaxation)


Class 3

Your energy is where your mind is. Keep your thoughts disciplined and focused on the exercises and on the breath. Anchor with your feet and let the rest of your body rise upward.

Stance-Wu Chi

Abdominal breathing

Exercises one to three of the precious eight

Scoop the stream
Press the sky
The archer

Yoga Asanas

Cross legged forward fold (restorative)

Sun salutations

Mountain Pose (standing)
Triangle Pose (standing)

Dancer (balance)
Half moon (balance)

Reclining hero Pose (back bend)
Crescent Moon Pose (back bend)

Down Face Dog (inversion)
Hare Pose (inversion)

Intense forward stretch (forward fold)
Three limbed forward bend (forward fold)

Passive opening out twist (twist)
Sage twist III

Savasana (guided relaxation)


Class 4

Use the warm up in the class to clear the mind. Bring your awareness into your body and your breath. Be disciplined with your mind.

Stance-Wu Chi

Abdominal breathing

Light Qigong warm up

The archer – exercise three of the precious eight


Yoga Asanas

Sun salutations

Mountain Pose (standing)
Warrior I (standing)

Warrior III (balance)
Star (balance)

Camel (back bend)

Child’s pose (restorative)

Shoulder stand (inversion)

Gorilla stance (forward fold)

Lunge twist (twist)

Savasana (guided relaxation)


If you need any help getting started, feel free to contact me.