Kramas: Breaking Down Postures for Teaching and Sequencing

Kramas: levels

The concept of kramas (Indonesian for "castes") suggest that all things can be broken up into their significant parts

• Human Society
• Family
• Supernatural (the hierarchy of understanding deities)
• Matter (the nature of the universe)

This concept can be used to understand physical practice (somatic intelligence).

• What is the skill required to perform this asana (posture, movement, etc.)?
• Can I deconstruct (break down) this asana into its component parts?
• Can I create levels that encourage both understanding and learning for my students?
• Can I apply these krama to a good teaching pedagogy?
• repetition
• scaffolding (repeating a skill in different ways and in different contexts)
• simplicity
• creating an environment that is challenging but not frustrating for students

One figures out the kramas of a posture (asana) or movement in their own practice.

• You will not find your voice in books
• You will not find your voice imitating others
• You will not find your voice in dogma
• You will only find your voice by practicing and thinking about what is going on in your own body/mind

Examples: Sequencing Strategy #1: Master Posture

(1) eka pada baddha rajakapotasana (one legged bound pigeon)-class observation #1

• What are the basic components of the posture?
• How is it broken down?
• What pedagogy strategies are used?
• How are students encourage to continue practicing this advanced (difficult) asana?
• What skills are needed (must be learned) to perform this posture?

(2) parivrtta galvasana (revolved flying pigeon)-class observation #2

• What are the basic components of the posture?
• How is it broken down?
• What pedagogy strategies are used?
• How are students encourage to continue practicing this advanced (difficult) asana?
• What skills are needed (must be learned) to perform this posture?

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Embodied Movement: The Movement of Breath

Yoga Nidra: Practice for Today (March 23)

"Yoga Nidra" is a form of embodied meditation

• yoga nidra means= "yogic sleep"- 
• it is meant to produce a state which is as "relaxed" as sleeping, when one is still fully aware
• sometimes called dreamless sleep.

Today, we will practice it to illustrate how breath awareness (rather than control) can be used for a number of purposes:

• to increase awareness of our bodies
• to have a heightened experience of/in our bodies
• to understand the body's "felt sense" (Levin)
• to move toward a single point of focus (Sanskrit-eka dishti)

These are all pragmatic goals in the yoga technique. 

This will all be accomplished through the observation of and attention to our breath in our body.

Instructions I will be giving:

1. We will start with some simple controlled breathing exercises to warm up both our breath and our mind
2. We will stop controlling our breath and try to achieve this same focus with an "unconditioned" breath (natural/no control)
3. We will place our focus on one part of the body at a time, trying to "breath into" that part of the body to have a heightened experience of that part of our body
• may include
• physical sensations,
• desire for  or a sense of movement
• temperature change
• emotion
• empowerment
• etc. You tell me!
4. As we shift to each body part, we will let the previous one "relax" to a state where it "disappears" from our perception (bones fall away, muscles fall off bones, skin melts away-metaphorically).
5. challenge will be to stay awake for many of us.

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YOGA AS EMBODIMENT: What's the Body Got to Do with it Anyway?

Consider the three aspects of “embodied experience”

1)      Attending to movement

2)      Heightened sensitivity

3)      Emotion

Laban technique demonstrated (dance)
Laban Personal Practice (dance)

Delasarte Technique (3rd graders) (theater)
Rasa: Indian Dance and Theater (dance and theater)

Stanislavski and Strasberg (Method Acting)

• Mind/Body Being: The body is us. We are not simply our minds. In fact, experiences in our bodies CREATE who we "are" (mind)  (Merleau-Ponty)
• Rehabituation: how experience is changed when one learns new ways of making sense of and using their bodies
• Kinestesia: (Maxine Sheets Johnstone) Knowing where you body is in space all at once. Something that athletes possess. 
• Movement and attention to movement can produce a heightened sense of awareness and less stressed sense of identity---a less rigid sense of self. What does lack of movement do therefore? Changing one’s way of moving our bodies also has an impact on how we feel about ourselves and the environment.
                  “…Depression is often experienced in the body as a passive giving in to weight.. The slightest movement can diminish this. What is important is the indication of participation, rather than passivity”

• Embodiement: (Philip Zarelli). When we engage with our bodies we are able to have more heightened levels of experience in which we see ourselves as full human beings…the body connected to the mind in a dialectic

• Flow*:  mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. (Mihály Csíkszentmihályi).
• flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents the ultimate experience in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. 
• In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. 
• The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task^. although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.
• Flow has many of the same characteristics as (the positive aspects of) hyperfocus (near death experience/obsessive behavior). 
• However, hyperfocus is not always described in such universally glowing terms. For examples, some cases of spending "too much" time playing video games, or of getting side-tracked and pleasurably absorbed by one aspect of an assignment or task to the detriment of the assignment in general. 
• In some cases, hyperfocus can "grab" a person, perhaps causing him or her to appear unfocused or to start several projects, but complete few.

*Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be in the moment, present, in the zone, on a roll, wired in, in the groove, on fire, in tune, centered, or singularly focused.

History of Yoga Summary-

Summary Course (Good For Val and All of Us)

Power Point :History

HISTORY OF YOGA: FOUNDATIONS-PREREADING (Click Here)

Pressing Questions About Yoga Today

What is Yoga? (that depends on who you ask)

• "The stilling of the movements of the mind" (YS 1.2)- Yoga is a meditative technique that brings stillness and connects one to the divine force
• "Skill in Action" (BG 4.22) -Yoga is one's ability to perform one's action with the utmost skill so that one might always "act" properly
• "Yoga is a technique which stops death"(HYP 2.16) -yogic techniques are meant to stop the natural processes of time and have one experience the eternal divine force.
• "Yoga is the practice of non attachment" (BG 6.15) -Yoga is the ability to perform all actions according to one's purpose (dharma) without regard to the consequences of these actions.
• "Yoga is a form of exercise which practice a designed to empower you with the focus, training and insight you need to achieve consistent results in the most important areas of your life." (Baron Baptiste)- Yoga is a form of physical culture which helps you succeed in your life.
• "Yoga is a series of postures systematically work every part of the body, to give all the internal organs, all the veins, all the ligaments, and all the muscles everything they need to maintain optimum health and maximum function." (Bikram Chodouroy)-Yoga is a means for healing and maintaining health. 
• "Yoga is a way to reduce the stress in our lives" (Dr. Oz) -Yoga is a form of relaxation.

What are the Origins of Yoga? (that depends who you ask as well)

• The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) believes that yoga has strayed to far in the West from its HINDU roots. They see yoga as Hindu religion in practice.
• Kundalini practitioners claim that yoga is a 10,000 year old practice originating in the pre-hindu northern regions of Kashmir in India.
• Archaeologists have traced yoga "symbology" back 5000 years to the oldest civilization known to exist in the archaeological record Mohenjo-daro.
• The physical postures that are part of the modern yoga cannon are at most 100 years old.
• Modern Yoga practice was formed out of the Physical Culture Movement of the mid-nineteenth century. Before then yoga was a spiritual and alchemical practice.
• Yoga has many different practices and developed through a number of different traditions. The three most prominent are from the Brahmanic period (Baghdad Gita), The Classical Period (the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) and the Tantric Period (Hatha Yoga Pradipika).
• Does Yoga in the West have any connection to these roots today?

Is Yoga a Religion? (that depends on who you ask)

• What is "religion"? and how does this differ from "spirituality"?
• "Yoga is in religion, religion is not in yoga"-the many yoga practices along with their transcendent goal of direct experience, are typically not practiced by adherents of religion. (Swami Rama)
• 
  

Can Yoga Really Heal You? (and other special powers afforded by yoga -siddhis)

• Many health claims have been attributed to yoga (are they true?)
• Many psychological empowerment claims have been attributed to yoga (are they true?)
• Yoga makes you a better person (does it?)

Why is Yoga a Girl Thing? (or is it?)

• Certainly here in the West, Yoga is for chicks. 93 percent of practitioners are women. Why?
• Traditionally, Yoga was (an exclusively) male practice.
• How and why did this happen?

Yoga History Charts

General Syllabus: Topics and Texts

GENERAL STUFF:

Ø Get a 3-ring notebook you can use to record/store the following:

1.    Class Notes

2.    Sadhana (personal practice) notes/questions

3.    Meditation/Pranayama Practice notes/questions

4.    Karma Yoga Project Work

5.    Yoga Practice Log (3 styles/ERYT)

6.     Handouts &Blog (everything you need)

7.     BOOKS (suggested reference-I'll add to this)

a.     Ayurveda The Science of Life/The Hidden Secret of Ayurveda (Robert Svodoba 1980)

b.    Yoga Body: (Judith Lassiter)-Good functional Anatomy

c.     The Language of Yoga:(Bachman 2005)-Sanskrit names of postures and Ashtanga Sequence

d.    The Yoga Sutra: (Swami Satchitananda) or Yoga Discipline and Freedom: The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali (1996 Barbara Stoler Miller)

e.     The Baghavad Gita (Graham Schweig 2010) or another version*

f.      Hatha Yoga Pradipika (any translation)*

Philosophy & Postural Basics

Goals

Ø  Brief History & Philosophy of Yoga Practice

Ø  The Baghavad Gita Essentials

Ø  The Yoga Sutras of Patangali

Ø  Legacy of Krishnamacharya--Iyengar Yoga: The Principles of Alignment

Ø  Basic Principles and Effects of Postures

Ø  Kramas: Levels of experience & Practice

The course starts with a very brief introduction to the history and basic foundations of yoga as we explore some of the foundational texts of the yogic tradition. We will also begin to explore the basic principles of physical practice as we become introduced to the classification and effects of postures. In particular, we will look at the challenges of teaching beginners and the concept of “Kramas”-levels of experience and performance in practice, and what this has to do with teaching.

The Ancient Roots of Modern Yoga

            Optional Reading: Mark Singleton (yoga Body),  Elzabeth de Michellis (History of Modern Yoga)

    -History Handouts and Blog Posts
    -Effects/Posture Basics (handouts)

    -Beginners: Seated Posture Clinic (handouts)
*Pranayama: Ujjayi

    Introduction, Pranayama/Meditation/Journals (handouts)
     *Beginners: Standing Posture Clinic (handouts)

Iyengar Yoga & Principles of Alignment 

            Reading: Iyengar Yoga, Principles of Practice

     *Beginners: Forward Bends & Revolved Posture Clinic (handout)

*Pranyama:Viloma

      *Beginners: Backbends & Revolved Postures Clinic (handout)

Reading: The Baghavad Gita (Schweig)

    The Wheel of Karma and the Goal of Liberation
*Pranayama: Anuloma

            Reading: The Yoga Sutras

      *Beginners: Balancing Postures Clinic (handout)

     Asana: A Stable Seat for Meditation & Quieting the Mind                       

30 contact hours

Philosophy, Ethics & Lifestyle…20 hours

Technique…10 hours

The Body & Movement

Goals

Ø  Tantra and the Yoga of the Body

Ø  Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Pranyama as Transformation

Ø  Anatomy Basics: Teaching to prevent & recover from injury

Ø  Legacy of Krishnamacharya—Ashtanga yoga & Heat as Transformation

Ø  Legacy of Krishnamacharya—Viniyoga & The Goal of Healing

Ø  The Anatomy of Asana & Movement (kinesiology)

Ø  Experiential anatomy

The course starts with a very brief introduction to the history and basic foundations of yoga as we explore some of the foundational texts of the yogic tradition. We will also begin to explore the basic principles of physical practice as we become introduced to the classification and effects of postures. In particular, we will

Modern Hatha (Tantric) Yoga Styles

Ashtanga Yoga & the Bandas                                              

Reading Ashtanga Yoga: Heat, Discipline & Authority

              Hatha Yoga Pradipika-Tantric Yoga & Ashtanga

     Structuring a consistent practice through Mysore                       

Body Structure & Movement: Anatomy & Asana    

     Bones, Joints & Ligaments

Reading: Yoga Body: Part 1

     The Spine:

Reading: Yoga Body: Part 2

 *Pranayama: Pratiloma (Para Yoga)

     Lower Extremities:

Reading:  Yoga Body: Part 3

     Feet, Knees & Hips

     Restorative Practice/ Moon Practices

Reading:  Restorative Yoga in The Iyengar Tradition (Handout)

     *Pranayama: Surya/Chandra Bhedana

    Yin Yoga: East Meets East (Budhism & Chinese Medicine)

Reading:  Yin Yoga Manual (Corina Benner)---I'll give you this

Viniyoga: Yoga as Therapeutic Practice                          

            Readings: Deskishar and Phyiscal therapy
            Film: Gary Kraftshow and Viniyoga

*Pranayama: Kapalabhati & Bhastrika

Ayurveda: Yoga’s Sister Science (Dr. Lisa Keiner)

Reading:  Svodoba Book on Ayurveda

Anatomy & Physiology…25 hours

Philosophy & Lifestyle…5 hours

Technique…10 hours

            Contact Hours… 40 hours

Tools For Teaching Asana

Goals 

Ø  Breathwork and Asana

Ø  Assisting and Adjusting as Teaching

Ø  Soft Vinyasa Traditions: Swami Kripalu & Sivnanda

Ø  Ashrams & Retreats: The Yogic Lifestyle?

Ø  Using Props

Ø  Developing Kramas

This month we will look at the basic foundations of teaching yoga asana.Special attention will be paid to the use of PROPS and the WALL as ways to gain added experience of asana and its underlying principles. Jim Benett will introduce the importance of pranayama in teaching asana from the perspective of Para Yoga, a tantric practice developed by his guru, Rod Stryker.

Tools and Techniques for Teaching Asana

Anatomy of Asana: The Trunk 

Reading: Yoga Body: Part 4

*Pranayama: Chakra Pranayama

Reading:Yoga Body: Part 5

    Upper Extremities

    Hands, Elbows, Shoulders

    Kundalini Yoga: Yoga of Energetic Awakening

      Creating a Space: Boundaries and rules for transforming an environment

      Principles of Assisting (handouts)

      Assisting & Adjusting Seated Postures

      Assisting & Adjusting Standing postures

*Pranayama: Kumbahka

     Teaching who is in front of you       
Assisting & Adjusting Twisted postures

Assisting & Adjusting backward bends

     -Kramas: Modifications and Variations

     -Giving Physical (anatomical) Cues as Assisting & Adjusting
           structural anatomy versus functional anatomy
     -Giving Energetic Cues
     -Giving Metaphorical Cues

     -Using Props & the Wall (Handouts)
*Pranayama: Patterns and Ratios

Teaching Vinyasa: Linking Breath & Movement

     Soft Traditions: Sivananda & Kripalu Yoga

          The Yogic Lifestyle: History & Practice

          The Ashram: History & Practice

                                                                                    40 contact hours

Philosophy, ethics & lifestyle…5 hours

Techniques & Practices…. 35 hours

Intermediate Techniques & Practices

Goals 

Ø  Teaching intermediate Postures

Ø  Tripsichore & Jivamukti Vinyasa: The Yoga of Movement

Ø  Meditation: the Yoga of Stillness

Ø  Cultivating Your Pranayama / Meditation Practice

Again, your Yoga Postures: Adjustments and Assists text is a good reference for this section. Bring this with you to training if you wish! The Language of Sanskrit section on asana terms as well. Otherwise, we are getting down and dirty here with an emphasis on safe teaching and practice.

 Intermediate Techniques 
          Reading: Manual   

 Vinyasa Traditions: Tantric Yoga

     Teaching the Bandhas

 *Pranayama: Bhramari, Sitari & Sitali

     Jivamukti & Prana Vinyasa

     Rasa & The influence of Theater & Dance

 Sequencing and Planning Classes (handouts)

      Buddhist, Classical & Tantric Meditation Styles

      Tripsichore & Universal Yoga

      Anusura (nee) & The Great Practice (Dharma Mittra)

                                                                                               30  contact hours                                                                                                  Methodology: 30 hours

                     

Methods / Advanced Techniques (focus)

Goals for May:

Ø  Advanced methods, developing your practice

Ø  Can you teach what you can not do? Can you know what you cannot do?

Ø  The Business of Yoga  

Ø  Ethics in Yoga & Client Centered Practice

This month we concentrate on advanced techniques, and we are thrilled to have the work of innovators in their field. 

Advanced Techniques and Special Protocols    

            Reading: Manual

Special Protocols: 
     Chair Yoga for Physically Impaired & Elderly

     Working with Cancer Patients
     Autoimmune Disorders and Chronic Conditions

     Yoga For Anxiety & Depression and Trauma Sensitive Yoga 

            Reading: Manual
Working with Common Injuries  and Conditions (Rehabilitation)
     Therapeutic Yoga: Basic Diagnosis and Protocol for safe practice

     Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga

     Yoga for Children & Teens

     WRAP-UP: Teaching privates, developing a teaching practice, challenges and

  strategies for success.

*April and May…Each TT will be completing two demonstration classes at the studio. These classes will be evaluated and are required to complete training.

20 contact hours       

Methodology 10 hours
Advanced Techniques and Practices: 10 hours

(160 in class contact hours total)

15 hours Assistant Teaching/Observation.

5 hours (3 classes) Must be completed with Laurie at Yoga Nine. 5 additional hours MAY be used at another site observing an RYT in special methods (children’s yoga, prenatal, yin, special needs applications, therapeutic work) TO BE COMPLETED AFTER TRAINING!

                                                                                              Practicum: 15 hours

15 Workshop/Practice With E-RYT in Three Styles.

These must be approved by Laurie BEFORE attending. Advanced techniques practice can be taken at the studio or another workshop with an E-RYT taught as a teacher training. TO BE COMPLETED DURING OR AFTER TRAINING.

                                                                                                (15) Contact hours                                                                                                Techniques: 15 hours

15 Karma Yoga Project.

These must be approved by Laurie. Make this something you really care about and you plan to continue after teacher training.. You project can be something you do now! 5 of these hours need to be contact hours meeting with Laurie.
TO BE COMPLETED DURING TRAINING.

                                                                                                (5) contact hours PEL                                                                                                Philosophy & Ethics: 15 hours

TOTAL 160  contact hours

                                                            15 hours Assisting  & Adjusting (yoga nine)

                                                            15 hours Karma Project

                                                            15 hours ERYT Practice in Orthodox Styles

                                                            30 hours (minimum personal practice)

                                                            15 hours Teaching Practicum and Exam Prep

                                                            TOTAL 250 hours

Required: Written Exam

Required: Completed Log/JournalRequired Payment on Due Date
Required: Completion of All Requirements