If you’re looking for yoga classes to improve your physical, mental, and emotional health, then you may be interested in reading this article. As a yoga teacher, I have prepared several lesson plans for yoga teacher training that I am willing to share with you. The following 18 lesson plans are designed to build on each other, from gentle classes to more advanced poses and sequencing.
Classical Sun Salutations with lunge and variations will follow the Tree pose. This will involve adding a twist in the lunge, twist with prayer pose hands, lunge to half split. These variations will help you build strength, balance, and flexibility.
After standing poses, you will move onto Yin poses. These poses are held for a longer duration, allowing you to relax into the pose and focus on your breath. Low Squat/ Malasana, Butterfly/ Baddha Konasana, Bridge pose/ Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, Reclining Figure 4 pose/ Supta eka pada galavasana, and Lying spinal twist/ Supta Matsyendrasana are all Yin poses that will be incorporated into this class. These poses will help you release tension in your hips, lower back, and glutes.
We will then explore the meaning of Om, the sound of the Cosmic Vibration. Nikola Tesla said, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” The very foundations of our Universe, of matter and thought, appear to lie in sound vibration. The entire cosmos vibrates, and every cell vibrates. In fact, the whole universe is nothing but sound vibrations. Om is considered the most sacred mantra in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, the sound of the Cosmic Vibration. Mantra repetition is a direct way to tune ourselves to that cosmic vibration.
Physical and mental health are two key aspects of overall well-being. However, many people tend to focus on one or the other and neglect the other aspect, which can have negative consequences in the long run. In this post, we will explore the link between physical and mental health, and provide tips on how to achieve a balance of both for a fulfilling and productive lifestyle. As a health and fitness website catering to the Vancouver Island area, we will also provide specific tips for residents of Nanaimo.
“This is one of the best 200 hours teacher training programs I have seen! Such high caliber of teachers- so diverse, interesting and important material.”
Lindsay J. Campa, Yoga Therapist
Turn Your Yoga Passion Into a Career
Vancouver Island University Campus Recreation (VIU Campus Rec) and Choose2Be have joined forces to offer you an amazing opportunity to become a yoga leader in your community! Certification leader and inspirational VIU fitness instructor Veronique Rioux will educate and guide you through the 200 hours of Yoga Teacher Training certification and help turn your yoga passion into a career!
Yoga Teacher Training Certification Description
Choose2be’s 200 hours of Yoga Teacher Training certification is designed to deepen your yoga practice and knowledge. Explore yoga philosophy, anatomy, asana, pranayama, meditation, mantra, and practice teaching in a safe environment with other students. In this program, you will learn to create an asana sequence for students at all levels using props and hands-on assistance. Certification is led by Veronique Rioux, with the participation of guest instructors specialized in specific areas.
Hours, Dates & Weekend Breakdown
Start Date: March 30, 2018
End Date: May 20, 2018
8 weekends, 180 Instructional Hours, 20 Homework Hours
First Weekend (Intensive)
Friday March 30 – Monday April 2, 2018: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Subsequent 7 Weekends: Fridays 5 – 9 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Sample Training Day
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.: Opening, Meditation & Pranayama
9:00 – 11:00 a.m.: Asana Practice
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Elements of Teaching
12:00 – 12:30 p.m.:Lunch Break
12:30 – 3:30 p.m.: Anatomy, Philosophy and Lectures
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.: Practice Teaching
5:00 – 5:30 p.m.: Restorative Closing Practice
Saturdays April 7 and 14, 2018 from 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Angelina McNamee: Yoga Methodology
Sunday’s April 8, 2018, 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.
About Angelina McNamee:
Angelina has several Bachelor degrees and a Master’s in Education. Her yoga journey started 20 year ago when she travelled to South India to complete a teacher training program in Sivananda Yoga, then on to Argentina where she studied at the Indra Devi Foundation. Angelina is also certified in Stott Pilates, and enjoys teaching mat classes in addition to Hatha Yoga. Angelina is familiar with many different styles of Yoga, and has participated in numerous workshops while working closely with highly experienced teachers from around the world. With a strong background in wellness and education, she hopes to inspire others along the Yogic path.
Also have two, 500 hr Yoga Teacher Training; certified in Sivananda Yoga, Vinyasa, Yin, and Restorative Yoga, as well as Pilates Matwork.
Nonviolent Communication workshop with Myriam Verzat
– connect to yourself at any time to find what is really important to you.
– express your true self to others without judgments.
– listen deeply to someone else’s truth even when you hear criticism.
– engage in difficult and challenging conversations with a great dose of empathy.
After reading and experiencing by my-self for many years, I joined a community and studied Nonviolent Communication for a in Montreal. Meanwhile, I started offering workshops with Erik Pena Salazar from Communication Synergie. I moved recently to Nanaimo and I am starting a training to engage in the certification process (The Center for Nonviolent Communication) with The Farthest Shore on Gabriola Island.
I feel so grateful about having NVC in my life that I want to share it with others. I have the deep conviction that the way we relate to ourselves and to each other is at the core of the type of violence we observe and perpetuate in the world. I think we need to make a deep change in the way we relate to ourselves, to each other and to the planet if we want to survive as a species on this planet. And I definitely want to be part of this change! I am combining my NVC work to nature connection and improvisation approaches. To know more about me, please visit: www.myriamverzat.com.
Bring the Stick: myofascial release and postural alignment with Tasha Mae
In this workshop, we will discover the many benefits and uses of bringing a dowel into your practice. The dowel can be used as a tool to assist with postural alignment and myofascial release. We will use the dowel to explore the ancient technique of tapping, as a tool to assist with lengthening and creating space in the body, and even as a way to assist in teaching your students, and yourself, proper alignment when moving through the asanas.
About Tasha
Movement is Tasha Mae’s passion and she considers herself a lifelong student. She is always curious and interested in discovering the most wholesome way to keep our body healthy and well balanced by practicing meditation (just sitting), pranayama and breath, strength training, cardio, and the yoga asanas. Tasha Mae is not only passionate about movement, but also loves to share it with other people. She has currently been teaching yoga and fitness for 3 years. Tasha Mae is an 800hour internationally certified Vijnana Yoga Teacher as well as a Personal Trainer and Fitness Class Instructor. She has also studied and practiced the Tensegrity Repair Series with Gioia Irwin and Flo Dedame.
Laura Jesson Love: Meditation
Sunday April 22, 2018 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.
About Laura Jesson:
A natural born yogi, from philosophy to physical activity, Laura is always striving for balance in her life and empowering the same in others. After five years of personal practice, she took her first training in Moksha Yoga, followed by PreNatal with Janice Clarfield, and Yin with Bernie Clark. One strong source of inspiration woven throughout has been the influence of Michael Stone, a psychotherapist, Yoga and Buddhist teacher, author and activist.
Laura is currently finding more peace through stillness in Meditation, Relaxation and Restorative Yoga. When not on her mat Laura takes all she learns being mom to two beautiful boys and creates more love in life.
E-RYT 500+, moksha 500 hours, prenatal and yin. trauma sensitive training, mindfulness mediation training. BA in Psychology. Post Graduate diploma in Wellness and Lifestyle Management.
Tibetan bowl signing meditation with Benjamin Bollich
Friday April 27, 7:30-8:30pm
Tibetan Singing Bowl’s special harmonic freque
Basha Nemeskeri: Yoga Philosophy
Saturday and Sunday April 28-29 and May 5-6, 2018, 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.
In Basha Nemeskeri own words:
Like many of us, suffering brought me to yoga. It was the vulnerability and honesty of the teacher that showed me that we are all in this together – that we all go through the heartaches, and the joys, and the boredom. After a few years of practicing, I simply couldn’t NOT teach others, because of how much I’d learned and fallen in love with in the practice. I have done teacher trainings in Anusara, Ashtanga and Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy and have yet to cease wanting to keep learning more about this never ending field. When I teach, I think of what could help my students feel as good as their bodies were designed to feel…to remember how fantastic we’re all meant to feel if we take care and pay attention. I like to remind the fellas I teach that they are quite possibly the most flexible guys in their entire family lineage, and to take that as a big pat on the back ? I like to encourage and motivate, and show people how remarkable they truly are.
I have a 200 hour through ensure, and a 250 hour through ayurvedic yoga therapy and a 50 hour kundalini. Been teaching for 8 years
Jay SuttonBrown: Kundalini Workshop
Kundalini workshop, Friday May 4, 2018 6 – 8 p.m.
About Jay SuttonBrown:
Jay Suttonbrown, E-RYT 500 has been teach yoga for over a decade. Her passion is cultivating authenticity in our experience by stepping out of habits and into personal empowerment. She shares Kundalini Yoga (the yoga of action), Hatha, Prenatal, Yin and Restorative Practices. She is the Founder of Manipura Yoga School and loves training Yoga Teachers to share their vision with the world. “A human life is made up of choices. Yoga is mindfully connecting to those choices. Connecting to our truth, power, and worthiness. Connecting to our bodies, breath and life force. Connecting to how our habit energy works, and what it feels like when we rise above our habits into our true vibrant state. Yoga is a set of powerful technologies that support our journey to mindful connection, each day, each moment, and each breath. Even “when we don’t feel like it.” We have choices. Sat Nam.”
Conscious Connected breathwork also known as Aletheia breathwork with Taiya
Friday May 11, 6-8pm
“Aletheia Breathwork is an opportunity to engage the incredibly clarifying power of your primary life force… breath. Aletheia is a Greek word meaning “Truth” and it refers to “the state of not being hidden; the state of being evident.” Through your own breath and willingness, you reveal your Self – a revealing that can have profound impact on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well being.” Trevor Yelich, Aletheia Breathwork Facilitator Trainer
As you lay down and connect your breath for one hour, Taiya will offer tools to help you stay present, to move energy and emotions. She will share positive affirmations, acupressure, Reiki energy healing and sound healing. She will also guide you to tone with your voice and move your body at times to open up more to your healing experience and not get lots in old thoughts or patterns.
Aletheia Breathwork will:
• Give you more energy
• Help detoxify, restore, balance and oxygenate the cells
• Resolve repressed emotions allowing the release of negativity
• Accelerate spiritual growth through expanded awareness”
Taiya has been practicing Reiki since 1995 and received her Reiki Master Teacher Degree in 1999. She been a professional bodyworker since 2000 practicing Jin Shin Do Acupressure, relaxation massage, Swedish massage, deep pressure massage, energy healing, sound and movement therapy. Taiya completed her chair massage certification in 2007, Indian head massage certification in October 2013 and Aletheia Breathwork training in 2014. She mainly works out of Victoria BC but does alot of mobile massage sessions and teaching Reiki workshops around Vancouver Island.
She creates a safe and sacred space for you to relax and surrender to deep healing experiences.
More info on her web page www.windblossommassage.ca
Chakra Awakening Dance Journey
Saturday May 11, 12:30-5:30pm
Connect to the harmonic chord of movement and music as medicine !
Combine creative movement and the teachings of your seven Chakras.
Gain Balance, health and understanding of your ability to create, feel and heal.
Honor your body as your temple and dance as a prayer.
Yoga Therapy with Lindsay Campa RMT, C-IAYT (Registered Massage Therapist, Certified Yoga Therapist. Advanced Teacher of Therapeutic Yoga)
Sunday May 13, 12:30-5
In this Yoga Therapy workshop we will offer students an experiential and somatic understanding of yoga therapy and effects on nervous system. Discussion on yoga therapy: Look at definitions of IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists). Guiding Principles of Yoga Therapy. Specific breakdown of Asanas in Yoga Therapy: Some general, some specific. Partner breakdown- practice with case studies in pairs.
About Lindsay
“Yoga was my first real love. When I first began practicing, closed my eyes and was able to journey inward, I felt I had come home. The practice of (meditation and yoga) reminded me in this way of my experience in nature. Yoga continues to ground and nourish me; calm and soothe my nervous system, and has helped me heal from many injuries over the years. I love that by tuning into the breath we can deepen in our somatic experience and vitality in life; and we all have access to the breath. I am thrilled about the evolution of yoga as a therapeutic application, and feel passionate about sharing its benefits with others.”
Lindsay became a yoga teacher in 2006, and has offered group and individual yoga instruction since then. Over the years she has taught various styles (flow, hatha, ashtanga) and worked with a wide population of students (Homeless population, people with cancer, MS, arthritis, anxiety, trauma). Her style became therapeutic in nature while going through the Registered Massage Therapist program in Victoria, and then while completing her 500 hour Advanced Teacher Training with Ajna. She went on to become Certified Yoga Therapist. She has attended numerous vipassana meditation retreats, an array of yoga classes, and has spent time in India studying yoga. Lindsay teaches from a place of gentleness, curiosity and spaciousness. She encourages her students to slow down, listen to the body and feel the more subtle sensations. As a teacher, she employs a trauma informed approach and uses humour and inquiry to support the learning process. She uses Yoga in a Therapeutic context in her private practice; supporting the process of healing from injury and trauma. In addition to her private RMT/Yoga Therapy practice in Cowichan Bay, she is on Faculty at West Coast College of Massage Therapy in Victoria, at Ajna Yoga in Victoria, and teaches Yoga therapy tools to RMTs.
Nura Madjzoub: Teaching Methodology
The Art of Sequencing and Cueing, Friday May 18, 2018, 5 – 9 p.m.
The Art of Assisting, Saturday May 19, 2018, 8:30 – 5:30 p.m.
About Nura Madjzoub
Nura has been teaching yoga for over a 15 years on multiple continents. She is an avid traveler, a yogi, a mother and therapeutic massage therapist. Like many others, she is also on a quest to connect to the core; to her truth. She believes that how we practice yoga, and what we come up against on the mat is our very own practice ground for real life. Yoga keeps her humble, and hungry for more knowledge. She teaches because she loves to share her own discoveries on her journey through this wonderful and messy life.
Nura has trained and mentored with Sanjeev Bhanot, Founder of Yogalife Foundation, and has completed the 200 hour yoga training at Kripalu Center in Massachusetts. She is trained, certified and experienced in prenatal yoga and has done further studies in Core Strength Vinyasa, Anusara and Thai yoga massage. She is also a Licensed and Board Certified Massage Therapist in New York and in the USA with over 1000 hours of training. Nura brings a unique set of skills to her yoga teaching from her background as a therapeutic massage therapist. She enjoys the interplay between yoga and massage work and draws from all her studies in her classes, workshops and trainings. Her yoga teaching is always infused with a strong foundation in anatomy and physiology. She has been trained, over the past decade and a half, to see the movement and the freedom, as well as the tension and the blocks, in bodies.
