| Yoga insurance |
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This insurance is comes along with Brian Coopers teacher training. Details of Yoga Insurance: DSC Insurance Services Swithins, Lodge Farm, Tilford Road, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8HU Telephone: 01252 735806 E:mail: info@dsc-strand.co.uk Mention Brian Cooper and Yoga Allicance UK (My policy cost £41 until 26/6/2008 and then is renewable annually). |
| Brian Coopers- Yoga Alliance UK |
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Brian Cooper teacher Training - 200hr (Yoga Alliance Qualification)
By the time I did Brian Coopers Yoga Alliance UK course I had along done the training by David Swenson and also in India with Master Vishwanath, but when i started with course with alot of the local side teachers who wanted to be accredited by something bigger than the BWY who was threatening that if you hadn't done one of their course by 2007 you couldn't teach in this country, more crap and misinformation from them once again! Spread over months a weekend a month and with homework and reading booklists, we did the course where you had to complete 2 other courses that weren't astanga vinyasa yoga at Union Yoga in edingburg. This time became a deep boning time a time to look forward but it was over so soon, the knowledge i learned from Brian Cooper one of the most inspiring teachers in the country, not just by him, the way he is and about how he sees yoga, but what you learn on the way beyond this, how you are challenged and even broken alittle to grow and learn deeper and heal and evolve. Every teacher i have helped have all done his course up to 10 people! Now what Brian seems to show is that the end of the course is the begining, the start of your evolution, some have begun with children, others to the BWY (god forbid) in an effort to change it from the inside, they all have become pretty good bunch of teachers. Brian gives you 2 book lists to expand on for the course one essential and one added extras, he is not there for you to project your issues onto, hes not there to love-fluff-and-bunny-you to a whole place of acceptence, he expects you to find yourslelf your own feet and smashes the crap given out about yoga by flakey occidental people! He's there to point thats it comes from you, he's there to teach you by you being open to be taught. J
It is now 2 years since I completed this excellent course and I have been teaching ever since. Last week I did a one day back-bending course with Brian and it reminded of how tough he can be. Tough in the best possible way – that’s how I would describe Brian. Brian does not suffer fools and those who are not going to give 100% to become the best teacher they can and inspiring others. All of this sounds quite daunting but I must say there is no point in doing something unless you are completely serious about it, and thoroughly understand what you are teaching and why. I loved Brian’s no-nonsense approach. Everything he teaches makes sense and is thoroughly researched, and experienced. He has the ability to deliver the information which is needed in a succinct manner, with a humility and quiet charisma - (although he will hate me saying that – sorry Brian if you ever read this). Needless to say, I would thoroughly recommend this course if you want to earn a qualification from a man who will accept no less than his own very high standards.
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| FPYK BANGALORE |
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I found Masterji's Place on the website Yogelements.com after searching for training in India, I had heard of the Mysore crowd and what that entails and i didn't feel that was my path (at all!). Masterji trains you in Asana, Pranayama, mantra, devotional singing, Ayuvedic medicine to do with yoga anatomy, also he gets a Sanskrit doctor in to teach you! In Mysore you can't study with anyone else while studying at the Mysore Shri Jois's shala and he only teaches asana. When I went there in 2002 there was a flat to stay and food supplied by Masterji and his wife Lakshmi, now the student flat has been closed and there is places to stay near by, The yoga studio is in Bangalore and easy to get from the airport to JP Nagar in about 30 mins in a autorikshaw. There is also the centre of Bangalore which is the silicon valley of India. Pancha Karma clinics near by for massage, M.G road with Mcdonalds, Pizza hut (god forbid) and luckily thats quiet far away enough for locals to be oddly supprised at white people in the area! My advancement there came very intensely, in the UK i was only practicing up to Navasana and not managing Marichasana D, I got back after 3 months doing M D both sides and full sequence! The course is recognised by the Yoga Alliance worldwide, but you have to pay that yearly, and when it comes down to it it doesn't really matter, as a certificate or ajoining governing body means nothing, it does make you a good or even mild teacher as the BWY has proven.. I would suggest to anyone to go and study in India with Masterji within India he is revered to a special degree not just for yoga but his other charitable aims. with the outings and yoga competitions he arranges. My only problems were the other people on the course being less than nice (diplomatically put!), but thats yoga in general not just Masterjis place.
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| The only teacher training that should be considered for teaching children yoga... |
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THE COURSE In this section you will quickly grasp that this is a course that will give the most thorough and in depth training in teaching yoga to children. You can follow the shape of a typical training day, understand how and why in-school training and apprentice days accelerate your teaching skills and increase your confidence. You can also appreciate that the Teachers Centre, with such outstanding facilities, is an ideal place for your training. > The course THE BTEC ACCREDITATION If you are going to train to teach yoga to children then do it well and do it right. Do you imagine that a school would knowingly engage someone who could not show that he or she had achieved an accredited qualification? The BTEC Advanced Diploma for Teaching Yoga to children is accredited by Edexcel who are the UK’s largest awarding body. > The BTEC Accreditation In the COURSE section you will find information about: Course content Details of all the programmes of study which you will cover in this course, including classroom management , teaching breath awareness , teaching yoga to children with autistic spectrum disorders and more. A typical training day What you will be doing on the training day The Teachers Centre The location of the Centre and information about the excellent facilities In school training, apprentice days and teacher placement Observing yoga lessons in school, working alongside experienced children’s yoga teachers and finding a placement in a school local to you If you need more information ring Michael Chissick on 020 8508 3653 or email your question to info@yogaatschool.org.uk
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| A Day In The Life Of A Yoga At School Teacher |
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The introduction of the government’s ‘Healthy Schools’ initiative has caused all schools to address the health of its pupils. This has made a real difference in school canteens up and down the country. However, a number of forward thinking schools have also taken innovative steps in curriculum provision. The introduction of yoga lessons into the school day has meant that these schools have been able to focus on a combined approach to physical, mental and emotional health. The word yoga literally means union. The aim of yoga is to practise postures in conjunction with breathing techniques in order to achieve a union of mind and body. Yoga At School, which is an organisation dedicated to teaching yoga within the curriculum, teaches lessons in special needs and primary mainstream schools up and down the country. The Phoenix School in East London, a specialist school for children on the autistic spectrum, has worked with Yoga At School for a number of years and is an advocate of this approach. Stewart Harris, Headteacher, claims ‘I am convinced that Yoga can make a real difference to the lives of children with autism.’ Autism is defined by the National Autistic Society as ‘lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them.’ , Children on the Autistic spectrum (a term which includes autism and Aspergers Syndrome) have difficulties in three main areas, known as ‘the triad of impairments’: communication; social interaction and imagination: Communication: Autistic children find recognising social cues such as gestures, expressions and tone of voice. Social interaction: Autistic children have difficulties in every day social situations, such as establishing friendships. They can often give the appearance of being aloof or indifferent. Imagination: Autistic children have difficulty in imaginative and interpersonal play and often pursue activities rigidly and repetitively. Aspergers syndrome is a condition is located at the higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum. It has a number of traits in common with autism; children also have difficulties in these three main areas. However there are differences, children with Aspergers are usually more sociable, although they usually find it hard to read non-verbal signals. They also have fewer problems with language than those with autism and often have average or above average intelligence. There are three major teaching techniques or approaches used with children with ASD: TEACHH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children); PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) and Social Stories. The success of these approaches depends on having a respect for the ‘culture’ of autism. TEACCH in particular has a focus on the individual at the heart of its philosophy. TEACCH involves the development of a programme around an individual’s skills, interests and needs, working within his or her ‘culture’ to teach the skills needed to function within our society. PECS uses symbols which allow children with autism to initiate communication. Social stories provide an individual with accurate information about how to behave in social situations they may find difficult or confusing. Each of these approaches relies on important elements such as structure, repetition and reinforcement. Michael Chissick is an expert in teaching yoga to children on the Autistic spectrum. He teaches regularly at the Phoenix School. Michael teaches four classes in the morning, each lasting about half an hour each. The first class I was lucky to have the opportunity to observe was with a small group, consisting of six students, one class teacher and one support teacher. The activities and postures practised in the lesson were focused on addressing the three areas of difficulty: communication, social interaction and imaginary play. The children were seated in chairs in a circle. This was to encourage an increased sense of spatial awareness and also encouraged the students to focus on the instructions as autistic children are frequently distracted from the purpose of an activity. Michael skilfully enabled communication by consistently using the children’s names and giving positive instructions. The children were encouraged to choose a posture from a special board, which the whole group would then practise. By using the picture exchange system, Michael was able to initiate communication. However, the children were also encouraged to say the name of the posture they wanted, thus enabling them to practise speaking and listening skills, therefore addressing one of the difficulties of communication. By focusing on turn taking, he was also addressing several social interaction and play issues such as working together, joining in, listening and the rules of games. The children were encouraged to take turns at candle posture. The children would lie on the floor with their legs in the air. Michael then placed a coloured block on top of their feet, whilst the whole class counted to ten. The learning outcome of this activity was to encourage the child to be still, to wait for their turn, to follow the rules of the game and to foster an interest in others by giving a sense of working as a group. After each child had participated the whole group praised the individual by clapping. The focus here again, was social interaction skills. The next activity was focused on encouraging imaginary play. Autistic children often have a limited ability to predict what will happen next or to recall / reuse past experiences. By hiding a picture of one of the postures from the board under a yoga block, Michael was able to encourage the children to predict or remember which coloured block was on top of the picture. This also addressed a difficulty which some autistic children have in making choices. Once again, the child was then encouraged to verbalise their ideas, thus focusing on communication skills. The group was then skilfully brought together again as the whole group practised the posture once it had been ‘found’, reinforcing the ethos of working as a group. The second class consisted of older pupils who have been practising yoga with Michael for several years; the ethos of the yoga lesson was apparent. The students were extremely motivated and it was obvious that they had successfully learnt the rules and structure of the yoga lesson. I was impressed with such a focused and calm start to the lesson as all the students entered and sat in ready to listen and learn posture (a cross legged seated posture). This was a skilful way to deal with the transition of the lesson, which autistic children can find difficult. The students arrived at the hall at varying times and this activity had been planned to focus the students as they entered the hall, reinforcing rules of social interaction. In contrast to the first lesson, the students in this lesson practised the lesson on yoga mats in the main hall. These students had clearly been trained and were now used to the set up and format of the yoga lesson. They clearly enjoyed the postures and were keen to demonstrate their skills. Social interaction skills and communication skills were developed during sun salute (a sequence of postures). Initially, Michael led this activity, however, several of the children were then encouraged to come to the front to act as the teacher and lead the sequence, verbalising the name of each posture. The children were encouraged to work in a group in this way. Teamwork was an important focus of this lesson; the students were also encouraged to work in pairs to help each other in a seated balancing posture called boat. Creative play was one of the main learning outcomes of this lesson and holding the lesson in the hall provided a wider range of opportunities for this. The children were asked to stand at one end of the hall to play a version of grandmother’s footsteps called ‘Sneaky Trees’. When Michael’s back was turned the children had to move towards him. As he turned around they had to adopt tree posture, a standing balance on one leg, with the ball of the other foot raised off the ground. In order to address difficulties with imaginative play, the children were asked to imagine that they were walking through mud or across ice as a variation on the game. It was a game that the children clearly enjoyed. In order to change the pace of the lesson to a calmer and quieter atmosphere, the children then played the rain stick game. The point of this game was to encourage a sense of stillness but also to reinforce turn taking as the children had to wait for the rain stick to be turned upside down behind them before it was their turn to do the same to someone else. Finally, communication and social interaction was encouraged as children were encouraged to point to their favourite posture, in the form of a laminated symbol stuck to a board. They had to explain to the rest of the group why they had chosen that posture. Throughout both the lessons, Michael used the other adult teaching staff effectively. All the adults were encouraged to be actively involved in the lesson. All the adults took part in the lesson, choosing and practising postures as the children did. They also gave constant praise and words of encouragement to the children. In a number of cases, the teacher or support teacher was required to give physical support to the students, for example, holding or supporting legs in candle posture. At the end of both lessons, the children were encouraged to lie down in ‘ladybird relaxation’. The children were encouraged to be quiet, still and aware in this final posture. As they lay on the floor, Michael asked them to imagine that a ladybird had landed on their big toe. Their attention was taken to their bodies as they had to imagine that it had flown to their knee, shoulder, nose and then down the opposite side of their bodies. The use of a small puppet ladybird given to all of the adults allowed the children to imagine the ladybird and focus their attention as the puppet was placed on the relevant part of their body by one of the teachers. Use of props and resources proved to be of great benefit in each of the yoga lessons. The use of blocks provided focus for the students and added an element of challenge in postures such as candle. The use of the block was also provided support for the head in ladybird relaxation. Whereas, props such as the ladybird puppet, talcam powder and water spray (as used in the weather game) were used more as a creative stimulus, thus acting as a vital element of creative play. ….From the Phoenix School to a mainstream primary school in Essex, where Michael taught his final lesson of the day; a Year 3 class which included an autistic boy. The hall was set up in a three tiered semi circle of yoga mats in the hall. Michael liaised with the class teacher and the LSA before the start of the lesson, giving guidance on how they could be involved, as in the Phoenix School. The boy and an LSA were situated at the front of the hall at the side. The LSA skilfully communicated with the boy and reinforced meaning through sign language. The board used at the first lesson in the Phoenix School (using the PECS system) was also used in order to show the boy which posture the class were going to do. The picture was then removed from the board when the posture had been completed, in this way providing a visual structure for the lesson. |
