Use Your Noggin Yogi

By Sarah Stevenson • August 30th, 2012 • 5403 Views

This is the first article in a series on how to teach life changing yoga classes that will ensure both you and your students will blossom and flourish in their practice.

Have you ever had a school teacher who made learning really fun, a teacher who was unforgettable in the Nat King Cole sense of the word? For me, it was my 4^th grade teacher Ms. Blacha. She adored her job and did an amazing job of passing on her obsession with creative writing to us little folks. In fact, Ms. Blacha is a big reason why I absolutely love being a writer today.

But why should elementary teachers have all the fun? As a yoga instructor, you too can have that life-changing impact on your students simply by creatively sharing with your students your own unique well of knowledge.

In addition to being Huntington Beach’s only “Tini Yogini,” I’m also known around town as “Jung Girl” because of my obsession with the Swiss psychoanalytical theorist Carl Gustav Jung. (It’s even my license plate!) For years, I didn’t let my two passions intersect until the one, fine day I decided to give my students a little taste of Jung’s theory of The Shadow, the idea that each of us contains 2 aspects of our personality: an outward display of what we would like to express to the world and an inward aspect that we’re often afraid to share hiding under the surface. I pulled in music, quotes, and even particular poses that would help my peeps sink into their darker shadowy parts. I even held space for emotions to rise by lighting the room solely with candle so they wouldn’t feel like they were on display. The impact that this had on my students was intense and beautiful. Each and every person in that class remains my student to this day.

I don’t expect you to teach Jung Yoga to your next class, after all us yogis aren’t imitators. We are innovators. I do, however, urge you to share your own creative, unique knowledge to help inspire your students. Use your noggins, yogis, not just your bodies.

What is it that really inspires you each day? What books do you have in your library? What kind of seminars do you attend? Movies? Poetry? What is it that gets the wheels turning around in your head? Anything that excites you can and should be...

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Location:  US

Sarah Stevenson, a.k.a., The Tini Yogini, is a Certified Yoga Instructor in Southern California.  Sarah began her journey into yoga the day her son was born and placed on her chest. As Sarah recounts “The moment...