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Yoga / How to Teach Hatha Yoga for Yoga Teachers

How to Teach Hatha Yoga for Yoga Teachers
There are many good methods of how to teach Hatha Yoga for yoga teachers. Essentially, Hatha Yoga teachers need to learn how to integrate all of the aspects from this foundational practice. For yogis who already are relatively well-versed in yoga asanas and pranayama, expanding the repertoire in order to include the three other aspects of Hatha Yoga is a simple task.
Hatha Yoga

There are so many different schools of yoga that it can be difficult to sort out what is actually meant by a specific type of yoga. Essentially, hatha yoga is a combination of many things, so one must incorporate all the elements of Hatha.

Hatha Yoga includes the following:

Asana
Mudra
Pranayama
Shatkriya
Eight Principles
A good place to start when it comes to how to teach Hatha Yoga for yoga teachers is to encourage them to incorporate these elements, albeit often to varying degrees, into their yoga practice and teachings.

Hatha Yoga Teacher Training

In order to become a certified yoga instructor, one must follow a certain trajectory. Certifications are usually of the 200- or 500-hour specification, and in addition to the number of hours you have had teacher training, future employers and students will also be interested in the particular type of teach training you completed.

When looking for an appropriate teacher training program to become a Hatha Yoga instructor, you should look for schools that embrace all of the aspects of the discipline. One example is the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City.

How to Teach Hatha Yoga for Yoga Teachers

If you are teaching yoga teachers (already certified) to conduct classes that are specifically Hatha, you will need to focus on the less well-known elements of the philosophy. Yoga teachers who already hold a yoga teacher certification are bound to be highly familiar with asana and pranayama, and to a lesser extent, mudra. Focusing on shatkriya and the eight steps will allow your students to see what makes Hatha distinct from a generic yoga practice.

Shatkriya
The purpose of shatkriya is to purify the body so all of the benefits of yoga can be maximized. While most yoga studios do not practice shatkriya, it is important to teach yoga teachers about the philosophy behind the shatkriyas and about how they are done. Teachers who know understand this core component of Hatha are more likely to be able to accept that some yogis do it.

At first glance, the practice of shatkriya can seem extreme, but an important aspect of yoga is acceptance. Whether someone practices shatkriya or not is an individual decision, and Hatha Yoga teachers should be able to give an unbiased explanation of shatkriya to their students, even though many Western teachers don't include this component in general sessions.

The Eight Principles
Also called the eight steps, these eight principles are important ideals of yoga. These eight aspects are the core of yoga. In order for a yoga practice to fully benefit an individual, these eight ideals should all be recognized, and recognized equally. Many yoga practices give an unbalanced focus to asana, but yoga is so much more than that. Achieving a true balance of all eight steps of yoga is what will lead to a truly enlightened yoga practice. Hatha Yoga teachers should learn to balance their own practice this way, as well as learn to guide their students along this path.

If you are teaching hatha yoga, it's a good idea to recommend a few key books to your students. Having your students read extensively on the philosophy and history of yoga can help them to round out their yoga practice and philosophy and include all the essential elements.Some books that may be helpful include Autobiography of a Yogi and Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga.

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