Yoga Scotland On Going Training (OGT) days in 2010/11

** Fully Booked - Reserve list available

British Wheel of Yoga IST Days

OGT 2010/11 Programme

Precision and Alignment in Yoga

 Tutor: Danielle Arin

Date: Saturday 18 September 2010

Venue: Craigmount High School, Craigs Road, Edinburgh EH12 8NH

Danielle is an internationally renowned yoga teacher, originally from France.  She trained with BKS Iyengar and BWY and has Remedial Yoga Training.  Her teaching is characterised by a light atmosphere, fine attention to detail and deep spiritual involvement.  Though the postures are basically classical, she has mastered the art of adapting them to individual needs.  The postures are explored with depth and a great deal of imagination.

Aims of the morning session:  Getting in touch with our body; exploring the potential of the body

Objectives; Precision/alignment; adaptations

Aims of the afternoon session: Learning to surrender and release; the art of breathing

Objectives: Use of props; improvisation with aids

Teachers are requested to bring a mat, blanket, buckle belt, set of four blocks and a brick.  If this is not possible the programme will have to be adapted. 

Core Strength in Yoga

Tutor: Paul Fox

Date: Sunday 10 October 2010

Venue: Greenpark Community Centre, Polmont FK2 OPZ

Paul is a Diploma Course Tutor for the British Wheel of Yoga and teaches Ashtanga and Core Strength Yoga.  He trained in Ashtanga Yoga with John and Lucy Scott, learning the art of sensitive adjustment. He's an ongoing student of anatomy and physiology, under the guidance of Dr Ruth Gilmore.  He is also a bodyworker, with qualifications in Indian Head Massage and Swedish Massage, and has trained in Thai Yoga Massage. Paul has been a BBC radio journalist for 20 years and has written many articles about yoga for Spectrum and Yoga Magazine.

 This will be a day to explore the importance of developing an awareness of the core of the body physically, energetically and emotionally. To work safely and with a deeper awareness in our yoga we need to connect to the inner body and let it support the outer body. We will explore posture, a range of yoga asanas, some anatomy and physiology and develop our expertise in a variety of core strength practices, including moola bandha, uddiyana bandha and the kriya, nauli 

Making the most of Maha Mudra

Tutor: Jane Harris

Date: Saturday 30 October 2010

Venue: Craigmount High School, Craigs Road, Edinburgh EH12 8NH

Jane came to Yoga after experiencing years of panic attacks and this has had a profound influence on the way she teaches Yoga.  The main theme of her teaching is finding practical ways to remain present so that the mind’s tendency to “time travel” is reduced.  Jane studied with Paul Harvey for 6 years, completing both his Teacher Training and Further Studies courses.  Jane holds a BWY teaching Diploma, and hopes to begin teaching her first BWY Teacher Training Course this Autumn.

Maha Mudra is one of the three main asanas, along with Sirsasana and Sarvangasana, given in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. However, for reasons of safety Sirsasana and Sarvangasana are not always suitable for all members of a group class.  Maha Mudra is a subtle and complex posture but it is not immediately accessible to students, and it can be overlooked.  However, this mudra can, with practice, bring about a state of focused attention that few other asana can offer. The day will explore practical ways of working with Maha Mudra in a class situation.  

A closer look at the Pranavayus

Tutor: Marjory Watt

Date: Saturday 20 November 2010

Venue: Studio 1, Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen AB10 7GE

Marjory has taught Yoga since the early 1980’s to an extensive range of yoga students and in a wide variety of settings  She completed her training with the SYTA (now Yoga Scotland) in 1985 and has been a Tutor with Yoga Scotland’s Glasgow Foundation Course since 2007

Marjory has worked as an Art psychotherapist since 1997 and believes that her work in this field gives an added dimension to her yoga and meditation teaching.  She has a keen interest in contemporary scientific and medical research that supports beliefs in; breathing as a cornerstone to health and well being and mindfulness and meditation as vital elements in stress reduction, good health and optimal brain functioning.

She believes that the way we breathe is a metaphor for the way we live our lives.   

The focus of this day is to deepen our awareness of the 5 major Pranavayus. Each of these forms of prana function in differing ways and so generate different types of energy. These energies are expressive, expansive, vitalising, cleansing and nourishing. When these 5 pranas are balanced all aspects of our being are brought into balance.

We will deepen our awareness of these energies and balance the Pranavayus through a combination of asana, breath work, meditation and creative visualisation. As we tune to these energies through this practice we may discover our own particular direction and expression of energy.

Discovery of this nature allows us to refine and strengthen our physical and subtle bodies. As we look closer still we may discover how strengthening the subtle body has a powerful impact on our mental, emotional and spiritual well being and indeed our lives.  

The Bhagavad Gita

Tutor: Margo von Romberg

Date: Saturday 26 February 2011

Venue: Clarkston Hall, Clarkston Road, Clarkston, Glasgow, G76 8NE.

Margo first trained with SYTA (now Yoga Scotland), then with Viniyoga Britain (now Association for Yoga Studies), and was Director of aYs 2006-2009.  She teaches in the tradition stemming from Desikachar which uses the techniques of viniyoga – i.e. fitting the yoga to the person, giving special attention to movement with breath, and trying to make yoga philosophy relevant to present day life.  She has taught yoga philosophy to student teachers training with Yoga Scotland since 2001.

The Bhagavad Gita is a sacred Hindu text, which also teaches aspects of the philosophy of yoga (such as karma yoga, purusha and prakriti, and the action of the gunas in our lives).  The purpose of this day is to revise those parts of the text which teach yoga philosophy, so that the yoga teacher has a deeper understanding of key yoga concepts.  With that understanding, the yoga teacher should also feel more confident in including some of these ideas in teaching a general yoga class.  Possible ways of doing this will be discussed.

The day will include some asana and pranayama, as it is not possible to spend 5 unbroken hours reading and thinking!  Please also bring your own copy of the Bhagavad Gita.  Any edition of the Bhagavad Gita will do,  but I like Lars Martin Fosse, The Bhagavad Gita (Yoga Vidya) ISBN 978 0 9716466 7 4, because it is clear and straightforward.

The Language of Yoga

Tutor: Rosalind Batchelor

Date: Saturday 19 March 2011

Venue: Glenearn Community Campus, Glenearn Road, Perth, PH2 0BE.

Rosalind works as an adult education tutor in Fife. She trained as a Yoga teacher with Yoga Scotland, and has been teaching a wide variety of Yoga classes since 1982. Elocution lessons when still at school stimulated her interest in the communication of knowledge, and later experience of speech therapy enabled her to apply some of these skills to many different types of teaching.

A Yoga teacher's job is one of communication. This day will consider how communicating Yoga can become more effective for the class member, and easier for the teacher. Topics to be covered will include:

The day will finish with a hatha yoga class applying these techniques.

A day for prospective tutors on Yoga Scotland courses

Tutors: Jackie Le Brocq, Sue McLennan and Kath McDonald

Date: Sunday 20 March 2011

Venue: Greenpark Community Centre, Polmont FK2 OPZ

Jackie has been a tutor on the Yoga Scotland teacher Training course for 8 years. She previously qualified as a secondary school teacher and worked as a special needs lecturer in further education

Sue has been a tutor on Yoga Scotland Foundation Courses for 8 years. She gained her Sivananda Teacher Training Diploma in India and has Diplomas in Yoga Therapy from the Institute of Yogic Culture in Trivandrum, Kerala.

Kath is the tutor for the Yoga Scotland Living Yoga Study Group.  She taught on the Foundation Course for 5 years and has taught on the Teacher Training Course.

This day is aimed at teachers who would like to teach on one of Yoga Scotland’s courses - Foundation Course, Teacher Training Course and Living Yoga Course - as well as teachers who wish to develop seminar skills with a view to running a day or half day workshop or OGT day.

The Teaching of Bandhas and Mudras

Tutor: Swami Satyaprakash

Date: Saturday 2 April 2011

Venue: Clarkston Hall, Clarkston Road, Clarkston, Glasgow, G76 8NE

Swami Satyaprakash has been practising yoga for 40 years and teaching for 30 years in the tradition of Satyananda Yoga.  She trained in Birmingham with the British Wheel of Yoga and in Ireland with the Bihar School of Yoga, and has spent many periods in ashrams in Europe and India.  She is an established teacher trainer and has a passion for facilitating the development of yoga teachers’ talents through ongoing training.  Over the years, Swami Satyaprakash has specialised in yoga in the field of mental health and yoga in the management of chronic low back pain, as well as teaching in a wide variety of settings including prisons and alcohol rehab centres.  She is the director of Satyananda Yoga Centre Birmingham

Bandhas and mudras are practices that are taught perhaps less frequently than, say, asana and pranayama and yet they are a natural progression.  During this day, we shall review our understanding of the place of bandha and mudra in Hatha Yoga and examine the importance of incorporating these techniques into our teaching schedules.  There will be morning class consisting of asana, pranayama, bandha & mudra as well as maybe learning some new mudras.  Altogether, an opportunity to expand and develop our own practice and then to see how this translates into our teaching. 

Mantra and Meditation

Tutor: Swami Satyaprakash

Date: Saturday 2 April 2011

Venue: Clarkston Hall, Clarkston Road, Clarkston, Glasgow, G76 8NE

Swami Satyaprakash has been practising yoga for 40 years and teaching for 30 years in the tradition of Satyananda Yoga.  She trained in Birmingham with the British Wheel of Yoga and in Ireland with the Bihar School of Yoga, and has spent many periods in ashrams in Europe and India.  She is an established teacher trainer and has a passion for facilitating the development of yoga teachers’ talents through ongoing training.  Over the years, Swami Satyaprakash has specialised in yoga in the field of mental health and yoga in the management of chronic low back pain, as well as teaching in a wide variety of settings including prisons and alcohol rehab centres.  She is the director of Satyananda Yoga Centre Birmingham

Mantra is a vast science and one that, in the West, is often surrounded by mystique.  It is sometimes associated with cultism and therefore regarded with suspicion, especially by students who have religious affiliations.  During this day, we shall take a concise look at the theoretical basis for mantra and, more importantly, practise a number of techniques.  Similarly with Meditation; how and why does it work? We will practise a range of meditation techniques, from the simplest to the more advanced. Throughout the day, there will be a focus on developing our personal practice of mantra and meditation, as this is pre-requisite to teaching it (of course!).  When we are firmly established in a practice, then we can consider whether & when to introduce it to students.   We shall draw on the experience of the group and share ways of introducing mantra and meditation into our classes.

A Yogic and Western framework for understanding and working with mental health problems

Tutor: Bijam Saraswati (Jenni Connaughton)

Date: Saturday 16 April 2011

Venue: Islay Room, Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh EH9 1BB (Note change of Venue)

Jenni has recently retired from over 30 years’ experience in different mental health fields in the NHS.  She has had a long term interest in psychoeducation, which is about explaining conditions to patients and carers, and feels that this would be useful information for yoga teachers.  She qualified with Yoga Scotland in 2001 and 2 years ago completed an Integration Course to be able also to teach in the Satyananda tradition.

During this OGT day I aim to introduce

One day is a challenge for this material, and is the briefest of introductions, not intended to create expectations of becoming a therapist!  By the end of the day I hope yoga teachers will

The Skeletal System

Tutor: Beverley Nolan

Date: Saturday 14 May 2011

Venue: Clarkston Hall, Clarkston Road, Clarkston, Glasgow, G76 8NE  

Beverley Nolan is a dedicated Yoga Practitioner and Teacher of more than 20 years experience and a Somatic Movement Therapist with a client practice in Cambridge and St Ives. Beverley leads workshops and training modules in traditional yoga practices, experiential anatomy and physiology, infant developmental movement patterns and Authentic Movement. Beverley is also Personal Tutor and Assessor for CamYoga Teacher Training, a faculty that includes Abby Hoffman, Philip Xerri, Claire Missingham and Hayley Winter.  She is in continuous study with Linda Hartley,  Donna Farhi and Angela Farmer and Victor van Kooten, inspired by the writings and talks of Rupert Spira and the poetry of Mary Oliver.

Our skeleton is alive! It provides a light, strong and durable framework for our moving and posture. Joints are spatial connections between our bones articulating a vocabulary of possibilities that lie on the continuum between movement and stillness. Most of the joints we feel when we move our body are filled with synovial fluid and when both the bones and synovial fluid are present to us our moving and posture become imbued with carefree lines of natural alignment, strength and vitality.

 On this day we will review the anatomy and physiology of the skeletal system, including marrow and synovial fluid and explore techniques to acquire a felt-sense of these structures and flows.  We will then draw upon them as places of support and initiation for movement and posture. There will also be a practical overview of common pathologies relating to the bones and joints e.g. osteoporosis, osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis.

 Bring along your yoga kit and favourite anatomy book.

Supporting Women’s needs through Yoga

Tutor: Christine Purves and Melanie Cook

Date: Saturday 28 May 2011

Venue: Craigmount High School, Craigs Road, Edinburgh EH12 8NH

Christine trained on the very first SYA scheme & set up classes in Edinburgh.  Her teaching continued after her move to Essex.  Since her return home nine years ago, her classes have seen seven students study on the Foundation Course with several going on to teach.   Her background is Education - Primary School Teacher, then Health Education Adviser.  Most recently she co-tutored for Yoga Scotland with Jackie le Brocq on Assessment of Yoga Students.  She has worked with Melanie on the Teacher Recognition Panel & they plan to do more yoga work together.

Melanie has been practising yoga since her teens, originally training with the Yoga for Health Foundation in General and Remedial Teaching in the early !990’s. Having moved to Scotland she continued teacher training with Yoga Scotland in 1997 subsequently completing BWY modules in teaching yoga to children, and pregnancy.  She is also a BWY Foundation Course 1&2 tutor. Having practised and taught yoga for many years she has experienced personally and through her teaching the huge benefits that yoga can bring no matter the ability, age or circumstances.

It is equally important that Yoga Teachers of both sexes recognise that a woman's journey through life is marked by different, distinct stages.  Her development is on a physical, mental & emotional level.  Beginning at the pre-menstrual stage, we will investigate women's development right through to becoming older, pension-age & beyond.   Then working with all the tools & skills of yoga at our disposal, we will explore how best to use them, according to our specific needs, stage by stage. 

BWY In Service Training (IST)

Reciprocal arrangements between BWY & YS allow teachers to attend either BWY IST days or YS OGT days in order to fulfil their continued professional development requirements.

Cost £25
All days start 10.00am, but closing times vary – check with ISTO
Further details from ISTO Laura Ellis
Email: theswingcats@blueyonder.co.uk  Tel: 07527 049927

PAUL FOX - ADJUSTING STUDENTS WITH CONFIDENCE - PART ONE

Sat 9th October 2010, Greenpark Community Centre, Polmont, 10 - 16.30 

Paul is a DCT and continuing student of yoga. He teaches the foundations of Ashtanga Yoga and Core Strength Yoga. Paul has studied the art of adjusting students with John & Lucy Scott. He now works with their principles of sensitive and intelligent physical adjustment of students (when appropriate). He has studied Anatomy and Physiology with the American instructor, David Keil, and is continuing his study of A&P under the guidance of Ruth Gilmore.

The day will examine and deconstruct six asanas and explore the ways to adjust a range of body types appropriately, as well as group work carrying out plumb line analyses to observe postural patterns.

The Organic Spine and Psoas

Tutor: Beverley Nolan
Darte: Sunday 15th May 2011,

Venue: Clarkston Hall, Clarkston Road, Glasgow, 10 - 17:00

Beverley Nolan is a practitioner of yoga, movement and bodywork. Her yoga practices and teaching originated in the Iyengar tradition more than 20 years ago. Now an accredited teacher and Foundation Course Tutor with the British Wheel of Yoga, Beverley’s work is enriched and informed by the principles of BodyMind Centering®, Authentic Movement and Somatic Psychology. She is a registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator, a Graduate Assistant and Faculty Member for the Institute for Integrative Bodywork & Movement Therapy, and is Personal Tutor and Assessor on the Yoga Teacher Training programme offered by CamYoga. Beverley is in continuous study with Donna Farhi, Angela Farmer and Victor van Kooten, Judith Lasater and Richard Miller.
The day will offer an exploration into the Digestive and Urinary Systems, and demonstrated how they can be a place of support and initiation for movement.

Yoga for People Living with Cancer

Tutor: JULIE FRIEDEBERGER

Date: Sun 5th June 2011,

Venue: Synergy Yoga and therapy Centre, Glenrothes, 10 - 17:00

Julie has practised yoga since 1970. She trained initially with the BWY, and did seven further years of study and training with Swami Dharmananda, founder and spiritual head of the Dharma Centre for Yoga and Healing.
Julie’s experience of breast cancer in 1993 left her with a deeper trust in the power of yoga to help us to face our challenges and to heal ourselves, an approach that has grown out of her own encounter with life-changing illness and the integration of its fruits into her life and teaching. She has given many workshops and training days and weekends for the Yoga Biomedical Trust as well as for the Wheel.
The aim of this day is to show how the simplest of yoga practices - movement, breathing, relaxation and meditation - can support and nurture people who have cancer in their efforts to cope with their disease and their treatment; and how they can contribute to healing.
Participants will gain a fuller understanding of the ways in which cancer sufferers can be helped by simple yoga practices, and a deeper trust in the role yoga can play in the healing process.