Subjects & Course Topics Covered
The modules of learning were designed to help teen yoga teachers get a strong foundation for effective teen yoga teaching.
- How Teens Need, Respond to, and Benefit from Yoga
We set up the big picture in this introductory session, discussing the stresses that abound for teens, the benefits that yoga provides, and how teenagers are apt to respond. We will take a detailed look of unique behavioral characteristics of a yoga classroom of teenagers, as compared to adults and children. Additionally, the importance of recent adolescent brain research is highlighted as it relates to the teen yoga classroom.
- Preparing for Teaching
In the second session, Preparing for Teaching, we review essential principles for being a successful teen yoga teacher. We discuss the teaching mindset that will get teens to positively respond, both in terms of classroom behavior as well as setting them up to embrace the yoga practice as their own. This session seeks to empower teachers by orienting them towards a teen teaching mindset.
- Reminders Before Teaching
The purpose of this teaching session, Reminders before Teaching, is to provide essential coaching tips to create a meaningful teen yoga class. Basically, this session covers the last minute pep talk as well as a detailed guideline summary before teaching teens yoga. In this session, we seek to establish immediate and lasting connection with students and to consider creating a safe classroom for teaching yoga poses.
- Class Begins
This session, Class Begins, provides a teen yoga teacher with tools and ideas of how to approach the first half of a yoga class. Certain yoga poses and lots of teaching techniques are discussed to get class started in a way that engages teen interest, while also setting a peaceful and respectful tone. Several fun teaching games are shown that keep teen's attention and expand their interest and curiosity. Expect your teen teaching toolbox to get filled in this learning module.
- Class is Under Way
In the Class is Under Way session, the methodology of engaging teen interest in the yoga poses is further explored. In addition, six different teacher assists are shown which teen teachers can employ to improve their student’s posture and sensitize them to the healthy actions the yoga poses require. Also covered in this session is restorative yoga; we show and discuss the most important restorative poses for teenagers.
- Partner and Group Poses
The session on Partner and Group Poses shows eight partner poses and six group poses that have proven to delight teenagers. Partner and group poses are especially important for the teen demographic, given their social nature.
- Breath Awareness and Breathing Techniques
In the Breath Awareness session, we discuss effective ways to introduce breath awareness to teenagers. The top four breathing techniques to introduce to teens are reviewed, along with a talk about including meditation in the teen classroom.
- Incorporate Yoga Philosophy
Essential to teaching yoga to teenagers is yoga philosophy and how to lead teens toward gratitude, self-reflection, self-acceptance, and compassion, among other important spiritual priniciples. In the Yoga Philosophy session, we discuss subtle and overt ways to do just that. Many insights are to be gained in this conversation for how a teen teacher might bring yoga philosophy to life in her/his classroom.
- Teen Yoga Class and Post-Class Discussion
In the session Teen Yoga Class and Post-Class Discussion, Christy teaches an hour-long yoga class to four teenage girls. Students will see the principles and practicalities of teaching teenagers yoga in action and will gain insight and appreciation for how they actually work in the teen yoga classroom. A rich and thorough review of the teen class is given in the post-class discussion. Course takers will be asked to consider what insights are to be gained from the viewing.
Time Commitment
12-15 hours is an approximate estimate for time to complete the training. The time allotted accounts for preparation, watching each session video, and quiz taking for each of the modules. Preparation for each session includes reading the course content, downloading any tables and charts that require downloading. The streaming video for each session varies from 20-65 minutes and totals six hours ten minutes. The quiz at the end of each session involves approximately 30 minutes. (Some course takers have reported that it took them greater than 15 hours.)
The additional content provided in this training package (including the Yoga 4 Teens Instructor's Guide, the Yoga 4 Teens DVD, the Teaching Teenagers Yoga ebooks, the classroom videos and the webinar presentation) provide 5-10 hours of additional study. These YogaMinded resources will be made available FOREVER to you, as long as the website is operating.
About The Quizzes
Each session is followed by a quiz to check learning and to engage in the preparatory process of teaching teenagers yoga. Quiz questions vary in format including true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short explanations. Upon completion of each quiz, answers are submitted to the course instructor who grades it and provides feedback. It is also possible to move through the course without taking the quizzes. Having said that, the quizzes add an engaging dimension to the training. They ask for your commitment to the course material, stimulate your brain to integrate the information, and engage course-takers to embrace their personal commitment to teen yoga. As a result of taking the quizzes, course-takers will have more clarity in their vision as well as more comfort in their teen teaching voice. Course takers have reported how useful it is to receive personalized feedback.