006. Lessons learned from the Accessible Yoga Training

In episode 6 of the Accessible Yoga Podcast, Amber and Jivana talk about lessons learned from the Accessible Yoga Training. Jivana digs deep into the yoga philosophy behind this training that informs both of our work and the way we teach. We talk about shifting the power dynamic between teacher and student and what happens when we give students the tools to work with their practice, rather than insisting they fit into a preconceived notion of shapes or sequences. We also talk about how the Accessible Yoga Training builds community between teachers like us whose work sometimes feels isolating. 

• How the Accessible Yoga Training got started including Jivana’s background in AIDS activism, creating a teacher training for folks with disabilities, and the way the training has changed over the years
• How we make our classes more welcoming and safe by meeting our students where they are
• How as teachers we must make sure we aren’t viewing students as lacking something, and as students how we give away our power when we expect a teacher to fix us
• Through redistributing power, teachers can be an example of non-attachment
• How the Accessible Yoga Training helps our students find a way to practice safely and empowers teachers to innovate, not memorize shapes
• How skilled yoga teaching is like art - full of creativity and improvisation
• How we approach cueing multiple levels of a posture or practice at the same time
• How the Accessible Yoga Training has given folks direction for their work and helped teachers to step up as community leaders and share the heart of yoga

Today’s inquiry

Each week we’ll leave you with a powerful question. We encourage you to sit in inquiry with this question, write about it, discuss it with another community member on this path. Today, we invite you to reflect on this question:

What is my role as yoga teacher (in my classroom, in my students’ lives off the yoga mat, and in the wider world)?

Get a transcript, links to resources, and show notes at accessibleyogatraining.com/podcast.