Advanced Studies & RYT/200 Program Begins March 14th. Save The Dates!

RYS200

The 2012 Advanced Studies & RYT200 Training begins March 14th at Yoga Birds. This year’s training has been restructured to accommodate a weekly evening meeting and a handful of Saturday Workshop Sessions. The program is designed for students wishing to deepen understanding and practice of yoga, for aspiring yoga teachers, and for teachers who need refresher courses.

Graduates of previous Yoga Birds Teacher Trainings receive 30% discount on all Wednesday Nights Series (excluding Yoga Anatomy Fundamentals & Kirtan) and 20% off Advanced Studies Saturday Workshop Sessions.

Yoga teachers are ultimately and always yoga students. Enrich your studentship this year whether you plan to teach or if you simply want to immerse yourself in the beautiful & bountiful teachings of yoga. The program promises lots of opportunities to deepen your practice of asana, pranayama, meditation, mantra, and much more.

Series offerings include:

For teachers, or those aspiring to teach, take your understanding of yoga to the next level. Transitioning confidently from student to teacher through practice teaching in real-time situations and classroom exercises.

With all of the recent press about the ‘dangers’ of yoga, it is vital that we continue to raise the bar of safety and effectiveness of appropriate yoga practice and teaching. Yoga Birds stands as a pillar of yoga in the community, dedicated to the continuation of educating the community about the wonderfully transformative, often life-saving, and beauty of depth of subject -matter that Yoga encompasses. At Yoga Birds, Melanie and all of the teachers aim to ‘raise the bar’ on the teaching and practice of yoga in Lower Alabama. Join us in the responsible proliferation of yoga for all bodies! We hope to see you ‘on the mat’!

The Advanced Studies Series may be taken individually for personal enrichment, or Yoga Alliance CEC’s. Students attending the program in full will automatically be eligible for Registration with Yoga Alliance at the 200 Hour Level. Yoga Birds is a Registered Yoga School with Yoga Alliance (RYS200). See complete pricing, dates, and registration details at http://www.yogabirds.com/teacher-training/.

‘How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body’ & Melanie’s Response To The Recent Article in The NY Times

Awkward Yoga Poses
Photo: Danielle Levitt for The New York Times

Read this! I am a yoga injury survivor. It is what makes me a better teacher. It is why I do not teach headstand in general classes. And it is why I do not allow shoulder stand without blankets. It is why I sometimes raise my voice in class. It is why i give challenging feedback to teachers who teach at Yoga Birds. Its not because i have more training or experience, it is because i have been severely HURT by inappropriate yoga practice. Student-oriented teaching– meaning it’s not about me when I am teaching, it is about the safety of every student who comes to a yoga class under the roof and on the floor of which I insure. Safety FIRST. This responsibly does rest with teachers but also with students. Be a responsible yogi! The asana (poses) are meant to SERVE the student, the student is not meant to conform and contort beyond safety and into pain and injury to ‘get’ the pose. The benefits of yoga outweigh the negatives. That is why I am still doing this–practicing, teaching, running a studio, and marketing the hell out of yoga. But it is only with GREAT RESPONSIBILITY that I or you should endeavor in yoga. Yoga asana must be practiced and especially taught responsibly with skill, awareness, and utmost attention to the feedback from the PRISTINE INFINITE WISDOM of the inner teacher. That is our essence, our guide, our Light. Yoga holds great power…positive & negative. We must respect the negative to experience the positive. Yoga can often be challenging, BUT yoga should never hurt. I will shout this from rooftops until the day I die. -Melanie Buffett, January 3, 2012

Full NYT Article is Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html