So this is my arsenal for my first year teaching. In my case, I needed all these for my classes because I taught yoga in 2 languages, I taught aerials with different rigging for each studio and I got some requests to add a little Yin practice to our classes. I wanted to give my own little personal review about each one (except the manuals since those were from my trainings and might not be allowed to write about them) So here it is:
The Literary Arsenal for the Startup Yoga teacher
1. Your Body Your Yoga by Bernie Clark
This book is a wonderful way for you to explain what goes behind every movement when your students go into an asana. It especially helps when you need to convey a lesson on body mechanics or transitioning. In addition, the book offers a lot of diagrams of the body in different poses which gives you an idea of where you need to adjust your students to get into proper alignment.
2. Yoga Sequencing by Mark Stephens
As you can tell from the photo I am a fan of Mark. I´m only missing the adjustments volume. It´ll be mine soon. Mark Stephens is an author for the no-nonsense yogi. His writing is to the point, simple and you capture the lesson right away. He presents you with different ways to prep your class, a general guideline and lastly, examples of some signature sessions in different types of yoga. His book is a balance of structure without stifling the reader´s creativity. Through it, I became more confident in prepping for my classes. I also used this book in prepping for my aerials too.
3. Yoga Sequencing Deck by Mark Stephens
Combined with the book, I just layout my flow on the floor, take a picture and voila! Class done! These cards have a bit of the cueing on the back with the benefits and if it is a prep pose to a more advanced asana. These babies give us teachers a head start . Also it´s an organised uniform way to look through your prep pics and see how your knowledge at class progression has evolves.
4. The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga
I was never a spiritual teacher. I always said that I was a more fitness based yogi. Then after a few conversations with some colleagues and partner that I was missing out. So finally I looked into it. I chose yin yoga because of it´s asian influence and as a beginner on yoga´s soulful side, it was more relatable to me. I was right in doing so, This book made sense of a lot of the things i was skeptical about in the philosophy of yoga, the importance of longer holds in certain poses to counter a yang intensive practice, most importantly, it is in stillness that we open ourselves to new levels.
5. 2,100 Asanas by Daniel Lacerda
Basically, Daniel Lacerda takes postures from different types of practices and consolidates them into a book. It is a fantastic resource whether you planned for a peak pose or a flow. I really wish there was a set of flash cards though.... PLEEEEEAAAASSEE here my call yoga companies !!!!
6. Soaring with the soul by sdhl
While this book was intended for her Aviana students, I adapted it into my aerial yoga classes. It is a beautiful publication with many visual flourishes that read almost like a coffee table book. The most useful parts about this book was how the author wrote out each pose. While most books or manuals use bullet points and pictures to instruct their readers, she narrated the entrance and exit of each pose. When I was starting out I really appreciated this because it gave me a good base for the general script I made for my classes. It also showed me what aerial yoga on single point looked like. After reading this I was inspired to try out single point and add a spin element to my practice. The other cool Parts to this book were a script for the guided meditation, a very thorough description on the benefits of an aerial yoga practice, and how to create a good environment for your students using scents. I would reccommend this for any teacher or enthusiast.
7. La Enseñanza de Yoga de Mark Stephens
Since I teach in Spain it makes sense for me to have a yoga book in spanish. It´s mainly for explaining things to my students during the holds in my class as well as in the first parts of my workshops. Not being a native speaker in Spanish, I have a hard time to spontaneously come up with analogies, or gather my thoughts fast enough to convey my lessons. It helps a great deal.
I´m sure this library is going to grow to about 20 more books but til then these should suffice.
Nah´mah see you later!
Jen