Anatomy of a Yoga Class

The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching a Yoga Class
By Patricia Mason & Carla Bazemore
BookBaby (Paperback Edition, Nov. 19, 2015), 92 pages

This book maps out the basic anatomy of a yoga class:

• 4 typical components: centering, warm-up, asanas, and relaxation
• lesson plans
• pose sequences
• physical class space
• music selection
• student etiquette
• and of course, teaching

Reasons to put The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching a Yoga Class on your bookshelf:

1. Stick Person Dictionary: various poses are drawn in stick format. The corresponding English and Sanskrit names are provided.
2. “Teach, don’t do”: Patricia and Carla discuss how the class isn’t about the teacher — the students are there to learn not watch a show.
3. Silence isn’t bad: teachers don’t have to fill every breath with instruction. There is a point where more direction becomes counterproductive and overwhelming. Too much talk could turn students away.
4. Niche: finding a specialization and how this can help teachers find work.
5. Favourite quote: “Beginners need these cues; advanced students need to be reminded of them.”

Lasting Effects:

The stick person dictionary is a handy tool. It’s like a Picture-to-Word translator. I could see that stick drawings would be more helpful to quickly remember your lesson plan — rather than staring at a page full of words and trying to figure out where you are in the sequence. Patricia and Carla also speak to the complicated role of the yoga teacher — yoga teachers must evaluate their students but not judge.

Nutshell:

The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching a Yoga Class is meant for a specific audience: yoga teachers, in particular new teachers. This book would be a useful supplement to yoga teacher training curriculum. Nuts and Bolts feels like a warm blanket you could take with you when first starting out as a teacher. It would be great to see Patricia and Carla produce a longer version.

YogaShelf Rating 4/5.

Get it:

The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching a Yoga Class is available on Scribd, Amazon, Bookbaby and Walmart.