*Note that the lecture portion of each Asana module includes a discussion of specific or related asana and/or breathing techniques as well as their effects on the physical/emotional body. Also included in each lecture that covers categories of Asana is the preparation for and safety, modifications, and possible contraindications for the asana or breathing techniques included the each module. Students will also gain an understanding of how to teach and integrate into a sequence or class the discussed asana or breathing technique. There is also ample time for questions in each lecture period.

Asana Program Overview

The Asana section of the Yoga Loft’s Advanced Studies/Teacher Training program is composed of a multi-generational team of 6 dynamic teachers whose backgrounds take root in the strength of tradition. During the course of the program, teachers will each cover a specific portion of the syllabus, creating a sort of tapestry from the knowledge they present, and providing students with a solid foundation in the art and craft of teaching Hatha Yoga.

Individual teachers bring their diverse experience to the Asana course so that students may integrate the knowledge presented and begin to develop a personal teaching voice that lends quality and meaning to their work. Through the cycle of learning and teaching, students begin to understand and embody the knowledge that has been passed down through generations. Over the course of this 6-month program, teachers ask students to consider the act of teaching as a practice, one that works to shape and strengthen their sense of confidence and character as teachers.

During the program, Tony Briggs takes students ‘behind the scenes’ of yoga class. By sharing his own method and technique in structuring and holding a class, Tony guides student-teachers toward a greater understanding of what it takes to actually make a class work. Through the adept use of yoga props and precise instruction, Tony’s teaching illuminates how student-teachers can learn to work with and see particular bodies, anatomies, and nervous systems.

Tony attributes much of his knowledge-base to his studies with Ramanand Patel, an international teacher and early student of BKS Iyengar. Ramanand has been teaching for more than four decades and will guide student-teachers into the more esoteric parts of the practice- history, philosophy, and breaking down the myths and misconceptions of yoga practice in our time.

Anne Saliou, also a long-time student of Ramanand, predominantly studies with BKS and Geeta Iyengar, and is widely known for her work in using yoga for back and neck therapy. She will lead students through the art of adjusting and will also teach a module on working with back and neck injuries.

By weaving streams of practice: precise knowledge, gentle awareness, and artistic innovation, Patricia Sullivan offers the opportunity to explore the deep, subtle, and life altering force that is yoga. Also a student of Ramanand, BKS and Geeta Iyengar, and later a co-teacher with Rodney Yee, Patricia weaves her practice of yoga with Zen Buddhism. In this course, Patricia will teach student-teachers the art of cultivating enough quiet in their own bodies in order to see and subtly adjust the bodies that they are teaching.

Jason Crandell and Geoffrey Roniger, both students of Rodney Yee (also Ramanand’s student), teach Vinyasa Yoga . Vinyasa is a flow style of yoga where movement is guided by breath. Jason, with his gift of clarity of expression and ease with instruction, will lead student-teachers in the art of breaking down the basic asana and illustrate how to give clear directions. Geoffrey, a master of both metaphor and choreography, will demonstrate to student-teachers the art of sequencing a flow-based asana class.

Together, these teachers form a dynamic yet cohesive team. As part of the cycle of learning and teaching, they create a tapestry of all the information they present. Being exposed to different styles of yoga and studying with different teachers encourages students to extrapolate and integrate this information and develop their own voice, a process that will lead them to a place of depth and integrity in their own practice, their own teaching, and their own lives.

Asana Teacher Training Topics include:

Reading Bodies
As teachers, we must first see with both our eyes and our intuition who our students are and how they present themselves through their practice. In this workshop we will explore how to 1) open our eyes and deepen our insight into our students? structural alignment and integrity 2) see deeper into their energetic wholeness 3) learn to assess asymmetries and weaknesses, as well as blockages to the free movement of the body?s intelligence. This deeper seeing will let you modify or adjust your students' asanas with greater confidence and accuracy.

Structuring Classes and Sequencing Poses
Proper sequencing not only keeps our students safe, it also creates a synergy among the poses which deepens their cumulative effect and leads to a more wholistic understanding and assimilation of their underlying principles. Learn basic sequencing strategies that you can adapt to any classroom situation, or if you teach in a method which uses a fixed sequence, learn why it?s put together the way it is, and how to modify the sequence to fit your students' needs.

Using Verbal Instruction
We all talk all the time, but the more we become aware of how we use our voice the more effective and helpful we can be to our students. In this workshop we will explore 1) how to give clear instructions and reduce our students? confusion 2) passive vs. dynamic wording 3) rhythm and pacing 4) the use of silence.

Demonstrating Common Poses and Using Props and Variations
This section covers foundational poses that all beginning and intermediate students need to know. Learn 1) the basics of each pose 2) variations to work more deeply & thoroughly into each pose 3) how to deal with common difficulties and complaints 4) how to adapt the poses to individual students' needs.

Making Physical Adjustments
To reach out and touch, to be touched?--these ancient human gestures are full of power, both positive and negative. How shall we as teachers compassionately touch our students for their safety, confidence and learning? How will we be touched by our students? Clear intentions and sound technique are both needed, and we will practice both in this workshop.

Public Classes, Assisting and Apprenticeship
During the 6 months of the program (or in a 12-month period), students are also expected to attend public classes at The Yoga Loft (or with Tony at either The Yoga Loft or Turtle Island). The requirement for public classes is 15 ninety-minute classes and these are included in the cost of the program. Students are also required to assist Tony, Anne or Sabine in their public classes for a minimum of 10 hours during the 6-month program (or within a 12-month period of starting the program).

The Yoga Loft also offers students the opportunity to substitute teach classes when they are ready or to create their own community class if they wish.

About the Asana Teaching Team:

Tony Briggs
Tony Briggs (www.turtleislandyoga.com) teaches age-old Hatha yoga in a modern, humorous and hard-hitting way, without compromise or new-age veneer. Tony has been practicing and teaching yoga for almost 30 years, including studies in India and the U.S. He encourages his students to tread the path of self-discovery with a cool head, a wide heart, and a warm belly. To that end, he has developed an approach to the practice called Naga Yoga.

Jason Crandell
Jason Crandell (www.jasonyoga.com) teaches Iyengar-inspired Hatha and Vinyasa yoga in a compassionate, knowledgeable and articulate manner. A graduate of Piedmont Yoga Studio's 18-month Advanced Studies Program, Jason has apprenticed extensively with Rodney Yee, assisting him in public classes, workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings for many years. He is a faculty instructor at Yoga Journal Magazine, a regular presenter at Yoga Journal Conferences, and is featured in Yoga Journal's Home Practice Video series Step-by-Step and worked as the asana coach in their Yoga for Stress Reduction and Prenatal videos. He is also a contributing editor for the magazine, writing feature articles and acting as the Beginner's Asana columnist in 1995.

Sabine Kuehner
Sabine Kuehner (www.namaste-yoga.com) came to San Francisco from Germany in the early 1980s to study with Ana Halprin, and at the San Francisco Dancer's workshop. A friend introduced her to Iyengar Yoga shortly after her arrival. Having been plagued for much of her life with tremendous stiffness in her spine and structural imbalances due to a shorter leg, she recognized at once, that Iyengar Yoga would give her the means to improve her condition. After graduating from the Advanced Study Program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute in SF, she became certified by the National Iyengar Yoga Association in 1995. Her highly developed ability to see and adjust students in their asanas is also derived from her 20 year practice as a therapeutic bodyworker. In addition, her strong sense of humor and her light heartedness mixed with her sometimes very funny use of the English language make her classes a lot of fun as well as therapeutic.

Geoffrey Roniger
Geoffrey Roniger (www.geoffreyroniger.org) believes that the practice of yoga is essentially about coming back home to the body. Far from being about attaining, acquiring, or achieving things that we do not yet have, yoga is, in the simplest and most profound sense, about remembering. With the physical practice of the Hatha yoga poses, we are reminded experientially that we are inseparable from both the ground of the earth and the larger ground of being. A dedicated practitioner of 10 years, Geoffrey is a graduate of Piedmont Yoga Studio's 18-month Advanced Studies Program and has apprenticed extensively with his primary teacher, Rodney Yee.

Anne Saliou
Anne Saliou, a certified Iyengar instructor, has been practicing Yoga for more than two decades and teaches all levels of students. Anne keeps her teaching and her own practice fresh through frequent trips to India to study directly with the Iyengars. Anne's own back injury has made her sensitive to the needs and limitations of each individual. Her classes are thematic and invigorating with instruction that is thorough and precise. Anne enjoys sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge of Yoga to help her students achieve greater health, peace and harmony through a balanced Yoga practice.

Patricia Sullivan
Patricia Sullivan (www.patriciasullivanyoga.com) began her yoga practice in 1970, and has taught yoga since 1976. She studied in India with B.K.S. and Geeta Iyengar in the 1980s, and taught teachers-in-training at the San Francisco Iyengar Yoga Institute through the late 1990s. With roots also in Zen Buddhism, PatriciaÕs instruction offers a depth and scope developed through nearly 30 years of teaching. An accomplished sculptor, Patricia's classes are imaginative, exploratory and continuously evolving. She emphasizes process rather than end result, curiosity rather than "knowingness", and always brings to her classes a feeling that yoga is not only a vehicle for self-transformation, it's joyful and playful.