The Cueing Course 2.0 is for teachers who want to grow beyond the idea of “correct alignment.”
This course is for you if:
- You want to truly teach effective and safe movement to all people.
- You feel like you have been handed down alignment cues and random pose "benefits",
- You feel like you are just repeating cues, or don't fully understand the why behind them.
- You want your cues to create a safe space for your students
Traditional alignment teaches you to arrange your body in a straight line.
But bodies are not straight lines.
The natural curvature of the spine shows that a body is not a straight line.
So why do we use cues that are inherently going against the natural shape of the body?
Alignment tells us that we must stack the knee over the ankle.
Anyone who has ever walked up a flight of stairs will know their knee goes beyond the ankle.
So why is alignment insistent upon this cue?
How come we are telling our students that alignment will keep them safe from injury?
Traditional alignment cues are valued to prevent injuries to our students, but may be incorrect or unsafe to lead to overstretching, straining, or even tearing of the muscles.
Traditional alignment doesn’t make space for different body types and it tries to dictate the experience the student is having.
Traditional alignment cues don’t account for a wide range of body types or abilities.
If our alignment cues cause pain or too much discomfort for students, the potent and healing aspects of the practice can be inaccessible.
The heart of yoga has always been an inclusive and accessible practice. Exclusion and inaccessibility are created through rigid alignment cues.
This course will explore how we can use our cues to create:
- A balance of effort and ease
- Safe and effective movement
- Inclusivity and accessibility
- A mind body connection
- An environment where students can explore both physical sensations and emotions
- Enhanced proprioception and interoception
Cueing in yoga is a skill that does require practice and fine tuning.
The cues we use and things we say in class can create vast opportunities for our students to experience true healing.
They also have the potential to spread misinformation that could cause physical injury or even mental or emotional harm.
In this course you will learn:
- Evidence based strategies for helping students identify and experience benefits in their own practice.
- How to use the foundation of evidence-based teaching and an anatomy informed lens that will help your physical cues have greater impact
- Common cues that are problematic and how they can be more functional.
- How to integrate scientific principles with the ancient practices of yoga. What are the science-based tools of a yoga practice that can help individuals achieve optimal physical, mental, and emotional health.
- How to demystify the practice of yoga and make it more accessible to a wider range of people, including those who may be skeptical of its benefits or hesitant to try it.
Science-based yoga is grounded in evidence-based research that demonstrates the physiological and psychological benefits of yoga, such as reducing stress, improving flexibility and balance, enhancing immune function, and promoting mental clarity and emotional well-being.
If we are going to speak about these benefits and tell our students that what we are teaching them in our class will impact their physical, mental or emotional health, then we should reference sources from peer reviewed published research from medical journals.
This course will look at several of the key benefits of yoga and will go over what the research says about:
- Reducing stress and anxiety
- Improving flexibility and balance
- Enhancing cardiovascular health
- Alleviating chronic pain
- Boosting mental health and well-being
- Twists helping the liver detox
- Inversions bring fresh oxygenated blood to your brain
- Forward folds improve digestion and helps with insomnia
As professionals, you should be willing to change your mind when presented with new data opposed to being attached to a previous belief system.
An evidence based approach is the intersection and integration of available evidence, critical thinking and yoga philosophy.
You will gain information to develop your own way of cueing and way of speaking about benefits that is more inclusive and brings a higher level of credibility and confidence to your teaching.
This course is for you if:
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You are a yoga teacher or curious yoga student
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You want to share yoga from an evidence based perspective
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You want to feel confident in what you are telling your students
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You coach, train, or mentor other yoga teachers
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You want to lead from a place of accurate and up to date information
Key Outcomes:
You will leave this course with an understanding of the difference between:
- Opinion based or anecdotal benefits of yoga
- Evidence-based benefits of yoga and how to speak about them
- How to apply this knowledge in your cueing
The Details
When: Saturday, March 18, 2023. 12:00pm-3:00pm
You can join the course live with time for Q&A at the end or access the recording on your own time.
Investment: $100
Common cues that will be covered and how to make them more functional:
- Warrior 1: your back foot is at a 45 degree angle
- Chaturanga: hug your elbows in by your ribcage
- Half pigeon: your front shin should be parallel to the front of your mat
- Twists: why “twist from your belly” isn’t the best cue
