Yoga Teacher Training Aspects - Teach your Students about Tranquility

By Paul Jerard

Yoga has been shrouded in mysticism for thousands of years. This is not a bad thing, as the goals of Yoga are far beyond the pictures you see on the covers of Yoga magazines today. So, what are the real goals of Yoga?

Should you go into a long speech about Atman (the soul or true self), and the divine cosmic being (Brahman) becoming one? To be honest, I did once see a Yoga teacher go into an "elevator speech" about the union of self and the "Absolute," but he successfully scared his prospective students away, before their first lesson.

In a nut shell, there are many goals of Yoga, but make it simple for people who walk in the door. Just say: "Tranquility" and they will understand. Tranquility is just one word, which thoroughly explains what a student should be able to expect from his or her first Yoga class, and the following classes, as well.

The initial benefits of physically-oriented classes are balance, muscle tone, improved circulation, and a sense of well being. These are the most basic benefits of Hatha Yoga practice, and they yield a sense of harmony with the world around us.

So, when do you tell them about all the other fantastic benefits? Please let your students "enjoy the ride," as you did. Just because you can show them the deeper aspects, does not mean it is time to do so. Let them develop a sense of self-observance, bliss, wholeness, and tranquility, without all the dogma.

The Yoga teacher's mission is to guide students, when they need our help. We can accomplish this by letting them breathe and practice beyond the classroom. This is the only way a student can become self-sufficient. We cannot hover over our students like concerned foster parents, because we would take away their joy of discovering.

Ultimately, the best students will discover the "teacher within them." When this is accomplished, our students have learned the meaning of "Union." At this point, the student is seriously dedicated to his or her personal practice. Then, the serious questions will come, because an advanced student of Yoga will experience self-realization and spiritual growth.

If the questions do not come to you, do not worry about it. If a teacher constantly chatters, with free advice, no one will listen, because it is free. Loving parents also make this mistake, because they want to protect their children, but free advice is often ignored. Yoga teachers are no different. Keep your explanations simple and show your
students the way - when they are ready.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA.
http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive a Free Yoga e-Book: "Yoga in Practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Jerard

All The Teacher Jobs Waiting For You

By Beverly Maniago

With just one click of a button, all the teacher jobs that are waiting for you out there are within your reach. Teacher jobs are now one of the most sought-after jobs around. The high demand for teachers is caused by a society's need to develop. As the government seeks to improve the state of education, the need for more teachers increases. This is because teachers play a key role in the overall development and improvement of the society. The better skilled teachers are, the better education the children will get. We all know that the development of children nowadays have a direct effect on the future of every society.

There are a lot of teacher jobs around. There are primary teacher jobs, wherein an overall knowledge of the major subjects is needed. That, plus plenty of patience, of course, since primary teachers handle younger students. There are also secondary teacher jobs that require a different set of skills, but are more focused on a single area of specialization. Aside from these two kinds of teaching jobs based on the education levels, the teaching profession also has its own set of hierarchal levels. There are teaching assistants or assistant teachers, who are not considered as fully qualified teachers and work under supervision of qualified ones. Then, there are senior teachers who act as supervisors, but for specialized areas. These senior teachers are also like the department heads. This means that there should be senior teachers in Science, Math, and the like. The difference is that there should only be one department head.

Aside from more senior teaching posts, there are also senior non-teaching positions in the teaching profession. These non-teaching posts include the head teacher job, or the principal post. These positions are already relieved of their teaching responsibilities. Some head teachers may still carry a teaching load, but most of them don't. Their focus is shifted to managerial and operational responsibilities. Such responsibilities are already directly connected to the state of the school.

There are also teachers for special education. Special needs teachers handle children with special needs, as the term implies. Such teaching positions naturally require a more complex set of skills. With all the teaching jobs available out there, if you are planning to enter the teaching profession, you might find it hard to choose which position is best for you. The best way to make the decision is to consider the things you enjoy, and the skills you possess. These will be your best judge of which teaching position you can fill.

Whatever kind of teaching job you can get, you will surely be handsomely paid. And that is true not only in the financial sense. You will also get a lot of opportunities to further advance in your career. Once you get a teacher job, a lot of doors will definitely open up to you. The hierarchy in the teaching profession also gives assurance that the teaching profession is an active profession. As you teach, you also learn. As your students grow, you also grow.

Advance with a rewarding teacher job. Don't miss out on your chance to start a fulfilling career, so find the best teaching jobs near you only at http://www.nurseryjobsonly.com/

From Teacher to Corporate Trainer - Your Next Career?

By Will Kenny

If you spend most of your time in the classroom -- public school, private school, community college or university -- and you are thinking you would like to try something else, there are lots of other classrooms that are not in schools.

Businesses spend vast sums training their people to do their jobs. Hours are spent learning procedures, sales techniques, how to interact with customers, what company policies must be followed, how things work, what you should be doing.

And whenever policies change, or a new product is launched, or the company discovers a more efficient way of doing something, the employees need to be brought up to speed. That means more communication and training for the staff.

Education in the Corporate World
If you are considering a career change and have a teaching background, consider tapping into the training needs of the corporate world. There are a lot of ways to work in this field, but most of them involve one or both of the following:

• Training development: deciding what is covered, in what order, how it will be delivered (classroom, intranet, role plays vs. self-study manual, etc.), how it will be evaluated.
• Training delivery: more like what you call "teaching", being in the room to lead participants, guide discussions and activities, answer questions and check understanding.

One individual may work as a corporate "facilitator", spending most of his or her time with participants, delivering several standard courses again and again. Another might be a freelance developer who creates a course around a topic for a company, which then is actually delivered by someone else. Some people handle everything -- design, development, delivery, administration, follow-up -- while others play just one role in the process, working with others from inside and outside the company to get the job done.

Your Strengths
With a teaching background, you already have some skills that will transfer quickly to the corporate world:

• You are used to presenting, being in front of a room, capturing the attention of your audience and having an impact on how they think.
• You know that you have to design a lesson to have an impact. There are better and worse ways to deliver the same content, and you are accustomed to working out methods to get the message across.
• You have learned that you can't teach everything the same way. For instance, you explain some things very directly, illuminate other topics through group discussion, and use exercises (like "case studies" in corporate life) to develop related skills.
• You know it is up to you. Given a topic, you have to design the "lesson plan", testing, and all the rest. You don't sit back and wait for someone else to hand you the solution.

Your Challenges
There are some significant adjustments to working in the corporate world as a facilitator or training developer.

Here are a few of the big ones:

• You do not have any authority over your "participants" (students) just because you are a trainer. You will have to demonstrate your value to every group of participants you work with, as they won't just assume you know what you are talking about.
• You may be surprised at who else in the company gets to put their fingers in your work. Countless experts on the subject matter will weigh in, along with people from marketing, production, legal, and other corporate functions. You will find that a four-hour class on a single topic is the subject of several committee meetings, where you will have to manage compromises with numerous players who have some interest in the employees you are training.
• Teaching working adults at their worksite is different from teaching younger people in educational settings (including college students). Efficiency and relevance to their daily activities reign supreme, and you won't have much time to get to the point and have an impact.
• Companies invest in training to solve problems, or to prevent them, to reduce costs and risks, and to boost efficiency and revenues. If you don't understand their needs before you put together your training, it isn't likely to be effective -- and you will not have a happy manager or client.

Training development and delivery in the business world is challenging and enjoyable. You help people work better, and you can have an impact on a lot of people.

It's a great next step for the teacher who might like to try something outside of educational settings. But it is a different world, so make sure you do your homework before you leap into this very different environment.

A former teacher, Will Kenny has more than 20 years' experience as a freelance instructional designer and training developer. Will has worked on the training staff of a large international corporation, before offering freelance content development services to businesses large and small. Visit http://www.besttrainingpractices.com/ for free articles and case studies that give you a peek into the world of training development for business. Will also writes a blog on "Making Training for a Living" (http://www.making-training.blogspot.com), sharing his thoughts on how to succeed in the business of freelance content development.

Do You Need A Spiritual Teacher?

By Sheri Rosenthal

Many people have asked me my opinion on having a teacher on a spiritual path. Like everything else in life, there are only points of view as to whether this choice is the best one for you. All I can do is reflect my personal experience regarding having a teacher and what I feel the benefits and problems are of engaging in this kind of relationship.

First and foremost, a teacher is someone who has been down the same road that you are traveling – albeit at least a few miles ahead of you. They understand the pitfalls and the roadblocks, and can assist you in making your path easier and less painful. They can comfort you with the knowledge that many people have walked this road before and survived, no matter how difficult the path may appear to you in the moment.

Second, a teacher can reflect things to you that you would never see in yourself – at least not without a lot of self-honesty, which is hard to find when we are first on our spiritual path. Denial is most often our companion and we avoid what we fear is painful, even if we are doing it subconsciously. The point is that a teacher has more awareness and can see through the mental and egoic strategies that we eagerly justify and defend.

Third, a teacher creates a safe and supportive environment to allow us to open our hearts and minds in, giving us the opportunity to explore aspects of ourselves we would normally avoid. A good teacher will not use anything we have shared against us or to hurt us, and above all will not manipulate us with that information. This is not unlike the relationship we have with our doctor – what is discussed in the treatment room stays in the treatment room.

The dangers of such a relationship are found when a teacher has not totally cleaned their ego-mind and still has the tendency to want to use people and situations for their personal benefit. The flip side of this issue is that many times the student does not understand the teacher’s point of view because they can only see from their limited point of view. They then judge the teacher, not totally understanding their intent or the bigger picture. In these moments it helps to speak to other students who have been down the road before for clarity – one way or another. The purpose of your spiritual path is to increase your personal power, self-love and self-worth, not to give it away to others.

Other dangers involve becoming attached to a teacher feeling that if they were to leave you that you would never achieve enlightenment. This is just another appearance of “I am not good enough” manifesting itself in another guise. There is an old Chinese proverb that says: Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. A teacher can be a mirror for you, they can reveal many hidden aspects of your mind, and they can point out many of your habit behaviors that are causing you pain in your life. But in the end they cannot do anything for you. You must do it for yourself. Anyone who promises otherwise is a danger to you.

For me, having a teacher has been an incredible blessing in my life. He taught me what unconditional love was through action – not through words. He reflected to me the love and blessing that I am, revealing the lies that I am not. He gave me words of support when the path was dark and encouraged me when I thought I would never make it. He was brutally honest with me, since there was benefit or investment in lying to me. He lent me his eyes to see the world through so that I could experience that life can be heaven on earth. And most importantly, he loved me just the way I was, with all my bad habits until I finally could express the light that I am.

Hopefully my words will be helpful to you and assist you in making a healthy personal choice. As always, I wish you the best on your path.

You are welcome to reprint this article with the following information at the conclusion of the text:

Dr. Sheri Rosenthal is a master Toltec teacher and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Toltec Wisdom and WITH Forgiveness. Having trained with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, she currently takes students on spiritual journeys, works with personal apprentices and enjoys being extremely happy. You can reach her at http://www.sherirosenthal.com, http://www.journeysofthespirit.com and http://www.withforgiveness.com