Yoga class

Planning a yoga class...

After moving to NC, my first goal was to see if I could teach yoga at the local temple. The Hindu Bhavan temple is located very close to where we live. So I just went there and checked with the temple priest about the yoga classes. He told me that there are two weekly classes - Wed evening at 6:30 PM and Sunday at 8:00 AM. I started attending both these classes regularly. Soon I found out that there really is no teacher for the Wed class. Either Mukund Saraiya or Renuka Vyas conducted the class. Their regular teacher went back to India permanently some time ago. So the timing was great and I was able to make my way into teaching the Wed class. There is another person, Jasmine, who is also interested in teaching on Wed. However she has been sick lately and has not been to the class. As a result I have been teaching the Wed class quite regularly for the past month or so.

The Sunday class is conducted by Sneha Amin. She teaches a fairly gently yoga style, consisting mainly of stretching different parts of the body. There is a lot of emphasis on synchronising the moves with the breath. She seems to have a different emphasis each week. She herself is extremely flexible and teaches in a very pleasant, low voice. The class usually runs for about an hour and fifteen minutes and concludes with a session of shavasana. There is no pranayama or meditation in the class. Overall I think she does a great job teaching the class as the body feels quite relaxed at the end of the class.

1/19/06:
Toward the end of the class this week, I took the class through a 10-minute session of guided meditation. I have received very positive feedback about the meditation and Mukund told me that it might be better to include it in every class. Given the limitation of time, I don't know how far that is going to be possible because spending 10 minutes on meditation each week means cutting down on either asana or pranayama, neither of which is a very great option. As it is the class starts about ten minutes late each week. Also, they woulld like me to finish the class sharp at 8 PM. So I am limited to less that the allocated 1.5 hours for the class. Personally I would like to spend more time on pranayama and introduce the class to different pranayama techniques. In addition, every now and then I want to talk a bit about the yoga philosophy. So we'll see how things go. In any case we will be leaving for India in a couple of weeks. Only after coming back in May will I start reorganizing my yoga classes.