Events

Ana Forrest Advanced Teachers Training

April 19-27, 2012

The Forrest Yoga Advanced Teacher Training- a 9-day teacher training that allows teachers from other yoga schools and lineages to join the Forrest Yoga education program to learn and understand the art of sequencing, to practice and teach intermediate and advanced asana for different levels and to prioritize the needs of students with special needs and injuries.

Eligible Participants
Yoga teachers from any yoga school or lineage with a minimum of 3 years teaching experience and graduates of the Forrest Yoga Foundation Teacher Training (no minimum years of teaching experience). Participants must have a regular personal practice and be ready to move deeper within themselves and assist their students in the discovery of the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of yoga.  We expect you to have the willingness, health and strength to commit to 100% of this teacher training. You will receive a letter of completion only upon 100% completion of the teacher training.

Preparation
If you are not a graduate of the Forrest Yoga Foundation Teacher Training, we suggest that all interested trainees get acquainted with Forrest Yoga and Ana’s method of instructing by purchasing the Forrest Yoga DVD’s (“Strength & Spirit” and “The Pleasure of Strength”) and the Forrest Yoga 5-Day Intensive (CD’s & Book) before attending this teacher training. These products will introduce the concepts of Forrest Yoga and provide practice for the trainees in Forrest Yoga. The more the trainees are familiar with Forrest Yoga, the more they will progress during Ana’s training.

Training Overview
Taught by Ana Forrest over 9-days, this teacher training is designed to be highly experiential. The training includes chanting, pranayama, intensive yoga practice, working with injuries, addressing the needs and challenges of students, mentoring your own practice and needs, and learning the principles of class sequencing for advanced poses. You will also be taught how to work with students at different levels and abilities and with different body types.

Meditation and Intensives
Each day starts off with a ceremony involving chanting, drumming and meditation to set the intent for the day and create the space for healing and connection to your Spirit, followed by the intensives that is a practice and an advanced asana instructional training simultaneously. Through carefully sequenced Forrest Yoga asanas, Ana will open you to amazing depths and feelings of awareness and guide trainees with demonstrations and instructions into advanced poses related to that day’s theme. The Intensives are structured such that trainees learn to work with others to gain hands on experience with spotting, assisting (to keep students safe as they learn advanced poses), leveling and modifying advanced arm balances, backbends, hip openers, abdominals, inversions, advanced twists and bound poses under the supervision of Ana and assistants. The intensives are simultaneously a sanctuary where you can feel safe to open up, work through issues that may arise and go beyond your perceived limitations. You will learn about yourself and feel what it is like to have freedom in your own body and mind. The intensives are sure to accelerate your practice as you will viscerally experience the poses that you will teach each other. Injuries and special needs are addressed so that each trainee experiences these classes as part of his or her own healing practice.

Teacher Training
The afternoon sessions encompasses five to six hour sessions of training and instruction dedicated to improving your teaching skills and working with the different injuries, abilities, and challenges your students will bring to the yoga room. You will learn to hone the following skills to:

See: Honing the “seeing” skills on anatomical and energetic levels. Trainees will learn how to overcome habitual seeing – as a yoga instructor – to better witness the whole truth of what your students are presenting in class.

Sequence: Going beyond basic sequencing by delving into the principles of teaching and healing students with specific injuries and sequencing for the setup and optimal implementation of advanced poses. Trainees will learn how to sequence a class to increase strength, openness, and intelligence in all areas of the body.

Prioritize: Learning how to address the needs and challenges of your students more efficiently starting with the issues that are of primary importance so that your students will yield the most profound results from your teaching.

Interface: Exploring issues that are frequently encountered when working with intermediate and advanced students. Trainees will learn to interact with your student and their spirit and help them form an alliance. Healing is a slow process that involves time, patience and honesty for both teacher and student. In order to address the myriad of questions that traditionally come up, Q & A forums are designed so that each trainee has the opportunity to tap into Ana’s nearly 40 years of teaching experience for answers to some of the tough questions, situations and scenarios that a yoga teacher faces today. Past questions have included: specific concerns or problems trainees encounter in their teaching; their own needs in staying inspired and inspiring; developing skill in becoming creative and effective with addressing their own needs; whatever path to which the trainees’ impassioned questions lead us.

Work with Special Needs and Injuries: Trainees will greatly increase their skill working with pregnancy and injuries including back, neck, shoulder, knee, sciatic and hamstring problems as well as post-surgical rehabilitation. Trainees will learn how to manage the injuries they deal with on a daily basis.

Curriculum Themes
Yoga as a healing path
Ana is a pioneer in the practice of using yoga to transform physical and emotional pain into a journey toward freedom and healing. She will teach you the tools to take control of your life and rid your cells of unwanted pain and trauma so you may bring the same healing to your students.

Walking the path of your Spirit
The training’s objective is to guide you into a greater understanding of your own challenges, both in your yoga practice and in your everyday life. This awareness will allow you to teach from truths that are discovered rather than from a dogma. Teaching authentically is more effective and compelling for both you and your students.

Express the Wisdom of Your Spirit
By observing yourself, others, and receiving direct feedback, you will tighten the circle of understanding between your actions and their effects and become a more effective and compelling teacher. You will also further develop your particular gifts as a teacher to facilitate the greatest results for you and your students. Risk being more truthful and how to speak from the eloquence of your Spirit.

Tuition: $2,000.  Non-refundable deposit of $1,000 is required to reserve your spot.  Space is limited, so please pre-register in advance.

Hotel Info (for out of town trainees): We reserved a block of rooms at Extended Stay America at 2330 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77098 Tel: 713-521-0600.  The rates are $52.24+tax per night for the single occupancy queen bed and $61.74+tax per night for the double occupancy 2 queen size beds.  The reservation is made under YogaOne.  You will need to rent a car if you decide to stay at this hotel as it is a short drive away from the studio.  You are welcome to coordinate room sharing and car pooling arrangements with your fellow trainees.