You Can Do It: Crow Pose

My new online friend Kiwineil asked for a quick tutorial on crow, since he's a Bikram practitioner and they don't normally do crow in the sequence. Might as well add to his outside-of-Bikram repertoire!

My new online friend Al has a great little article about crow pose too. His posture is a little "heavy" in the images, and crows are about being light, so here is how I like to get people into it.



For me, this is a basics pose. I teach it in all of my classes, unless people have serious injuries that would prevent them from doing it. But most people can do it, if they follow these instructions! :D

Also, notice that I fell down. It's no big deal. You just go back up. I could give excuses like "it was early" and "Hawk distracted me" or whatever. But the fact is, sometimes you just fall down.

How did it go? Did you get into crow? If you are primal, then have some green tea with coconut cream. If you are not primal, then have some green tea and a biscuit to celebrate your awesomeness!

Teacher Training Is Here!

Over the past eight years, I've been training teachers in an ad hoc, apprenticeship manner. Those who have studied with me are phenomenal teachers, and I'm super-proud of them. But the program was cumbersome and difficult for me to follow and maintain. So I sought a way to continue with the personal connection that this model brings, but also make it a bit easier for me - and for students - to access and receive training in a more systematic way.

In 2009, a number of my students approached me to get training so they could continue to teach each other. They knew I was moving to NZ, and they wanted to continue in "our style" that had developed over our many years together. I created a loose program wherein they could learn how to teach - even though many of them were not looking to teach yoga in any professional way. They just wanted to be able to be together. And, they are still together - every Thursday night, I believe - meeting in each other's homes. I am also super-proud of that continuation! This loose framework also really helped me to explore how people learn and what might be necessary for a more formal program.

When designing my teacher training, I wanted it to

• maintain the close relationship of the apprenticeship program;
• create formalized, group opportunities for learning - which are incredibly beneficial as students can can compare notes, discuss issues and bring unique perspectives to the material;
• provide opportunities for in-depth, self-directed study so the individual's interests can be really developed within the program; and
• still provide the high-quality education that I want to provide.

I think I've hit on it! I offer four kinds of training now for a variety of interests and needs:

1. Basic Yoga Certification

2. Advanced Yoga Certification

3. Diploma in Yoga

4. Continuing Education

For more information about these programs, check out the PDFs on the Healium website! Just click on Services > Therapeutic Movement > Yoga and look for the purple!

What do you think? How do you think this program description compares to others? If you lived in NZ, would you take this training? When are you moving to NZ, anyway?

Grab some tea, read the files and let's chat!

Origin Story

Sherpa and I on the way to Lake Ferry!

My adventures in New Zealand began in 2007. I spent six weeks teaching in Nelson, then my friend Diane drove Ryan and me from Wellington to Auckland over the remaining two weeks. This is how Diane became known as "Sherpa." It's a spiritual name, you know.

Meditation labyrinth at Wharariki Beach.

Diane and I hung out a lot during my eight weeks in New Zealand. She helped me cope with some serious stuff, and I hope that perhaps I helped her too. But most of all, we loved to hang out and drink tea and talk about yoga! This happened so often that it was given a name: lazy tea!

When I returned home to the US, I tried to get lazy tea going with friends and students in the area. It didn't work. Everyone was super busy - even me! I suppose you can't just impose "island time" on the US. So, it never really clicked.

Nothing fancy - reheated green tea!

Then, three years after that first trip, we moved to NZ - purchasing a holistic health center. I get emails from students in the US asking me questions about this or that pose. My friends from NZ, who now live all over the world, will pop onto Facebook and we'll have a chat about some yoga topic.

It reminded me of lazy tea! It's not exactly the same, of course. But, at least we have can tea while we read and write blogs. :-)