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Yoga Teacher Training Manual Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Shala www.drishtiyogach.com ; www.drishtiyoga.net Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Shala is a Registered Yoga School (RYS) with American Yoga Alliance Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual (For 220 hrs & 1000 hr Trainings) Copyright © 2010 Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Shala All Rights Reserved Everything originated from this universe and it goes back to this universe; even this manual. This manual may be printed for personal use during a Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Course Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Shala, Devi Savitam, Nediyavila Lane, Manchadimoodu, Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala India – 695013 Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Shala, Room 309, Blg 10, 546 Yuyuan Road, Jingan Dist, Shanghai, China www.drishtiyoga.net www.drishtiyogach.com [email protected] Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 2 INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION - Introduction to Yoga - History of Yoga - Introduction to Teachers o Swami Sivananda Saraswathi o Swami Vishnu-Devananda o Swami Vivekananda o Sri Krishnamacharya o Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois o Sri BKS Iyengar o Sri Srivatsa Ramaswami o Sri TKV Deshikachar - The Five Points of Yoga - Introduction to Vinyasa Yoga PHILOSOPHY, LIFE STYLE & ETHICS - Paths of Yoga - Ashtanga Yoga (Eight limbs of Yoga) - Karma & Reincarnation - Brahman, Brahma and the Three Gunas - Samkhya Philosophy HATHA YOGA - Asanas o Standing Poses o Supine Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 3 o Forward bends o Back bends o Twisting o Arm Balances o Inversions - Pranayama - Shat Kriyas - Mudras - Bandhas ANATOMY - Yogic Anatomy o Chakras o Three Bodies o Five Koshas - Physical Anatomy o Cardio-vascular system o Skeletal system o Respiratory system o Digestive system o Diet & Nutrition and Fasting o Muscular system CHANTING & MANTRAS ASANA INDEX APPENDIX - ANATOMY & ALIGNMENT BOOK Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 4 - PRANAYAMA RULES - MUDRAS - TECHNIQUES OF TRAINING & PRACTICE o Fundamentals of Asana Practice o Vinyasa & Vinyasa Krama o Classical Sun Salutations o Vinyasa Sun Salutation A & B o Vinyasa Sequencing o Types of Vinyasa o Yin and Yang Energy o Workouts o Practice preparation sheet Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 5 INTRODUCTION Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 6 Yoga is a scientific system of physical and mental practices that originated in India more than three thousand years ago. Its purpose is to help each one of us achieve our highest potential and to experience enduring health and happiness. With Yoga, we can extend our healthy, productive years far beyond the accepted norm and, the same time; improve the quality of our lives. History of Yoga Yoga’s exact origin remains a mystery. There is some evidence to indicate that early forms of Yoga may have existed as far back as 2500-1500BC., in the Indus Valley region of India. Sculptures of figures seated in what look like lotus postures have been found from this era, but because the script accompanying the figures is unknown, it is not possible to determine with any certainty if the sculptures are representation of a Yoga posture, or simply one way of sitting on the floor. What is clear is that since earliest times there has existed an understanding that human consciousness is vast, can be explored, and from that exploration insights unfold as revealed wisdom about the human condition, the universe, and our place in it. In the early centuries of the first millennium B.C.E., two streams of culture existed in India; Vedic and non-Vedic. The Vedas contained sacred texts of revealed wisdom, or Sruti, meaning, “what is heard from a higher source.” The four Vedas comprise the oldest scriptural texts of the Hindu faith. The non-Vedic Indian culture included Jainism and Budhism, neither of which accepted the authority of the Vedas, consequently evolving into separate faiths. It is important to remember that, within the Indian culture, wisdom was passed down orally from Guru to student, the Guru weaving threads of his own wisdom into something meaningful and appropriate for that student. Given this method of transmission of knowledge, different schools of philosophy intertwined and influenced each other in a way much less rigid than we may imagine. It is unclear whether Yoga evolved from Vedic or non-Vedic culture. Scholars have noted that during this period Sramanas (literally “those who exert themselves”) were involved in austerities – activities practiced by individuals who were renunciates and ascetics from the non-Vedic culture. From the first millennium B.C.E, onward was a period of dramatic social and cultural change in India. Around the seventh century B.C.E., large urban centers began taking shape in northern India. Urban centers grow where there is an abundance of food and a means to store it. Not entirely dependent on agriculture, other goods began to be produced, commerce evolved along trade routes, and ideas as well as goods were Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 7 exchanged. During this period of rapid change, philosophy was also evolving. Possibly as a result of epidemics spreading from isolated villages to major urban centers resulting in widespread death, philosophies began questioning the very meaning of life and the nature of existence. Around the 7th century B.C.E. the oldest Upanishads were written, and known as “Vedanta”, - the end, or culmination, of the Vedas. Upanishad literally means “to sit down near”; this gives a clue as to how this wisdom was transmitted, from teacher to student in close proximity. The teacher or Guru might practice the technique of reciting information to a student, then reaching over, taking his head and shaking it and asking the student to repeat the exercise to make sure he didn’t forget. Around the 5th century B.C.E., the pre-classical period, three main streams of the Yoga tradition had developed: the Upanishadic traditions, Budhism, and Jainism. Shortly after the fifth century, the Bhagavat Gita was written, probably completed before the ened of the millennium. Withinthis sacred Indian text, there is nothing short of a revolution in Yogic philosophy. There is a broadening of the practice of Yoga. Different forms of practice are described: Karma Yoga – the yoga of action; Bhakti Yoga – The yoga of devotion. Janana Yoga – The yoga of knowledge and wisdom. In this way, yoga practice and the highest states of consciousness are made available to everyone and renouncing the world and moving into a cave is not necessary. It is also implied within the text that women are not excluded from this practice, a first in the Yoga tradition. In the beginning of the first centuries of the Common Era, a synthesis of Indian philosophy is born. This is Classical Yoga, or the Yoga of Patanjali. The Yoga sutras authored by patanjali are an organization of yogic philosophy into short aphorisms, or verses. Patanjali is often equated with the Ashtanga Yoga system, or the Eight limbs of Yoga, but what Patanjali is primarily interested in not a sequential approach to enlightment, or a system of limbs of ascending subtlety. Patanjali is interested in one thing – Samadhi. Samadhi is the highest meditative state in which a person transcends their individual ego and merges with the universal. In the yoga sutras, he gives the definition of yoga in the second sutra “Yoga chitta vritti nirodah” or Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of consciousness. He then goes on to describe various ways to achieve this state. In Patanjali’s view, there are only two things to consider; the Self, or the inner witnessing consciousness called Purusa, and everything else that is perceived by that witness. Everything else – thoughts, emotions, trees, your landlord, all reside outside the witnessing consciousness. This is called Prakriti, or nature. Patanjali tells us that at some point, in some way, we forgot our essential nature. We became identified with the things that are “happening”, which is Prakriti. We develop ways of thinking, attachments to our ideas, we see we are male or female, large or small, and Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 8 somehow these things become our identity. The inability to see the difference between our essential nature (Purusa) and everything else (Prakriti) is called Avidya, or ignorance. How do we overcome this fundamental ignorance? Patanjali says the only way to see the difference between our witnessing consciousness and everything that consciousness perceives is to create stillness. Like a calm lake with no waves or ripples, in that stillness we can again see our essential nature, undisguised by the movements of the mind. From the time of Yoga sutras, there was a period of great interaction and creativity in yogic philosophy. Around the sixth century, Tantric Yoga was born. In the eight century a teacher called Sankara formulated a non-dual (Advaita), school of Vedantic philosophy. Sankara looked back at the large and disparate collection of the Upanishads and organized them in a way that made sense. Sankara’s world view, however, was still far from rosy. His belief was that, although there is only one reality, because of our own ignorance, we superimpose limitation and separation onto what we see, and like a man walking in the dark seeing a coiled rope and thinking it to be a snake, we are deluded by our inability to see clearly. The only way to see clearly in the darkness is to bring light, so in Sankara’s view a thing can only be cured by its opposite; darkness by light, ignorance by knowledge, and not by anything else. The world of form and multiplicity is still not valued in and of itself in this philosophy; it is seen as an illusion. The practice of Tantra yoga evolved over a period of centuries, and found its best articulation in the school of Kashmir Saivism around the eighth century C.E. Tantra Yoga, evolving when it did, had the benefit of centuries and centuries of development of Yoga philosophy and therefore was able to look back and weave the previous knowledge into a more sophisticated tapestry to explain human existence. Tantra agrees with the non-dual philosophy of Sankara’s Vedanta but asks the question “If there is only one reality, what then is this thing called ignorance?” Vedantic philosophy cannot answer this question since ignorance, to Sankara, is not a thing in itself, but simply the absence of knowledge. Tantra’s answer is that if there is only one Consciousness, it has to follow that anything happening (or appearing to happen) to that Consciousness has to be an operation of that Consciousness itself. So the reason we see multiplicity, or diversity of form, even though there is only one ultimate reality is that this is what that Consciousness has done –providing a simple and elegant answer to the question. Therefore, we as human beings are seen in Tantric philosophy as a condensation in time and space of this ultimate Reality. As a representation of ultimate Consciousness, every human being contains within themselves the full splendor and full power of supreme Consciousness. The practice of Yoga is ultimately, Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 9 one of remembrance. We don’t have to run from the world. The world is precisely the place where our Yoga takes place. Simple Way - Veda (1200 BCE) – sacred scripture as ‘revealed wisdom’ in forms of poems or hymns based on mystical visions, ecstasies, and insights. - The Bhagavad Gita (2500 years ago) – it is embedded in one of Hindu epics, Mahabharata, mystical author Vyasa weaved spiritual teaching in the account of events leading up to the 18-day war itself and aftermath. - Yoga Sutra (1800 years ago) – Classic form of yoga - Adi Shankaracharya (1000 years ago) – Founder of 10 Ashrams in India. - Hatha Yoga Pradipika (14th century by Svatmarama) Gurukula System In India, in ancient times students to live, work and study with their teacher. ‘Guru’ means ‘teacher’ and ‘kula’ means ‘home’. At the age of 7; students goes to the teacher’s home and study with him for next 12 years. During that period of time they will be helping the teacher and his wife with all kinds of homely works as a Karma Yoga. One might be asked to tend the guru’s cattle, another to chop wood, or anything else which needed doing for the family and school to survive. Our teacher training is based on this training tradition; as intensive course. Four Ashrams of Life (Four stages of life) Brahmacharya - The celibate student time of youth is for learning the foundation of lifestyle. The focus is on healthy, positive training and discipline, learning about spiritual, community, and family life Grihastashram - The householder phase of life is when one lives with spouse and children, fulfilling worldly interests and duties. It is a time of giving, living, learning, and loving in family and community. Religious or spiritual practices are done in the context of worldly life and service to others. Drishti Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Manual Page | 10