Yogic Meditation: Experiencing and Teaching the Subtle

4 Wednesday Evenings
6 – 7pm and 6 – 8:30pm
20 hours
$300 + HST

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Yoga is the fine-tuning of our awareness to observe the subtle. As yoga instructors, we become adept at cueing the ‘gross’, like the form of asana and the chug of the breath but, cultivating an awareness of the ‘subtle’ is a skill that takes time to foster. If the purest form of guided meditation feels like plucking words from the ether, how can you build a language that guides your students to these places? How can you lean on your own experience to inform your teaching?

This unique course aims to foster both an experiential and intellectual relationship to seated yogic meditation. Becoming an authentic and effective meditation instructor emerges from ones’ relationship with the modality. This course assists you in fostering that relationship through a curated, 10-week meditation program and creative workbook. To inspire and infuse your progress, we meet for monthly check-ins and mini lectures where we toggle the theory of meditation with other lenses like the nervous system response and neuroscience.

Please note: This course is designed to be paired alongside the Yoga Nidra course. Pairing the practice of meditation alongside the Yoga Nidra teacher training, will enable aspiring teachers to experience the subtle and from there, share it. The result – you will emerge with an established and nuanced understanding of the differences between yoga nidrā and meditation and an ability to hold space and silence from a place of personal experience and authenticity – an underrated skill that is highly transferrable to leading any yoga offering.

COURSE CONTENT:

Grounding in the philosophical roots of yogic meditation through a scriptural literature review (ie. where is ‘meditation’ introduced and how?);
Utilizing the philosophical premise of yoga as a way to inform meditation instruction, including dualism, Samkhya, the antar anga and the tradition of metaphor;
Understanding the physiology of meditation and how meditative practices impact the brain and nervous system;
Establishing a relationship to meditation, which informs how one can teach it with effect;
Learning how to write and deliver inspired and effective meditation scripts with confidence;
Understanding the importance of, and becoming confident with holding silence while teaching;
Developing a nuanced understanding of where yoga nidrā and meditation diverge and be able to apply that knowledge to lead either practice with great effect.

WHAT’S INCLUDED:

A curated, ten-week meditation program & workbook to foster your relationship to meditation and to capture nuggets from your experience worth sharing in the future. (PDF format, MP3 recordings of meditation practices)
Scheduled check-ins and mini lectures to inform and inspire your seated practice.
Access to all slides and visuals utilized in each live lecture.
A robust feedback process for course requirements, which will enhance both your knowledge and effectiveness as an instructor.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Something comfortable for sitting (a chair, cushion or block)