UPSIDE DOWN, SAFE AND SOUND/ Chris Magee// September 2017 words by Schooler Darren Hunter-Smith --- SSY is like coming home for me, not least because my wife has been running away on a Sunday evening every month to help organise for a while now, but also because all the wonderful people I have met here feel like one big family. I've attended a few sessions now and all have given me a new insight into a different path of yoga that I may never have experienced before in such detail.
Another Space was the new venue and inversions was the game. And I don't know about anyone else but I felt like a VIP having the run of such a sleek and stylish space. The newly enrolled and veteran schoolers that started to filter in through the doors never fail to bring a smile to my face. It's always lovely to see the community back together and with new fresh faces that bring a new energy of excitement and sometimes apprehension of what is to come.
This was especially true for this session as inversions seem to be the thorn in many a yogi’s side. However, Chris Magee, our guest teacher and head of yoga at Another Space, was very quick to ease the nerves and point out that it's the journey not the destination that's important. And Chris was excellent at explaining the foundations of all inversions and the reasons why it's so important to have this strong foundation in place as well as explaining the functional anatomy key to going upside down. The best thing about SSY is that you get to put into practice what you have learnt straight away. Working in smaller, intimate groups takes the pressure off and allows for more informative and personal feedback. It was in these groups and pairs that I found the session to be most beneficial, I've always learnt better in a more practical environment.
As always, the session ended in a short class lead by 6 students, picked by random. All of which had to teach a section of a class and cue a warm up leading to an inversion. This is always such a daunting task for any teacher with any given experience, however everybody is so supportive and generous with their feedback that nobody ever needn't be worried. This nurturing environment breeds such confidence in teachers and I saw first hand how much each person grew. The skills of guest teachers like Chris is only part of the puzzle that makes SSY fit together, it's the community that continues to grow, who support, question and give key informative feedback that really help this community flourish and become better yoga teachers and all round nicer people.
BEYOND THE INHALE/ Rosalind Southward// July 2017 words by Schooler Paul Selvey --- I was initially drawn to SSY as a place to meet likeminded Yogis and to enhance my teaching confidence. That was 5 months ago and this is now my fourth session with previous sessions covering Meditation, Yoga Nidra and Yin Yoga. The sessions I have attended have given me an inspiring insight into other paths of Yoga and led me to further study. Every session has translated in some small way into my own classes. Health Town is a lovely venue with a studio in the basement of a health food store. Not just any health food store, it’s an Aladdin’s cave of healthy food and drink, beautiful packaging and interesting delights. The five star studio is fully stocked with Yoga equipment, mirrored walls, dance bar and a beautiful wooden floor.
SSY always delivers good information passed on by experience teachers as well as instilling a great sense of community. I remember when I arrived at my first SSY session. It was a bit like turning up sober to a party with no friends. It was daunting meeting so many qualified yoga teachers all with different experiences and learning’s from all over the world. Because the welcome from the SSY team is so friendly, you are quickly immersed into the gathering of like-minded yogis sharing experiences and passion for yoga. The session opened with Michael James Wong giving an introduction to SSY and Ros Southward, our guest teacher for this months subject, Pranayama. David Kam warmly welcomed the newest of the SSY students and made them feel part of the community.
Ros led a very informative class covering lots of Pranayama techniques. We practised many of them in small groups, taking turns to witness the experience of the practise, as well as learning to instruct. Ross’s class covered Ujjayi Breath, Nadi shodhana, Surya/Chandra Bhedana, Bhramari, Kapalabathi, Sivananda breath, Uddiyana breath and Sitali Breath. Ros’s passion and knowledge about the breath is immense. Hearing her stories of how the breath promotes healing, how it can; energise/relax, heat/cool, control feelings/emotions in the body and mind with personal experiences to illustrate is truly inspiring.
The dreaded part of each session for me is the teaching at the end. Usually three people are chosen at random to teach the whole class. Personally this is a bigger test than the final lesson of my 200hr TT course. Even now, despite teaching five classes a week, I find this challenging. To teach what you have just learnt to a room full of yoga teachers puts you very much in the spotlight. With very little preparation, having to rely on improvisation to such an audience is so empowering. You find a flow and a natural way of teaching from within, rather than a well-rehearsed script. This week there were eight student teachers. Each and every one was incredible and very different. During each of the SSY sessions I have attended, I loved seeing the timid, nervous students transform in just a few minutes into confident flowing and natural teachers. This is such a big step in any new teachers progression.
I am grateful for SSY and my growing network of yogi friends. This learning resource is incredible value and has created opportunities and contacts to further my personal and professional yogic path of discovery.
Paul Selvey Instagram: @powerflowyogauk @paul.selvey_inspired @paul.selvey_arch
ACRO YOGA JAM / Dustin Brown /// June 2017 On a beautiful sunny Saturday (I know, controversial) SSY had an AcroYoga Jam on Primrose Hill. It was an open day so everyone was welcome, teacher or non teacher, we even had dogs join us! Walking into the park I couldn’t see anyone, until I saw a bunch of people attempting handstands, clearly some of the SSY crew had arrived already… As always the meetup started with hugs and high fives, ensuring that we achieved SSY’s motto “Leave with more friends than you came with.” Yoga teaching can be quite a lonely and individualistic profession, especially when your first start out, so this community gives you an incredible network or support and love.
This SSY was a little different to our usual meet ups, with less structure and more play, led by the ultimate ninja Dustin Brown (not just a super yogi but a black belt and a surfer. The session began with a few partner exercises to warm us up and a couple of games like the Ninja Challenge, where you battle it out until your opponents ‘lose’ both their arms (non-violently, of course). AcroYoga is basically partner yoga with a flyer, a base and a spotter. We got into groups making sure we went with people we didn’t know and started to play. It took quite a few attempts to get the hang of it, to connect and calibrate with our partners but after lots of falling and laughing went on, pretty soon everyone was successfully flying! Acro is all about trusting your base and your spotter to catch you and connecting to your inner child when things go wrong!
After a couple of hours of Dustin showing us all the cool things we had our picnic, simply catching up and chilling with old and new friends, basking in the sun. After lunch, we learnt acroyoga therapeutics, helping to stretch out our partners in a nourishing way. After that is was pretty much a free for all with lots of playtime, people helping each other with handstands, arm balances, drop backs, all things yoga! Perfect way to start a sunny weekend!
YIN IT TO WIN IT / Emma Peel /// June 2017 Words by Sunday Schooler Katie Hooper --- I arrived at Yogarise Peckham on a balmy summer’s Sunday evening and soon enough the school bell rang. The schooler’s took their seats in a circular mat formation, MJ, Susie & David invited all ‘newbies’ to stand up and introduce ourselves to the group. About 7 or 8 of us, we stood rather awkwardly and addressed the rest of the group with fragile smiles and hesitant fragments of who we were and why we felt compelled to join the community. MJ then invited the community to come up and hug each of us in turn. And I mean really hug. The founding principle at the very core of Sunday School Yoga we later found out was simply to leave with more friends than you walked in with. Needless to say I ticked this box 22 times over within the first 6 minutes. With the community ethos and feel-good induction firmly addressed and out of the way, the content of the session was led by the gentle and luminous Emma Peel. Clearly incredibly knowledgeable about the world of yin, Emma simplified the emotive intention of the practice into some wonderful takeaways for schooler’s to build upon. Before a single asana or seat had been explored, I was already prepared to approach the session with an open, playful curiosity. Yin is practising awareness of your boundaries, to explore your body as a child explores the world,to be in the driving seat of your own practice, determining shapes and space removed from performing the aesthetic of the pose. And perhaps most importantly, becoming a teacher of Yin is to hold a safe space where students can creatively explore all of the above, arriving at an interest in the uniqueness of having a body entirely different to anyone else’s.
Owning the silence Armed with this new information, we began to approach the teaching of yin with a focus on the hip joint. Emma then taught us a simple series of yin poses aimed at working into the hip joint and connecting areas of the body, (square pose - dragonfly - square pose, and later a deep low lunge liberating the psoas and associated adrenal tension) for us to teach our fellow schooler’s in pairs. The beauty in diving straight into a practical ‘teaching’ scenario with the SSY community was that it allowed no time for fear, doubt or hesitation. Laughter, humility and total acceptance carried us through. Being grouped with two other schooler’s who teach dynamic, fast and ‘yang’ styles of asana and flow was also amazingly helpful. We all found one element of the delivery bizarrely challenging, being simply to shut the hell up and own the silence. I learned that if you allow your students the silence, the space and the solitude in which to caress and explore their own boundaries, the invitation to bring back equilibrium arises. Even if this is simply through a series of 2 or 3 two minute poses in a power yoga finishing sequence, we open up the possibility of addressing this duality. This is perhaps, the most immediate and inspirational tool I can personally take from our session with Emma, and bring into my next dynamic class.
Duality of self - A celebration not a weakness Of all the schooler’s I met, we shared one universal quality when it came to identity. Each person was in the process of combining yoga teaching with a second career or income stream. We were lawyers, photographers, data scientists, mothers, consultants. We were all in some way balancing our yoga teaching with an entirely different construct of ourselves, trying to find synergy and purpose creatively between the two wherever possible. Emma said something that really resonated with me when advising on how to approach the final phase of a pose, when your mind is fighting the discomfort and unwilling to surrender to the impermanence of the moment and its associated difficulty.The balance of yin and yang is ever present with the in and out of our breath. The inhale and the exhale are at play in every moment, always available to us. Our lightness and strength and our ability to be both passive and active, preserver and destroyer, are already contained within every moment. We are natural multi-taskers balancing alternate flows of energy all the time. The knowledge that we can be two things at once, if not many more, should be something we celebrate and infuse into our practice and our teaching. In the words of BKS Iyengar; ‘The pose begins when the urge to leave it arises.’ It is what happens next, as we decide to move towards the edge of our boundaries with discomfort rather than run from them, that the lifelong student of yoga arises.
NINJA SCHOOL w/ Charlie Kelly /// August 2016 --- This month’s “NINJA SCHOOL!” took place in The Life Centre, Islington which is definitely one of the most gorgeous studios I’ve ever been to. After a relatively long journey with my friend Ying (sadly I’m not a Londoner yet!) finding that The Life Centre was tucked away down an inviting cobbled street in Islington was very much a welcome surprise. I signed in, stuck my name tag on my monthly offering of a piece of fruit (in my case, a banana), wrote down a pose I wanted to know more about on a bit of paper, popped mydonation in a jar, gave a few hello’s and hugs, and headed into the studio.
A mat lay in the middle of the room, with a singing bowl, chimes and ‘the jar of intentions’ sitting on it. As usual, we sat in the circle (of life!) and once again caught up with those from past SSY’s, or met the yogis new to the community. The school bell then rung and the friendly buzz of chatter died down. We were ready. I have to say, I was feeling good and not nervous at all, this SSY being my 3rd, but at the beginning I was pretty jittery - although those jitters were calmed down as soon as we’d been introduced because everyone is so lovely and welcoming there - you get met by Lucy to check your name in who’s always so smiley and nice, if you get confused you’ll be sure to get help from equally smiley David or one of the other schoolers, and then of course you have your main mentors Michael and Emily who always make you feel very much a part of the SSY tribe. Our afternoon started with an introduction of our mentors for the afternoon: Emily Clare Hill, Michael James Wong and guest mentor Charlie Kelly. Collectively and individually these mentors have so much helpful knowledge that they’re willing to share, and it’s not like they become our sole yoga gurus and do everything that they say - the attitude is very much take what you like and what you believe and leave what you don’t, but be willing to try.Then came the icebreaker - we all stood up and had to hug or high five each person, and include an introduction if we didn’t know the person already. Naturally, with a group full of yogis, there were mostly hugs, bear hugs (Charlie Kelly = best hugger) and trio hugs and if there weren’t hugs there were high five’s that turned into hugs (that was a lot of hugs for one sentence!).
We then moved onto something that’s really resonated with me (resonated as much as a gong). We wrote down on our pieces of paper, that lay on the blocks in-front of us, one fear about teaching/being there that day, and once we’d done that we went around the circle and shared them out loud. Although these were all very real and raw fears we all had embedded in us, as soon as everyone said their fear and you realised you had that fear too, it diminished more and more. “I’m afraid I’m not good enough”, “will hurt somebody”, “leaving my mat”. Yep, yep and yep. That’s another thing about SSY, connecting with others and realising you’re not the only one who feels ‘that’ way. Being a yoga teacher can sometimes feel quite lonesome; you’re a one man band, walking (on feet or hands) around town sharing your passion which is great but equally you do it alone. You have different individual kinda awkward timetables, you create your own sequences, playlists, up your social media game, do your own admin, etc, etc. And sometimes i feel like i get a bit caught up in my head analysing all the things I feel I’m doing ‘wrong’ as a yoga teacher because I don’t know what everyone else is doing or what they’re feeling. But at SSY you get to share the behind the scenes, and finding out that other yoga teachers (many having much more experience than me) still have different particular fears and obstacles was really reassuring, and SSY helps to get rid of those fears. It helps you evolve as a teacher and re-ignite that love for sharing something that is designed to be shared: yoga.
Then came GAME TIME! I always love game time - they’re always productive-yet-uber-funny yogi games. This month’s game involved having a group of people free-flowing in the middle of the room and the rest of us (initially, the majority of us) had to walk through the room and try not to get touched. A yogic twist on a party game, what could’ve been better! The aim was that the “teachers” group had to walk cool-y, calmly and collectively through the room - so not sprinting and hopping over the “flow-ers”. Some had tactics, they avoided the ones with the big moves (*cough* Michael Wong *cough*) and went around some of the less crazy yogis, but eventually we ended with one winner…. Lorena Rodrigo! Afterwards we had the point of the game explained and it was simply about how when you’re teaching a class and moving through the room assisting, you’ve gotta make sure you don’t get in someone’s way! Yes, it’s respectful of the student to do as you say but sometimes they might get their right’s and left’s wrong (a struggle I deal with constantly!), or maybe they wanna flip the dog and become a wild thing… it’s their practice and as a teacher you have to respect that and also make sure you don’t get in their way/get hurt yourself. Next up we talked about the differences between assisting and adjusting. An assist is helping someone out, and an adjust is kind of like ‘fixing’, but can imply that you know more about the students body than they do. Uh oh, that’s where it all goes wrong. I highly doubt that any yogis out there want to cause harm (because of ahimsa, and general yogi loving-ness), but sometimes an ADJUST can cause a little ouch-y that doesn’t feel too good. You ever experienced that? I have. These ouch-y adjusts could be big forceful actions or even gentler movements that make your body feel awkward and just not quite right, and the thing is is is that everyone’s body is different. Whether that difference is gender, weight, height, age, skeletal differences, muscular differences, we’re all unique. For example, let’s use the usual textbook names; Bob’s warrior 2 might look different than Sally’s, but if they both feel good and empowering then that’s their warrior 2 - unless Bob or Sally are doing something so out of alignment that could cause them an injury or pain, you probably don’t need to go over and externally rotate their knee for them. On the other side of the spectrum, an ASSIST can feel really good.
In my classes I must admit I don’t do assists very often. Partly this may be due to having new students coming to class every now and then and I feel, as a very visual and kinesthetic learner, that it’d be helpful for me to do it and them to kind of ‘follow along’ (although I know this could mean that they’re not finding the poses in their own body). It’s also partly because I’m not very confident with assists due to the fact I don’t do them enough (and we talked about this too, how it can be scary to ‘practice’ your assists on students, so tip 1: practice on family and friends to gain confidence!) and also because I have this big fat nasty fear of hurting someone. It’s not like I’m a Wreck It Ralph lookalike, but I just have a massive scare of hurting someone, whether that’s emotionally or physically. That is why this SSY felt extremely beneficial because we basically got time to practice assists in a safe and helpful environment where people would tell you if an assist felt super ‘yummy’ or a little bit awkward. We then learnt some more tips and tricks to help out with assisting using the two acronyms: VALID and SAFE. Each word broke down and we learnt how and when to use assists, including how to support the student physically and what you could do (so maybe your assist would be deepening the posture, lengthening, or helping out with their personal alignment). Alongside learning about these, we were also told what to do if something did go wrong, and how to respond. One of the main lessons I learnt from this Sunday was to become a ninja when assisting. Obviously you don’t want to cause a scare, but it’s best to move quietly and swiftly - you get in, do your thing, and get out again, no messing. It stays clean and simple, and most importantly safe and helpful for the student.
After going through a few assists, mostly using downward facing dog, in the centre of the room, we broke off into three mini groups, each group having a different mentor. This was a really nice way to break it down even more because although we are a big loving group, it was really helpful to split off into smaller groups so we could really get into the nitty gritty of certain assists with the help of each mentor. From those mini groups we split off into two’s, staying in the same area as the rest of our group, and worked on some of the postures we’d each written down at the beginning of the session. We then came back together as mini groups and went through some assists with our mentors and any questions we had. My group had Michael Wong as our mentor who showed us through some pigeon assists, deep backbend assists, upward facing dog assists, and other postures we wanted to learn about. Then came the group class. Usually these classes are led by a schooler from each three groups, but as this month was all about getting hands on, Emily, Michael and Charlie each did 1/3rd of a class with different mini groups assisting. Again this was a reallyproductive time to try out assists, and get used to moving around the room in a structured way so you move around each student. At the end of the class we got back into our original partners, and learnt savasana assists which are basically the nicest things ever. We called ourselves either person A or person B, and both of us got a go at a savasana assist, the first one being led by Emily Clare and the second being Charlie. Not gonna lie, afterwards I was definitely ready to go to sleep (thanks Eva if you’re reading!). We all then congregated into the centre to form a circle with our knees touching as we took a mini ending meditation, passing gratitude onto all the teachers around us. And that was this months SSY! Afterwards we headed for the pub for some drinks (or, a water in my case as the baby of the group) and a little chat to remind us that SSY is also there for the community and support of like minded yogi friends. Although it is amazing to share yoga with students, being able to share and learn in a space like SSY is a really incredible opportunity. It’s a productive and really fun way of spending a Sunday, and the community of SSY is so warm and lovely that it actually makes me smile in savasana. It’s that kind of goodness.
SUNDAY SCHOOL REPORT --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY BLOG ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BE PREPARED w/ Rachel Perry /// July 2016 Words by Sunday Schooler Hari Kalymnios /// 20/7/16 --- Sunday July 4th was my second trip to Sunday School Yoga, having first gone in June. Being a new teacher I was really happy to hear about this community that Michael (James Wong) first told me about that he and Emily-Claire Hill are creating. For four hours on a Sunday we meet to learn from more established teachers and guest mentors, practice our skills in a safe environment and most importantly get to know other teachers. Being a teacher, like being an “solo”preneur or freelancer can be a lonely experience. Even now as I write these words, it’s 2pm and I’ve only just left the house to get out into the park and write this article. I’ve been caught up in my home office doing the things to help drive my coaching, training and speaking business forward. So it’s great to have communities like this which are specific to your industry where people can share, collaborate and grow together.
Like I was on my first visit to Sunday School Yoga (SSY), there were a large number of (somewhat apprehensive looking) new teachers congregating by the Trippspace entrance. Not sure what was awaiting them. I felt a little smug (if I’m being totally honest), as I had at least been to SSY before. Not that that meant I would know what was going to go down. It’s different each month. More that I knew I would come out of it the other side! As in June, we started by sitting in a big circle. A welcome change from June, in my opinion, was the fact that the name tags (and fruit - to be explained later...) were already positioned. So there was none of that “who should I sit next to?” business, that goes on in people’s head. Well, it goes on in mine anyway! As people started to take their seats, I did notice one big change from June. I was (apart from Michael, of course) the ONLY boy there. Where are all the boys of yoga on a Sunday? OK, maybe it was partly due to the Euro 2016 championships going on...? First, a brief intro into the format of the day - more shocked/scared faces! Especially at the prospect of teaching the room full of other teachers a 15 minute segment at the end of class. Then, it was ice breaker time. Something new this time. And pretty challenging I must say. We had to stand up (not the challenging part!), then, in a circle go round the alphabet saying any asana (pose/seat) that began with that letter of the alphabet. If we were stuck, we could say an English one with that letter, but then had to say the sanskrit translation. And demonstrate the pose. For example, if it was ’T’ when it got to you, you could say “Trichonasana”, or other T poses, if you knew the sanskrit. Or you could say Tree Pose (as long as you knew the sanskrit for it), or Tripod Headstand, or any other English pose name beginning with T.
Some letters were dropped as they didn’t (we think) have poses, X, Z and a couple of others. My letter however was “I” and despite my best efforts of using “Invasana” (meaning any kind of inversion. Yes, I did just make that up on the spot! But isn’t it all made up by someone at some time?), I had to take a seat. I’ve since taken a look at my yoga book and couldn’t find a single pose beginning with “I”, so I think that I was a little short changed on that one! As is tradition at SSY, there is some kind of offering. This time it was a quote that means a lot to you. The quote I chose to write down was “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm” by Winston Churchill. I think quite apt for a yoga class, especially the budokon one’s I often teach, because we must “fail” our way through the poses before we get it. (Although truth be told there is no failure and any pose we do, is perfect from the beginning - in my opinion). We had to, whilst our eyes were closed (for some reason - possibly to demonstrate trust, vulnerability), find our way to the centre of the room and drop them into the special bowl. I felt particularly wary in this segment as I walked with outstretched arms to ensure I didn’t bump full on into anyone. I later thought that having outstretched arms could have been worse though. Why? See my note about being the only boy (with 20+ women), and where I might inadvertently find my hands.... well, you understand! And then we had to find a partner! Mine was Grace (“Hi Grace”, if you’re reading this!). If you’ve ever tried to partner up to someone in a room full of people walking around blindfolded you know that that’s quite a funny task. Although, again for me, being a little mindful of my surroundings! There was some nice connection moments after which we all took our seats and then found new partners to connect with and keep a bigger connection going between all of us. We then had a little meditation and took our seats in the circle again. Then the lovely Rachel took us through our teaching module. All about preparation and planning for classes. The thing that struck me the most was about the method she used for prepping. Deciding on a theme, then what words exemplify that theme (3 or 4 words). Then what would be the crescendo pose to work towards which those words would exemplify. And also 3 or 4 poses that would build a student into that. And then some kind of quote (from your head or elsewhere) that could cement the whole thing! We were then put into groups of three and given a theme. And then had a very short two minutes to come up with the additional words, big star pose and building poses and quote. I don’t know my group ever managed the quote, but we did pretty well on the other elements. Surprising given the time. Then one of use would have to teach a different group for a few minutes. I found this pretty challenging to be honest. I’m used to teaching my sequences and the cues I use - as well as demonstrating (particularly with budokon, which is pretty unusual), so standing there and being given 3 minutes to take them through 3 poses, into a power pose and have it all make sense. Well, it was a fun challenge! The thing is this. Sunday School Yoga is all about testing, trying out and trusting yourself. Teaching yoga after all is about trusting yourself. Finding your Truth (whatever that might be for you individually) and then standing in it. Let your students take what they need to at the moment from you. I think that becoming a better teacher is partly to do with how well you know the mechanics of it all, but mostly about being someone that can inspire, lead, push and get the best out of their students. I’ve certainly been to classes where the teacher has known all about the poses, the sanskrit, the cues and then what.... I was left with nothing to inspire me to come back again. Those that knew what they were about. Had an example I wanted to follow. A philosophy I admired. A personality I liked. A style that pushed me, tested me but showed caring and genuine interest in me becoming better. They are the people that keep me going back to them. As a new teacher we might be petrified. I haven't taught that many classes. And I remember my first class as a cover. The teacher asking me for cover had no idea I’d never taught before. I was bricking it thinking I would screw up. But then I thought “Sod it”. Let’s just do this. I’ve done many speeches in the past. I’m used to speaking in front of crowds, and besides, they won’t know if I’ve missed something out. You will be different in drawing on confidence. Confidence comes from competence. And competence comes from confidence. How to get both? By coming to Sunday School Yoga and testing in a safe space. By continuing to teach wherever, and whenever you can. By recognising that you will fail from time to time. I know a very successful yoga teacher who is well known around London and online. People see her in magazines, in shop displays and teaching tons of people at shows. Her classes always packed. But yet, it took her about 5 years to get to to that point. For years she was teaching groups of 3 or 4 people. Taking the 7am private slots (getting up at 5am to do so). And for ages couldn’t seem to break 15 students in a class. But this practise paid off eventually. And it will for you too. If you put the work in. Take the classes. The good, the bad and the ugly!
Back to class. To put all we had learnt into practise, we then had a full length class. Taught by 5 teachers at SSY. How were they picked? Back to the fruit and the quotes. Each quote was placed on the wall into fruit groups (I was a rhubarb. Apparently in case I was tempted to eat the banana, if I was in that group!). The quotes from each group that resonated best with Emily-Claire Michael and Rachel was then read out. The author of the quote became the teacher. And the other “fruit” teachers, the assistants. I was picked to teach in June, so I had an inkling that even if my Churchill quote was chosen I wouldn’t teach. So I ended up assisting in my segment. Which was also a learning experience as I don’t really assist much in my class. Until students are familiar with the unusual budokon moves it is easier to have them follow along - else I use too many words to get them into the pose. (With them each ending up in a different pose probably!) Once all five teachers had been through the round, we had a great shavasana (my favourite pose!), then a lovely heart to heart meditation with the person we happened to sit next to. Sitting back to back we focussed on our heart space and fell into bliss. And now for a reward for all our hard work. At the beginning of class we all offered a chocolate (asked to bring ahead of time). These were placed in the middle and we each took a different one home. I dived straight for the Om Bar (thanks to whoever bought that one). It was a flavour I’d yet to try. Om Bar Centers with a gooey and melted centre of coconut and vanilla. A great reward after a great session. I loved the choccie so much that I had to buy another one while visiting Whole Foods the following day! (Hey, we may be yogi’s but we still have the excitable child craving chocolates inside most of us too!) So that was my second experience of SSY. You been before? Coming to a future one? Apply, get accepted, and accelerate your development as a teacher! Hari K.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JUNE BLOG --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- READ THE BODY, NOT THE POSE w/ Lolo Lam /// June 2016 Words by Sunday Schooler Lorena Rodrigo /// Photos by Jahan Khan, Cranberry Media 12/6/16 --- This month I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to write about Sunday School of Yoga. Although the word "school" might sound a bit daunting, these sessions are more about bringing young, newly certified yoga teachers together into a very special community, a "teachers playground".
his June's session was hosted at YogaRise in Peckam Rye, a beautiful space within a very interesting building. Stepping out of Peckam Rye station was a bit of a journey into the unknown. After having travelled for two hours from Reading to South East London, it felt like entering a magic world full of African beats, amazingly colourful dresses and interesting foods and spices. The studio space was very bright and felt very welcoming, especially after Michael's introduction, "We are not here to tell you what is right or what is wrong but to have fun".
I still very well remember attending a Jivamukti immersion about a year ago with both Michael and Emily-Clare and thinking these two people are so cool but they are not just cool, they are very accessible and their way of leading the sessions is always very enjoyable and fun. So what actually happens at one of these sessions? For all of you who attended last Sunday's session my thoughts will sound familiar but I guess I am not writing this post for you guys, but for all the other newbie teachers out there who are still thinking about whether they should join us and if it is worth it. Ok, here we go, this is what happened; brace yourselves as it may be scary!!!
First, introductions. Michael and Emily told us about their background and introduced this month's senior guest mentor, Lolo Lam. Lolo is not, in her own words, a little Asian man, but a kind of shy, humble, awesome Rocket teacher who teaches classes based on the School of Tough Love (her own words again). She is kind, caring, generous with her views and compassionate; the perfect cocktail for a perfect teacher and we were immensely blessed to have her as guest mentor. Not surprisingly she used to be a nurse and her teachings come from the heart in a very nurturing and nourishing way. After the introductions we had a little opening ceremony.
We had all been asked to bring a long stem flower to the session as our monthly offering, as well as writing three words on a card reflecting our mood and how we felt at the beginning of the class. Both flowers and small papers were placed into two jars in the middle of the room and at the end the session we got the paper back so that we could see whether our mood had shifted or if anything had changed. For me "Blessed, Calm and Happy" stayed the same but at the end of the class I had to add "Empowered" after the power Vinyasa flow class. This was a beautiful small ceremony that really makes you think introspectively before and after the session. The offering was blessed with the mantra "Om Namoh Gurudev Namoh" used for “tuning in” to the divine flow and self-knowledge within each of us, calling out all our past present and future teachers and the teachers within ourselves. We also got to pick a fruit which determined what group we belonged to. Mine was the peach group, but there was also banana group, apple group and passion fruit group, if I remember well.
Next was the ice breaking bit and what could be better than the famous rock, paper, scissors game to make people forget about their shyness. I must say I was devastated to lose the last round but very happy for lovely Lena to win it, she totally deserved it. Once we all felt at ease and at peace with each other came "Lolo's take on alignment". This was all about demystifying old patterns in the ways that us teachers do and say things. We saw how we mentally read scripts because that may be the way we were taught in our schools and is how we have always done it - but it might not necessarily be the right way of doing it. I just wanted to summarise Lolo's workshop on alignment with some of her beautiful quotes: Teach the body not the pose. Look at the students and see the students. Concept of alignment (asana does not have alignment, people have alignment). Don't do the pose, experience the pose. Perfection is a matter of perception. With all these striking concepts floating in the air we moved onto the practical exercise: Cuing people into asanas while blindfolded; this was so much fun, especially for me as English is not my first language and sometimes I find it really hard to explain things without demonstrating them; but it really gave me an insight about how to explain things in a simple way without using the names of the poses. Trying to integrate Lolo's ideas into our teaching was both challenging and exciting and it definitely helped me in the way I teach my own classes.
I actually dedicated my Monday classes to Lolo and to her idea of experiencing the poses as opposed to just doing the poses. After all of this and a little break / snack time where I got to enjoy and savour one of the best chocolate and berry cakes I have ever tried in my life (and I am sure if you tried it you'd agree) came the asana practice. Five teachers were chosen from each of the fruit groups. Each of the teachers taught a sequence in their own style. Also people who belonged to the fruit group of the teacher teaching at each time could assist and adjust the rest of the group. I had an amazing experience doing Budokan, which I had never done before, and it so much fun. I am now even thinking of going to one of Hari's classes to experience it in its all force. All of the teachers were great and when it came to give them feedback I am sure it was all positive and constructive. Lolo's comments on their teaching were encouraging and insightful, she has a great understanding and perception of the teaching methodology and this is a great exercise for us teachers to reflect in our good old ways.
Unfortunately all this fun had to come to an end and, after a very juicy savasana and the feedback session, came the closing ceremony where we were given the card with our three feelings and asked to reflect how we felt after the class. A very simple cord with a bead was given to each of us to remind us about this community once we left the building. Sunday School of Yoga is the perfect place to meet new people, to exchange ideas and to be with like-minded people with similar interests. It's given me a great opportunity to develop new skills, improve my teaching methodology and grow into a more experienced yoga teacher. I love that it is establishing a sense of community and a sense of belonging within this amazing London Yoga Tribe which is a melting pot of different schools, traditions and ways of teaching but that all come together as one big community.
The sessions are witty, fun, enjoyable, packed with games and exercises and very well thought out; but if I had to just pick one thing I enjoyed the most it would definitely be the incredible mix of people from different countries and different schools all with the same passion: "a love for Yoga". Namaste! Lorena
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARCH BLOG --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRINGING YOU INTO YOUR TEACHING w/ Tania Brown /// March 2016 Words by Sunday Schooler Margaret Manning /// Photos by Luke Ayling, Woods Lodge Photography 20/3/16 --- Candles framed the edge of thirty blue blocks, spaced out in the shape of an oval on the studio’s sprung wooden floor. A box full of fruit sat on the table in the foyer, ready to be ransacked and used for the purpose of sorting people into groups. The rumbling of the overground could be heard through the arched ceiling of rustic brick work. The yogis lined up outside the studio door, waiting in their leggings, mats strapped over their shoulders, eager to be let in. This scene describes March’s edition of Sunday School Yoga, and the ambitious yoga teachers outside were ready to share, teach and learn.
This was the second month running of Sunday School Yoga. The ring leaders behind the buzz, Michael James Wong and Emily Clare-Hill waited to greet the newbies and returners alike. They were there to create a comfortable space for yoga teachers to unite and share stories, tips and wisdom. 
The seasoned Tania Brown was this month’s guest mentor. A teacher for twelve years, Tania has found her place in London’s growing yoga scene as a veteran yoga teacher. This month’s edition was called “How to be YOU in YOUR teaching.” The knowledge gained from bringing thirty yogis into a room and sharing best practice is boundless. Learning from one another is such a valuable tool. We used the studio as a safe space to practice body scans and a variety of body awareness exercises. We talked a lot about being genuine, authentic, true to oneself. The main ethos of the night seemed to be, “Be yourself.” We explored different ways to allow you to be yourself in your teaching, and how to make for a safe space that allows students to come to the mat and be themselves. We discussed ways of making students aware of their own bodies, to notice the subtleties in the body that they brought to the mat on that particular day. We offered simple silly tricks such as fluttering lips in a downward facing dog to allow practitioners to leave egos at the door. We centered, we balanced, we concentrated, and most of all, we were ourselves. Tania explained when a teacher is truly being oneself, it gives permission for the students to be themselves as well. “Don’t be me, be you. Live your truth and you will be amazed at what happens to your students.”
So what does it look like when put into practice? I began to wonder, how can I learn from someone else about how to be myself? The evening started with each yogi writing his or her own personal mantra on a small slip of paper. This is where the authenticity and permission to be oneself began. After writing the mantra, we placed it in a jar, and sealed it with a chime.
After that, we each selected a clothes pin from a pile. Each had a sanskrit yoga pose or exercise written on it. A mysterious aura surrounded these clothes pins, as we were not told what would come from them. It unfolded that each sanskrit posture was written on two separate pegs and without words, we had to find the other person in the room who had the matching pin. We did so by acting out the pose we chose. Once found, partners had to maintain the posture until all partners located one another. This was particularly entertaining for those yogis who got stuck with quite advanced poses. One particular crowd pleaser was the male yogi who chose Surya Yantrasana, sundial pose, and had never tried it before. His success at entering the asana was met with a raucous round of applause. After getting to know our partner, each partner took it in turns to introduce the other partner to the whole group. 
Then came the mystery fruit unveiling. There were five groups of fruit from which each person selected one type. We split into groups of three based on the type of fruit we ended up with. In our small groups we each took turns teaching the other two. We used different techniques we had discussed and tried them out on one another. It was a safe place to try something new, to add things to the proverbial bag of tricks. Feedback was honest and helpful.
Then came the pinnacle of the evening, the Sunday School Yoga 75 minute class. Yogis from each fruit group had the option to attach his or her name tag to their piece of fruit if they wanted to teach the whole group for 15 minutes. The names were drawn, Becky Pate, David Kam, Kate Lister, Lily Richardson & Minna Skirgard each led their own authentic 15 minute flows. While the yogi with the fig taught her 15 minutes, the 5 other students who had picked figs were adjusting around the room. This way, everyone has a role. The bravery of those who volunteered to stand at the front and teach such a daunting crowd is admirable but the rewards they reap are great. The experience of being able to teach such an advanced group of practitioners and to actually get quality feedback from students who know their stuffis huge. The adjusters also get a lot out of the experience, as they get to watch the class for 15 minutes and pick up ideas from one another on how to safely adjust in a particular pose.
I was one who sat back and admired the five brave teachers this time around. But watching each of them in their element, trying out new things, giving bits about themselves up to the practice to help introduce their true selves was an incredible learning experience. I was immediately able to take tips and tricks from this session and apply them in to the classes I teach throughout the week, with more confidence in myself.
My biggest takeaway is the knowledge that if I truly am myself while teaching, it will show and the benefits that my students will reap from being allowed to be themselves will keep them coming back to their mats. “Me-you-us,” Tania kept repeating. “Be yourself. This gives your students permission to be themselves. That’s when the magic starts to happen. That’s when they figure out who they really are. Live your truth and you will be amazed at what happens to your students. Me-you-us.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEBRUARY BLOG --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ART OF CUING AND STAYING IN THE FLOW w/ Michael James Wong /// February 2016 Words by Sunday Schooler David Pearce /// @daretomove /// daretomove.co.uk Photos by Luke Ayling, Woods Lodge Photography 7/2/16 --- Yes, the strikethrough is intentional and not just to look funky, but I’ll get into this later. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the inaugural Sunday School Yoga – a four hour gathering of yogis in their first 1-3 years of teaching, where experiences, opinions, concepts, and ideas could collectively be shared in a safe, non-judgmental space. It was so safe in fact that I was told the organisers refused to allow any studio managers, who were extremely interested in attending, to come and observe. And why wouldn’t they be!? With some of London’s best newish (but already established) yoga teachers, as well as some amazing up and coming ones all together in one room practicing their teaching skills it would potentially have been a showcase of teaching talent where studios could effectively mass-audition and pick their favorites. But luckily this wasn’t the case, as it would have drastically changed the energy in the room and intention to the evening. The workshop wasn’t about demonstrating how good a teacher you are, but instead actually take some time to analyse and develop how you teach, and practice something new in an environment where it was ok to mess up, forget cues, stumble over thoughts and words, and not worry about it because the pressure of it being a class people have paid for had been removed. When the idea of the workshop was mentioned to me I thought it sounded great, and as a newly qualified teacher I was super keen to get involved in something that could help improve my newly acquired skills that I’m still discovering and endeavoring to develop. I assumed it would be quite an ad libbed affair – how wrong I was! I didn’t begin to realise the scale of the vision and professionalism of the project until I began receiving the emails and got a sneak preview of the Sunday School Yoga (SSY) website. To be honest I probably should have know better, what with it being the brain-child of international yogi-entrepreneur Michael James Wong (MJW), who’s already brought us the likes of the ever expanding Re Boys of Yoga movement, and Emily-Clare Hill, lululemon UK’s first ambassador and this year’s face of OM Yoga magazine. Accompanying these two awesome teachers was the lovely guest mentor Rosalind Southward – a certified Forrest teacher who teaches Forrest and Yin in Peterborough and Cambridge.
Informed with the where and when, and instructed to bring yogawear (obviously), a yoga mat (because “we know you’re picky and like your own”), a pen and paper, and a piece of fruit(!), that’s pretty much all the info I had going into the evening. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive being in a room full of (what I like to call) ‘proper’ teachers (people who actually do this for a living, as opposed to myself who is still very much finding his feet with his one class a week outside of his actual office job), feeling like somewhat of a fraud by daring to consider myself a peer of these amazing people. But then my yoga practice kicked in and I decided not to sweat the small stuff but instead just go with the flow. Besides, I was lucky enough to already know all the mentors and the majority of the schoolers, so it was more like just being in a room of happy, understanding friends than on a stage in front of critical, intimidating judges.
Armed with a curious pineapple I arrived at TripSpace in Haggerston – an apt venue on my account as this was where I’d spent every weekend for the two month up to Christmas completing my 200 hours teacher training – it felt like old times, especially considering some of the evening’s attendees had also been my coursemates. After hugging numerous people hello and grabbing my name-tag at registration we were each asked to pick a piece of fruit from a makeshift Dharma-wheel fruit-bowl (gosh it’s a versatile piece of kit!), have a yearbook-esque photo taken with it by the event photographer, and find a space in the oval-shaped perimeter of blocks that had been lain out.
SUNDAY SCHOOLERS /// FEBRUARY
Dave P.
Marc L.
Lily R.
Morgan G.
Kate L.
Anwar G.
Kathryn F.
Lorena K.
Mo B.
Christina P.
Pennie L.
Vicki W.
Miranda K.
Emily M.
Nicole R.
Meredith B.
Margaret M.
Kelly B.
Kelly B.
Hannah B.
Annie R.
Fransein M.
David K.
Becky P.
Ale DB.
Uossy A.
Emily-Clare Hill /// Mentor
Michael James Wong /// Mentor
MJW welcomed us to the space and proceeded to give a brief overview of the evening, and the purpose for putting together the Sunday School project. We were each given a piece of card and asked to write down our reason for becoming a teacher, and then place it in the jar of intention, which was situated in the middle of the room on a solitary mat. I thought this was a nice touch, and immediately brought us into a state of mindfulness.
In true big group ice-breaker fashion we were each, mentors included, asked to stand up, say who we are, why we practice/teach yoga, and why we’d chosen the fruit we’d picked from the bowl (choices were between apple, pear, orange, banana, and pomegranate, though this depended on how early you’d reached the bowl). It was so interesting listening to all these amazing people share their truth behind their practice and teaching, as well as the comedy the majority of the fruit explanations invoked. This created a fantastic mixture of insight, appreciation, and calm amongst everyone, and set the tone nicely for the remainder of the evening.
The topic for SSY:Volume 1 was ‘The Art of Cuing and Staying in the Flow’. After a quick demonstration from MJW of cuing a simple sequence the topic was opened up to the group for a brief discussion. It was interesting listening to everyone’s ideas, with the great thing about it being that there was no definitive answer – it was all just a matter of sharing experience, opinion, perspective, and self. And this was the underlying message to the workshop – that the mentors weren’t there to tell us what was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but share things we might find useful from their collective years’ teaching experience.
This being said, we were then given what could be considered the ‘theory’ section of the school experience – the three C’s of cuing:CALLING IT (1) – the instruction to the student so they know what they’re doing, includingthe breath
CUING IT (2) – stating alignment points to help them better arrive in the posture
COLOURING IT (3) – adding a bit of personality/imagery to keep them engaged and help them connect with the intention
The best way to explain it would be a quick example – let’s take transitioning from downdog to warrior 1: “(1) Inhale virabhadrasana A; (2) step the right foot forward between the hands, spin the back heel down, square the hips, (3) reach the arms to the sky as if holding a beach ball up towards the sun.” Ok, so my colouring still needs a little bit of work, but you get the idea.
To help us practice this we broke into small groups where we could take turns teaching one another a simple sequence, with the focus being on the three C’s, rather than the sequencing itself. Often breaking a large group into subgroups can me a boring/messy task, but not on this occasion: we split into our fruit groups based on the piece we’d selected from the bowl at the start. So simple, but it’s these nice little thoughtful but uniquely quirky aspects that make something so great, especially when you don’t see them coming.
After having an attempt in our groups on our own we were then tasked with trying it again, but with the cuing taking on a specific theme, as selected by someone in the room. Themes thrown out included ‘ninjas’, and ‘the ocean’ – not your most conventional yoga-related topics. I can honestly say that was the first time I’d cued a “downward-facing ninja”, but that’s not to say it will necessarily be the last… .
Whilst it did result in a lot of comedy throughout the room, when we stopped to discuss as a collective how it went there was a general consensus that it was actually pretty dam hard. Multiple people, myself included, expressed how once they had to get creative with their cuing even the simplest of instructions became challenging, with there being a lot of stumbling over words, excessively long pauses, and even total mind blanks. And that was the point of the exercise – to realise that it’s easy to get stuck in the pattern of saying the same thing over and over as a teacher without allowing yourself much creativity, which is understandable as once you’ve found something that works you tend to just stick with it. But the exercise allowed us the freedom to try out something new and fun, and if it went wrong then it went wrong, no harm done, just the appreciation that introducing some uniqueness into your teaching style can be something to be mindful of in the future. Swiftly moving on with the evidently precisely-structured evening, we were told that after a quick break we’d all be practicing a 75 minute class together, but with the twist that it was going to be taught by us! Each fruit group would teach a 15 minute segment, with one member taking the lead and the rest of the bunch adjusting. As it was a democracy the top banana from each group wouldn’t be picked; instead we were given the opportunity to put our names forward, should we want to, by attaching our name tag to our piece of fruit and leaving it in the bowl during the interval. Having only started my studio class five days previously, and as I’ve actually never taught flow, being Ashtanga and Rocket qualified, I didn’t find the prospect very appealing, so decided to leave it this time. This, however, didn’t stop a certain rotten orange volunteering my fruit on my behalf (with the best of intentions, of course) whilst I chatted unawares. Alas, my name wasn’t selected – the universe agreeing perhaps that it wasn’t time just yet for me to take on this challenge.
Uossy A.
Margaret M.
Emily M.
Nicole R.
Kelly B.
Everyone who stepped up and taught was amazing, and I have the utmost respect and admiration for them, not just because they were so great, but as I can only imagine how daunting teaching a room of your peers might be. After the practice we returned to the oval with which we’d commenced the evening, where everyone was asked to give one positive comment to one of the five teachers, and one piece of constructive feedback to another, ideally not repeating anything that had been mentioned already. Whilst an extremely beneficial exercise, it can be a very difficult thing to be a part of – not only for the person receiving the feedback, but also for the one providing it! Obviously receiving criticism isn’t always easy, especially when you feel inclined to defend yourself but have to practice santosha and just take it on board. Everyone was so fantastic that thinking of a positive wasn’t a challenge; the constructive (NOT negative) on the other hand proved to be more difficult, especially when it’s a room full of supportive friends who appreciate everyone’s awesomeness. However, the fact that it was from a friend may have made it easier to accept as you know they’re not attacking you, but critiquing out of love. What was interesting to note was the difference of opinion from person to person; for example, one of the teachers put us through a killer abs session in their section, which some gave as their positive feedback, whereas others as their constructive criticism. Personally I loved it, but I guess this nicely demonstrates just how subjective even a yoga class can be (and is a reminder to anyone reading who hasn’t done much yoga that it’s worth trying everything and anything until you find something that clicks with you).
After closing the space MJW placed a jar of pound coins in the center of the oval and encouraged us to take one, asking only that we do something positive with it. For me, these little thoughtful touches are what made Sunday School Yoga such a great event, with this one gesture in particular really encapsulating the philosophy and intention of it’s soul, just as the strikethough represents, as MJW explained when I asked him: “Yoga is what brings us all together. Sunday School is more about the community than anything else; the strike through represents that the community is at the heart, and that it’s not ALL about yoga, and sometimes we can do other fun stuff as a community.” If you take a look at SSY’s instagram you’ll see they’ve posted numerous statements where part of the text has been stricken through as a way of getting to the heart of the message – you can read the whole statement, or you can read the statement without the stricken text, and you get a different take on the message, which I absolutely love. Whilst asana is the most obvious aspect of yoga, to me the community side of it is just as important and valuable, and is a big part of why I love it so much. This event was a great representation of how yoga can be so much more than just the physical practice; not only did I pick up some useful ideas and contribute towards improving my teaching abilities, but I got to spend a few hours laughing, sharing, and sweating with some amazing, inspirational people. At the extortionate price of 5 whole pounds (a suggested donation to help cover the cost of hiring the venue) this was certainly money well spent.
