Sage Rountree's Blog, page 29
July 20, 2020
Watch: Pinup Warmup at Yoga Vibes
I have a new video up at Yoga Vibes, one of my favorite warmup sequences. It also works nicely as a standalone stretch break targeting shoulders, spine, and hips. I call it the Pinup Warmup because there are several poses to strike: you can Vogue along the way! Here’s a taste:
Watch the full video here. If you want a year’s subscription to Yoga Vibes, the code sagevibes will save you $50!
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July 15, 2020
Coming in Two Months: The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook
Two months from today, The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook will be officially published! Between now and then, I’m working on an updated website with lots of resources for teachers of every level of experience. These are keyed to the book, which is full of workbook prompts from the global (find your why) to the specific (make an outline for your workshops).
Yesterday I dipped into the book proofs to be sure that my advice for online teaching and content creation is holding up as the pandemic wears on. I’d inserted thousands of words to the original page proofs to keep the book current amid a global pivot to video teaching. To my relief, it’s all still relevant at this point, and I trust it will be in two months—so if you want to learn how to start or improve your online presence, even if you’re a brand-new teacher or a technology-phobe, this book is for you.
What I hadn’t noticed but what was pointed out to me by Alexandra (DeSiato, Alexandra, page 32), is how wonderful the index is. (The publisher arranges the indexing.) Expect gems like:
privileges, recognizing, 109–10students best served elsewhere, 164
and
truckers, long haul, 38–39
alongside the more conventional
locationsonline classes, 202physical studio, one-person, 183–84private lessons, 207scouting, 207–8virtual studio, one-person, 185–86workshops, 194–96
You can preorder the book in paperback or e-book format (an audiobook is coming, too!) from your favorite bookseller. My publisher’s site has conveniently collected the links for you here!
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July 10, 2020
Newly Certified: Amanda Frayeh
Meet Amanda Frayeh, the most recently certified teacher to graduate from my Teaching Yoga to Athletes course! Amanda took the content side of the course at Kripalu in 2019, then joined me in January 2020 as my assistant. While that seems like ages ago, it was only six months (whoa). In between and since, she’s been moving toward certification while working full-time as a yoga teacher, and now adapting to this new world of distance teaching.
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Amanda has an impeccable skill set as a teacher to athletes. She played college soccer at Warren Wilson in western North Carolina, and still plays recreational soccer. In addition, she’s a distance runner.
Amanda also holds a PhD in sport and exercise psychology and is an expert on kinesiology. I love working with her, since she sees how sport psychology and yoga philosophy intersect, and she packages it all in a really accessible yet deep way.
“Accessible yet deep” is a good description of Amanda’s teaching. It’s 100 percent grounded in what athletes think and feel, then delivered in ways that make the practice seem specific and tailored to the individual player as well as universal. She’s a wonderful teacher!
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One of the upsides of the pandemic lockdowns is that you can study with high-quality teachers from anywhere. Amanda has lots of great online content for soccer players and athletes of every stripe. Find it all at her website, https://amandafrayeh.offeringtree.com. If you play or coach soccer and want a custom-tailored program, ask Amanda! And if you are in Minneapolis once things open up, search out her in-person class. It’s well worth your time.
If you’d like to join Amanda as an expert in teaching yoga to athletes, start your work on the course at Sage Yoga Teacher Training. The lectures have all been freshly updated, so you’ll be getting the most recent content!
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July 7, 2020
Last Chance to Sign Up: Applied Anatomy with Jenni Rawlings and Jenni Tarma
Yoga teachers and movement geeks: here’s your last chance to sign up for a wonderful applied anatomy training that happens online in real time (or, if it’s better for you, your own schedule) starting this Saturday. Carolina Yoga Company is hosting this training with two wonderful teachers who are experts not only in anatomy and yoga but also in teaching online and in taking sometimes weighty topics and making them clear and accessible!
Jenni Rawlings and Jenni Tarma are your teachers. You can quickly get a sense of both of them and their gifts on their Instagram accounts:
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And then learn more about them at their websites, jennirawlings.com and jennitarma.com.
Fun fact: Jenni R’s name is pronounced in the typical American way; Jenni T’s is pronounced with a soft J, YEN-ni, as she is Finnish.
The training will cover:
Major joints and muscles and their function (and dysfunction)Different types of muscle contractionsCommon injuries and approaches for dealing with themWhat constitutes “normal” range of motion, and teaching to account for anatomical variability between studentsThe interconnectedness of the muscular systems and how they affect movement in a broader sensePractical tips for incorporating these concepts into teaching and practice
I am sure there will be plenty of laughs and myth busting along the way. I’m looking forward to it and hope to see you there!
Read all about the training and register here. It’s part of Carolina Yoga Company’s advanced studies teacher training and fulfills a requirement for the YTT, but it’s also open to anyone.
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July 6, 2020
Watch: Six Moves of the Spine, Supine, Two Legs at Yoga Vibes
I have a new video up at Yoga Vibes, and the extra-great news is that it’s yoga you can do in bed. This sequence comes straight out of my book Everyday Yoga. It makes a nice standalone practice first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening, or can serve as a warmup or cool down as part of your longer home practice. Here’s a taste:
Watch the full video here. If you want a year’s subscription to Yoga Vibes, the code sagevibes will save you $50!
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July 2, 2020
Cannot Predict Now
Who knows what the field of teaching yoga will be like in the next three months? The next six? The next twelve? Not I—and I have a book on the subject, The Professional Teacher’s Handbook, coming out in three months!
One growth field I see is bringing yoga to a group, either in person or virtually, rather than assembling a random collection of students together in a room. This group might be a family unit or household, or it could be an athletic team or a workplace cohort like a medical center staff or restaurant staff.
There are great benefits to teaching a group of folks who know each other. There’s already a rapport. You can be clear on what all your students have in common, what their shared needs are, and how you can help them with yoga.
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My full-featured online course Teaching Yoga to Athletes covers just this. We talk about two situations: one, the open class, where you bring athletes to yoga, but the other, the private lesson or team class, where you bring the yoga to the athletes. You don’t need to be working with athletic students for this course to help! We explore how to identify patterns and habits in students’ bodies and minds, then address them with yoga.
I’ve just done a complete refresh of the course lectures, too! You’ll be getting the most up-to-date information and the approach I’ve honed in my eight years of teaching this course in person and online.
Read all about it here, see answers to frequently asked questions, and I’ll look forward to working with you!
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June 15, 2020
Now Available for Preorder: The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook
Meet The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook, a new book to help both current and aspiring yoga teachers of any style and approach:
chart their coursechoose the right trainings and continuing educationpromote themselves mindfullyplan and assess their classesdevelop healthy relationships with students, clients, and employersnavigate the landscape of online teachingbe professional whether teaching yoga full-time or as a volunteer
The book, to be released September 15, 2020, is the teacher training manual I have meant to write for a decade. I’ve put everything I know about teaching in it. It is here to help you in this strange new world.
You’ll find my advice on streaming classes and putting other content online, so it should be instantly helpful to you even if your regular or dream studio is not holding in-person classes yet. Most importantly, I encourage you to investigate your own blind spots and unexplored biases and outline ways to create an inclusive classroom to help people find connection with yoga.
Whether you’ve been teaching for a while and are looking for ways to adapt to a post-Covid world, or are considering making a career change or simply taking a teacher training for self-development, The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook will be your guide.
In The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook, Sage Rountree gives movement teachers of any background the tools they need to succeed. . . . It’s all here: from planning a class to getting a job to dealing with students to creating videos and other online content—valuable information for the post-pandemic landscape. It is a must-have resource for every yoga teacher and every teacher in training!
—Tiffany Cruikshank, founder, Yoga Medicine
Read more, see more advance praise, and preorder your paper or ebook copy from your favorite online bookseller here. You can also ask your favorite local book store to order you a copy. Preorders are a HUGE bonus for authors, as they demonstrate demand for the title. An audiobook is also on the way, as is an update to my website to share resources keyed to this book, my other books, and my online courses. I really, really hope you like it!
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June 12, 2020
Spots Available: Antiracist, Antixenophobic Training for Yoga Teachers with Nadeesha Perera
If you’re a yoga teacher or teacher in training who is eager to find ways to make your classes antiracist and antixenophobic, I am happy to invite you to a free, live webinar hosted by Duke professor and Durham Yoga Company teacher Nadeesha Perera.
We will meet online on Sunday, June 21, 2:30–4:00 p.m. If you would like to join, please send me a message and I will get you login details.
Two other yoga-specific resources to explore:
Skill in Action, by Michelle Johnson, for bringing social justice into your yoga practice and teaching // order from Michelle | order from BookshopGather, by Octavia Raheem, for inspiration to guide your planning on how you want to show up for yourself and others // order from Octavia | order from Bookshop
You can order these from the authors at the links above, or from your local/regional black-owned bookstore.
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May 17, 2020
New Format: Summer Intensive Yoga Teacher Training Now Online Summer 2020
For several years, we’ve been offering three formats of our 200-hour yoga teacher training at Carolina Yoga Company: our eight-month one-weekend-a-month format, a three-week summer intensive format, and a nine-week weekday daytime format. Because we expect social distancing and limits on gatherings to stay in place, this summer we will offer our three-week intensive online in real time!
This means that wherever you are, if you can make the times work, you can join us from anywhere. We’ll meet online for six hours daily for three weeks, July 18–August 9, 2020, with three rest days (July 24, July 30, and August 4).
Class times are 10 a.m.–1 p.m. and 2–5 p.m., all Eastern Time. We have carefully planned a mixture of lecture, discussion, and movement, so while it may sound like a lot of screen time, it’s well thought out and will keep you engaged and balanced. You’ll learn from me, my business partner Lies Sapp, lead teacher Jenni Tarma, and a host of wonderful guest teachers. At the end, you’ll be confident in your own practice, prepared to help people with yoga, and eligible to register with the Yoga Alliance.
Because of the extra effort in putting this program online, we need a minimum of eight students committed by July 1 (we’re halfway there already). If you’re interested:
Read all about the program hereThen reach out to me to express interestAnd submit an application
If you’re eager for something to look forward to and ready to have an amazing experience with a fun group of friends-to-be from near and far, this is just the ticket. I hope you’ll join us!
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May 4, 2020
Giveaway: Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses
If you’ve been teaching online or if you’re considering getting started, you might have looked at the hundreds of professionally produced videos already available and asked yourself, “Who would want to watch ME over this?” The answer: the people who will connect with you for who you are: you, uniquely you.
One thing I miss when following along with slick videos is a sense of the teacher’s personality, and the sense of their journey through yoga apart from the physical poses. Alexandra DeSiato and I wrote Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses to help you develop your own voice as you teach yoga philosophy and help students find connection and meaning. Check it out if you would like to add depth to your classes, either online or in person.
Thanks to our publisher, North Atlantic Books, over on Instagram we are each giving away two copies of the e-book, so you can win one to enjoy and one to share. If you’re a teacher, you can share with a colleague; if you simply practice, you can pass a copy to a teacher. Here’s how!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sage Rountree (@sagerountree) on May 1, 2020 at 8:10am PDT
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