Meet the Teacher: Valerie Love

You may already know Valerie Love from her Gentle Yoga classes at Healium. She's now also teaching Power Yoga Dynamics on Tuesdays at 5.30 pm. Here are Val's thoughts on the magic of yoga - and food!

1. What is your favorite thing about yoga?

How good I feel after practicing. My body feels stronger, and the day-to-day aches that creep in after too much sitting in front of computers always disappear after a practice. I also find in those final moments of savanasa I'm able to really connect with my true self, and find a sense of clarity that at other times can feel quite elusive!

2. What is your favorite yoga pose?

Supported fish. I love back extensions and heart openers generally, and supported fish in particular feels so lovely and nurturing in my body. It's such a beautiful release.

3. What is your favorite thing to teach?

I tend to focus on the connection to the breath. My dynamic classes emphasize movement and breath, and my gentle classes focus on relaxation and breath. I find that focused breathing helps to balance the energy in the body - it raises the spirit when you're feeling exhausted, and helps to calm the body and mind to release overactive energies.

4. What is your favorite posture to teach?

It's actually savasana. Most people barely even think of it as a posture - you're just lying on the floor, right? But there's so much depth and nuance in the pose, and I love the sense of peace and relaxation at the end of the practice, and the sharing of energy with others in the room. Where else in our lives do we get to share a space of rest and rejuvenation with others?

5. What is your favorite thing to do other than practice and teach yoga?

Eat good food and travel! I love cooking and eating fresh seasonal fruits and veges from the Sunday morning market. I enjoy experimenting with flavors and spices, and unusual combinations of foods. My chocolate beetroot cake is to die for. And I have a minor obsession with soup. A good soup really does make me ridiculously happy!

Be sure to check out Val's column, "Yoga on a Plate," on The Yoga Lunchbox. For her full teaching schedule, visit her website, Kiwi and Kumara.

Why I Love Gentle Yoga

One of my former teachers in the States had a saying: "Some of us are made of elastic, and some of us are made of steel." I am solidly in the steel category. I studied gymnastics for years as a little kid and never even came close to a split. In my early 20s, I did things like running and playing ice hockey without ever stopping to stretch my muscles. I'm about the least bendy person ever. I know, I know - yoga teachers always say that sort of thing, and then the next minute they pull their foot behind their head. Well, not me.  When I say my body isn't very bendy, trust me, it really isn't.

For years I avoided yoga because I fell into the trap of thinking that yoga is about flexibility, and I didn't want to embarrass myself by going to a class and not even being able to touch my toes. When I finally did get to my first class, I was shocked to discover that there were quite a few people in that room who couldn't touch their toes - it wasn't just me! And what's more, it didn't matter in the slightest. The teacher told us to bend our knees and breathe. And so I did.

At first I practiced intense, fast-paced styles of yoga, and found numerous benefits from those practices. But as I moved deeper into yoga philosophy and began to study the yamas and nimayas (yogic restraints and observances), I realized that they weren't quite right for my body. I found myself drawn to the first of the yamas, ahimsa, the practice of non-harming. Ahimsa involves living with kindess towards others and towards oneself. Practicing ahimsa means not pushing one's physical body beyond its limits. But also, and just as importantly, ahimsa means offering self-compassion and kindness in thought.

When I truly listened to my body, I realized that I didn't need to push myself so hard in my physical practice. I'd spent most of my life running around, doing seven things at once, trying to achieve as much as I could. Practicing gentle yoga taught me how to finally slow down.

Gentle yoga is a softer, refreshing practice which includes breathwork (pranayama), and slower postures and movement (asana) to promote healing and renewal in the body. For those of us made of steel, over time it allows tight muscles to begin to soften and release. Gentle yoga can also help to calm the mind, and promote relaxation. It's my favorite style of yoga, both to practice and to teach, and it is suitable for both beginners and advanced students - no previous yoga experience necessary!

I hope you'll join me on Tuesdays and Friday mornings at Healium to try gentle yoga for yourselves. And together we'll bend our knees and maybe get that one millimeter closer to touching our toes.


About Valerie Love:

Valerie holds a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Yoga Teacher Training in Hath Yoga from Samadhi Yoga Studio in Manchester, Connecticut in the United States. Her specific area of interest is yoga's connection to physical and emotional well-being. Valerie followed her heart to Wellington in August 2011, and is a featured columnist on the Yoga Lunchbox, New Zealand's online yoga magazine: http://theyogalunchbox.co.nz/category/columnists/yoga-on-a-plate/. She also writes about her three favorite things - food, travel and yoga - on her blog at http://kiwiandkumara.com.

Healium Yoga News: Advanced Teacher Training in Wellington

Here it comes again! The Advanced Teacher Training will be offered here in Wellington at Healium in April, May and June! It's going to be just as amazing as the first time around, so if you've been thinking about joining us, definitely do!

Here's the original blog/description that goes with the training - and of course Elissa Jordan's great articles on The Yoga Lunchbox about her experience in the training:

• Who knew? There isn't just one right way to do things. Even in Yoga.
• How to take your teaching even further - assist!
• How to answer: what exactly is the energy body?
• How to find the purpose in your teaching
• How to get the most out of any yoga teacher training - ask questions!

Looking forward to seeing you!

.     .     .

So, you've taken a teacher training, and possibly two. And you lead a good class. People like you, they like your style.

But then the questions come. "I'm feeling this, what do I need to do?" And "I'd like to get to doing x fancy posture, but how do I get there?" Questions that you can't really answer effectively when you discover that what one person can't do when they have a special need, another person can - flying directly in the face of what you thought you knew about the posture, its indications, its contraindications. And when a student is ready to advance, you realize that you don't have any idea how to do that posture, or how to teach someone else how to do it!

You can't just tell the special-needs client not do to things, and you can't just teach a workshop on one area because there is one special need in the class. It needs to be balanced - for the individual student and for everyone in the class! And, while you can be honest and tell a student "I don't know how to do that posture!" - the student will seek out a teacher who does, or who can tell them - even when they love you and your classes! Truthfully, they want to continue with you, but suddenly they've simply outgrown you. And if they do stay in your class, how can you effectively advance them, while also meeting the needs of everyone else in the class?

If you've noticed this in your teaching, or you simply just want to know more - a lot more - about yoga and how to effectively teach every student, in every class, every time, then you are ready for the Advanced Yoga Teacher Certificate course!

The course for our Advanced Yoga Teacher Certificate answers these central questions in regards to both kinds of students:

1. How do I specifically choose the right postures for this student to facilitate his/her healing?

2. How do I specifically modify and assist those postures so that he/she has the best possible benefit from the postures?

3. How do I effectively sequence those specific postures - and supporting postures - in order to provide a full, balanced experience for the individual student as well as the class as a whole?

To answer these questions, there are three intensive weekends of workshops with me, going over how all of this works:

Weekend 1. We start with the physical body - discovering anatomy and biomechanics, and diving into how to identify the essential elements of postures, and how to modify and assist for any body at any time!

Weekend 2. We move into the energy body and energetic alignment - studying the chakra system and major movements of energy through the body, as well as how to identify the energetic movement within postures, and how to modify and assist for the maximum energetic alignment for that specific student's body!

Weekend 3. We go into sequencing theory in depth, how to take a student from point A to point B to point C - whether that's taking a beginner with a special need from a deep modification to a more normal or average expression of a posture; or taking a more experienced student from the general, balanced sequences you usually teach into more advanced and more dynamic postures.

In between these weekends, there will be homework and you'll work with your study group to bounce ideas off each other to develop your understanding and have "check and balances" for your work. Your fellow teachers-in-training will test out your theories and ideas and provide you with feedback - and you will do the same for them.

And all along the way, I'll be providing one-on-one and small-group mentoring (via Skype or email) to help you find your way through this amazing information, to provide more questions to ponder and more context for development and understanding.

And, finally, to make sure it's all sunk in, we'll have a fun, yet intensive final examination: written and oral. In the written exam, you'll be tested in short answer and essay format - to have the opportunity to completely explain and defend your position. Don't worry, multiple answers are usually correct! In the oral exam, you'll be given a posture to describe, modify, assist, and sequence around - and a student to take through the process!

The teacher training is designed to give you optimal interaction with me, but also with your fellow students to create an environment that is supportive of your really learning this material. You'll gather at least 80 and probably closer to 100 hours of advanced training during this course, with 60 hours being contact hours with me!

After all, I want you to know this information! I want a lot of teachers to know how to do this - because yoga changes people. Yoga works. And the more we know and understand how it works, why it works, and how to make it work for individual students - the better it is for everyone, the more life-changing for ourselves and our students!

So, now you're probably wondering about the when, wherefores, and all-important *costs* involved.

• Foundations in Asana: Modifications and Assisting for Every Body, Every Time, 27-29 April;

• Understanding and Working with the Energy Body through Asana and Assisting, 25-27 May; and

• Integrating Body and Energy: Understanding the Whole, 22-24 June!

Yoga teacher Jenifer Parker.

Sign up for the Early Bird Registration by 16 March, and this amazing course costs only $1200! If you sign up after 16 March, it's $1500. Note that this is the cost for the certification program and doesn't include travel or accommodations in Wellington.

If you want more information about the training, drop me an email at hi@healium.co.nz and I'll send you a PDF. Or, give us a call! For more information about me, you can check out my bio or read my interview on The Yoga Lunchbox. I look forward to seeing you!