Meet Emerging Yoga Teachers in Your Community, by Rebecca Jane
The old books remind us that one does not learn Yoga by oneself; the guidance of a master is crucial.
In ancient India, of all the initiatory disciplines and crafts, it was Yoga that placed highest value on the critical role that one’s teacher played in the journey to fulfillment. In ancient times, if a Yoga practitioner wanted to qualify as a teacher, he had to undergo demanding initiation. For instance, in early traditions, a guru performed a ritual in which an angry god would take possession of an initiate. In the more severe pre-Buddhist Ajivika order, the candidate’s body was buried up to the neck and his hairs plucked out one by one.
Today, although practices may have done away with burial and hair plucking, Yoga teacher training is still rigorous. If one wants to become a Yoga teacher nowadays, the process involves a 200 to 500-hour Yoga teacher training program, after which a student receives certification from the Yoga Alliance.
Please meet Kelly Britton, Jennifer Cohen, Elizabeth Keady, Erica Mather, and Sarah Wertzberger. These five women have completed, or are in the process of completing, different Yoga teacher training programs. They are a new generation of teachers on the rise in our community. Maybe you still haven’t found the teacher you’re looking for, so you might want to get to know some before enrolling in a class.
This column also intends to help you make an informed decision if you are on the lookout for a training program that suits you. Michele Cuomo is the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at Spine & Soul in Bayside. Her advice to anyone looking for a suitable Yoga teacher training program is “Practice a lot and find what works for you before you sign onto anything.” In the process of finding what works for you, the experience of others provides precious insight.
Kelly Britton
Kelly Britton learned about Jivamukti style Yoga at a community center almost seven years ago. She yearned to try Jivamukti because she knew the name well from living in the neighborhood and passing the studio daily. But it was not until her children were grown that she started attending classes there, and she never stopped. Kelly wanted to complete teacher training with Sharon Gannon and David Life because they have such strong reputations.
For Kelly, one of the most overwhelming aspects of teacher training was leaning how to coordinate all the students’ breath with their movement. “When you’re just taking a yoga class,” she said, “you don’t realize that the teacher must maintain heightened awareness about many things, including the students’ breath, the posture sequence, and the appropriateness of music.” Kelly had experience as a TA in college and she has raised two children who are now teenagers. “Yoga teacher training teaches you a little bit about teaching, but the practical experience in your own classes helps most. When starting out, teach every class you can. Substitute a lot.” Kelly can attest to the fact that the Yoga teacher’s job gets physically demanding with adjusting students, doing demonstrations of poses, and trying to find time to eat when you are a fully booked Yoga teacher.
For anyone looking for a training program, Kelly suggests one that is well-established with a name and reputation because then you’re more likely to find a job teaching afterwards. Kelly teaches at Jivamukti and is always eager to help out if a substitute teacher is needed at the last minute.
In Kelly Britton’s class, the breath is never ignored; students dedicate the practice to all beings everywhere; yogis are encouraged to let go of striving and turn inward to listen for authentic inspiration. At the end of her practice, Kelly wakes students from Shivasana with her gorgeous singing voice. She sings a Sanskrit prayer, and her voice gives her away as someone who is generous and accommodating.
Jennifer Cohen
Jennifer Cohen has an education background and had her own Yoga for years. Naturally, she started teaching Yoga to her kindergarteners. Her classes were so well-received that she became interested in enrolling in a teacher-training program because she wanted to be safer with her students. She searched out a warm, friendly studio with a training program that coordinated with her busy professional life. She did her Yoga teacher training with Jonathan Fields and Lauren Hanna at Sonic Yoga. She liked the combination of science-based explanations of physiology and the tradition-based explanations of the subtle body offered by the two different teachers. “The staff gave well-balanced instruction and created a supportive group among the nine students enrolled in the program.”
Cohen is currently writing elementary and high school curricula that combine classroom objectives with Yoga teachings. What has surprised her most about her Yoga path is that now she teaches both children and adults. She never expected to enjoy teaching adults so much, but she realized, “Adults actually listen to you!”
In Cohen’s class, students can focus on getting in touch with the elements doing a Vinyasa flow through fire, earth, air, and water. Cohen is approachable, eager to serve public school communities, and attentive to her students. She would tell anyone who plans to train as a Yoga teacher to be prepared for the mentally intensity and facing yourself. “It’s important to dedicate yourself to doing it, and just let emotional things come up.”
Elizabeth Keady
Elizabeth Keady did her Yoga teacher training with Spine & Soul in Bayside. Elizabeth Keady had been working as a paralegal for almost 20 years before discovering yoga. After years of sitting in front of a computer all day, Keady developed burning sensations in her neck and down her spine. She learned some basic Yoga moves and terms from a Denise Austin video. She had never taught any kind of class in her life, nor had she any real public speaking experience. She had to get over her dread of being in front of her own group of students, but when Keady completed her 200-hour training, she felt completely transformed.
The first classes she ever attended were gentle evening classes that were held in the basement of her co-op and cost her $8. That’s where she met Geralyn Marchisello. Marchisello was impressed with Keady’s movement and invited her to join classes at the studio at 213-37 40th Avenue in Bayside. When Keady felt strong enough to expand her own practice, she asked a Kripalu-trained instructor at Spine & Soul if she thought Kripalu would be a good training program for her. The instructor filled Elizabeth in on a secret: if Spine & Soul could round up enough interested participants, they were ready to launch their first yoga teacher training program at Spine & Soul. Keady felt eager to be part of this first group of teacher trainees.
The most pleasantly bewildering part of Yoga teacher training was learning human anatomy. Keady said that less time was spent on meditation, but students were given plenty of opportunity to write self-assessments of their strengths and weaknesses.
She intends to continue teaching at Spine & Soul, perhaps continue her training within the community because it’s comfortable there. So comfortable, in fact, that a new guest to Spine & Soul gets the feeling that everyone knows her name.
Elizabeth Keady brings a kind and open attitude to her class. She guides students through stretches that are both challenging and comforting; she provides a thorough workout.
Erica Mather
Erica Mather did her Yoga teacher training with Ana Forrest in Boston. She first started practicing Yoga because she had adult-onset migraine headaches. Ana Forrest Yoga draws on a healing component that attracted Mather to that particular school.
Erica is enrolled in a Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology. She has experience teaching sailing, wind surfing, jazz piano, and Big Band. She enjoyed the 24-day immersion program because “it forced you to deal with yourself; 40 people who worked together felt like a family when it was over with, and many people transformed their whole outlook so that there was a sense of life before training and life after training.”
Erica is known, by her colleagues and students, for her “magic hands.” She says that one thing Ana Forrest taught her was how to touch students for adjustments: “Ana said when we need to touch a student, we should touch every student as if we are touching the Beloved.”
In Erica’s practice focuses on generating heat in the body. Students get a chance to spill their creative sweat all over the mat. Erica conducts a smooth and effective class revealing she is intelligent, articulate, and gracious. Her goal is to teach authentically.
Sarah Wertzberger
Sarah Wertzberger considers herself a lover of movement. She did her Yoga teacher training with five other students and Jonathan FitzGordon at the Yoga Center of Brooklyn. Sarah originally came to New York City from Kansas to be a visual artist, but devoted herself to Yoga in order to feel a strong sense of physical and mental well-being. For her day job, Sarah drives a truck to deliver art. She has experience grappling with whether or not to give up the idea of becoming a career artist. Teaching Yoga provides her a way to give energy to others. She intends to teach small-sized community and private classes and eventually move into a kind of Yoga practice that focuses as much on mental therapy as on physical health. She recently came back from a Kripalu mind/body seminar that inspired her. She thinks a strong personal practice and continuing Yoga education are necessary parts of being a good teacher.
Sarah’s workout is strong and controlled. Her voice is gentle which balances her demanding practice. She has learned most about Yoga from teaching it.
The founder of Jivamukti Yoga School, Sharon Gannon says, “The number one job of a Yoga teacher when they walk into a room that has 100 students, 50 students, 5 students or only one student, is to see each student as divine. Everything else should come from that; whatever other instructions the teacher may convey should come from a space within themselves where they are seeing the student as a holy being…”
Michel Cuomo said, “Yoga teacher training is good for anyone who cares about Yoga; it’s a retreat, a good way for you to deepen your own practice.”
According to the Yoga Alliance, a complete Yoga teacher training program should convey knowledge of Asanas, Modifications, Contraindications, Proper use of props, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Methodology, Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology, Assisting with Posture Alignment, Working with Special Populations, Insider Yoga Teaching Tips, Yoga Teacher Ethics, Chakras, Bandhas, Mudras, Doshas, Yamas, Niyamas, Pranayama techniques, Meditation, Relaxation, Yoga Business Development, Communication, Marketing, and Networking.
If you are looking for a suitable teacher training, of course it is good to know that the program provides all the above-mentioned requisites. But now that you’ve met five yoga teacher trainees in your community, perhaps your decision to enroll in a program will more deeply influenced by human spirit.
Rebecca Jane
Submitted to NY Spirit Magazine
March 21, 2007
check out Rebecca's blog: http://rjaneflashfiction.blogspot.com