Honor your yoga students' unique practice with this essential guide to
identifying and supporting healthy, safe movement for every body.
Includes more than 80 exercises and 43 instructional drawings.
Teach People, Not Poses is the manual that yoga teachers and yoga
therapists need to help their students step onto the mat on their own
terms, comfortably and safely. Mary Richards, a yoga teacher, yoga
therapist, and expert in kinesiology and anatomy, says that we leave too
many people off the mat, due to overly aggressive pace, sequence, and
ambition in asana. She offers advice, techniques, observations,
practices, and sequences to give teachers and yoga therapists the tools
they need to move beyond the popular ideas of "should" on the mat.
To safely guide others in asana, especially when people come to the mat
for relief from residual effects of acute injuries, chronic pain, and
repetitive strain, yoga teachers need to understand what is typical and
atypical in terms of posture and movement. Richards offers teachers
myriad exercises to address imbalances and strengthen, such as
-
"Tighten the Corset" for deep core training
-
"Forearm Chaturanga/Plank" to develop core strength and stability
-
"Revolved Warrior I with Resistance Band" for core stabilization
-
"Wall-supported Downward-facing Dog" to activate the abdominal muscles
and support the lower back
-
and much more
This unique book masterfully blends yoga philosophy with practical body
knowledge and physical core stabilization skills, so that asana is truly
an individualized expression--and what the Yoga Sutras describe as
sthira sukham asanam, asana that is steady and comfortable.