1. Aura Announces
   
   
2. Teaching Hatha Yoga - Keys to Student Development
   
   
3. Teaching Hatha Yoga - Keys to Your Personal Development
   
   
4. Bonus & Savings on "Chair Yoga," AND Savings on Yoga Mentoring for Self-Worth e-Course
   
   

I'm pleased to present you with two articles by me. The first article is about Yoga for Student Development. The second article is about Yoga for Self-Development.

In addition to the announcements below, I'm also pleased to introduce a terrific enhancement to our website. We've created a new Member's Center to improve your experience when visiting and participating in our growing online community.

As part of our ongoing effort to improve your experience with our website and offer more resources for our online community, we've just added a new Member's Center with links to all of our valuable community resources such as our Blogs, forum, FAQs, videos, downloadable reports, Podcasts and newsletters. It even includes direct links to the latest blog and forum postings, so you can know what people are posting without even visiting the blog or forum.

Not only will this make it easy for you to find what you're looking for, but once you've visited the Member's Center the first time, your computer will remember that you are a member and you will find highly visible button links (see the button below) to take you back to the Member's Center on every page of our site.

Click this button to try it out, and then when you're anywhere on the site, look for this button to bring you directly back to the member's center:

(link disabled for public version of newsletter)

This means that no matter where you are on our website, you can always get back to the Member's Center with just one click. It should make participating in our online community a lot easier and should help both experienced and new members to find what they're looking for.

But remember, you won't see this button on the site until you've visited the member's center at least once, so why not do it now while you're thinking of it?

Please feel free to provide me with your feedback regarding this latest addition to our site. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Note: The member's center is only available to confirmed subscribers and requires their browser to accept cookies. New visitors won't see this button unless they subscribe and visitors without cookies will not see the button ever.

We are pleased to continue our partnership with a leading producer of instructional yoga videos to provide access to these videos online... in full screen, DVD quality.

Visit our video page to watch them (and more) from our site and learn more about these phenomenal videos.

With our new Audio Resource Center for Yoga Teachers you can listen to, Podcast or download free resources. This material is useful for teaching your Yoga classes, learning more about different aspects of Yoga, or expanding your mind.

Many of you have asked if you can distribute my Yoga for beginner's articles as handouts for your students. You are welcome to distribute my articles to your students. My only requests are that you do not alter these articles and leave my copyright on the work.

Simply provide us with the credit information described here.

Please do not send Hi8 video tapes; they are easily de-magnetized by security equipment.

Due to the volume of exams, please expect a two week delay before your exams are marked.

If you're planning to change your email address, remember to update it in our subscription system before your old address expires. It's easy to change your Email address by using your personal subscriber link at the top and bottom of each of our newsletters. Once you click on the link you can click on "change details" and enter your new Email address.

Remember to do it before your address changes, because when our system sends mail to an inactive address, that address is automatically deleted and will no longer be able to be updated.

If you want us to do it for you, please let us know, at least, 30 days before your Email account expires, but if we do it for you, you will be sent another verification email that you must respond to in order to complete the update process.

AOL users - Please remember to add info@yoga-teacher-training.org to your address book so that your newsletters will be delivered on time and trouble free.

This same advice makes sense for all other readers who may have email filtering in place. Don't miss a single issue, by adding our address to your whitelist, permitted list, address book or whatever other method is required by your email provider.

Do you want to develop successful students? Of course you do. Every Yoga teacher is proud of their students. The student who overcomes a disability, and the student who changes his or her life for the best, are stories which make all of us feel satisfied that we became Yoga teachers.

How do we point students toward self-development? When a student takes responsibility for his or her own practice, this is the beginning of empowerment. It is wise to inspire your students to, at least, perform a short practice at home.

We have all had a phone call from a potential student who can only come to class once a week. This is fine, if the student takes the practice home. What about the student who tells you he or she cannot meditate alone? What about the student who has no time?

Your answer might make them laugh. Here it is: Do you have three minutes per day to spare for Yoga? If that is not possible, their problem is time management or procrastination. In reality, who cannot spare three minutes in the morning or evening?

Next, ask your students to try one minute of meditation, at home, per day, in the morning or evening. Ask them to observe only and not to judge. Breath awareness is fine for new students, because it is easy for home Yoga practice. Keeping their eyes open, or closed, does not matter, but they should try both methods.

The next student task for home is pranayama (Yogic breathing). Anyone can find one minute to spare for pranayama practice. Let's be honest, our students breathe all day, but some self-discipline is required to breath with rhythm for only one minute.

Any method will do, but Bastrika, Brahmari, Ujjayi, Udgeeth, Nadi Shodana, Dirgha, or Kapalabhati pranayama, are good choices. Obviously, it would be best for students to choose one or two methods for a one minute session.

Now, you can guide your students toward a one minute asana home practice session. This would be two postures, which are counter-poses of each other.

However, I often suggest they try seated pelvic circles, which are practiced in many Hatha classes, but you see them, most commonly, in Kundalini Yoga practice. This practice massages the vital organs, eliminates toxins, is good for skeletal health, and stimulates internal energy.

Students can sit in Sukasana (Easy Pose) or on a chair. Then, they would slowly rotate the torso 360 degrees, in slow and gradual circles. The spine should be straight, as possible, the entire time. After 30 seconds, they should rotate in the opposite direction.

So, now you have it: A three minute Yoga session. You will discover that some students have a procrastination issue, but most of your students will tell you they continued to practice Yoga for many more minutes. Between us, three minutes for Yoga is better than none at all, but the true purpose is to create a "spark."

It is up to our students to "keep the fire going." Yoga at home will improve their lives, but they have to get a taste of it, in order to realize the deeper joy of the practice.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Anyone who decides to become a Yoga teacher gives quite a bit back to the local or world community, through selfless service. In fact, giving is very rewarding when you have the ability, or the time, to contribute to a student's well-being or give to a worthy cause. You can be so caught up in other peoples' lives that you tend to forget about your own well-being.

From the outside, looking in, Yoga teachers might appear self-absorbed. The student, who becomes a teacher of Yoga, has taken the practice to a different level; and sometimes, places physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual development, on the "back burner."

It is important to stop, "smell the flowers," and take time for self-reflection, once in awhile. It is difficult to "pull your head out of the books." Many Yoga teachers are researching, finding solutions for their students, or reading scriptures. These are valuable contributions, but we must also find balance in our lives.

After all, we talk to our students about the importance of balancing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. We are supposed to "walk the talk," but we are still human. Yet, the time you take for self-analysis and proper direction is valuable.

This reminds me of a story my grandfather used to tell me about a carpenter who never had time to repair his own house. He was always busy making money repairing somebody else's house. His wife had a list of home repairs, but he was still too busy giving estimates at night. Finally, she hires a handyman to repair her house and falls in love with him.

My grandfather was a jovial general contractor, so he enjoyed telling a joke or story as much as we enjoyed listening. Now, what does this have to do with Yoga? Life is a matter of priorities. You might say, "This sounds like a time management problem to me."

To be honest, improper time management causes a lot of stress and anxiety. To manage time correctly, you need a system, but you also have to plan "free time" for yourself. You will need to balance time for family, friends, work, co-workers, and students.

One simple method is to plan the day ahead on the night before. This gives you a short-term view of the upcoming day. I still like to write it down with a pen on paper, because I can still envision the handwritten list in my mind later on. However, a lap top, personal digital assistant, or PC will also do.

Another method is to go to bed an hour early, and then wake up an hour earlier. If you are a "morning person," you can get so much done in the morning, while the world is at rest.

Now, if you become very successful at planning and completing your daily tasks, please do not fill your day with work. Allow some time for family, friends, students, personal Yoga practice, and a little free time to smell the flowers.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Yoga Mentoring for Self-Worth is a 30-hour correspondence course, which you can instantly download in PDF format; includes complete instructions and an exam. It contains one of my latest e-Books, "Yoga the Cornerstone of Self-Worth."

On sale for the Special price of only $77 until June 15
Regular Price $97

For more information, see our e-Course detail page.

Or use this link to buy now.

Graduates will receive a diploma suitable for framing and two more bonus e-Books (a $29.00 value), A Self-Esteem crash course and another book for building self-confidence.

Chair Yoga Course - Regularly $497 plus shipping

Take 10% off until June 15, 2008.

And Get the Language of Yoga course as a bonus.

Demographer, David Foot, said, "Every 7 Seconds, Another Boomer Turns 50." This is a: health wave" that has not crested yet. Start-up Chair Yoga classes are full of students now, and will be for decades to come.

In some communities, Chair Yoga programs do not exist, or they are just getting started, but the demand, by far, surpasses the number of Chair Yoga teachers.

Get the Language of Yoga course as a Free bonus until June 15.
Use Bonus Code: "LOY"
Please enter code in the online shopping cart when it asks you to:
"Add Comments About Your Order"

For complete course information, use this link .

Order online now or choose another option below.

The office is open 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. weekdays (Eastern Time)

• Telephone a Master Card or Visa in at: 508-222-0092
• Fax a Master Card or Visa in at: 401-633-6081
• Use PayPal at www.paypal.com and use the send money option in the upper left of the menu. PayPal will take checks and a variety of credit cards. With this last option, you can send money to anyone with an Email address. If you do, send it to: aurayoga@aol.com

Where applicable, the above offers are good only while stock is available.