To draft a first guideline for a lesson plan, we need to know for what type of student we are planning our class. If we rather want to guide through a themed class with focus on a general topic such as Chakras, a certain part of the body, backbends, hip,- or breast openers or if we want to approach the students to a final Asana. Depending on the different levels of the students we select Asanas for beginners, intermediate or advanced students or we use breakdowns of different poses to introduce the students to the new feeling of the pose.
For Beginners, the range of the students ability is big. A beginner class can start from a student who was never on the mat before to a student who is a great athletic in other sports. Besides of finding different variations of the poses even in a beginner class, a good way to introduce the first Asanas is in demonstration them. While teaching to breath with the postures and giving them verbally information on the benefits and precautions of the posture. For a beginner class the various of Asanas is not so important, but the correct performance and the length of holding the individuals to build strength and reliability.
An intermediate student is already familiar with the Suryanamaskara A, B poses and some other Asanas. So we can focus more on arm balances and new Asanas. A verbal guidance can be enough for the students with a combination of demonstration of new postures. Additionally we can work on basic poses to deepen their practice.
Advanced students are having their own practice usually at home or only attend certain workshops with special themes.
Depending on the strength of the class and on your own teaching style, we can demonstrate brand new poses, we can give instructions– as clear as possible for beginners, we can motivate the students in the middle of a pose in using encouraged words or counting down the breaths of holding. For adjustments we can speak out loud to the whole class to emphasise the key parts of a certain posture or we can adjust the individuals physically.
Structure of a lesson plan
- Let the students fill in a registration form, for your own assurance in case the student gets injured during your class and for your own information regarding any recent surgeries or a pregnancy.
- Introduce yourself – inform the students about what you are teaching today and ask again for any injuries, pregnancies, no feeling well etc.
- Centering (deep breathing) Begin with AUM (A- activation of lower Chakra, U- middle, M- throat)
- For a beginner class do some joint movements to warm up the muscles and the joints. For an intermediate class we can use the sun salutation as a warum up
- Suryanamaskara A/B (for beginners always the 12-step version)
- Asanas– for an one hour lesson 10-12 poses including counter poses should be enough. If we work with a lower number of Asanas we have more time for adjustments, Pranayama and Shavasana. Always follow this sequence: Standing, seated, prone and supine. All lessons must have integrated counter poses. The general rule is: Beginner- pose, counter pose (1:1), intermediate- pose, pose, counter pose (2:1), advanced- pose, pose, pose, counter pose (3:1)
- Shavasana- 7-10 min long. Guidance through relaxation decidable
- AUM and gratitude
An active Pranayama can be done at the beginning of the class and a passive Pranayama by the end of the lesson.
Anna (200h TT Weekdays April/May 2017)