On Saturday and Sunday September 6-7, there will be a special event at Clear Spring, for which we need a lot of volunteer yoga students. This means YOU, yogis and yoginis of Austin.
As many or most of you know, Iyengar teachers undergo a rigorous, multi-year training process before they may take an assessment for even the first level of certification as an Iyengar teacher. One of these first-level Iyengar teacher assessments is coming up at our studio. The candidates--13 of them in this group, and two of them our own home-grown teachers--appear on the Friday before (Sept. 5), and begin the process, which lasts the rest of the weekend. On that first day, they perform a demonstrated practice of their own asanas and pranayamas, and also take a written exam.
On Saturday and Sunday, one at a time they each teach a short (30-minute) class to show the three assessors (upper-level teachers trained to evaluate candidates in this type of setting) how they teach. As you might imagine, the teaching segment of the exam is the most important part.
This is where YOU come in. We need volunteers to populate these assessment classes and give those candidates someone to teach. Here is who can help us:
1) You must have at least six months of Iyengar experience.
2) You must not have any current injuries that will influence what you do in class. In this first level of assessment we do not expect the teachers to work with medical problems at all.
3) Women, you must not be pregnant or menstruating at the time of the assessment. If you discover you are having your period and have signed up to be a volunteer, you must notify us and withdraw.
4) You must not be a higher-level Iyengar certified teacher.
Note: Regarding inversions, you must be able to do a basic, beginner-level shoulderstand and plough pose (salamba sarvangasana and halasana, and the latter pose using a chair for support of your feet). You do not have to be able to do headstand at all, and headstand will not be taught in these classes.
Each candidate's class will be 30 minutes long, and you are invited to be a student for a maximum of two of these classes a day. So it's not much time, it could be fascinating to watch the process for you, it will be a free yoga class to boot, and you will be reimbursed for your generosity in the form of our endless gratitude, plus cookies, fruit, and juice.
Here below is the schedule. Please look it over and consult your calendar to see what you can do to help us out. Please pick ALL the classes you are able to participate in, and let me know your schedule preferences. Send these to me via email to devond at gmail.com. I will put you on the schedule for a maximum of two sessions each day, no more. If I do not know you, I will ask you to tell me who you are and who your Iyengar teacher is, so I know you are okay for attending (we had a bad experience with a student who did not understand the method last time, and we will not do that again, sorry).
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 6
9:00 am
9:45 am
10:30 am
11:15 am
12 pm
[Break time]
2:00 pm
2:45 pm
3:30 pm
4:15 pm
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 7
9:00 am
9:45 am
10:30 am
11:15 am
I will post this again to remind you all, but am anxious to fill out our schedule and be very ready in good time for this event. Let me know as soon as you can figure out how to fit yourself into this important event for our Iyengar community. Help us be great teachers!
Thank you. Namaskar.