In restorative yoga class trainers must involve 5 – 8 poses with the help of props and each pose must take 5 -20 minutes. Most of the restorative yoga poses are followed by the practices of B.K.S. lyengar and his poses involve backbends, gentle twists and inversions.
In this practice probes are used to get support which help to retain relaxation and release tension from the body and the mind. According to Judith Hanson the most important thing an instructor can teach his students is how to lie down on the floor to get relaxation and release tension and fear.
In a restorative yoga class teacher must try to create an atmosphere that can help to release all tension and stress both from the body and mind. There are following teaching guidelines to any restorative yoga class and every teacher must adopt these methods while teaching any restorative yoga class.
COMPOSE YOURSELF BEFORE THE CLASS:
- Before taking any restorative yoga class, the trainer must first make himself out of stress. So he must first do some meditation and yoga before conducting a restorative yoga class. Only then he would be able to make his students in the position to let go and stress free.
TRY TO MAKE IT SENSATION NEUTRAL:
- In other forms of yoga students try to find their flexibility through stretching which creates sensation.
- In restorative yoga we should make it sensation neutral,
hence we should use props in that way that it causes no stretching in the body. In this way this practice will be sensation neutral.
PROVISION OF PHYSICAL SUPPORT:
- In restorative yoga class we use props to maintain support and in this way our body feels relaxed and releases all tension and stress. Hence it is necessary for any trainer to guide students about using probs. He should make his students use the probs in the right positions so that their bodies can attain full support.
GIVE ATTENTION INDIVIDUALLY TO EVERY STUDENT:
- In any yoga restorative yoga class trainer must try to adopt adjustment skills and make corrections by using personalized attention. Instead of inducing them for specified poses try to make them practice those poses which are convenient for students according to their body type and individual needs.A student must be comfortable with the pose, so that he can attain intense relaxation.Teacher must try to make his eyes trained that he must judge that his student is struggling and feeling discomfort in a pose. He should teach his students to use the probes according to their body type. Further the hands of the teacher should be gentle in adjusting students with the pose, and his teachings should provide suggestions rather than commands.
TRY TO ADOPT MINDFUL TRANSITIONS:
- When a pose is close to its end, give your class a pre-cue or hint. Some of the teachers use chime or other soft sounds. The purpose of cue should be as simple as saying.Provide your students with the instructions on how they will move their probes to get transition into the next pose. A teacher must allow each student to come out of his own pose at his own pace and enter into the next pose.
PROVIDE THE CLASS WITH EMPTY SPACES:
- In restorative yoga class poses are held for several minutes, mostly are adopted for more than five minutes. It is necessary to provide long poses for the students.In this way they could get intense relaxation and relief.In this situation, by leaving the students in intense silence the teacher could feel nervous and he may try to fill the long empty spaces. It is necessary for a teacher to understand that this type of practice requires time taking poses for intense relaxation.
If in any case his students are feeling uncomfortable by long periods of silence. In this situation they could be thinking of their daily life matters or daydreaming.
To cope with this situation a teacher must try to provide that atmosphere in the class that all students should only think of the present moment.
SEQUENCING OF POSES FOR RELAXATION:
- It is necessary that we should arrange all poses in such a way that students could not feel discomfort while transitioning from one pose to another.So a teacher must try to arrange the poses sequence in a way that students could comfortably transform from initial pose to next pose without feeling any kind of adjusting difficulty.
TEACHING WITHOUT PROBS:
- In any restorative yoga class probs are the integral part to attain relaxation. But in some cases it happens we have no probs available in our class.In that situation a teacher must try to utilize the principles of other yoga forms to get release, ease and support. It can be attained through mindfulness and focus.