There were many opportunities to share yoga in Zurich– I led five classs during my week there! One of the most interesting experiences was an invitation from my friend Mirjam who teaches English conversation to a group of 20 female students. Mirjam and I created a lesson plan for a 50 minute class that included:
1. General questions to the students and self introduction, why I practice and teach yoga (5 minutes)
2. Class practices tree pose on both sides, I only gave basic instruction (5 minutes)
3. Class discusses their experience in pairs (2 minutes)
4. Group discussion of tree pose, what did you find easy or difficult? Talked about concept of dristi (gaze); breath, balance, difference between right and left sides, etc. (15 minutes)
5. Class practices tree and eagle poses with more cues from our discussion points (5 minutes)
6. Students break into groups to plan other questions they have for me (3 minutes)
7. Spend the rest of the class discussing everything from meditation to life in the US (15 minutes)
The students also made great analogies between yoga and life such as remembering to breath during yoga is like remembering to breathe when putting on makeup! I really had a phenomenal time with these students who really seemed interested in yoga asana and the practice.
JACKIE SUE POWELL 