2. Our Learning Environment

In-Person Trainings:

  • Respect the training space and the people/organization hosting your experience 
  • Be respectful of each other, noting that each person has come from other environments and may be experiencing learning anxiety as well as other types of discomfort. 
  • Keep the program room clean; always returning props (blankets, blocks, cushions, chairs and straps) neatly to their proper place. 
  • Dispose of garbage and place recyclables in appropriate bins. 
  • Take personal items with you after each session (except yoga mat). 
  • Beverages are allowed only in closed containers with a sealable lid. 
  • No food or coffee in the teaching room. 
  • Honor the shoes off policy, placing shoes in designated areas. 
  • Place your sacred items on the altar. 

Attending a Training Online

With every study we undertake, it requires us to create an intentional space with goals and certain rules.  In Yoga following the 10 precepts shared by Patanjali is something we learn in our 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training; known as the yamas and niyamas. 

These same practices flow into our online trainings; where we strive to maintain our conduct as if we were attending an in-person session.  Our true goal here is to create an online study experience that is pleasant, beneficial and meaningful for each participant.  Here are 10 tips to consider, adapted from Indu Arora with Permission:  

  1. Time: Log in using the link (sent to you by the host) 10 minutes prior to the start time. This will allow space and time gaining comfort with the media and ease into the study gracefully. This also allows you to respect each other’s time. This will help honor Aparaigraha and Ahimsa
  2. Chit-Chat: Avoid chit chat prior to the start of the workshop. Consider this online training similar to in person where 10 minutes prior to the session we must maintain mauna (silence). Also, keep your microphone off until and unless you are asked to say something. This will help honor Ahimsa, Tapa and Swadhyaya
  3. Space: Keep the space around you – especially what is captured by your camera and seen by others – free of clutter. Just like you would keep your mat space and space around clear in an in-person training. This honors the Niyama of Saucha
  4. Attire: Please wear comfortable clothing, that which allows you to move when you practice asanas as well as allows you to stay comfortable and alert when you go through the theory. This honors Santosha
  5. Family/Housemate Co-operation: If you live with others under the same roof (family, housemates, other beings), please share with them the schedule of your workshop and that it will require a quiet environment. If any of them needs your attention, please switch off the camera and offer the attention needed. This will keep the sacredness of the classroom and continued focus on the subject. This will help us honor Swadhyaya, Saucha and Ahimsa
  6. Snacks and meals: Wait until break-time for your snack or meal during longer trainings. Please avoid eating, munching and snacking during training hours. This will help us maintain the Tapa and Ahimsa
  7. Queries: If you have any questions, keep making notes of them and when the timing arises for Q and A, use the raise hand feature to ask question or at that point type it in the text window. Any other queries in other time (except when cued by the teacher) will not be entertained. You can also use the Chat section, and if the Assistant will cue up the question or answer it directly.  Every effort will be made to attend to your query by the teacher and assistant. This is the honoring of Ishwara Pranidhana, Swadhyaya, Ahimsa and Santosha
  8. Focus of Queries: Keep your queries limited to the current subject and avoid bringing personal questions into the training time unless it relates to the experience. This honors Ahimsa, Asteya and Aparigraha
  9. Tools: Have a Yoga mat, props that you generally use, the required books, water / tea, pen and journaling book, facial tissue, any other recommended tool handy. The rule of thumb is anything that you would have brought to the in-person training must be gathered in advance. This honors Asteya and Ahimsa
  10. Communicate: During a virtual training I do my best to observe your non-verbal cues (smile, confusion, thumbs up, nod, yeah/nay etc.) to gather information and adjust my presentation as needed in order to serve you the best. Please participate in this non-verbal communication. This will help us honor Satya.

Here are a few more suggestions from Maria:

  • On-Line learning can create exhaustion quickly.  Try this:  
    • Hydrate often. Drink water and healing teas throughout the training; Tulsi tea, CCF (cumin, coriander, fennel) tea, Ginger and green tea are good options.  
    • Take time to consider your learning environment.  Free of clutter, seating that is supportive with other seating options to change into, as well as enough lighting shining at the front of your body and sitting close enough to the screen that you can be seen easily and communicate thru body language.  
    • Keep adjusting your seat.  Make sure your seated posture is healthy with plenty of lumbar support.  
    • Use your breaks wisely.  Get up, move around, take a brisk walk, and if on a longer break, such as lunch time, save time to take a short yoga nidra. 
    • Carefully consider your meal choices during the training.  The temptation is to drink extra caffeine, eat more sugar and lots of carbs.  These are false “pick-up’s” that will only serve to cause greater exhaustion.  Choose, instead, less complex foods, high in protein, fiber and greens.  
    • Consider your senses: 
      • Relax your eyes at different times during the training.  Take time to close them at breaks.  Also, blink more to rebalance vision.  
      • Consider purchasing a blue blocker screen for your device, and if you wear glasses you can get readers with blue blockers. 
      • Practice silence to create rest for your ears as well as for your throat; especially after a lengthy workshop online.
      • Practice garshana (dry skin brushing) and skin oleation daily to assist in full body integration. 
      • Drink plenty of good water, consider an Epsom salt bath on the evenings of your training to rebalance the system and calm down the muscles. 
      • Schedule in a massage for after the workshop ends (or plan to trade with a friend or a loved one).  
      • Start each day with a healing chant to clear the mind – the most powerful is the sound of Aum.  And, consider ending each day the same.  
      • Take time for savasana or an extended yoga nidra to rebalance the nervous system.
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