Hi yoga or fitness instructor,
Looking for a yoga teacher training can sometimes make you feel like pulling your hair out.
There are SO MANY OPTIONS! It can be hard to decide which prenatal yoga teacher training has what you are looking for.
In hair-pulling times like these I often turn to my gut and see what it says (I am also a person that feels best when acting from my sacral authority, so listening to my gut usually works out well for me.) But I completely understand the struggle of trying to find a training that suits your needs, your timeline, your budget + calls to your heart. That is why today, I’m going to share The Our Yoga Family Prenatal Yoga Class Teaching Methodology + tell you why we think it is so important.
Understanding a trainings methodology can help you determine if you’ll enjoy the style of class you’ll be taking and what skills you’ll be gaining to offer your students. Our Teaching Methodology focuses on 7 key elements during a yoga class. These key elements make our prenatal yoga classes safe, empowering, fun + personalized for the group of students in class that day!
The 7 key elements of an Our Yoga Family Prenatal Yoga Class are:
Connect – get to know each other
Tune-In – get to know yourself (+ your baby)
Empower – learn more about pregnancy
Warm-up – start moving with your breath
Flow – move your body + find stability
Cool-Down – enjoy a gentle stretch + release
Restore – settle in again + find deep relaxation
Let’s Take a Deeper Dive!
Connect – because it is so healing to find people going through the same things you are, this is one of the most important parts of class. We give students a moment to get to know the teacher + each other on a more personal level. This is why the teacher will discover the needs of the class that day as well as make each student feel seen, heard + valued. It is critical for laboring people to speak up during labor to let their needs be known, so we help students practice this skill every class.
Tune-in – our bodies are always in the present moment, even when our minds are in a far away land. So we believe it is crucial to give students a moment at the beginning of class to come to the present with their body + their baby. During labor going inward happens when things get hard, so we let students practice going on their journey with themselves + connecting with their baby.
Empower – pregnancy is often unknown territory for many pregnant people. They don’t understand what is common + normal as well as what is common but doesn’t need to be part of the experience. They also often haven’t heard terms like “optimal fetal position” or “round ligament pain”. So as a prenatal yoga teacher we have the ability to educate, inspire and empower our students to dive deeper into all things pregnancy, birth + postpartum.
Warm-up – who doesn’t need to warm-up? But seriously, because we like to offer strengthening postures, dynamic movement options, and a well paced vinyasa we want students to warm-up. During pregnancy increased relaxation + progesterone are also causing joints, muscles + ligaments to loosen. This continued loosening of these areas makes it wise to gently warm-up + stretch before getting into the more intense part of class. It is such a lovely time for students to really check in with everything that has changed since the last time they were on the mat, and decide what their class is going to look like that day.
Flow – this is when we push students to try more challenging postures and start moving through postures a little more quickly. Blocks are a big part of our flow, to bring awareness to the pelvis, getting from the ground to standing + vice versa as well as relieve aching joints. We like to come back to our Empower offering for that class if it makes sense here. Sometimes we’ll incorporate peak poses that challenge students to feel discomfort (like in labor) + utilize tools (like their breath, a mantra etc) to get through it.
Cool-Down – after really warming up their body we’ll offer time to release practice in postures that relieve achy hips, tired backs, tight groins, anxious minds. We linger in these postures, allowing time for students to get a gentle stretch. Since their body is already stretching + loosening on it’s own, we still use lots of props to ensure we don’t over stretch.
Restore – it is of utmost importance that prenatal students know how to relax their body. They’ll need this skill if going through labor and during postpartum. We love using all our props here to support students + super comfortable savasana options that are just right for their trimester of pregnancy.
That’s a quick overview of our 7 key elements to class.
We’ve structured the time at our teacher training in Bozeman, Montana based on the 7 key elements of Our Teaching Methodology. Over 7 days together, you’ll take a deep-dive into each one, practice it in your body (the pranayama, asana, use or props), experience it as the teacher + understand it on a deeper level through lots of discussion, creative expression, reading + self-reflection.
We’d love to teach you more about the Our Yoga Family Prenatal Yoga Teaching Methodology at our next prenatal yoga teacher training. Check out our upcoming training here.
Or email us at hello@ouryogafamily.com to ask us any questions you have to make sure this is the training for you!
Becca + Jess
Co-Founders or Our Yoga Family
+Lead Trainers of the Our Yoga Family Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training