FAQ
ANSWERS TO COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT
Let Your Yoga Dance® Teacher Training
Creator and Founder: Megha – Nancy Buttenheim, M.A./ E-RYT
Thank you for your interest in Let Your Yoga Dance Teacher Training. What follows are answers to common questions about the training and the practice. After reading this, should you have more questions, please write me at megha@letyouryogadance.com and/ or the Let Your Yoga Dance manager, Irena Blethen at irena@letyouryogadance.com
Also – if you have questions about the monetary aspect of the program, the staff at the place where the trainings are held are the best people to ask. If you wish to train at Kripalu Center, the fee for each part runs anywhere from $995 to $2000 depending on what kind of accommodation you purchase there. There is dorm, regular, or luxury. For more on that, simply call call Kripalu Center Reservations Department toll free, and they will be happy to help. They can be reached at #800-741-7353 (then follow the automated prompts). Sometimes there are places in Lenox that are cheaper than Kripalu as well. You could take the program as a commuter for a cheaper rate.
2012 Schedule – 4 training possibilities: Let Your Yoga Dance Teacher Training
1) Nosara Yoga Institute, Costa Rica Feb 5-18 Part 1&2
2) Kripalu Center May 13-18 Part 1. June 24-June 29 Part 2
3) Toronto, Canada August 23 – September 2, 2012 – Part 1&2
please see website for more information. Contact: Elayna Bengall – ebliss@live.ca
4) Kripalu Center Sept 30-Oct 5 Part 1 Nov 25-20 Part 2
Please read the following carefully:
To become a certified Let Your Yoga Dance teacher when trained at Kripalu Center, you MUST take Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 and Level 2 MUST be taken consecutively, starting with Level 1. No one can come to Level 2 without completing Level 1. The chakra yoga-based method is taught in Level 1. Without it, you have no understanding of what goes into a Let Your Yoga Dance class.
If you choose the two part system at Kripalu, and have no desire to teach but want an incredible, transformational five-day immersion into yoga dance, you may only take Level 1. There will be some practice teach during level 1, and all students are expected to participate. This program is a combination of delight, laughter, joy, and great depth of moving experience. Many people have life-changing realizations due to the combination of yoga, dance, the chakras, meditation in motion, and safe space for learning,
What does the Kripalu schedule look like?
6:30 am-8 am - Morning Yoga (three out of five days)
9 am-12 pm Session
12 Noon Yoga Dance class (optional)
2:30pm-5:30 pm Afternoon session, including some yoga and/ or deep relaxation
There are three evening mandatory sessions.
Not all sessions are based in movement. Some are pedagogy, music appreciation, mentoring, chakra study, yoga movement inquiry, relaxation, restorative yoga.
Most Common Question:
Am I in good enough shape? Am I too young or too old?
Yes. Yoga Dance is the most user-friendly modality in the world. Whatever shape you are in will be fine. You will be in even better shape at the end of Part 1. But whatever shape you arrive with is fine. No one is too young or old. Average age is about 18 to 70. A wonderful mixture of young and old. It is delightful for the generations to blend and support each other so beautifully.
Common Question:
“I like some Yoga Dance teachers more than others. Do we all get trained to teach alike? Like a Yoga Dance franchise?”
Not at all. We are all about honoring diversity and the individual. It is true, there are many different Yoga Dance teachers and every student is drawn to different ones. This is actually part of the beauty and magic of Yoga Dance. We as teachers and students bring our unique selves to the table. My job is to help you, the teacher trainee, to recognize your unique strengths and help you to fly into the best Yoga Dance teacher you can be. I am not interested in trying to make you a mini-replica of either me or another Yoga Dance teacher. I want you to be you. No one will be able to lead a Yoga Dance class like you. No one.
“Is this training based in yoga? Modern Dance? Free Dance?”
The training, experiential in nature, is based on merging the chakras, movement, user-friendly dance, and yoga with special attention to Mother Earth. Your chakras will have an amazing bath over the months ahead. You will get a music library and vocabulary which will be vast. Your relationship with music will never be the same.
What is the difference between Part 1 and 2? Why can’t I take Part 2 first?
In Part 1 you will learn the methodology of Yoga Dance which I have been developing and evolving since 1986. You learn all about the chakras and the ways that they weave throughout a Yoga Dance class. Without Part 1, Part 2 would be meaningless and confusing! You need to take one step at a time, even if you have already been trained in yoga or dance.
In Part 1 you will be focus on one chakra per session. A one hour long Yoga Dance class is a complete experience due to the fact that every single chakra is honored, bathed, acknowledged, expressed, and hopefully healed if it has been shut down. By the end of Part 1 you will know and dance the chakras intimately.
Part 2 is an inquiry into the art and practice of teaching. This power-packed five day session has a different flavor and savor because you leap into teaching after months of practice at home. You will teach a full hour-long Yoga Dance class to a pod of four other participants in your training. During the practice teach class you will share your understanding of the key components of a Yoga Dance class. The final teach (you will be teaching three people only, NOT the entire group) is offered in such a gentle, supportive environment that it is thrilling and great fun! All you need to do is show up and trust the process. This is the kindest, most compassionate training in becoming a movement educator that you might ever receive. You will learn to thrive on compassion. A core yoga dance teaching slogan is this: “The highest spiritual practice is self-observation with compassion” (Swami Kripalu). In this training the intention is to support the one who is teaching. Instead of criticizing you, we will offer you “potential improvement points” to help you flourish and grow as a teacher. For many Yoga Dance trainees the final teach is a life highlight! Part 2 also explores marketing from all angles, as well as putting your dream into reality. The five days conclude with a magnificent graduation ceremony and a diploma stating that you are now a certified LET YOUR YOGA DANCE Instructor.
During Part 2 we also give attention to visioning and dreaming about your life as a Yoga Dance teacher, we explore marketing and networking, and promotion, and we have some special visitors come for part of a session to look at ways you can be further supported in your marketing endeavors after graduation. Our graduation Friday morning, the last day of the program, is beautiful; families are welcome to attend.
“Why can’t the training be just one part?”
It is – in other parts of the world. Let Your Yoga Dance Teacher Training is offered annually as a 14 day program at the Nosara Yoga Institute in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, as well as Toronto. Next year it will be offered in Halifax, and Ottawa. These training are offered in one part. It is handy to get the training in its entirety but there is also much to be said for the five-day formats. In the five-day trainings between Part 1 and Part 2 you are given at home tasks to complete before returning to complete your training. For people who like digestion time, this is a good fit. For those who prefer immersions, then you might choose Costa Rica or Toronto.
“Is it ever possible to come to the first session, skip Part 2, and do it the next time it comes around in the rotation?”
It is always best, if possible, to stay with your original Yoga Dance tribe, but if an emergency arises, yes – you can wait and graduate with the next Part 2. You will become very attached to your Yoga Dance group. The next Part 2 might not occur for another 6 months. However, it can be done and folks who do this always are delighted that the next group of participants is just as wonderful as the group they had to leave.
“Is this training really hard and too physically/ emotionally taxing? Is it therapy?”
Let Your Yoga Dance Teacher Training is an intensive program. It is not a “vacation retreat.” There is a lot to cover in a certain amount of time. You will be on a schedule and you’ll be expected to show up for sessions on time. Because we dance through the chakras, Yoga Dance is therapeutic. It is not therapy, but it IS therapeutic. What does that mean exactly, the difference between therapeutic and therapy? Participants at the end of class often say, “I feel profoundly healed on so many levels. This class was like accomplishing years of therapy.” By dancing and playing through the chakras, as well as through yoga, breathing, and user-friendly dance in a safe and kind environment, you will most likely be touched in one or more areas of your multi-dimensional self. Not to mention your endocrine system. So in this way, Yoga Dance is very therapeutic.
“Is it sometimes challenging dancing with the chakras?”
Usually it is great fun, an express route to joy. But sometimes you may discover that a chakra might be imbalanced in your life. Dancing with the chakras can be either a very joyous event or a poignant one, or both! If your heart has been recently broken, when you arrive at the fourth chakra and dance with it, you might experience pain and simultaneous healing. So do be aware of the fact that sometimes in Yoga Dance you will discover both happiness and pain. You’ll learn through this dance of yoga to make room and space with a compassionate heart for all you encounter along the way. This in turn makes you a more empathic teacher for your own students.
“I am wondering how you will teach me to be a teacher? I am nervous to lead in front of others. At the same time, I am passionate about dance. I want to gain skills on how to lead people through movement.”
There is a self-mentoring process that is very powerful, based on “Making the Teacher Right.” This results in very confident new Yoga Dance teachers. My intention as a trainer is to help each student fly to her (or his) highest potential in a very safe, nurturing environment. I am not interested in teach my students to become “mini-Meghas.” I want them to become their biggest selves. To me, the self-mentoring process is a lifelong gift you will receive for everything you do in your life. One thing I can say with confidence is that I am a fine teacher trainer and all I need is your willingness to get through the door, show up, and trust the process. I, along with a wonderful staff, will take care of the rest. You’ll learn how to work with your challenges and learn from them in a compassionate way.
AFTER Graduation
“After completion of Part 1 & 2 of Let Your Yoga Dance Teacher Training, I understand that we are now certified Let Your Yoga Dance teachers. But I am concerned that I may get hit with additional fees afterwards.”
You will not be expected to pay additional fees after graduation or for using the trademarked name: Let Your Yoga Dance®. There is, however, an OPTIONAL opportunity to join the exciting and inspirational Yoga Dance Teachers Association for just $50 a year. Joining this association is amazingly inexpensive considering that hundreds of hours a month are spent to help graduate teachers stay connected and inspired. The intention is to help grads succeed in the world, but not by gouging their pocketbooks. We share inspiration, music playlists, new choreography. Once you are teaching you can add your name to the letyouryogadance website and the teachers association website with all your teaching information listed.
Does a teacher have to pay a fee for the music being used in class?
No. In the training itself, every single bit of music we use is written up clearly, with the name of the chakra attached to it and the album it comes on. You are GIFTED with a free CD of a full yoga dance class which will be you final teach class.
When I graduate, I am not sure where to teach. I don’t have my own studio. May I teach at different locations?
YES – this is what many grads do. They may work at health clubs, or yoga studios, movement studios, schools, community centers. Marketing and self-promotion are a part of Part 2 of the training.
Will you let me know where Let Your Yoga Dance classes are offered for teachers offering independent classes?
Check out my website and the association website. If you do not find a teacher in your town or community, that just might mean that you are supposed to become that teacher! Let Your Yoga Dance is growing bigger and bigger. Over 900 teachers have been trained; there is great interest in the practice.
I hope this has answered many of your questions.
Feel free to write if you have other questions.
Meanwhile, let your yoga and your life dance!
Megha
Nancy Buttenheim, MA/ E – RMT
Creator and Founder: Let Your Yoga Dance® and
Let Your Yoga Dance® for Parkinsons and Special Populations
Faculty: Nosara Yoga Institute, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
27 Year Master Teacher-Trainer: Kripalu Center, Stockbridge, MA
www.yogadanceteachersassociation.com
FaceBook: Let Your Yoga Dance