How to Create an Asana Guide for Your Yoga Teacher Training

Summary: A YTT asana guide should be practical and clear. It should help students become confident yoga teachers. It should include carefully selected poses, Sanskrit and English names, instructions, alignment, breathing, modifications, cautions, teaching cues, and visuals. Organize it. Encourage students to observe, adapt, and communicate.

 

A good asana guide can become a very useful resource in your yoga teacher training program and in your manual. But creating an effective asana guide is more than a matter of including photos and adding a few pointers.

Let’s look at what you can do to make your asana guide a true resource for your students.

What You Need To Do To Create An Asana Guide For Your YTT Program

Define the Purpose of Your Asana Guide

An Asana Guide is a visual reference for your students on the asana that you are covering in your YTT. It also acts as a quick reference guide for key information that you want your students to have at their fingertips. Before you start listing poses, ask yourself one simple question: what should my students be able to do with this guide?

The information included in your guide should be directly related to the teaching goals of your program. For example, rather than only including alignment details or common misalignments, you may wish to include cuing details on foundation, important actions, and the purpose of the pose.

First: Choose the Asanas to Include

Resist the urge to include every version of every asana in your guide. Although it’s a nice idea to make your asana guide a comprehensive reference, including too many postures (or too much information) can actually work against you and lead to student overwhelm. I prefer to only include asana that you want your students to teach and that match the level and focus of your yoga teacher training program.

Organization Matters

The way you group your postures will depend upon the methodology of your training. For example, when I was creating a Hot Training, we grouped postures by the section of class in which they were included.

However, in a peak pose sequencing style program, it can be helpful to organize your postures into categories that reinforce component parts principles, for example:

• Standing poses (these can be subdivided further)
• Hand balances
• Backbends
• Inversions
• Forward folds and seated hip openers
• Reclined postures
• Meditation seats

If your program organizes postures by energetic alignment or another framework, then group your postures according to the most valuable common principles. Remember to consider the level of your training; a 200 hour program may include different postures (and variations) than a 300-hour training.

A note: you’ll note that I like to include postures that students should be able to teach (rather than practice). Having these poses explicitly laid out will help your students focus on the postures that are important rather than get distracted by the multiple complex variations and possibilities that are out there. By putting some boundaries around the postures that your students need to learn, you help keep them teaching postures that are appropriate for their skill level.

Include Essential Information for Each Pose

Now comes the heart of your asana guide: what should you include?

Let me be clear: your asana guide is a reference tool; it does not need to reflect all the details that you may actually include when you teach your lesson plan or asana lab. A reference tool is a quick guide that helps students retain and find key information on an as needed basis. A reference guide works best when the information within it is well-organized, clear, concise and specific. Include the information that is relevant to your particular training and methodology.

For example, you may consider including:

• Sanskrit name
• English name
• Pronunciation
• Foundation
• Risk factors
• Common misalignments
• Cuing tips
• Component parts
• Sequencing tips
• Common adaptations
• Common variations
• Common proppings
• Breath cues
• Energetic cues

Remember: you don’t need to include everything. Consider what you want students to be able to teach based on your own methodology and prioritize from there.

Add Clear Visuals

A picture is worth a thousand words. Include clear photos or illustrations that show the pose from a useful angle. Make sure the visuals demonstrate the position you are describing as well as modifications.

These days, you can create a beautiful photo gallery of postures fairly easily! Here are some tips:

• Keep the visual style consistent throughout
• Frame the postures similarly (either at time of shoot or in editing)
• Use a well-lit space
• Have models wear clothing that contrasts with the mat/background so you can see them easily
• Use a variety of student models so different body shapes are represented (you may even have different students do the same pose to show how different bodies may look; include photos of pose adaptations rather than only including “advanced” versions
• Consider how your photos will look in black and white (rather than color, which is pricey to print)
• Include common modifications/prop usages in your photos

Similar backgrounds, angles, and formatting can make the guide much easier to read. You can also use visuals to show modifications or prop-supported versions of a pose. Remember: your images should support the teaching, not replace it.

Organize the Guide for Easy Use

Imagine your student is preparing a class and needs to quickly find information about triangle pose. Do you want them to flip through dozens of pages to find it? No! So, make sure your guide is easy to navigate. Use clear headings, consistent formatting, categories, and page numbers.

I recommend that you create a table of contents with page numbers to make the postures easy to find.

Make It a Teaching Resource

Your asana guide can be more than a reference guide. Consider how you may use it in teaching your asana labs or lesson plans. Alongside each pose, consider including fill-in-the-blank sections to encourage critical thinking. Depending on your training, these “application” sections could include:

• What might a beginner find challenging here?
• What modifications are appropriate?
• How would I instruct the “position” of this pose?
• Draw the pose and indicate lines of action
• List the component parts

Through this approach, you can create true leaders, not just asana junkies. Your students observe, adapt, communicate, and finally teach others.

Final Thoughts

A strong YTT asana guide can be a lifelong support for your graduates. Keep it clear, practical, and most importantly, build it around the skills your students need to become confident teachers in your school’s unique teaching style.