Answer from Sherry

I know that the Anatomy can feel overwhelming and I want to assure you that it is NOT about memorizing muscles, bones and anatomical pieces and parts.

My intent is to ‘pique your curiosity and to guide you into the workings of the body so that you understand when and why things go wrong when we age. I hope that this is an area of interest to you because we learn much better when we are interested and curious. If you approach it with fear of memorizing rather than wanting to understand…..then it will feel daunting and challenging.

So, for instance, if you know how the shoulder joint is supposed to move, then you will understand why certain yoga poses encourage those particular joint movements and bring health and mobility to the shoulder. And then you will begin to see which poses provide a specific movement direction and then as a teacher, you can offer up a larger variety of poses to your class to give them those health benefits.

And also important is to understand what can go wrong. If a student cannot do those poses comfortably, then it can be because they are injured in some part of that area of the body. You will just be more knowledgeable about speaking to them and understanding why they might not be able to lift their arm over their head and you can give them an alternative (like cactus arms).

There is a test after each anatomy chapter and they are not that hard. You can take them as many times as you want to get the 70% passing grade. There is no final exam… just the chapter tests.

Every Yoga teacher teaches differently. You may choose NOT to use any anatomy references when you teach, which is totally up to you. But, the more you educate your students on their body and their anatomy, the more they will love coming to your classes. They are looking to us for guidance and knowledge.

Don’t be afraid of that knowledge. We can learn ANYTHING we set our minds to! Be curious! Experiment with the movements when you see the photos or watch the videos. Get to know your body and its mechanics and you will truly be amazed and awed rather than intimated by it all.

I hope that helps explain why I put the course together the way I did. We want to empower our students to take care of themselves and their bodies. And that is what this program does…. educates YOU so you can empower others to feel better!