Review of the Flower Yoga Teacher Training

I participated in the 95 hour Flower Yoga Teacher Training led byTara Rachel Jones. T.R. Jones has an extensive background in education, with nearly 25 years in the field. She also has a 2 decade yoga practice, accompanied by many teacher trainings. Her expertise in child development, knowledge of Montessori and Waldorf education, and synthesis of these with the Sivananda style of yoga is a much needed asset to the world of children's yoga teachers.

What most affected me, as a children's yoga professional with over 6 years in field, is that Tara is offering a complete yoga experience. I realize that my own teachings may have been lacking a well-rounded approach. Tara demonstrated how to incorporate the 5 points of yoga and the 4 main paths of yoga in a kids' yoga class. I will explain this as briefly as I can. Tara taught us about the 5 main points of yoga as laid out by Swami Sivananda which are: proper exercise, proper diet, proper breath, proper relaxation, proper meditation. She taught us yoga classes as if we were the child participants and included all of these aspects. It was tangible information because she envelopes everything in a perfect package for a child to open with interest and comprehend based on their developmental stage. She takes all of these factors into consideration and weaves them into a beautiful, peaceful age appropriate practice.  Also, she manages to incorporate the 4 main paths of yoga which are rajas or self-discipline and practice, jnana or yoga of the intellect, karma or yoga of selfless service and bakhti or the yoga of love and devotion. Again, she is doing all this with the age and development of the children in mind. So whether its by singing songs, chanting sanskrit, reading stories, acting like nature, or having the children take on responsibility, we did it all with under her gentle guidance.

Her training has changed me as a teacher in many ways. I take the complete yoga view she offers to heart when I am planning my classes. I also plan in a much more structured and predictable way than ever before. Though I understood the need for and use of consistency and repetition, she has presented how to do so in a beautifully polished way, offering poetry and call and response to motivate children to care for the earth. I am moved to incorporate more of this stuff into my teachings.  I appreciate having her words and melodies to use should I need them, but I am more of a write my own kind of gal. What she offers in her training is perfect for the creative types to see her model and adapt it in their own way with their own super powers in mind.  For the newer teachers who might need to use her words exactly as they go, they are all in the manual and Tara allows us to practice all of it. Then they have the experience of having done it and the support of the manual to refer to should they need it.

 The manual is extensive, detailed and broken down by modules. Each module is a little miracle, detailing the development of the child in that age range, how to lesson plan, examples of lesson plans, examples of art projects, meditations and relaxations with practice space to make your own. It ends with a written final exam that helps teachers build scaffolding for their teachings and use their own words to express who they want to be as a teacher and what steps they will take to get there. Her other manual is an asana manual broken down in sections that relate to the foundational pose or pose you start them from. It is illustrated by her husband and adapted from the life's work of Sarabess Forester, Jone's mentor, colleague and teacher.

Tara offers this training twice a year. Once is over a number of months near her home in the Boston area. The other is over a 12 day period at the Sivananda Ashram and Yoga Ranch. I participated in the latter. And although it was a lot to cover in only 12 days, I would not change the experience for anything. I was able to learn all the invaluable children's yoga stuff while waking up at dawn to meditate, chant and learn about yoga philosophy with the swamis every day as well as receiving one hour of asana practice. If you are contemplating which to participate in, it may be best to consider your location and learning style.

I highly recommend participating in Tara Rachel Jone's brain (and heart) child, The Flower Yoga Teacher Training. Please reach out to me if you are, too!

And absolutely pick up her book, It's Time for Yoga for your children and students! It is beautiful and her husband did all the artwork. She created this masterpiece with time tested yoga sequencing based on the evolutionary movement patterns seen in children as they develop.

Om namo sivaya,
Lara