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Teaching Skills
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Use targeted exercises to teach an alignment principle to students, keeping each exercise simple, safe, and clearly linked to the principle.
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Differentiate supportive, directional, and deepening adjustments across varied body types, citing specific alignment cues as evidence for each choice.
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List the stages of the therapeutic process in yoga, from client interview through assessment, alignment plan, and client practices, defining each stage accurately, and develop an individualized alignment plan and home practice for a client, ensuring every recommendation is safe, specific, and within scope of practice.
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Identify postures that commonly cause strain, such as cobra, pigeon, triangle, downward dog, and chaturanga, naming the typical alignment risk in each, and assess which modification best serves a student, justifying the choice with sound anatomical reasoning.
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Identify general sequencing templates and the families of postures, naming the preparatory role each family plays toward an apex pose accurately.
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Identify the components of an alignment-based class plan and a vinyasa class plan, and explain how a single class plan differs from a multi-week curriculum, describing how each supports student progress with clear reasoning.
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Define and apply active and passive language, giving accurate examples of each, explaining why active language and precise directionals improve student understanding, using active verbs and purposeful adverbs, keeping instructions concise, clear, and easy to follow.
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Observe students in postures from varied angles, both in person and on screen, noting alignment patterns accurately and consistently, centered on student safety.
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Assess which type of demonstration best serves a given teaching moment, justifying the choice by student level, setting, and objective. Demonstrate a posture using a structured demonstration formula, keeping the demonstration visible, sequential, and matched to the verbal instruction.
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Explain how a virtue or theme can be mapped to physical alignment actions, using clear examples that connect inner intention to outer form, and use heart language, stories, and anecdotes to interweave a theme with alignment instruction, keeping the theme consistent from opening to closing.
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Identify the key considerations for teaching pranayama, including preparatory asana, seat, and pacing, naming the purpose of each accurately.
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Compare approaches to guiding meditation, distinguishing how each supports different student needs with specific examples, and demonstrate guiding a meditation with clear instructions and appropriate silence, keeping the tone steady and the pacing consistent.
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Identify the equipment, platforms, and formats used to teach live online, hybrid, and pre-recorded classes, naming the role of each accurately, and compare live online, hybrid, and pre-recorded formats, distinguishing the strengths and limitations of each with specific examples.
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Lifestyle & Ethics
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Identify the principles of attitude, alignment, and action as a framework for practice, defining how attitude applies to mind, body, and spirit accurately, and cultivate a conscious attitude before and during asana, observing its effect on the quality of practice with honest attention.
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Use a practice journal and teacher binder consistently, recording practice insights and teaching materials in an organized way.
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Distinguish situations that fall within a yoga teacher's scope from those that require another professional, supporting each judgment with clear reasoning.
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Define seva, contribution, and civic engagement as they relate to teaching yoga, identifying examples of each accurately.
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Practice Skills
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Practice asana regularly with attention to alignment and breath, sustaining steady effort and safe form throughout each session.
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Practice finding a stable, comfortable seat and engaging each bandha with control, maintaining ease in the breath throughout.
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Develop a personal pranayama practice that progresses safely from foundational to advanced techniques, differentiating participation from control in breath practice, and examining personal experience of each technique with honest and specific observations.
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Identify open awareness, dharana, and integrated meditation, defining the focus and purpose of each approach accurately.
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Identify self-assist techniques for postures such as forward folds, pigeon, hero pose, and cow-face pose, naming the purpose of each accurately.
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Yoga History & Theory
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Define each guna, identifying the qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas accurately with clear examples.
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Identify each mala in tantric philosophy, defining each accurately with correct Sanskrit terminology, and critique a modern interpretation of the malas for accuracy and relevance.
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Define shaktipata and identify its place within tantric philosophy, using correct Sanskrit terminology accurately.
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Identify Ganapati and the key symbols associated with this deity, naming the meaning of each symbol accurately, and explain Ganapati's story and its lessons about identity and thresholds, using accurate details and clear reasoning.
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Compare the apara, parapara, and para stages of the Kali Krama, distinguishing their meaning and progression with specific supporting evidence.
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Explain the stories and teachings associated with Saraswati and Lakshmi, describing how each relates to wisdom and abundance with accurate detail, identify the qualities each goddess represents, naming their key symbols accurately.
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Explain the lessons of devotion, strength, and service in Hanuman's story, using accurate details and clear reasoning.
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Analyze the choices of key characters in the Ramayana, examining and summerizing what they reveal about dharma with specific supporting evidence from the story, and explain how its kandas correspond to stages of yoga, using accurate details and clear reasoning.
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Anatomy, Physiology, Biomechanics
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Identify the major bones, joints, and muscles of the hips, pelvis, lower back, thighs, knees, and feet, naming each structure accurately, explaining how lower-body structure and the curves of the vertebral column influence posture, using correct anatomical terminology consistently.
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Identify the major structures of the shoulders, upper back, elbows, wrists, hands, neck, and jaw, naming each accurately with correct terminology, and apply upper-body anatomical principles to postures such as downward dog, chaturanga, and forearm balance, demonstrating safe joint alignment throughout.
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Apply appropriate modifications for students with common conditions, demonstrating safe alternatives while staying within scope of practice.
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Identify the structures of the respiratory system and the primary and accessory muscles of breathing, naming each accurately, and explain how the respiratory system responds to yoga practice and why asana prepares the body for pranayama, with accurate physiological reasoning.
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Compare the tantric chakra model with other subtle-body models, distinguishing their structure and purpose with specific supporting evidence, identifying each tantric chakra from root through third eye and define kundalini, naming the location and quality of each center accurately.
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Identify the major bones, joints, and muscles of the hips, pelvis, lower back, thighs, knees, and feet, naming each structure accurately, explaining how lower-body structure and the curves of the vertebral column influence posture, using correct anatomical terminology consistently.
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Identify the major structures of the shoulders, upper back, elbows, wrists, hands, neck, and jaw, naming each accurately with correct terminology, and apply upper-body anatomical principles to postures such as downward dog, chaturanga, and forearm balance, demonstrating safe joint alignment throughout.
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Apply appropriate modifications for students with common conditions, demonstrating safe alternatives while staying within scope of practice.
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Identify the structures of the respiratory system and the primary and accessory muscles of breathing, naming each accurately, and explain how the respiratory system responds to yoga practice and why asana prepares the body for pranayama, with accurate physiological reasoning.
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Compare the tantric chakra model with other subtle-body models, distinguishing their structure and purpose with specific supporting evidence, identifying each tantric chakra from root through third eye and define kundalini, naming the location and quality of each center accurately.
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Business Skills
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Identify the qualities of a skilled, exemplary, and successful yoga teacher, and define the purpose of a mission statement accurately.
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Identify the income streams available to a yoga teacher, from group classes and private lessons to retreats and workplace offerings, describing each offering accurately.
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Explain how a clear brand identity and well-defined target market shape marketing decisions, using concrete examples.
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Compare email and social media as outreach channels, differentiating their reach and engagement with specific examples.
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Apply retention and community building strategies to a regular class, keeping the student experience consistent, welcoming, and memorable.
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Explain how an optimal schedule balances teaching, preparation, personal practice, and rest, using clear and practical reasoning, preventing burnout.
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Formulate a long-term financial strategy for a teaching career, ensuring it supports security, sustainability, and personal values.
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CYT-L3