Effective yoga instructors need the right resources to enlighten and grow, including online information, downloads, and Asana handouts. According to Yoga Basics, "Asana is described as posture; its literal meaning is seat." One of the eight limbs of classical Yoga, when practicing Asana with students, it should be steady, comfortable, and relaxed.
If you're a yoga instructor looking for more information on Asana, pull out your mat, relax and check out some of these great resources and Asana handouts to help you grow further in your practice of Asana.
Great Asana Handouts, Websites and Downloads
- Yoga Cards - Need some yoga cards to keep you on track? Visit this website to enlarge and print out yoga cards for yourself or help you plan sequences for your yoga class.
- Printable Yoga Positions - This website allows you to read, learn and printout yoga guides from the Fish pose to the Locust pose to the Plough pose. Print these out for a wall chart or yoga book.
- Yoga Downloads - Download printable pose guides in Adobe Acrobat from this website. To keep your pose guides safe, take them to an office print and copy store and laminate them.
- Meta Café - Looking for videos you can watch with your class, email or share? The Meta Café has 137 videos ranging from thirty-five seconds to over five minutes. Each video has a short advertisement first but you can opt to skip the ad and proceed to the video.
- Santosha - This online yoga store offers posters, card decks, and other instructor tools ranging in price from eight to forty dollars. They accept major credit cards and Paypal.
Make Your Own Asana Tools
Find your artistic touch and visit yard sales, book vendors, and discount bookstores to find Asana yoga posters and pose pictures and try making your own card decks or pose guides. Keep them sturdy by laminating and create a book or a guide to help your students.
Take pictures of friends and your Asana students in Asana poses, print on cardstock and let your imagination guide you through a unique creation for your yoga class that is your style alone. Use your photo editor or word processor program to add captions for a special card deck or pose guide.
Be Careful of Copyrighted Materials
All of the websites listed here have free downloads you can print and share except for ones that require payment for their products. Never download and print anything that is copyrighted to use in your class. Yoga instructors who develop websites and offer paying services, pose guides, articles, or posters do so not only to help widen the knowledge of Asana; it is also how they make their living. If a website says its material is copyrighted, stay on the safe side and don't copy it.
If you see something you must have from a copyrighted website, call or email the owner of the website and ask before you use. Often they will allow you to use their materials if your reference their copyright.
Asana handouts, printable pose guides, posters, and music can be found all over the Internet if you do a little browsing. If browsing isn't for you, network with other yoga instructors in your area and exchange guides, card decks, and ideas to achieve the perfect Asana class.
