Teachers Notebook: Practices for the Pre-Holiday Jitters

Master Trainer Katie Schuver, who teaches YogaFit for Balancing Moods, offers some teaching tips to help your students manage pre- and post-holiday stress.

We’re moving into the holidays now, which can be a bit stressful whether we relish the flurry of shopping, baking, and entertaining or are haunted by less-than-fabulous family dynamics and a shrinking checkbook balance. So why not offer a special yoga session to give your students or private clients a bit of a reset? 

Practice #1  Warmth, Serenity, Restorative 

For students who are anxious, fearful, can’t sleep and have trouble making decisions. Create a practice that will allow them to:

1. Maintain a smooth and steady rhythm, moving easily into and out of each pose
2. Hold each posture for a moderate amount of time
3. Achieve physical stability by focusing on the foundation of each pose 
4. Activate their muscles in each pose
5. Conserve their energy
6. Stay warm so they don’t overdo things and injure themselves

Practice #2 Compassion, Acceptance, Relaxed Effort

For students who feel irritable, frustrated, sad, or stressed out. Create a practice that:

1. Encourages laughter and light-heartedness in the postures
2. Avoids over-stimulating the body (minimize sun salutations) 
3. Allows a lot of freedom, choice, and creativity in the practice 
4. Offers variety instead of sticking to one sequence or series of poses
5. Focuses on the physical sensations of the body
6. Uses the exhalation to consciously release built up tension, anger, frustration, stress and heated emotions

Practice #3 Stimulating, Light, Spacious

For students who may feel stuck, lethargic, weighed down or unable to make decisions. Create a practice that will:

1. Stimulate and circulate the flow of energy throughout the body (sun salutations and energizing pranayama, like the Breath of Joy)
2. Create a sense of stability in the body and freedom in the mind
3. Emphasize precise alignment
4. Cultivate internal awareness as well as good physical alignment
5. Heart-opening, back-bending postures
6. Focus on letting go of limitations and judgments and embracing change

Want more ways to help your students manage their stress levels? Join us in Dallas November 10–13 for the next Yoga for Balancing Moods training.