I’ve been thinking the meaning of “education” in the context of yoga classes. There is education, and then there is guided practice. Most classes are the latter, with perhaps a bit of instruction thrown in if you are lucky.
Most yoga classes I have been to use same modes of instruction: demonstration and participation. The leader shows the moves, asks the students to complete a series of movements, and may offer suggestions on form or alignment. These classes work primarily, if not entirely, at the psychomotor domain. They teach muscle memory. They teach the body how to relax, how to open, or how to stretch. Very valuable stuff, of course.
However, there is more to us than just our bodies and there are many modes of learning available to us besides muscle memory. We are thinking creatures and have cognitive and emotional needs that are not being met by these methods.
The teacher training I recently attended included 20 hours of anatomy. There were a few things that I learned in this class that I wish I had learned years ago. The whole thing about antagonist and protagonist muscles for example. If I had known that, in order to get my hamstrings to stretch, I should get my quadriceps to contract it would have been very helpful. I had teachers that told me, “Raise your kneecaps!” But I had no idea why they were saying that. Being a thinking person, I think this information would have been useful!
Most of us don’t know our bodies very well…we neglected and ignored them for so long that now we need our brain’s assistance in coming to terms with them. Many of us have a learning style that needs to know “why” something works. We’re not very good at just memorizing steps and series of a simple movements. But if we understand the theory and concepts behind body movement, and know why it is good for us to “bend at the hips, not at the back” we can remember to tell our bodies to do it.
My favorite classes include a little talk about yoga philosophy, and also include a guided meditation. These may work at the cognitive levels, but as they say, “telling ain’t training.” I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a yoga class where we have been asked to really think about yoga, use critical reflection, or examine our assumptions.
For my first yoga class offering, I want to explore this with beginning yoga students. I am designing a course that meets my criteria for sound instructional design: there will be clear objectives, objectives will include psychomotor, cognitive and affective domains, there will be an assessment and a progression of objectives that lead students from where they are to an understanding as well as an ability to do a series of poses. It will definitely include a workbook with questions for reflection and suggestions for continued learning. I promise that I will also demonstrate movements and ask students to “to relax, to open, and to stretch.” I will not neglect the psychomotor learning domain.
I think it’s time, and it’s up to me to step it up a notch for yoga education. I’m not a gym teacher putting people through the paces so that their body gets some exercise. I am a yoga instructor. I teach yoga. At the end of the day, I want to know that my students learned something, that they can do something and explain to me why they are doing it.
If you have suggestions on what I should include in my course, please leave a reply. My goal is to have the basic design complete by 12/31/2010, and then find a space to deliver the course in early 2011. I will report back. 
. This is a great book if you’ve been in the yoga world for some time. If you haven’t, you likely just won’t get it. Pollack pokes fun at the hype and yet shows a deep reverence for the deeper philosophical underpinnings of yoga. His descriptions of farting in a yoga class are hilarious. 
