I Want To Become a Taoist Longevity Breathing Yoga Instructor – Steps To Take?

[Anonymous]

I am social dance instructor (partner-dancing) for the last 15 years and use a lot of my basic Tai Chi techniques for dancing. I am, unfortunately, very inflexible (even with the most simple Lotus position). I have decided to do a career change, mainly teaching QiGong, Tai Chi and, hopefully, Taoist Yoga. I have access to good local Tai Chi and QiGong instruction in Canada, but what I really want to learn is Taoist Yoga.

There is Yin Yoga, Yin & Yang Yoga, Taoist Yoga classes in Toronto (Taoist Yoga being more rare). There is only one school that seems to offer it and I am not sure if it is similar to the style and practice of what Kumar teaches: http://www.spiritwindinternalarts.org/classical-taoist-arts/dao-in-lung-shen-taoist-yoga.

Although I want to learn as quickly as possible because I am not a young person (over 40), I am under no illusion that things will come quickly; I just want to train more efficiently and in a practical manner. My goals are as follows:

1) Become proficient at Chen Tai Chi
2) Become proficient at one style of QiGong which involves passive and active movements (gentle exercises, which hopefully involves imagery, sound, breath work, etc)
3) Become good at Taoist Yoga

Both 1 and 2 are accessible in my area, but Taoist Yoga is hard to find, because I find that Tai Chi and basic QiGong is not as focused on flexibility as much as regular Indian Yoga. I want to keep everything more based on Chinese system theory, and hence, in the future, I could use Taoist Yoga methods for stretching more efficiently and gently before a Tai Chi class, and also teach it as a class on its own when I am qualified.

What would be the best way to approach this? Should I first take any Yoga classes as a start? I presume I will have to travel to the US, which is expensive, but I am willing to put in the time and effort? I am beginner at everything, but I am willing to work hard. I only want to learn Taoist Yoga outside Canada because of financial restrictions. Will this be possible since I do not see any training program for this particular program or should I just enroll on the local school link I pasted? I really liked Bruce’s description of the this Tao Yoga practice and enjoyed the short clip of the video of people doing a bit of it in a Lotus position. Hence, I would like to be one of the pioneers eventually of teaching Taoist Yoga in Ontario while at the same time improve my own health while on a path to a career change. It is actually a career suicide for me to change careers as I am already established at what I do so starting from zero is very daunting again (at my age), but I am thinking of long-term and I would rather be doing something that benefits my own health while i am teaching it, plus I am in position to spread Taoist Yoga in Ontario because of access to huge number of students.

Thank you!

Any feedback will help, or should I just contact the company Director directly?

[PaulCavel]

Hi Theo,

Thanks for the post and sharing. Bruce has wanted to bring out the Taoist Yoga for a while however it will not be this year. His yoga system focuses on the breathing and bringing consciousness into the body for meditation – rather than the stretching although it goes without saying flexibility is a big part of it. Bruce’s system integrates the 16 neigong components and thus is quite unique.

Given Bruce will not be teaching yoga in 2012 if you want to learn yoga you might look elsewhere for now. There are a lot of great Hatha yoga programs it seems that might be a good way for you to start initially. Can not comment on the link you provided.

It is likely Energy Arts will develop some products in 2013 for yoga and possibly some courses. If other people are interested it would be great to hear from them in this thread to get an indicator as to how many people are interested.

Thanks,

Richard

[Anonymous]

Hi Theo and Richard,

Theo, just wanted to tag on to Richard’s response. Getting some basic training with a good Hatha Yoga instructor is a great way to start. If it is possible for you to come to Boston, we offer monthly Taoist Yoga workshops at Brookline Tai Chi (BrooklineTaiChi.org) and there’s more info at http://www.LongevityYoga.com.

I’ve been practicing and teaching Taoist Longevity Yoga since 2007 and I love it. I find it is accessible to beginners because the external postures are not extreme, and engaging to advanced practitioners because of the focus on internal precision in terms of alignments and awareness. FYI Theo, I am not flexible in every direction (like doing the splits – I don’t – and I’m not a deep forward-bender), but I have found the practice has increased my flexibility subtley and significantly. Also, I feel able to assess what’s happening with my students and adjust/advise based on excellent training from Bruce, and having a background in bodywork.

Richard, I am looking forward to more TLY to come! We have a nice group of fans here in Boston, would love to see Bruce do a weekend.

Best regards,
Katie

[Anonymous]

I would be interested in a taoist longevity Yoga course too. The online courses such as the current Dragon & Tiger Course work perfectly for me.

Thanks for asking.

[Anonymous]

me too

[Anonymous]

This is a really interesting post considering that the kind of yoga that he offers is more focused on breathing and being in touch with the inner senses or being conscious of the body when doing meditation. I have to agree that yoga is really more on stretching and flexibility but I personally believe that meditation is a major part of yoga because it allows a person to be able to execute the yoga poses properly. It takes a great deal of focus and concentration to the poses properly and avoiding injury. I really look forward to knowing more about his approach to yoga.

[Anonymous]

I agree that if you want to improve on your flexibility skills, yoga is the best method but you don’t have to travel all the way to the US just to learn about yoga in fact there are online yoga classes that you can enroll to. I am no expert in yoga but I want to let you know that learning yoga these days is not hard because of the fact that we have the internet to run to but you can also enroll in a yoga class at your local area by consulting any gym, studio or health spa that might offer this. I may not have answered all your questions but I hope I was able to help.

[Anonymous]

I would be

[Anonymous]

I am interested as well.

Jan

[Anonymous]

So am i. Really good to read this. Thanks.

http://samadhisun.com/teacher-training/

[Anonymous]

Add me to the list. I’ve wanted to do this since first hearing Bruce talk about it.

[Author]

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