Teach Yoga Touch Hearts: A Guide to Creating Inspirational Yoga

By Ritu Kapur

A guide to creating Inspirational classes for Yoga Instructors. This book is a must-read for planning unique, inspirational, and heart-centered yoga classes. A handy resource for all who are seeking guidance and enthusiasm on the path of Yoga.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781794857872

Book preview

TEACH YOGA

TOUCH HEARTS

A Guide to Creating Inspirational Yoga Practice

First edition: Published in 2021

All rights reserved.

Copyright 2021 Ritu Kapur

Ideas, Quotes, Themes and Poems based on Yoga Sutras, Koshas, Chakras, Vedic Chants, Prayers and more

Enhance your yoga classes and

Inspire your students!

By Ritu Kapur

Foreword by Swami Maheshananda Saraswati

About the Cover Page

The Golden Kailash!

As the first rays of the morning Sun fall on top of this sacred mountain, it turns to gold, The Golden Kailash! Located in the High Himalayan ranges in Tibet, the majestic Mount Kailash is revered as one of the holiest mountains; it is the abode of Lord Shiva and the Sahasrara or the Crown Chakra of the Earth. The crystal blue water at the bottom of the picture is the divine Manasarovar Lake, the world's highest fresh-water lake at an elevation of 15,000ft above sea-level.

May the Kailash that you touched

be touched by you too.

May the Kailash that you brought back with you

create many ripples

in the mana-sarovara of many minds.

May then, those many minds be stilled

and be able to see

the reflection of the Kailasha (their own consciousness)

in their own mana-sarovara (mind field of energy).

May you continue to become that.

~ A poem written by my friend, Indu Arora, after my pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash in 2018

Dedicated to my Guru

and all the seekers on the path of Yoga

तपस्विभ्योऽधिको योगी ज्ञानिभ्योऽपि मतोऽधिक: ।

कर्मिभ्यश्चाधिको योगी तस्माद्योगी भवार्जुन ॥ ४६ ॥

Tapasvibhyo dhiko yogi jnanibhyo pi mato dhikaḥ

Karmibhyas cadhiko yogi tasmad yogi bhavarjuna

A yogi is greater than the tapasvi or the ascetic, greater than the gnani or the one engaged in the cultivation of knowledge, and greater than the one engaged in selfish karma. Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogi.

~ Bhagavad Gita, 6.46

WORDS OF PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

Profoundly beautiful. The light of love that is in your pages is transmitted effortlessly to the reader.  Inspiring and transforming mindfully--- it now has not only had an impact on me, but also on my students and all they come in touch with. That ripple effect effortlessly shining and spreading.

You have made this world a better place. Namaste! ~ Margie Hunter, Yoga teacher in California, Author of Transcending MS

Ritu Kapur has brought out inspiring guidance to all yoga teachers in this handbook. Not only does one get a simple systematic knowledge from the source books, our scriptures, but the step-by-step guidance also adds a compassionate touch. The quotes and poems add universal harmony and an additional fragrance—a must-read for all who want to get a comprehensive overview for teaching the ancient tradition of yoga and meditation, so relevant and a necessity of modern times. ~ Shashikala Dwarkanath, Physician, Spiritual Teacher, Co-Founder of Chinmaya Boston

When you’re walking a path with heart as a yoga teacher, having an inspirational friend like Ritu by your side to share yogic wisdom and kindness will make any spiritual adventure that much sweeter. Teach Yoga, Touch Hearts will be your well-loved companion for planning unique, inspirational, and heart-centered yoga classes. Ritu teaches from her heart and you will too - with Ritu by your side - in this simple and all-inclusive guide! ~ Lisa Campbell, Meditation teacher in MA, Owner of Mindfulfilled

In Teach Yoga, Touch Hearts, Ritu Kapur has captured the important elements and essence of one of the most ancient practices, Yoga. She has given the guidelines to holistically integrate different aspects of yoga in daily practice to transcend the experience. Her book should be the handbook for yoga teachers as well as yoga practitioners. I highly recommend the book. ~ Manjula Khanna, Pranayama and Meditation Teacher in California

This is a book on yoga through the lens of an experienced yoga teacher who teaches with her heart… and she does so unabashedly with her heart to inspire us all to practice yoga with the heritage of her native India. Ritu has taken the lessons that come from studying yoga in formal ways in the USA and with her Guru from India…  this is Ritu’s respectful way to put together her anecdotes and her reading of the yoga literature. Thank you for this wonderful book addressed to both the teachers and to the experienced practitioners with open hearts. ~ Shantipriya Graciela Keidansky, Yoga teacher in San Francisco

Just as a curator brings us the finest of art and positions it in an art gallery to make art accessible to all, so also Ritu Kapur’s book combs through a vast collection of inspirational quotes and ideas, positions them in a beautiful framework thus making these deeply transformational ideas accessible to all. Drawing from her readings, her years of experience as a Yoga teacher and her own spiritual journeys, Kapur has created an easy to use, practical workbook for Yoga teachers to bring multi-dimensional learning to their students. Thank you, Ritu Kapur for this great effort! ~ Ranjani Saigal, Yoga practitioner, Classical Indian Dance teacher, Community Leader, Executive Director at the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation

PREFACE

I love inspirational quotes. I always have. When I was twelve years old, my cousin gave me the book, The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I loved it! I highlighted most of the book and when the pages started falling apart, I took notes in a diary that I still have to this date. These notes and many others traveled with me when I moved from India to America at twenty-two. The stack included some favorite Hindi poetry books from school that I wasn’t ready to part with. I still occasionally pick up one of those books and read the poems, many of which I remember by heart. I believe that all the positive thinking and its power had a huge role in my personal growth.

Growing up in India, I was exposed to yoga at an early age. My first memory of yoga is doing asana and pranayama at the school field when I was ten years old. Another memory is writing the definition of yoga in Hindi in a notebook. I didn’t know a lot about yoga at the time but understood clearly that this was more than asana practice. When people talk about yoga in India, it is with a deep sense of reverence. In the fabric of India, there is an inherent sense of respect and awe for saints, pandits, yogis who follow the path of dharma. A yogi is not someone merely practicing asana but the one who chooses to leave the material world behind to follow the path of self-realization.

Becoming a yoga teacher at the age of thirty-seven was life-changing for me. I was working full-time as an Occupational therapist at the time, had two young children, and never thought that I would be teaching yoga someday. Nevertheless, teaching yoga was surprisingly peaceful, energizing, and meditative, all at once. I am grateful to the divine guidance that magically led me on this path. It is truly the best thing that has happened to me.

In the two different teacher trainings I did in the Boston area, I learned a lot about asanas or the physical postures that we generally associate yoga with, but we barely scratched the surface of The Yoga Sutra, which is the backbone of yogic philosophy. I took a personal initiative to study Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, the core philosophy that one must follow on the path of yoga. I also started reading Bhagavad Gita, which gives us the philosophy, the morals, ethics of living a yogic life, and much more.

When I started practicing and teaching yoga in the suburbs of Boston, I noticed that the popularized version of yoga was practiced primarily as an exercise for flexibility and strengthening. And although these are important goals, as a yoga teacher, I wanted to share with my students that their practice is bigger than Asana and they are more than their bodies. I wanted to share that yoga is a sadhana, a practice, a source of wisdom that can bring inner peace and transformation. I started using quotes from Patanjali’s yoga sutra in the classes to share the philosophy of yoga. I collected many writings from various textbooks, magazines, and online articles to share the knowledge of yogic texts with my students. I started looking for books that had compiled such inspirational messages and, to my surprise, found none. I remember casually mentioning my frustration to another yoga teacher I had just met at a yoga retreat. Her answer was, It’s because you are going to write it! This incident happened in 2017 in Portland, Oregon, while I was attending a retreat with Gary Kraftsow. I still remember this stranger and her kind words that stayed in my heart and became the inspiration to write this book.

I have been a voracious reader all my life. It was not easy to access too many books growing up; we only had a small library at the school and there were no libraries in the town. I would trade books with my friends, neighbors, cousins and read whatever I could get my hands on. You can imagine my surprise when I came to the US and saw large free public libraries in all towns! One of my childhood dreams was to own a lot of books when I grew up. I am happy to say that my dream has been fulfilled. Fortunately, my teenage son has followed in my tracks, and we have a house full of lovely books. Despite all the reading and my love for books, I never considered myself creative or able to write something.

In the past few years, though, I started writing blogs online and short articles for local Magazines. There were many encouraging comments when I trekked to the Everest Base Camp in May 2019 and journaled my daily thoughts on social media for 12 days. Many friends complimented me for being a good writer and said they could feel as if they were right there with me. When some said that they woke up every morning and looked forward to reading my posts, it touched me deeply. I met a friend almost a year after the trek, and she told me that when her photographer husband decided to go to Nepal, she was scared for him but had found comfort because of my posts; I was humbled and moved at the reaction.

Today, from my heart to yours, I offer you the compilation of poems, quotes, texts, and meditations I have collected for over twelve years. These are presented to you in an easy-to-use, methodical fashion based on Patanjali’s eight limbs. I hope you enjoy the eighteen diverse themes in Chapter 12 and plan many inspiring and heart-warming classes around them. The quotes, poems, prayers, and passages are by writers, philosophers, mystics, physicists, and prominent saints and yogis from all over the world. I have credited all the authors I know, and I am grateful to those who remain anonymous.

Whether you are a new or experienced yoga teacher, I hope you will find peace and comfort in the words of ancient wisdom. I hope that many ideas for classes and cues