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Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, Volume 2: 54 New Themes, Templates, and Ideas for Integrating Inspiration into Your Class
Volume 2 of the bestselling guide for yoga teachers—design fresh, confident, and dynamic classes your students will love
54 inspired new a full year of templates to engage, retain, and connect with your students
This companion volume—with all-new material—offers 54 ready-made ideas and templates to elevate your classes, refine your voice, and teach inspired themes with joy and confidence.
Each chapter—like Rise to Joy, Less is More, and Rebel, Yogi!—introduces a series of updated themes. Authors Sage Rountree and Alexandra DeSiato offer practical upgrades to the bestselling first volume of Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, with new prompts, expanded notes, and thoughtful cues to help you connect with students and center their experiences in class. Each template offers useful guidance
Expounding on your theme and connecting it to both personal and universal experiences
Chants, quotes, mantras, poems, or songs
Specific practices that work with your theme
Distilling your theme to a short sentence or intention for your class
Takeaway ideas and helpful notes
Any of the 54 class themes can be used as-is or molded to embody your own personal teaching style and authentic voice. Each includes insightful options for opening your class, suggestions for what to say during movements and pauses, and helpful ideas for closing out strong. Grounded in the knowledge that yoga philosophy is applicable to our daily lives—and its wisdom is for all of us—this book offers adaptable and easy-to-use ways to transform your classes, empower your students, and build richer, more meaningful connections by teaching beyond the poses and into the world.
54 inspired new a full year of templates to engage, retain, and connect with your students
This companion volume—with all-new material—offers 54 ready-made ideas and templates to elevate your classes, refine your voice, and teach inspired themes with joy and confidence.
Each chapter—like Rise to Joy, Less is More, and Rebel, Yogi!—introduces a series of updated themes. Authors Sage Rountree and Alexandra DeSiato offer practical upgrades to the bestselling first volume of Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, with new prompts, expanded notes, and thoughtful cues to help you connect with students and center their experiences in class. Each template offers useful guidance
Expounding on your theme and connecting it to both personal and universal experiences
Chants, quotes, mantras, poems, or songs
Specific practices that work with your theme
Distilling your theme to a short sentence or intention for your class
Takeaway ideas and helpful notes
Any of the 54 class themes can be used as-is or molded to embody your own personal teaching style and authentic voice. Each includes insightful options for opening your class, suggestions for what to say during movements and pauses, and helpful ideas for closing out strong. Grounded in the knowledge that yoga philosophy is applicable to our daily lives—and its wisdom is for all of us—this book offers adaptable and easy-to-use ways to transform your classes, empower your students, and build richer, more meaningful connections by teaching beyond the poses and into the world.
195 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2025
About the author
Sage Rountree
40 books40 followersSage Rountree is an internationally recognized authority in yoga for athletes, an endurance sports coach specializing in athletic recovery, and the co-owner of several wellness businesses. Sage is the author of thirteen books, including The Athlete's Guide to Yoga, Racing Wisely, Everyday Yoga, and, Lifelong Yoga and Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, cowritten with Alexandra DeSiato. Her latest are The Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook and The Art of Yoga Sequencing.
Sage moved from a career track in academia to one teaching yoga and training others to do the same, and to do it with clear standards and boundaries to the benefit of their students. She directs the Carrboro Yoga Company's advanced studies teacher trainings, which draw students from around the world. She also co-owns Hillsborough Spa and Day Retreat. Sage served as a faculty member at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health for over a decade, and she has offered workshops and taught at festivals both internationally and around the United States.
Sage’s in-person trainings and online courses include lessons in sequencing yoga classes, developing workshops, managing the yoga classroom, and being a professional movement teacher—the subject of her most recent book. A pioneer in yoga for athletes, she has worked with athletes at every level, from youth and amateur athletes to NBA and NFL teams, players, and coaches. In addition to writing and cowriting ten books, her work has appeared in several publications, and she has been a regular contributor to Yoga Journal and Runner’s World.
Sage moved from a career track in academia to one teaching yoga and training others to do the same, and to do it with clear standards and boundaries to the benefit of their students. She directs the Carrboro Yoga Company's advanced studies teacher trainings, which draw students from around the world. She also co-owns Hillsborough Spa and Day Retreat. Sage served as a faculty member at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health for over a decade, and she has offered workshops and taught at festivals both internationally and around the United States.
Sage’s in-person trainings and online courses include lessons in sequencing yoga classes, developing workshops, managing the yoga classroom, and being a professional movement teacher—the subject of her most recent book. A pioneer in yoga for athletes, she has worked with athletes at every level, from youth and amateur athletes to NBA and NFL teams, players, and coaches. In addition to writing and cowriting ten books, her work has appeared in several publications, and she has been a regular contributor to Yoga Journal and Runner’s World.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 23, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, North Atlantic Books, for providing me with a digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) for an honest review.
As someone who has practiced yoga on and off for decades and someone who has been teaching for nearly 10 years, I find Sage Rountree to be a great resource for yoga teachers.
Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, Volume 2: 54 New Thmes, Template, and Ideas for Integrating Inspiration Into Your Class," is a great addition to any yoga teacher's personal library.
The book is divided into three parts: Our Theming Approach, Fresh Themes, and Journal Prompts and Templates. Each section then has subsections, making it easy for the reader to find what they are seeking in the book.
First of all, if you're a yoga teacher who teaches gym yoga and has no interest in yoga beyond asana, perhaps this book will show you there's more to yoga than poses. I say this because I've met "gym yoga" teachers who got their initial certification through an online quickie program that was all about the money. Perhaps they did a two-day in-person workshop where only the asansa/poses are covered. I've witnessed at least one of these teachers realize that yoga is more than asana after going through a 200-hour Yoga Alliance-recognized program.
I like that Sage gave ideas on how to employ themes: opening, during movements, during passes, and closing. My own yoga teacher training didn't include that. I've learned from other teachers when I've taken classes as a student. Plus, she provides takeaways, which is a crucial element.
This book confirmed that I'm on the right path in how I teach yoga.
This is a beautiful book for any yoga teacher or any aspiring yoga teacher. I will be buying this book once it disappears from my NetGalley shelf.
However, I do feel like the templates in chapter 14 are filler. One could be included as well as a link to a webpage to download. I know some people like to write in books, so maybe that's why it's included.
As someone who has practiced yoga on and off for decades and someone who has been teaching for nearly 10 years, I find Sage Rountree to be a great resource for yoga teachers.
Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, Volume 2: 54 New Thmes, Template, and Ideas for Integrating Inspiration Into Your Class," is a great addition to any yoga teacher's personal library.
The book is divided into three parts: Our Theming Approach, Fresh Themes, and Journal Prompts and Templates. Each section then has subsections, making it easy for the reader to find what they are seeking in the book.
First of all, if you're a yoga teacher who teaches gym yoga and has no interest in yoga beyond asana, perhaps this book will show you there's more to yoga than poses. I say this because I've met "gym yoga" teachers who got their initial certification through an online quickie program that was all about the money. Perhaps they did a two-day in-person workshop where only the asansa/poses are covered. I've witnessed at least one of these teachers realize that yoga is more than asana after going through a 200-hour Yoga Alliance-recognized program.
I like that Sage gave ideas on how to employ themes: opening, during movements, during passes, and closing. My own yoga teacher training didn't include that. I've learned from other teachers when I've taken classes as a student. Plus, she provides takeaways, which is a crucial element.
This book confirmed that I'm on the right path in how I teach yoga.
This is a beautiful book for any yoga teacher or any aspiring yoga teacher. I will be buying this book once it disappears from my NetGalley shelf.
However, I do feel like the templates in chapter 14 are filler. One could be included as well as a link to a webpage to download. I know some people like to write in books, so maybe that's why it's included.
January 9, 2025
As someone relatively new to Yoga, I was interested in learning more about themes in Yoga classes, how to create them and carry them through an entire class. This book eloquently explained how to use Yoga philosophy to create themes and how to integrate them fully into your class. The possibilities are endless, and offers huge creative potentials for teachers and students.
Yoga is not only about the physical poses, but is a spiritual practice that involves, yes the body, but also mind and spirit. Having a "theme" or a reference point during a class can help students to access their inner strength, spirit, and knowledge. It's about having intention and purpose with your movements, to allow the flow of Yoga to open your perception to your inner monologues and internal journey of discovery.
I look forward to exploring themes more fully as my practice unfolds and allowing the conversation between mind, body, and soul to speak more clearly so that I can integrate the teachings of Yoga more effectively.
As someone new to Yoga, this book is more advanced as it focuses on the philosophy of Yoga, but I think even beginners can find wisdom and insight in its teachings.
*With my Astrology background, I have also been thinking about ways to integrate astrological transits within a Yoga class.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Yoga is not only about the physical poses, but is a spiritual practice that involves, yes the body, but also mind and spirit. Having a "theme" or a reference point during a class can help students to access their inner strength, spirit, and knowledge. It's about having intention and purpose with your movements, to allow the flow of Yoga to open your perception to your inner monologues and internal journey of discovery.
I look forward to exploring themes more fully as my practice unfolds and allowing the conversation between mind, body, and soul to speak more clearly so that I can integrate the teachings of Yoga more effectively.
As someone new to Yoga, this book is more advanced as it focuses on the philosophy of Yoga, but I think even beginners can find wisdom and insight in its teachings.
*With my Astrology background, I have also been thinking about ways to integrate astrological transits within a Yoga class.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 23, 2025
I haven't read the first volume so I wasn't familiar with the layout or content of this series. I was interested in the theme ideas and how a yoga class could be structured.
I found this very alien and inauthentic. Several of the things suggested I felt were outside a yoga teacher's remit.
This may be cultural because I've not come across any yoga classes where the things suggested would be appropriate. If a teacher started reading poetry or song lyrics in a class or gave me wool at the beginning of the class, I would walk out.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC
I found this very alien and inauthentic. Several of the things suggested I felt were outside a yoga teacher's remit.
This may be cultural because I've not come across any yoga classes where the things suggested would be appropriate. If a teacher started reading poetry or song lyrics in a class or gave me wool at the beginning of the class, I would walk out.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews