RYT300 Work Load and Course Order – IMPORTANT – Which TRACK Are You On?
All remote students need to read this page and watch this video (using password RYT300). The video will explain the order in which you may want to complete the course work. It talks about a “Track” and if you’ll read the information below, you’ll understand what that means.
If you read below, you’ll figure out what I mean by a “Track” (Physical Track vs Emotional Track). As it says below, you can do both tracks, or you could choose one. If you read this page and watch the video, it should clear up 99.99% of any questions, but if you still have questions after reading and watching, then please reach out. Thanks!
There is a LOT of information in the RYT300 course. I put this level of information in the class because each student’s needs are different and I want to make sure you have a lot of tools to help you work wtih clients. For example, if you work with a lot of people with muscle or joint issues, you might enjoy all of the physical anatomy work and really digging into portions of the class, such as Hips, Shoulders, Core, Back, etc. If you are more drawn to working with clients with emotional issues, you may be very interested in the sections on tapping, chakras and Sutras.
Please do NOT feel that you have to do every single activity on the portal to earn your RYT300. (You don’t even have to upload something or get a checkmark on each lesson – that’s to help you with organization…not for me!) I am never about make work or busy work. Of course, I will require you to do some work, but I don’t want to burden you with unnecessary work if it is not helpful to your particular circumstances. In some cases, you may want to file away the information and see if you need it later, but it may not be useful to you at the current time. That’s ok. If you are not a good test taker and it makes you anxious, don’t stress. First, you don’t absolutely have to take the quizzes, as long as you show me through your work that you understand the material. Second, you can re-take quizzes multiple times. Sometimes students take it the first time through without reading the material just for fun (and usually fail it) so they can go back later and take it to see their improvement. Make it fun and don’t stress. No one sees your score except me, and I am not sitting in judgement. I had to learn this stuff, too, and there is still plenty I forget and/or have not yet learned!
All students do need to review the Hips, Shoulders and Core, Healthy Back, Restorative and Yin modules. There is a good balance of physical and emotional track material in all of these. However, if you are on the Emotional Track, you might not find a student to palpate during the anatomy sections or you might even choose to come back to some of the anatomy videos later.
Which Track Will You Choose?
Let’s classify your interest by track, just as you declared a major in college. This is to help you know which work you need to complete. You can complete ALL work, but it may take you more than 300 hours to do that. I offer it this way to give lots of flexibility to the course and serve as many students as possible.
If you plan to work more with those with emotional issues, you may not want to spend as much time on the physical anatomy sections. Let’s call this the Emotional Track. I want all of you to know some physical anatomy, but you might not need to know as much as someone who specializes in helping athletes or those with orthopedic conditions. If you plan to work with people in recovery or suffering from anxiety, stress, grief, mild depression or anger, this is the track for you. For these students, spending time on a deep dive into anatomy might not be a good use of time.
On the other hand, you may want lots of physical anatomy, but want to finish your chakra and Sutra work later, after you’ve earned your RYT300. If you plan to work with people in pain or athletes, this is the track for you. I want all students to learn some emotional and subtle energy, but you can focus more of your study time on physical aspects and may choose not to complete every homework assignment under this category for time purposes. Let’s call this the Physical Track.
It’s ok to double major and take both tracks! In other words, you are welcome to complete every single activity, but let me know which you prefer – the physical or emotional or both so I will know which lessons to expect from you. You get all the material either way.
Note: Physical pain and emotional pain cannot be separated. One contributes to (and is often the root cause of) the other. You should never offer only physical answers or only emotional answers, so both tracks will contain some of each (physical and emotional) skill development. However, some students present more heavily with a physical or emotional need.
Examples:
1) If I have an eating disorder that is interfering with my life, I would seek help for that. I might also have headaches and fatigue, and these are likely due to chakra imbalances and stress that are all related to the eating disorder. You could mainly work with me using the emotional and subtle energy tools, but you might also show me some exercises that relive the stress in my neck and shoulders that is likely contributing to my headache. Even if you are on the Emotional Track, you’d still need some knowledge of physical ways to help me reduce my muscle tension and gain more strength and flexibility.
2) Years ago, I had hip flexor pain that would put me in the bed for 2-3 days at a time that would flare up every 4-8 months. I had done all the ‘hip work’ I could think of, to no avail. Later, I learned it was an apana vayu issue and worked intensively with the 2nd chakra (and some 1st and 3rd). I had to employ some specific physical work (twisting poses and learning to let go of chronic abdominal muscle contraction – not ‘hip work’) and a LOT of earth (lower) chakra meditations. (The pain went away and has never returned.) A client in this situation might come to you with physical pain. You have to have enough subtle energy knowledge to know that it will take a combination of physical and emotional work. That’s why even if you are on the Physical Track you must learn some emotional/subtle energy work.
3) A client comes to you with Parkinson’s disease. You look at the material provided with this course and find an 8 week program of pranayama and asana outlined. This presents as a “physical” (neurological) condition. However, you might want to add tapping (EFT) or additional meditations or chakra work to help ease the stress associated with this disease.
How will the tracks be handled differently? If the Topic or Topic Lesson, a note will be made on each page to inform you “Physical Track Students Should Complete This” or “Emotional Track Students Should Complete This” and obviously if you are taking both, then all assignments apply. (If you are taking both tracks, you may still choose to skip a few assignments, since you’re already doing double work – just inform me of any you feel are not necessary for you at this time. No busy work…only work that is helpful to you.) Note: Here is a summary of the work students on each Track should submit for review (your “homework”).
Why would I not test you or make you do every single activity? I take the same stance Leslie Kaminoff does when it comes to training. If you attend his live trainings, you’ll get a document that says you showed up at least part of the time and may or may not have paid any attention or learned anything or stayed awake. He has a point. You could sit through 300 hours of training and daydream the entire time. I don’t test you in live trainings but I do watch you assess, etc., as you will also do for this class. But otherwise, in a live training, I wouldn’t know if you were paying attention or not. I count on you, as an adult learner, to learn because you want to – not because a piece of paper is being held over your head.
Also, in a live class, I often group students into pairs or small groups and have them work on items that are of interest to them (such as preparing to work with clients with PTSD or eating disorders or hip pain). I want to do the same thing in this course – allow you some freedoms as to what you focus on.
I have tried really hard to make sure there is enough information for you, no matter which conditions you may encounter. But, I do not want the course to be burdensome, so again, please do not feel compelled to complete every single quiz or every activity. If you decide a certain section of the course doesn’t serve you well at this time, let me know, and tell me which areas you’d like to focus on instead. You can earn your RYT-300 without completing every single activity. I want the course to serve YOUR needs, but please remember that your needs may be different than someone else’s, and the course material is designed to cover conditions that others may be interested in.
Order of Work and How to Start: Your RYT300 includes 5 “Courses” – the main RYT300 course (this one) and 4 supplementary modules: Yin, Restorative, Hips/Shoulders/Core and Healthy Back. I recommend taking the 4 supplementary modules first and then working through the main RYT300.
My final thought: No matter how much or how little work I offer with a course, it won’t please everyone. For the exact same course, one student will say there was not enough material and another student will say there was way too much material. One student will say they breezed through it in 1/3 of the alloted time and another will say it took them 3 times longer than I estimated. I am trying my best to strike a balance here, so please keep that in mind. Everyone works at a different pace, and I’m trying to provide about 300 hours of work for the average student coming out of a 200 hour program. If there is material in the course that you do not feel benefits your career, ignore it. If there is material you were not provided that you need, ask for it and I will try my best to get it to you.
Thank you!
