Take Your Yoga Lesson Planning Skills To New Heights: Discover How To Write Compelling Yoga Class Aims & Objectives

 

Free Aims & Objectives Cheat Sheet

 

To help my fellow yoga teachers, I created this cheat sheet for creating yoga class aims and objectives. Please feel free to download and use it.

 

 

Intro

 

“Aims & Objectives Are The Rock Stars Of Your Lesson Plan.”

If you’re in a hurry.

Stop!

Really, I mean it. Stop.

Slow down.

Read this post slowly.

And read it multiple times, slowly.

And if you’re like me, come back to this post every time you create a new yoga lesson plan. Yes, even little old me, the creator of this Aims & Objectives post, uses it as a vital resource for my own yoga lesson planning.

If there’s only one blog post you read on my site, make it this one.

Without aims and objectives, a yoga class becomes just another run-of-the-mill generic exercise class. So, it’s well worth spending a few extra minutes crafting aims and objectives.

By setting aims and objectives, yoga teachers give themselves and their students a sense of purpose and direction. Having a sense of direction for each class is immensely liberating.

I usually start with an “aim” for the class, and write two or three “objectives”. Then when creating the plan (using the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner) I might add another one or two objectives.

A yoga class “objective” is a milestone towards achieving the “aim”.

Objectives need to be SMART so that yoga teachers know what progress it has made towards achieving the aim.

 

Smart Objectives

 

Specific: clear and easy to understand
Measurable: able to be quantified
Achievable: possible to be attained
Realistic: not pie in the sky
Time-bound: associated with a specific time period (e.g. one class, or a six-week yoga course)

So, to put it in a nutshell…

Aims are general goals. Objectives are specific goals.

 

Aims: General Goals 

 

• Aims are general statements of intent.
• Aims indicate the overall goals of the session.
• Aims are written from the yoga teacher’s perspective
• Aims state what the course will try to provide.
• Aims give us a path to follow & a destination to hit.
• Aims help your students become better students.
• Aims explain your intentions to your students.
• Aims help keep students coming back to your class
• Aims enable teachers to think deliberately about student progress.

Examples of AIM words that can be used:

Ability	Ensure	Explore	Help	Promote
Broaden	Enhance	Enable	Inform	Provide
Create	Equip	Facilitate	Instruct	Show
Demonstrate	Explain	Foster	Introduce	Skills
Develop	Encourage	Give	Involve	Teach

.
Examples of AIM phrases:

Give practical experience	Develop the ability	Foster knowledge & understanding	Develop the ability to read & analyse	Give a grounding
Provide students with the necessary knowledge & skills to be able to		Provide a range of opportunities	Encourage independence	Demonstrate how to

.

Objectives: Specific Goals

 

• Objectives increase clarity.
• Objectives help to keep track of learning outcomes for your students.
• Objectives contribute to the achievement of the larger goals (AIMS).
• Objectives give your yoga class a clearly defined target.
• Objectives keep teachers inspired because it focuses attention on the BIGGER PICTURE.

Objectives words include:

Knowledge	Attitudes	Skills
Analyse	Attend	Co-ordinate
Classify	Accept	Demonstrate
Compare	Become aware of	Discover
Define	Develop	Modify
Demonstrate	Decide	Move
Explain	Indicate	Perform
Justify	Influence	Practice
List	Organise	Share
Measure	Judge
Name/Recall	Revise
Predict	Face
Recognise	Listen
State
Summarise

Learning objectives start with this phrase: 

By the end of the session, the student will be able to…

Type of objective:      

Knowledge                  
By the end of the session, the student will be able to name two postures in Sanskrit.

Attitudes                      
By the end of the session, the student will be able to indicate changes they can make to their diet.

Skills 
By the end of the session, the student will be able to practice pigeon pose safely. 

Objectives can be fulfilled: 

• in a single yoga class
• over a 6 or 10-week course
• over a year or more

Teaching methods that can help you attain your Objectives: 

• Case-study
• Demonstration
• Discussion
• Games
• Lecture
• Repetition
• Practice
• Projects
• Reading
• Repetition
• Role-play
• Talk-through

Aims & Objectives Examples

 

Example 1

AIM: Explore surrendering to slowness. Enable students to notice when they’re rushing (e.g. when they’re at work) and to give themselves permission to slow down – by slowing their breathing and movements.

OBJECTIVES: By the end of the lesson students should/will be able to:

• Perform the floor sequence (see handout)
• Perform kaya kriya breath
• Perform mudras (preparing for sectional mudras and chants)
• Perform Full Breath with mudras and chanting
• Become aware of slowing the breath
• Move slowly from one pose to the next
• Stay in poses for longer before moving to the next one
• Judge what it feels like to allow slowness in

Example 2

AIM: Encourage grit by exploring your physical edge

OBJECTIVES: By the end of the lesson students should/will be able to:

• Perform Sun Salutations B
• Perform Dog Down with a focus on the weight on the knuckles
• Perform a new mudra
• Perform mantra (OM GUM GANAPATEYIE NAMAHA)
• Perform INVERSIONS to end the asana session
• Perform upward abdominal lock
• Accept losing balance (exploring physical edge) in dancer pose
• Define grit (read sections from “Grit” book)

Online Yoga Lesson Planner

 

The Online Yoga Lesson Planner has 100,000+ yoga lesson plans that you can copy, edit and download.