On October 24, 2014, I had a the wonderful opportunity to present Yoga as Medicine at the University of North Carolina Wilmington to two groups of Exercise Science students during their Biomechanics class. I utilized a power point presentation as well as group discussion and a question/answer period to demonstrate how yoga could be used as medicine through the biopsychosocial model and pentagon of wellness.

As I reflect on the experience, I don’t think there are any major changes that I would make to the presentation. I think the material itself was very well organized. I did set a goal for myself to become more comfortable presenting to a group of people. I have a tendency to stay behind the podium and I would like to be a bit more interactive and move throughout the classroom. I’m hoping to have future opportunities to teach in a classroom setting, and I feel this is something that will improve over time.
I was extremely grateful for the teaching materials made available through the PYT program. The PPT slides were amazing, as well as the information from my PYT manuals and communication with PYT graduates. I feel that the PYT program prepared me very well with the knowledge required to present the material in a variety of settings, whether it be a university or community class.
The only thing that came to mind when I thought about other resources that would be helpful would be some sort of presentation database with information such as name of PYT presenter, name of project, media used (ex. PPT), length of presentation and a one to two sentence summary. Contact information of the PYT presenter may also be helpful. For example, if I was going to plan a future presentation on Yoga as Medicine for Triathletes, I may look at the spreadsheet/database, see if anyone may have helpful information, and reach out for further information from that point. It may be inspirational to see what other graduates are doing and also allow folks to share information when needed.