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| do you have a special secret for how you time your poses? How long you stay in them (I know for some practices that you don't hold poses), and how you ensure ou spend the same amount of time from one side to the other?
Does this just come with practise? |
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| Mala beads--use 'em for a timing tool while observing students and looking like a real yogi--a little sty'lin  |
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| I just try to count the breaths. This can be a bit uneven depending on the previous pose, but it's probably the easiest thing to do. I was taught in Ashtanga that you hold just about everything for 5 breaths. Inversions (headstand, handstand, shoulderstand) should be held longer, maybe 25 breaths. |
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| but when youre teaching and explaining the poses - do you start the breath count when you are done the full guidance into the poses?
beads eh? I read a fabulous book on prayer beads across the world and the different counts for different religions and different materials... it was very good!
I will have to look into the beads.... become a cool yogini  |
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| shnen - 2006-02-15 1:31 PM
but when youre teaching and explaining the poses - do you start the breath count when you are done the full guidance into the poses?
Sorry, I think I misunderstood your question. I'm not a teacher, so this is personal practice. I know a lot of teachers watch the students, and when one comes out, they move on.
I think Bruce's suggestion about the beads is wonderful, though you do need something to pace it out. |
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| Ahh - I have no problem when it's just me - because i can time myself... but yeah - teaching is a tricky one - I will have to look into mala beads 
Thanks! |
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| Twisty Kristi tipped me off to the mala beads--gotta give credit where it's due. |
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| know what? i don't know.
i think it just takes practice. i discovered that my timing seems to be 'on' because each side and each series of postures always takes the same amount of time. hmm.
i do notice that a lot of places/teachers are out of time, because they get distracted when/once teaching. i think i just try to tap into the natural rhythm of the class or group, and move from there. |
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| At first I counted breaths.
Now I just watch the room. If they're holding a pose I want them to stay long enough to settle into it. I want them to start to feel a little relaxed. Then I judge the second side by the first. I try to make sure its even on both sides, but I don't worry a lot about it.
I try not to always start on the right side and sometimes lead with the left side, just in case there's a tendency to holds longer on the first side when students are less tired. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| I don't really know either. I do watch the students and sometimes judge by when one comes out or when they seem to need it. OTOH, with brand new students I don't have them hold long at all - just "touch and go" as Geeta Iyengar calls it. Then they repeat the pose and get the feel of going in and out of it. I do use a timer for restorative sometimes as I tend to want to get them out at about 3 minutes and I want them to stay for 5 minutes. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | I like the touch and go method too!! Especially on a long Hot Yoga day. Then afterwards, I like my Tibetan Bowl Timer for a loongg Savasana. It's so peaceful instead of a buzzing bell ringing, or Bruce yelling out, "Okay, ya'll can have a beer now",
Edited by Cyndi 2006-02-15 7:02 PM
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| Cyndi - 2006-02-15 6:57 PM
It's so peaceful instead of a buzzing bell ringing, or Bruce yelling out, "Okay, ya'll can have a beer now",
You've got a timer that has Bruce yelling on it? That's so cool! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | GreenJello - 2006-02-15 8:20 PM
Cyndi - 2006-02-15 6:57 PM
It's so peaceful instead of a buzzing bell ringing, or Bruce yelling out, "Okay, ya'll can have a beer now",
You've got a timer that has Bruce yelling on it? That's so cool!
Yea, would you like to buy one?? I have them for a modest price. Shhh, PM me so we can talk about the details...I don't want BB to catch wind of this...he might get upset..these are my best sellers,
Edited by Cyndi 2006-02-15 8:55 PM
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| tee hee.
i do keep a strict eye on a clock. i have to do this or i get carried away. For example, last nite's 7 pm class is only supposed to last until 8 pm. But they're such an awesome group, that we had an awesome time with some awesome postures and posture variations. We had such a good time. Class went until 9:00. we hardly noticed. I had two CDs in--one for chakra clearing and another of kirtan music, so we were blissed on that end--and i didn't even notice that the second one had finished. I used two because the first is 45 minutes, the second is 1 hour and 15 minutes. And we closed out both CDs.
Anyway, we were all so into it, and i forgot to wear a watch and the clock was broken. But, it was an amazing class. We just kept going, no one left (even though some of them were wearing watches), and we did this great 30 minutes of restoratives at the end, which is rare for us, usually we only get about 5-7 minutes of restoratives.
I dunno. it just seemed right, even though it's against all sense of 'right' according to a lot of the stuff i've heard about holding classes long and what not. We all had a good time.
Here's the sequence:
warm up series: mt pose, forward bend (feet hip distance apart), downward dog, cat stretches, lunges (equestrian pose, i suppose), extended downward dog.
integration series: sun salutations A and B. during downward dogs, we did side plank, extended-extended downward dog (bring left heel to the floor, extend right leg up. extend through right arm, bring left hand to left wrist; roll right hip over left hip), lunges, more equestrian poses (with toe pointed, knee lifting off the floor--also a great stretch for the psoas).
Balance challenge: warrior I to warrior III to daikasana (exagerating the back bend in this pose) to natarajasana back to warrior III to fierce pose (utkatasana), eagle pose, sweep out and sun A to downward dog, repeat on the other side.
triangle challenge series: warrior I feet with chest hovering above the thigh, airplane arms (jet airplane) with shoulders squeezing together. Work on squaring the hips properly. Maintain torso position (parallel to the floor), and straighten the front leg, again focusing on squared hips. keeping torso in this position, extend arms overhead and bring hands to durga mudra (interlace fingers, index finger points--the sword of truth!). roll into triangle pose, keeping arms in extending position toward the front of the room--find torso alignment here, extending straight out of the hips, rib cage dropping (quadratus lumborum is contracting). open arms into triangle pose (normal), and then lightly lift the weight forward and come into half-moon pose (ardha chandrasana). Move into utkatasana, and work revolving posture here, then padahastasana and padagustasana (forward bends), and finally bakasana (crow pose) into tripod head stand. from headstand move to chaturanga dhandasana, upward dog, downward dog. repeat on other side.
Side angle challenge series (with shoulder openers): warrior I moves to warrior II. warrior 2 moves to side angle pose. do three arm positions for the upper arm--reaching straight up, reaching overhead, and then reaching behind the back reaching for the inner thigh. Three positions for the lower arm--elbow resting on the thigh or arm extended, but no fingers on the floor; bring shoulder under the knee and press hand on the outside of the foot (maintaining torso positioning with rib cage dropping); binding with the upper hand to open the shoulder. Maintaining the bind, step the back foot forward so that the feet are even, but slightly wider then shoulder distance apart. maintain bind, and hold forward bend for a few breaths. Shift weight toward that 'back foot' that's now moved forward, and begin to stand. Come into balance on the foot, and extend the bound leg--bird of paradise pose. To come out of the posture, gently reverse the pose, bring hands to the floor in the forward bend, and move to firefly pose (titthibasana). firefly to crow to chaturanga to up dog to down dog. repeat on other side.
arm balance challenge: move from down dog into chaturanga (keeping torso above elbows). lean toward the left a bit, and draw the right knee toward the right elbow. move the right leg back, return to balanced (even) chaturanga. move weight toward the right a bit, and bring the left knee up to the elbow. return to chaturanga, then return to downward dog. repeat serveral times, trying to bring the bent knee up the arm, so that it's eventually near or touching the shoulder--resting in downward dog between sets (4-5 attempts each side). then, move into a lunge--work anjenayasana (or warrior 1.5) and then revolve it. once revolved, bring both hands ot the inside of the front foot, and drop the shoulder under the knee, placing the hands on the outside of the foot. move the weight forward into a sort of 'chaturanga movement', and then extend the front leg and lift the back leg off the floor, coming into ardha koundinyasana (or half monkey pose, i've head it called). move to chaturanga, then up dog, then down dog, and repeat from anjenayasana on the other side. For the next two or three attempts, move from the basic lunge, rather than from the whole anjenay/revolving aspect.
from here, the class went in three directions--first, students continued working ardha koundinyasana; second, i taught hamasana (swan pose) to a number of the students (who were flat chested); and third, a group that felt comfortable with ardha koundinyasana worked on an arm balance series. this third group went from ardha koundinyasana, drawing the back foot between the arms, forward, and then over to the side where they crossed ankles with the front foot, then moved back to ardha koundinyasana, and moves that into crane pose (like crow, but with one leg extended upward. most moved from there to tripod head stand, then opened the legs and revolved it, and brought the left leg toward the right elbow, lifting again into an arm balance (left leg out to the right, right leg extended back toward the back of the room). they returned to head stand, did the same pose on the other side, moved to chaturanga, and then vinyasa flowed to downward dog, and repeated the sequence on the other side.
hip opening series: this class loves hip openers, so we did pidgeon pose (downward facing), pidgeon bow (working a back bend inhale, back bending up, exhale, folding forward), and then variations on pidgeon back bends. we moved into agnistambhasana (fire log pose), and also worked variations of kurmasana or tortoise pose (both closed and extended). we did janusirsasana and revolved, baddhakonasana, seated wide leg forward bend, cow-face pose, 'compass pose,' reclining yogi's pose.
back bends: from the reclining position, we worked supta baddha konasana, bridge pose in multiple variations, upward facing bow pose, wheel pose, reverse plow pose, and variations of fish pose.
inversions: we did shoulderstand, plow pose (with various half plows and different arm situations), karna pindhasana (knees on the floor, by the ears), rolled out gentle, rocked 3-4 times, and came to sirsasana I (head stand from the forearms), then child's pose.
restoratives: from child's pose, which was held for quite a while, we moved into gentle reclining twists, gentle supta badha konasana, viparita karani agaist the wall or supported by props (usually the second), viparita karani in lotus, and finally a long savasana.
it was a really awesome class. they work very well. |
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| WOW!!! That's awesome - thanks for sharing!
I find an hour goes so fast, and you want to make sure you get enough time for sitting/supine poses... 2 hours - that sounds awesome! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I do keep a close eye on the clock to time classes. Two hours is a great amount of time for a class. I find it much easier to do a full practice with that extra half hour. My one hour classes always just whiz past. |
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| well, it was accidental. And, i watch the class. Sometimes, this same class can't handle the whole hour--so we'll do 45 minutes of asana, 10 minutes of savasana (with pranayama or guided meditation), and 5 minutes of various closing stuff. or 35 minutes of asana, 10 minutes of savasana, 5-7 minutes of separate pranayama, 5-7 minutes of meditation and closing stuff (mantra, prayer, etc). It really depends upon the day.
But, yesterday everyone was having fun, going strong, feeling good, and we just kept right on going. it was great, really. it's rare that i teach classes so long, but usually the last 1/2 hour slows down a lot--lots of time for restoratives, pranayama, meditation. so, only the first 1.5 hours is vigorous.
hour-long classes do fly by, but i find 1.5 hours usually to be too long. for me, 1 hr and 15 minutes is usually 'just right' for me to get through everything that i want to get through without overtaxing the students. it's my preference, but most gyms and fitness centers want an hour, most yoga studios want 1.5. when i had my own, it was 1 hr and 15 minutes. |
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| I agree with you completely... I find and hour and 15 mins to be perfect, that way you can really get them relaxed for the final relaxation... I have done 1.5 hours before where the last 15 mins was coming to sitting after svasana and being in meditaiton, which was nice, but of course for those who wanted the meditation aspect out of it as well. |
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| Hello shnen:
This is a tough one because I teach both 60 minute and 90 minute classes - and I always feel I could use more time! Two hours would be ideal, I think - but that time committment scares folks (everyone is so over-schedule these days) away! Sometimes I stretch my 60 minute class out to almost 90 minutes, because once the students are there, they have no problem staying.
I also always have a watch available to check the time. About three quarters of my class is pre-planned and structured (more or less) and then I leave space to improvise and add new things, or not, if I'm running out of time. I don't time the poses but with practice you get pretty good at sensing when the class needs to move on! |
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| Interesting. I only teach in gyms and the YMCA and I long for 1.5 hour format. I only have two classes that are 1.5. My early Saturday morning class at the Y would probably go on for a couple of hours, but my Friday morning class at a traditional gym is challenged by the 1.5.
Some worry they can't do it, even though I explain that the class is paced. Others just don't have the patience or focus for it. They like it because the standing portion and strength work is a little longer, but then they dissappear before the deep stretches.
That room is one of the more challenging spaces I teach in. It's big and open and a whole, glass wall is open to this warehouse style gym. It's hard to get them out of frenetic mode.
An hour and 15 minutes might be better. It would give a little more time for deep stretches, but psychologically they wouldn't feel like the class is too long.
Sharon
Edited by skatrenah 2006-02-20 10:42 AM
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| thanks for the responses...
so last night I started one sequence on the right side, then started the next on the left, etc. and it went GREAT! The class was awesome!
I still think i want to try the beads, but I would have to get used to them first, or they could become a bigger distraction then good!
I try to drag my class out as much as I can, but there is a class afterwards, and i have to be sure the class gets at least their hour! |
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hints on timing?
