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| Hi,
I've posted here once before and got some great advice, so I thought I would try again. I've been teaching at a local gym for approximately 1 year now and I'm starting to wonder if maybe my regulars are getting a little bored (I could be projecting here). How do you keep your class fresh - there are only so many "cue" words that you can use in downward dog, a vinyasa, etc. I've told most of my "yoga stories" about certain poses and I've tried to mix the class up weekly, but really have centered in on about 5 different lesson plans that I rotate. By the way, I teach a Vinyasa, power yoga type class that is morphed from my Ashtanga training.
Any non-flame thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I'm just looking for suggestions here, not "if your bored, you shouldn't be a yoga teacher" type of answers. How do you keep things fresh?
Linda |
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| I suggest introducing some new poses, mixing up the order a bit more, going into the poses differently, expanding your understanding of the body by reading books on anatomy so you can talk about some new things and either taking other people's classes or renting/getting from the library some dvds so that you can see what other people do. Don't copy them, learn from them. You can also have a different specific focus for each class like: breathing, the position of the knees in each pose, shoulders, feet, abdomen etc.
If you keep using the same cues and tell the same stories, it does start getting boring. Use some totally different cues and get some new stories/jokes. There are hundreds of things one can say for each pose. In your own practice, start noticing what is going on in your body. Are you rolling your shoulders back and down? are you lifting your knees and engaging your thighs? is your spine extended? what are you doing with your pelvis? are you breathing deeply? what are your feet doing? which way are your knees facing? what are you doing with the back of your neck? are you extending on inhale and relaxing on exhale? are you expanding your chest? are you lifting your ribs? are you pulling your abdomen in and up? where is there tension? where is there relaxation? what is your mind doing? etc etc |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| jim's second paragraph says it all. What are you discovering in YOUR practice? Keeping your own practice fresh by really exploring yourself will always bring new insights.
As far as the cues, I have given myself the task to change them because it does not only get repetitive, but students will sometimes hear new things just because you change the wording a little (Not for Bikram as we know his wording is perfect and beyond correction  Sorry....) For example - coming out of twists I almost always say "rotate forward and change sides." This should be easy to change, right? Now I am saying "turn to the front of the room. Go to the second side." I often preface instructions with "so" as in "so now take the right arm up." This is a fluency aid - a little verbal prop we all use to help us ease into what we are intending to say. It doesn't need to be there. I can say "now take the right arm up" or, seeing as "now" is obvious and unnecessary as well, just "take the right arm up" or even "right arm up!" to go really minimalist.
Or go to the sutras and find some that apply. I can't quote verses right at the moment, but "the pains that are to come can and should be avoided" is always a goodie.  |
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| Certainly agree with all the above (and I read all the info twice so I wouldn't screw up the response like yesterday and Jim called me out). Perhaps some themes for the classes as well--easy to do with the holidays. For example, at Halloween, I encourage costumes of course and rename the asanas--chataranga becomes "Lowering into the grave" Keep those elbows in so you don't scrape the side of the coffin! |
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| Another suggestion I'd like to make is to use cues based on what the people in your class need. For example: My basic instructions for Warrior II from Down Dog are something like: Step your right (or left) foot forward to lunge making sure that your front knee is facing forward and right over your ankle, turn your back foot 90 degrees, keeping your left leg straight inhale up to Warrior II. Externally rotate your thighs, pull your lower abdomen in and up, open your chest, relax your shoulders, reach in both directions and look forward over you middle finger. I may leave it at that if I am going to do the pose multiple times. The next time we do Warrior II (in that class) I will see what corrections people need. People often have excessive lordosis of the lower back in this pose so if it is needed I will address that issue, either with a few words or even a mini speech on the subject. I may also notice that people's forward knee is turning in, they are cocking their head, they are reaching forward too much, their back foot is not flat on the floor, or they have limp hands. Whatever I notice that needs correction, I will talk about. In other words, my instructions are not just a pre-packaged set of instructions, but those instructions that these particular people at this particular moment can benefit the most from (in my judgement at that moment). If many in the class seem to have a pained look on their face or are slumping, I will use my humble attempts at humor by saying something like: "We are supposed to be happy warriors here not depressed warriors, we are the ones that won!" My humor is usually corny and stupid, but it adds a sense of fun. When the students are having fun, they work harder and therefore obtain more benefits. |
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| To teachers in this position who have broached the topic with me I suggest they find the answer within their own practice. And this is not just a suggestion for them. It is a way for me as well. The growth of one's own practice should be shared with those who come to study with them. If one is growing their practice and not sharing it, there is a lack of integrity. If one is not growing their practice but still teaching, this can also be an issue.
How has Adho Mukha changed for me over the past week? The past month? The past year? What have I learned to more deeply facilitate that pose? To do it more effectively? More safely?
There will always be a greater risk of burn out with this sort of style. So one may actually have to work harder since they cannot stop class and break down things seen in the bodies of the students (based on the power vinyasa classes I've attended). Instead one will have to rely on shuffling sequences and recrafting language.
gordon |
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Veteran
Posts: 163
| I like everything that everyone else said and being a newer teacher, appreciate the insights from those more experienced. One thing that I like to do is to select a pose that the whole practice is building toward. Then I focus much of the practice on that part of the body that will the pose relates to. So I can do a hip class when we work to pigeon, I will do shoulders when we are working toward 1/2 head stand, shoulder blades and neck when working toward shoulderstand, etc. It supplies a limitless set of ideas to me.
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| I learn a lot from going to other people's classes and from my own personal practice. Get the Dharma Mitra Book 608 yoga poses. Get Light on Yoga. They both have tons of poses. Study, study, study |
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Keeping things new and interesting for you and your students
