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| Photo by Chris Chavez |
As a yoga teacher, I’m always trying to make my language more clear. Sometimes that means giving more instruction, but most of the time it means learning when to shut my trap and allowing my students to feel and experience the poses on their own.
Here are a few of the things I know I need to strike from my yoga teaching vocabulary…
“Did you feel that?” Students nearly always just nod. Uh huh.. sure.. I feel that. (Now will you leave me alone?) If you’re making an adjustment, just make it. Watch your student’s body with your EYES for confirmation that they understood what you asked them to do. If you don’t see a difference, they probably didn’t feel it. Try saying it in a different way. If you did see them make a change, make sure they know it by giving them some feedback. Yes! There! That’s it!
“Does anybody have any requests for today’s class? Anything you want to work on?” I’ve been doing this in my classes every class for months. I’ve noticed in classes that I attend, other teachers ask the same questions, too. The response is almost always a lot of blank stares, shrugging shoulders, and “anything’s fine with me.” I’ve come to this realization: My students expect ME to plan the sequence. That’s why they’re there. Sure, I want to leave the door open for any questions or requests, but when something comes up for one of them I trust them to come to me and ask.
“Now we’re going to ….” and other words that don’t mean anything. “OK. Now, we’re going to place our hands down on the mat.” “Then, you’re going to step your right foot back.” “Great, now you’re going to bring your hands up toward the sky.” My goal is to teach yoga class in the same way I’d write. That means cutting out all the unnecessary words. I’ve noticed myself saying “Now you’re going to..” about 500 times in class, when it would be so much more effective to abolish the phrase entirely and just give the flippin’ instruction. “Place your hands on the mat. Step your foot back. Reach your hands up toward the sky.” My goal is for each and every word I say to have meaning when I’m teaching. No fillers. It’s a work in progress, and practicing speaking in clear and concise language is as much a part of my practice these days as Triangle Pose.
Also… anything on this list should be abolished immediately.
Now we're going to…
only applies if you're actually doing it with them!
I've seen lots of teachers say we when they are teaching verbal instruction.
It's sloppy. I thoroughly believe that when you are practicing with students you can't see what's going on for them.
Demonstrating is one thing, but tuning out is another.
I've seen teachers teach with their eyes closed!!! Lost in the rapture, apparently 🙂
As a relatively new teacher, in one of my first classes I taught as a sub, I went WAY to fast, and ran out of poses, and actually asked the class if there were any requests. Nowadays, I teach slower, and let the students really sink into the poses and no longer run out of poses.
Sometimes, when I am transitioning from one pose to another, I also say, "Now we're going to ….". In the future, I will try to avoid these unnecessary lead-in words also.
I enjoy your blog!
Carrie
I would add the words "float" and "shine" to the list. They annoy the heck out of me. Nothing about me floats, especially upwards! There is an instructor whose show airs on PBS, and every cue is to "float this" and "float that", "shine this" and "shine that", and on and on. Blech!
@Carrie: I think if you're transitioning between poses, it does add value to say "now we're moving into Name of Pose" as it gets the student tuned into the right direction as you start cuing, especially if you're not teaching a prescribed sequence. Where I agree it isn't needed is before every cue to move every body part.
I need to stop saying "from here"… it's the same as your "now we're going to". It means nothing! Why do I say it?! Ahhhh!!
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I love your blog. I was browsing around and found yours. 😉
Ha! I snorted when I read this; saw Priscilla on PBS today and couldn't watch more than 5 minutes. Priscilla seemed to have the need to fill every second with a word or phrase! About 10% of what she said was body placement!
I just attended an entire workshop devoted to this! I realized I just tune teachers out once they start giving to many directions and bla bla blas;) It really is learning how to be comfortable with and in the silence…that's why people go to yoga!
Please check out my yoga and lifestyle blog! http://njoyoga.blogspot.com
I'd say, less talking during balance postures. As a student, once one of my feet leave the mat, I cannot hear a word my teacher is saying. All I can hear are my own thoughts: "Remember it's all in your core" "Breathe" "Don't fall!" Balance postures take all of my attention and I'm only tuned into a teacher saying, "Release your foot back to the ground".
hey,
thanks for sharing your ideas.
Thanks lot
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Belly laughter! Thank you to you and to some of the comments. The list is fabulous too! Haha