Tools for Teachers: Giving (Even) Better Instructions

TOOLS FOR TEACHERS:

Giving (Even) Better Instructions

You're teaching an awesome class. Textbook perfect. Everything's going well. Until that one moment when you see the entire class turning THIS way, when you really wanted everyone to go THAT way. Argh! 

It's a common problem for yoga teachers, and one that's easy to correct with a little practice and a lot of mindfulness.

The Problem: As we teach, we give multi-layered instructions. Turn to the right. Step the left foot forward. Side-bend right. Inhale. Exhale. Nothing wrong with that. The issue is that our students know us ... sometimes too well. They assume we will always go to the right first, for example. Or they just did a sequence on one side, and they assume they know what's next. But they don't necessarily remember the sequence -- or you've choreographed an element into the sequence before repeating it on "Side B" ... but they don't know that and assume they'll go through the sequence to the other side NOW. 

The students are with you one moment; the next moment, they've gotten a step ahead of you.

What's a yoga teacher to do?

The Solution: We tend to give the breath instruction first, and then we add the movement instruction. E.g., "inhale and elongate; exhale and twist left." Breath first, then movement. This works really well most of the time. Except when it doesn't, and the entire class just went the wrong way.

Know exactly what you would like your students to do. Now, plan the movement that's coming up, and give a more nuanced instruction than the one you usually offer. If you need the class to "twist left" next, give the DIRECTION first, and then very quickly add the breath instruction. E.g., "Inhale and elongate; SIDE BEND LEFT ... exhale." Movement first, then breath. 

In this example, the movement instruction comes a split second before the breath. Students will still do the movement with the correct breath, but now, they will be more certain to move to the side you intended, because you caught the potential for confusion just before they move again. You've caught them in the moment before they move -- and that is when you need to give that more precise, differently-timed instruction.

The best place to practice this technique may be on "Side B" of the sequence you're teaching. 

By adding a heightened degree of mindfulness, and precise movement and breath instructions, your students are likely to follow your lead even better, making for smoother transitions and a more elegant teaching style.

Try it and let me know how it works for you!

 

Of Passover, Easter, and ... Yoga?

On the eve of Good Friday, Easter and Passover, I can't help but stand in awe of the connection between Passover, Easter and yoga.

How's that? Let me explain.

Easter celebrates the miraculous rebirth of Jesus. A dying, and a returning to life everlasting.

Passover celebrates a people's move from bondage to freedom. A dying of the confined and restrained soul, to be reborn as a new nation.

And Yoga? Yoga is the discipline of freedom. Yoga celebrates our diligent practice, and our capacity for attaining "moksha" (spiritual freedom), by giving us a roadmap for going deep within, using Patanjali's Eight Limbed Path as our guide. What dies? Illusion and attachment. What is reborn? Nothing less than the true self.

So, whatever your background or belief, celebrate this weekend, when so many energies flow together in such extraordinary synchronicity. Tell the story of the exodus. Share the promise of immortality. And practice yoga, and dance the dance of "moksha."  Freedom.

Happy Holidays to All ! 

Metta, 

Charlotte

 

Meet "The Yoga Agent" - Leslie Kaminoff & Ava Taylor

Good for you, Leslie and Ava! You call it the way you see it, Leslie (and yes, you got bleeped, oh well). And Ava, BLESS YOU for creating the space for us yogis to be more free to do what WE are meant to do, while you manage and network so that we can bring our work to those who need our teachings. Shame on those who deny us yoga pros the right to take ourselves seriously, respect our time and energy, and employ those who can support us in getting out there to do what we do. Love you guys!

Yoga for Osteoporosis - A Brief Intro

Hi there Yogis,


The Yoga Alliance has put out a call for presenters for its upcoming Yoga Alliance Leadership Conference, October 25-28, 2012, in Indian Wells, California. 


And I'm going for it!


As part of the application process for being a session presenter, I had to submit a short video clip giving a sense of what I'll be talking about at the conference. So ... thanks to the wonders of my Mac, YouTube, and some double-sided tape (don't ask), I created a 7 minute intro that I'm excited to share with you.


You can find it on my YouTube channel: CharlotteStoneYoga, where I plan to post more videos in the months to come.


Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC1pk0ULShM&context=C4c5e0b9ADvjVQa1PpcFPHYIOQjELVNA3uQ8LE0uO9KGMvgyyBytw=

You can also find my Journey Through The Koshas there.


Enjoy, and please share your thoughts on the Stone Center for Yoga & Health Facebook page.


Onward & upward!
Charlotte

Yoga Asana Competition: Coming Soon to an Olympics Near You?

Yoga is Olympics-bound. Move over, Savasana experts, and give a round of applause for our competitors from the New York City Yoga Asana Competition of 2012.

Years of training behind them, competitors bow to the judges with Namaste hands and perform their routines: five compulsory poses, and two additional poses of their own choosing, as they compete for the title of champion. Medals are handed out: gold, silver, bronze. Group hugs, tears and congratulations, a group photo for the press. Ah yes, competition is alive and well in the wonderful world of … yoga?

                                                  Kyoko Katsura in Scorpion Pose - Vrschikasana

                                                    (Seth Wenig, AP / February 28, 2012)

New York Welcomes Yoga Asana Championships

www.nytimes.com

The USA Yoga Federation will host the ninth Regional New York and National Yoga Asana Championship at the Hudson Theater in Midtown Manhattan on Friday.

Gymnasts and dancers can do it. Circle de Soleil performers can do it. Youngsters who compete at the Juniors can do it. Adults who train 3-5 hours each day can do it.

If Yoga Asana Competition becomes an Olympic sport, will it - as the U.S. Yoga Federation hopes - inspire people to do yoga?

It seems so unyogic that these yoga athletes are being judged based on straight knees, balance, how perfectly they perform each pose, and on that special quality that catches the judges’ attention. At least they don’t make them smile like gymnasts must at times; a seriousness pervades these performances by skinny women in leotards, and wiry men in shorts, their intercostals rippling and - gulp - impressive.

Rajashree Choudhury, wife of Bikram and winner of many yoga competitions, is the founder of the United States Yoga Federation, which has spearheaded the effort for a yoga Olympics. Choudhury and fans believe that yoga raised to the Olympic level will heighten public awareness of yoga’s benefits for strength, flexibility and discipline, and inspire people to take up yoga.

I don’t believe that will happen. To the serious yoga practitioner, it can be inspiring to see what one might do with rigorous Olympic-style yoga training. But will yogis get injured pursuing that elusive perfect pose?

And what about all the non-yogis watching the yoga Olympics? I believe that the great majority will be more convinced than ever that they can’t do yoga. While yoga “performances” have always been part of the yoga tradition in many Indian yoga schools – a graduation of sorts – the competitive nature of the Olympics runs counter to what yoga is and can be. In yoga, we encourage an atmosphere of non-judgment, non-competitiveness, adaptation, introspection and self-acceptance; this is precisely what makes yoga so empowering, NOT the physical prowess required to hold handstand or Peacock pose.

People watching these competitions won’t know that yoga is a way of life. That it is a roadmap for having a healthy body, but also a non-judgmental mind, a serene Weltanshauung, and a way to find insight or personal transformation. If all they see is the yoga Olympics, viewers won’t know any of this … and I doubt that seeing the physical poses performed so perfectly will help them realize that they should get themselves to a yoga class for their stress, or their aching backs, or their vulnerable hearts and souls. In fact, I think competitive yoga is likely to have the opposite effect, convincing viewers that they can’t – or shouldn’t - do yoga.

Will yoga inspire generations of young yogis? Possibly. But is this the message we want our young yogis to absorb, that they can train, and be judged, and maybe, just maybe, beat out everyone else and win that gold medal? Or that they can train, and be judged, and never be good enough?

Don’t we have enough competitive sports at the Olympics?

Of course competitive sports may inspire people to be more fit, to join a team, to embrace wellness. They can lead to rock star status for the rare super-athlete whose story can inspire … and to plenty of injuries, emotional problems, sacrifice and heartbreak for the many others whose stories we never see.

Or, the ultimate insult to yoga and those hard-training yogis: will people find these routines … um … boring?

Is this what we want them to do to our precious, non-competitive, yoga-meets-you-where-you-are, yoga-for-the-rest-of-us yoga?

I know where I stand on this issue. What about you?

John Friend: It's Not About Yoga

On Tuesday (2/28/12), the NY Times printed an article about John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga.  The article is titled Yoga and Sex Scandals: No Surprise Here (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/nutrition/yoga-fans-sexual-flames-and-predictably-plenty-of-scandal.html). 

Mark Sullivan/WireImage

IN RETREAT John Friend's sexual indiscretions upset many devotees of Anusara yoga, which he founded.

The yoga community has been abuzz with the news of John's fall from grace, and the news finally hit the NY Times. 


John Friend's behavior flies in the face of all that yoga stands for, and has hurt many teachers and students deeply. It has also added fuel to the fire for those who are always eager to find fault with yoga, yogis, and self-proclaimed gurus. 


I suppose that the broader public has a right to be informed about this latest scandal. But I take serious issue with the article written by William J. Broad, author of the recently published book, The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards, and author of the article in a recent NY Times Magazine issue, How Yoga Wrecks Your Body. His inflammatory tone and lopsided writing once again take aim at yoga, presenting it in a way that is sure to lead those who find yoga strange and frightening farther down a path to rejection of this ancient wisdom tradition that helps millions of people feel better and find more clarity in their lives.


Broad informs us that, with its roots in Tantra, yoga "began as a sex cult - an omission that leaves many practitioners open to libidinal surprise." And there's more: "Hatha yoga ... used poses, deep breathing and stimulating acts - including intercourse - to hasten rapturous bliss." 


The truth is that Tantra is but one of several roots of the yoga tree. What Broad conveniently fails to mention is that Tantra was not created as a cult exclusively focused on eliciting rapture and bliss through sexual means. Healthy, appropriate sexual connection was regarded as one way to become united with the Divine Source, but the deeper Tantric journey was a profoundly spiritual quest for that union. Sex was neither a requirement, nor the sole or favored avenue toward union with Source. Good deeds, selfless service, meditation and devotional practices can all lead to a state of union and bliss.


In this article Broad states, "the arousal, sweating, heavy breathing and states of undress that characterize yoga classes have led to predictable results. In 1995, sex between students and teachers became so prevalent that the California Yoga Teachers Association deplored it as immoral and called for high standards." 


Broad cites sexual improprieties by yoga gurus such as Swami Muktananda, Swami Satchidananda, Swami Rama, and Amrit Desai, as further proof of yoga's dangers.

	George Rose/Getty Images CELEBRITY GURU Swami Muktananda had many thousands of devotees, including celebrities. A senior aide charged that he was a serial philanderer and sexual hypocrite.

It goes without saying that these teachers have done immeasurable harm to their followers, and to yoga's reputation. Those who took their guidance blindly, and were painfully misled and abused, are still healing from the trauma. And undoubtedly, abuse of the teacher's role - sexual, and in other ways - continues, protected by shame and, I suspect, a code of silence among the devotees of famous and even not-so-famous teachers.


John Friend, and those who take advantage of their vulnerable followers, would do well to heed the ethical guidelines presented in ancient yoga texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and in the contemporary literature about sexual ethics. They need to learn that they are not above the law, or exempt from the rules guiding professional, ethical behavior. 


In Peter Rutter's book, Sex in the Forbidden Zone, he writes, "Any sexual behavior by a man in power within ... the forbidden zone is inherently exploitative of a woman's trust. Because he is the keeper of that trust, it is the man's responsibility ... to assure that sexual behavior does not take place." All yoga teachers should read and take to heart books such as, Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship, by Donna Farhi, The Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships, by Kylea Taylor, or the ethics guidelines established by the California Yoga Teachers' Association and the Yoga Alliance under the guidance of Judith Lasater.


Here's the problem. This is not about yoga. This is about power and the misuse of power by unethical and hypocritical people in leadership roles.  


As yoga teachers, we need to hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards. We are ambassadors of yoga to the world, and people will judge yoga based on their observations of our attitudes and behaviors. This is not in question.


What I question is Broad's view that this behavior is especially rampant in the yoga community. That is simply not true; the media regularly reports about sexual abuses, and abuses of power, in every area of human endeavor.


But maybe I am misguided, my views undoubtedly skewed from my many years of yoga study. Maybe I need to reconsider Broad's premise. If he is right, we should all flee our yoga mats and the hundreds of thousands of ethical, well-meaning teachers who have helped us in myriad ways, and run, run, to take refuge in the hallowed halls of power where people wear proper business attire rather than scanty, sweaty, tight-fitting yoga duds. In those safe sanctuaries, we wouldn't find a hint of arousal or heavy breathing or libidinous surprise: the White House, or maybe Newt Gingrich's office, or Arnold Schwartzenegger's digs, or Wall Street, or the offices of our priests and rabbis and therapists and business leaders. Because these well-dressed, well-spoken pillars of our political or spiritual or commercial communities don't have a problem with the excess testosterone predictably evoked in candle-lit yoga studios. These fine leaders wouldn't dream of abusing their position of power. In their care, surely, we would be safe from those few crazy yoga guys with their fancy words and flowing robes and fluid morals.

Komen Cures Again? Maybe ...

The stunning announcement last week, that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation was pulling its funding of Planned Parenthood for breast cancer prevention, screenings and education, was met with outrage by hundreds of thousands of women, and organizations across the country. Taken by surprise, and embarrassed by the national outcry, Komen for the Cure founder Nancy Brinker "sort of" apologized yesterday, though her carefully worded retraction left it unclear whether funding would continue. Brinker's speech was ambiguous at best, offering no firm commitment to renew funding in the future.


What does this have to do with yoga? A lot.


Yoga teaches us to stand up for what is right, regardless of current trends, the "view du jour," or the political climate. By yoga's standards, then, it is very clear that the Komen Foundation succumbed to the pressure of the pro-life lobby ... and that of its recently hired Senior VP for Public Policy, Karen Handel, a staunch pro-life advocate who is opposed to continuing funding for Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides abortion counseling, and abortions.


I'm relieved that intense pressure from life-long supporters -- not to mention the wildly negative press this decision sparked -- forced the Komen Foundation to reverse its decision. This episode has reinforced my belief that we must do what is right, compassionate, and kind, and that we cannot allow political or religious influences to cloud our judgment. Politics and religion should stay away from a woman's reproductive rights. 


For the many women who could not afford breast cancer screening without Planned Parenthood, the withdrawal of funding by the Komen Foundation could have been life-threatening.


What will it take for us, collectively, as a country, and as a society, to understand that we cannot permit personal beliefs, political aspirations, or financial considerations, to influence our actions when it comes to right and wrong? As Bob Dylan sang so passionately, " ... how many deaths will it take till we know, that too many people have died?" 


I love yoga because it is color-blind, gender-blind, sexual-orientation-blind, cause-blind, political-party-blind, money-blind, belief-blind. Yoga asks only that we find our deepest truths (satya) and live by them, without harming others (ahimsa).


Truth and non-harming: not bad tenets to live by. 


Hopefully, with Mayor Bloomberg's grant, and funding restored, thousands of women's lives will be saved. If the Komen Foundation does indeed reinstate its support of Planned Parenthood, it will have found its way to the only truth that matters here: that women must be protected from the political games played at the highest levels of power. 


I just wish the Foundation had never taken this step. And that, once taken, it had reversed its decision for the right reasons ... which it did not. 


I wish they did yoga.