Week 49: Teaching Tactics

I was fortunate to be on vacation this past week and travel to Saskatchewan, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota. I have to admit, I tried quite hard to actually "vacation" and leave the normal hum drum of life (including this blog) behind.

Photo: Devil's Tower, Wyoming 

Yet, I had to try at least one yoga class at a new location while away!

My yoga class journey was interesting to say the least. Living in a large city, a yoga studio is relatively easy to find. In smaller cities, not so much. I tried two locations with no success so I ended up with the option of a hot yoga class. Yikes! No preparation with the necessities (i.e., towel, water) and the mental prep it takes for me to do a hot class!

The class was called Hot 26 which I think it related to the number of poses we did during practice. Each pose was completed two times and I enjoyed the repetition. Overall, the session was intimate and challenging.

What struck me the most was that the teacher taught by only using her voice. We were placed in front of a panel of mirrors and watched ourselves throughout. She did not demonstrate any of the poses. I have rarely used a mirror in practice and typically fix my gaze on the floor in front of my mat or at the teacher.  So this was a new way to practice.

The teacher's voice was exquisite as she used tone to help guide us through the poses. Instead of using my eyes, as in typical practice, I actually just focused on using my ears for guidance. Interesting new perspective on practice.

It got me thinking on how I would like to teach. It takes a lot of experience and skill to only teach using your voice. The teacher spoke during most of the class (with the exception of savansa) and if I were to do this, I would need to speak eloquently, concise and detailed all at the same time. Cueing every single aspect of the pose was essential for the teacher. Lots of work to be done to get to that point!

As always, I have been shown another way to practice and another way to teach. 
LW