Tuesday, September 27, 2011

New Moon; Energy; Teachers: Do you demonstrate postures and/or practice along with your students in your classes?

If you are a practicing Ashtangi, I send you my moon day greetings. If you aren't a practicing Ashtangi, well, I send you them anyway, since a new moon does not cease to be a new moon just because one doesn't practice Ashtanga. Being an Ashtangi does not a new moon make :-)

Wait, was that last sentence even coherent? I don't know, really; I don't have the time to analyze that now anyway. Perhaps the lower energy level brought about by the new moon has caused me to lose some analyzing power/energy. And perhaps this lower energy level is compounded by the lack of practice today...

Well, a little confession is in order here: Actually, I "cheated" this morning, and did a mini-practice consisting of a couple of hip openers, and three Surya As and three Surya Bs, just because I'm actually teaching my class this evening, and I just can't walk in and teach a class with my body all tight and stiff. Of course, if I were a little more evolved, this wouldn't matter. After all, the teacher is not supposed to do or demonstrate any postures while teaching; he/she is only supposed to use verbal instructions to guide the students through the class, ala Sharath and Guruji. But I always find myself having to demonstrate something at some point during the class; especially in a beginning class, where people may not know what's going on. But perhaps this is just an excuse on my part: I'm sure the best teachers are those who can get even an absolute beginner into whatever posture they need to get into by using only verbal instructions. Some years ago, I remember reading something by Maty Ezraty, in which she says that she never demonstrates anything in her classes, even if her students ask her to, because demonstrating postures puts one at greater risk of injury, no matter how warm one might be.

I have to keep this in mind. In the meantime, I will try my best not to do/demonstrate too much in my classes. Maybe someday I'll get to the point where I can just sit on a bar stool at the front of the class and give out perfectly intelligible instructions from there. In the meantime, well, I'll do my best with what verbal abilities I have.

Maybe I'll throw this out there as a question to all of you yoga teachers in the blogosphere: In your classes, do you demonstrate postures and/or practice along with your students? If so, how much of this do you do? What are your views on demonstrating and practicing along with your students? I'll love to hear what you have to say.

Wow, blogging is such a wonderful thing: I started this post intending only to rant about my low level of energy on new moon days: Look where I am now. I suddenly found new energy just by blogging and thinking through things as I blog ;-) More power to blogging!

11 comments:

  1. When I'd just started teaching, I almost had to practice along just because I was so unused to separating speaking from moving. I see that with a lot of new teachers. As I taught more and started narrating practice to myself (for example during long car rides), speaking moved away from performing and now I can lead a class without demonstrating a thing if I need to. I do, usually, particularly with beginners, demonstrate a light series of Primary poses, or if I've practiced before teaching, I'll demo a harder pose (for those whom I teach in a more classical Mysore-style format). Kino said once that if you breathe incorrectly while doing a posture (which very much includes demos), "pain coming." So I make sure that I'm breathing correctly in-and-out of anything I demo, and so far I'm injury free from teaching, so yay me. Good question here Nobel, I liked reading and processing for this comment.

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  2. Hi Nobel,

    Interesting questions as always! I'll be curious to hear what other teachers say about demonstrating in classes. I demonstrate very little in class as I agree with Maty; I think doing a pose cold and without complete attention (since your attention is on the student) definitely ups your chances of injury. But...I also think that everyone's learning styles are different. There are some people that are primarily visual learners. I will demonstrate a pose or piece of a pose if it feels necessary.
    One of the benefits of a Mysore room, is that often, a student will have seen the pose that is new to them done by someone else and there won't be a need for me to demonstrate.

    If someone is brand new to both yoga and Ashtanga though, I usually demonstrate one Sun A and one Sun B breath by breath. One of the things David (Keil) always emphasizes when we talk about demonstrating as a teacher is to demonstrate to the level of the student. When I do demo one sun A and one sun B, I don't demo "my" poses. I demo the poses where that student is working...often knees on the floor for chaturanga, stepping back and forth, not jumping, short steps forward for the warriors in Sun B, etc. Another benefit of the Mysore room is that brand new students will see regular students doing a fuller expression of a Sun salutation, so I won't have to say anything about what the full expression looks like...they get it already.

    Love reading about your teaching experiences! I'm coming up on the 5 year anniversary of teaching my first Mysore class!!...and teaching Mysore is still one of the best parts of my day!
    :)

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  3. That's a tricky one, I still demonstrate poses although not us much as I did as a newly minted teacher. I don't teach ashtanga very often, even though that is primarily what I practice, but when I do I don't demonstrate as much as I might in vinyasa class. I think this is because the led classes at my studio generally have enough students who know the sequence that I can always point to someone who's doing it already. I find beginners require more demonstrating, and I agree with Christine when she reminds us that some people are visual learners. I've never taught a Mysore style class so I can't speak to that as much. I've never injured myself doing a demo though. Sometimes I feel that there's an energy involved in teaching a class, I feel limber even though I haven't done the sequence with my students. I generally practice before class like you, I don't want to walk in there without having practiced, but many hours may have passed and I still feel strong and flexible. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe I'll feel differently if I do injure myself doing a demo. I'm also very frank with my students, so if I can't do something I just admit it and laugh about it and try to point to someone who can.

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  4. Thanks for sharing, Patrick. Yes, I can totally see that narrating practice to yourself on long car rides is good preparation for teaching. I've never actually injured myself demo-ing postures either. But from what teaching experience I have, I get the sense that sometimes, the more you demo, the more students expect you to demo new postures for them. Which can quickly lead to a vicious cycle (well, maybe it's not quite as bad as a "vicious cycle", but at any rate, it might not be something healthy).

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  5. Hello Christine, I really like David's advice about demo-ing to the level of the student. I think this makes a lot of sense.

    It may be true that some students are visual learners. At any rate, it definitely helps most people if they have seen a particular pose done by somebody else at least once. I suppose the question is: How to cater to the needs of these visually-inclined students without starting an unhealthy cycle in which students expect you to demo all the time? This is probably where a Mysore room comes in handy. But I don't teach in a Mysore room, so I'll need to figure something else out.

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  6. Thanks for sharing, Deborah S. I agree with you that there's a certain energy in a class which tends to me you (at least feel) more flexible and limber. I'm not sure if this is always a positive thing, because I sometimes wonder if part of this energy is nervous energy that might cause one to push oneself too hard and injure oneself. But I do see what you are saying. And yes, having a sense of humor and humility is certainly very helpful in this regard :-)

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  7. I'm not an ashtangha practitioner, so perhaps there are some differences in my approach. Furthermore, I haven't done much teaching and still consider myself in training, however I also have observed enough teachers I consider "of quality" to speak of their methods as well as my own.

    It doesn't make sense to me to simply talk students through asana. At the same time, it's not really appropriate (or sustainable on the body) to demonstrate every pose either. So, I'd err for somewhere in the middle.

    One of the reasons in defense of demonstrating at least a little bit in a given class is that in doing postures yourself, you gain access to that day's body wisdom - which might be very useful for students to hear. It might be as simple as speaking authentically about a physical limitation you're dealing with today, and then reminding students to pay close attention to what their bodies are telling them. Sure, you can do that reminder without the demo, but the personal touch and connection makes a big difference for many students.

    Second, as a visual learner, I second notions of supporting those who take things in through seeing.

    Third, and this goes back to the post I wrote yesterday - when I hear of teaching entirely through speaking, it feels a bit dis-embodied. I understand that Ashtangha is set in sequencing, and thus after a certain point, students should have memories of the sequences to work from. But it just seems off to me for a teacher to spend an entire class just sitting or walking around and talking students through.

    Somehow, I feel teachers need to offer themselves as examples of practice, and to share some different ways to approach practice, even with long term students. Otherwise, why are the students there? Just to have someone to talk them through the sequence? Seems like they could get that from a DVD or online audio.

    Again, I don't think this means that teachers should do all the poses, or be a demonstration machine. It sounds to me like you're experiencing students wanting more demoing than maybe is necessary. And I guess if I were in that position, I might get more specific about why I'm demoing. That it's not about doing every pose with you (students), but offering this pose or these poses up as examples of working with various physical limitations. Or practicing different breath work.

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  8. I would have to say that I usually(non moondays and ladies holiday)do both Surya Namskars to help myself warm up in case I need to demonstrate a posture to a new student which usually is the case. Even if and especially if I'm teaching straight up Vinyasa Flow. Great post, great comments! Thanx

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  9. Thanks for sharing, Nathan. Very insightful points you bring up, as always.

    "...in doing postures yourself, you gain access to that day's body wisdom... It might be as simple as speaking authentically about a physical limitation you're dealing with today, and then reminding students to pay close attention to what their bodies are telling them. Sure, you can do that reminder without the demo, but the personal touch and connection makes a big difference for many students."

    I think there is a lot of truth in this, especially your observation about the authentic personal touch and connection that can be fostered from demonstrating certain postures and bringing attention to certain alignment or body issues in that way.

    when I hear of teaching entirely through speaking, it feels a bit dis-embodied. I understand that Ashtangha is set in sequencing, and thus after a certain point, students should have memories of the sequences to work from. But it just seems off to me for a teacher to spend an entire class just sitting or walking around and talking students through.

    "Somehow, I feel teachers need to offer themselves as examples of practice, and to share some different ways to approach practice, even with long term students. Otherwise, why are the students there? Just to have someone to talk them through the sequence? Seems like they could get that from a DVD or online audio."

    I think I see where you are coming from. I certainly agree that it is important and valuable for teachers to offer themselves as examples of practice, and to connect with students this way. But there is actually a distinct advantage to not demonstrating (or at least not demonstrating as much) and simply "standing back" and observing students practice. When one demonstrates, one is doing the asana, so one's attention tends to be focused on one's own body. Which makes one less able to focus on the student's practice and body, and thus possibly miss certain important bodily cues from the student--cues which the teacher could have picked up on to give valuable feedback to the student.

    In addition, Ashtanga teachers often give assists or adjustments, which often are very demanding on the teacher's body. This, on top of demonstrating postures, might add up to an unreasonable toll on the body of the teacher.

    In saying all this, I'm also speaking from my own perspective. I have a history of tending to demonstrate and practice with my students too much in class. Which might lead students to consciously or unconsciously expect demos from me all the time. But this is something I need to work on myself :-)

    Thanks for sharing, JayaKrishna. Yes, I also do Suryas on moondays for the same reasons :-)

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  10. "When one demonstrates, one is doing the asana, so one's attention tends to be focused on one's own body. Which makes one less able to focus on the student's practice and body, and thus possibly miss certain important bodily cues from the student--cues which the teacher could have picked up on to give valuable feedback to the student. "

    This is definitely one of those tricky balance places. Because I agree that if you get too focused on demonstrations or doing the practice with your class, you miss what's happening around you. My experiences - as a student and teacher - have been mostly in classes with less emphasis on assists and strong adjustments. My main Iyengar teacher did do some physical adjustments, but they were frequently fairly light and/or he'd verbally cue them. And I'm even more hands off than he was. So, I suppose that could account for some differences here.

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  11. Yes, Nathan, I suppose the trick is to find some kind of happy medium between demonstrating too much and losing awareness of what is going on in the class, and not demonstrating at all, which risks alienating certain students (for instance, visual learners).

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