Becoming A Pro!

First let me say, another great video in the series.
Next, I wholeheartedly agree with Michael Morris' comments about the dialogue and it's use as well as his feelings about Bikram's teacher training. Even though I have grown and evolved leaps and bounds in the 4 years that I have been teaching, it is great to have the dialogue as a foundation and also to have it to fall back on on days that maybe you are sick but still have to teach. You can still give the students a good strong class with good energy without seeming like you are struggling to teach.
In this video, Gabrielle, you made a comment that if people are just going to hear the script, why not just make a CD and listen to that? I'll tell you why - group energy!!! And surrounding yourself with an extended yoga family. You can't get that if you're going it solo to a cd or video. And group energy is such an important part of this yoga to me for helping students to continue to grow, find new challenges, and to know that other people know what they are feeling. I do agree that "tweaks" and corrections are important to helping students to grow and expand and continue to transform and challenge themselves but not every student needs it in every single class. I do think that in order to be a strong teacher for the beginning student, the teacher must be able to use some of their own words and relate experiences in order to help get a new student in and out of postures as well as making them want to come back for another class.
Monkey see, monkey do is definitely a double edged sword for any level of student and teachers should find ways to stop and discuss/demonstrate how to do a posture correctly so that everyone in the room can see how to do it properly and will thus set a good example for new students in the future. I have to do this on a fairly regular basis and it really helps even the experienced regular students understand where the next step might be for them. Explaining while demonstrating is the hard part though. Haha.
Speaking about the 'regular' students, sometimes they can be the most frustrating to teach. They have become set in their ways, do not listen to or want to make corrections that the teacher gives, are lazy in their practice coming into postures late or out early or waiting until the last few seconds of a posture to get to what is easily their maximum expression and could have been achieved much earlier and held. As a teacher, when I see students doing these sorts of things habitually in my class, I will try to catch them after class or even before the next class I see them at and will say to them, 'So I noticed "this" in class. You come regularly and have a strong practice so my challenge for you in your next class is to try "this". Whether it is to breathe more calmly or not pop out of postures early, it works for almost anything. Now, whether or not they are receptive and want to accept the challenge is up to them. I certainly cannot make them do anything they choose not to do.
As teachers, we should always try to be encouraging to every student. Being able to give extra guidance to injured, inflexible, and overweight people as well as the newbies is certainly very important and gaining the confidence and comfort to do that only continues to grow for a teacher the more classes they teach, the more comfortable they become reading bodies and knowing what an individual is capable of, and the more they choose to do some "homework" outside of the room to help them understand the human body and postures better whether that is reading, talking to other experienced teachers, attending seminars, etc.
Sorry for such a long comment...I have so gotten back into the swing of college where our online discussion posts have to be long and detailed and that is just how my mind is working these days. Long story short - thank you for some great videos and some great tips and reminders on how to be/become a more stellar teacher!
Jennifer

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