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| So how did it all go? Well, if you like to guess about such things, here are some choices.
* People asked “are you Dharma Mittra“? My yoga teacher doted all over my performance.
*The students stormed the front desk, angrily asking for refunds. The center put a lifetime ban on my ever teaching there again, and Beth Shaw sued me for ruining the reputation of YogaFit. My yoga teacher disowned me forever.
*A few people smiled at me and thanked me for making the effort, and a couple of my friends chatted with me afterwards. My yoga teacher asked me how it went and we talked about it a bit.
Actually, What I found was:
* I had to remember to cue what I was doing as well as name the pose
* I sometimes got lost in my own pose and forgot about the class (momentary)
* We had fit people, experienced people, and some very overweight, out of shape people. It was had to keep all groups interested.
* Mostly, I have to learn to stay present in the class and not lose myself in my own practice. The class is for the students to practice, not for me to practice. |
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| THat's great Ollie--congrats! During my teacher training, we reminded frequently that it is not our practice, we are supposed to be teaching--you learned right out of the chute. |
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| Well done!
--Jason
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| ollie - 2007-04-04 10:48 PM
So how did it all go? Well, if you like to guess about such things, here are some choices.
* People asked “are you Dharma Mittra“? My yoga teacher doted all over my performance.
*The students stormed the front desk, angrily asking for refunds. The center put a lifetime ban on my ever teaching there again, and Beth Shaw sued me for ruining the reputation of YogaFit. My yoga teacher disowned me forever.
*A few people smiled at me and thanked me for making the effort, and a couple of my friends chatted with me afterwards. My yoga teacher asked me how it went and we talked about it a bit.
I'm going with A 
Jonathon |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
   
Location: right where I'm supposed to be | I'm sure you did fine. You are aware of what needs to be done.
I'm happy for you Ollie. Enjoy every moment of teaching. |
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| Glad to hear it was a relatively positive experience all around, including on the learning end for you. So you taught on the mat as they instruct you to do in YogaFit, right? I always found that to be unnerving, because as you said, it's not your practice, it's for the students in your class. So how can you tell if they're doing it right while you're trying to demonstrate your best downward dog? Comes from the background of fitness probably, where as soon as the instructor stops doing the exercise, the class members stop as well, so you always have to be doing every single movement with them. Thank goodness for closed eyes! In my current training we're all being taught to teach off the mat, and only demonstrate poses when the majority of the students in the class have absolutely no clue what the pose variation is that you're trying to cue (sometimes turns into a big ol' game of Twister if you're not careful). We're also learning how to adjust, which I believe you don't learn until the YF Level II. I think that's what irked me the most about the program, that you only learn how to demonstrate in the first level of training, as if knowing how to correct and adjust your students is "too advanced" a concept for an aspiring yoga teacher to be exposed to right off the bat. If you know a pose well yourself, you should know it well enough to be able to teach it properly to a student; either that, or you're just not ready to start learning how to be a teacher. "No previous yoga experience necessary" is YF's invitation to all teacher wannabes: I'm sorry, I just don't buy that. Now that you've done the weekend and have taught a class, Ollie, how would you have felt if you hadn't already been practicing all these years so far? Sorry about the tirade, but this is just a big pet peeve for me. No offense meant to anyone whose style is to teach while demonstrating. So back to your class, Ollie, are there any more planned for the immediate future? Again, congrats on a successful first class!
Edited by OrangeMat 2007-04-03 4:11 PM
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| First, thanks for the encouragement.
OrangeMat - 2007-04-03 2:54 PM
Glad to hear it was a relatively positive experience all around, including on the learning end for you. So you taught on the mat as they instruct you to do in YogaFit, right? [...] "No previous yoga experience necessary" is YF's invitation to all teacher wannabes: I'm sorry, I just don't buy that. Now that you've done the weekend and have taught a class, Ollie, how would you have felt if you hadn't already been practicing all these years so far? Sorry about the tirade, but this is just a big pet peeve for me. So back to your class, are there any more planned for the immediate future?
Well, I'll make a couple of comments:
1) yes, I taught on the mat; though I did come off of it at times to correct and suggest modifications. As I get more experienced, I'll come off of the mat more often. Right now, I am still need the internal cues to remind people how to do the poses.
Experience: since 2003; I'd have been completely lost without it, tough I honsetly believe that I need another 3-4 more years of practice to become a good teacher. Right now, I think of myself as an "emergency sub"; that is, having me is better than not having any class at all.
2) Believe it or not, I relayed some of the concerns that you expressed to yogafit via their evaluation form. You can't teach what you don't know.
I feel that the weekend workshop certainly helped a great deal, but what I learned "at the feet of" my own teacher was far more valuable.
For now, I am a "as needed sub"; I'll probably do my community service this summer.
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| Ollie: Remember you are my friend, and everything shall be fine.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| I am not going to delete Neel's double post. I like it 
Here is a good tip Ollie and I am giving it to you because we ALL know you will teach again (and again and again...) because you have the "bug" When you demo the pose with the students, get them into it then JUST before you come out of it you give them a really strong instruction "now PRESS the thighs back!" or whatever. It only takes a little practice and then you get the timing right and they stop coming out of the pose with you. I learned that ealry on from my teacher.
So you didn't say or do anything really stupid? In one of my first classes I taught ardha uttanasana with hands at the wall and told the students to keep their head between their ears  It is good advice, of course, but not usually as urgently required as telling them to keep their ears in line with their arms. |
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| congrats ollie! the first one is always the strangest and hardest.  aren't you glad you did it? |
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| Well done! It took me several months to become comfortable teaching. And I say that loosely. ;) I still get nervous every time I teach. I listened to a sermon about being a leader and he said as soon as you think you are "IT", then you surely are NOT! :lol So, don't worry if you are still nervous for a long time. I wish someone had told me that when I first started.
As for hands on adjustments, I'm VERY careful about it. I have been on the receiving end of bad adjustments (meaning I had my body as far as it was going to go, and I got pulled someplace my body didn't need to go). I keep my hands off people and use verbal cues. I am very good with my verbal cues, so it works. I have on occasion used my hands, but it's rare. I knew the people, and it's people who are darn close to being dead on, kwim? I've had a few students who clearly did not like being adjusted, even though they said it was ok, and I've backed off on it. Again, I'm in a gym and I think it's a different culture of students. I think in a studio adjustments are expected and wanted.
I am a YF teacher and I'm very happy with my training, my style, and my path. |
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I taught my first yoga class.
