I Love My Yoga
Monday, August 29, 2005
Holy sweet mother of God. I think I talked for six hours straight today. By three o’clock I wanted someone to put a gun to my head. By five o’clock it felt like they had and my brains were nowhere to be found. The class was fine but the students were just dead. I think 3 or 4 had some energy to them but the rest… I thought about making them do Sun Salutations or something to breathe a little life into them but I was afraid they might think they were being punished and yoga is not punishment. After the dreadfully dull class (I never realized that the students can bore the teacher, but they can) I was teaching power tools all afternoon to 3 freshmen women. They are part of my new work study crew and they were a dream. But I had so much to show them and say to them so they kept all their fingers and thumbs I was just about horse by the end of the afternoon. I know I overwhelmed them a bit but there is a lot to think about when using these tools. So the rest of this week I get to continue training the new work study and then all next week I get to train the all the lab students (currently at 17 but could be as many as 40 by next week).
I started dreaming of my yoga practice about 3:00 and couldn’t wait to go. It’s the only thing that got me through the rest of the afternoon. All day, due to stress, I kept finding my shoulders tightened up and working their way up towards my ears and I kept consciously having to relax and lower them. I didn’t care what Michael had in store for us at practice I just wanted to clear out the system, clear the mind and really work on getting the stress out of my shoulders. Guess what we did in class… Shoulder opening! I couldn’t believe it and I almost started laughing when he said that as that was the only thing I wanted to do was relax my shoulders. I don’t know if I’ve ever needed a class as much as I needed the one tonight. My shoulders are pretty tight so I wasn’t expecting miracles, but they actually opened quite well.
One problem with all this work is it’s really cutting into my blogging time. I don’t know how much I care for that. Well, I need food and sleep. I’m off.
posted by Chris at 8:54 PM Permalink
8 Comments:
Well, I have also had experience with classes where you "think" you could probably go off and talk about the Red Sox and no one would even notice....but generally I think it takes a while for students to open up and feel comfortable.
DO not let it get to you (at least not at this early stage)...if by like mid-semester they are falling off their chairs in boredom/apathy...well, I think a few salutes would be good for them :). But I am sure they are probabaly all talking to their young lad and lass mates about how great the class was (what is the course descrip?)....before you know it they'll be walking over each other to get a seat! SMN
8/29/2005 9:45 PM
Coupla questions for you, Christopher:
1. What are you teaching? (Sorry - I know you must have said it somewhere along the line...but I just started reading your blog recently...)
2. What kind of yoga are you practicing (it sounds like vinyasa - but I am not quite sure...)
Thanks...and congrats on NOT putting a gun to your head. Teaching is TOUGH. I don't know how you people do it!!
Lauren
8/29/2005 10:25 PM
mazel tov on surviving the first day! i used to teach LSAT, SAT and GRE prep classes and believe me, students can DEFINITELY bore the teacher. but, as smn says, give them some time -- they were probably scared out of their minds about the first class and displayed it as boredom.
i think sun sals would be a fantastic addition to any class, and since it sounds like your classes require a lot of focus in order for everyone to keep all appendages, sun sals might be the perfect way to reign in everyone's attention...
can't wait to hear about day two!
8/30/2005 8:07 AM
My course description as written in my syllabus -
"Course Description
The goal of this class is to help you understand the pattern language of technical theatre, specifically in the areas of scenery, lights, and sound. This is a physically and mentally interactive language. To know it, one must experience it; to remember it, one must repeat it. As with any language there is a vocabulary that must be learned but there is more to it than rote memorization, one must understand the language in order to use it.
Every class you take, every lab you attend gives you the opportunity to view the world differently, to understand it more deeply than you did before. This is my understanding of a liberal arts education…"
And What style of Yoga do I practice? Good question. I practice a led primary on Saturday, a vinyasa that is usually mostly second series poses on sunday, a vinyasa that is geared toward alignment and normally a specific area of the body on Monday, and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is usually a self practice of the primary series with as much of the second series as I have the time or energy to throw in (or the ability to do). I don't have a strict ashtanga studio here with mysore style classes which would be my preference but I need the adjustments of a teacher (and I'm very lucky with the one I have) and I sometimes need the energy of practicing with others, so that's why I do the two vinyasa classes. Plus they're a lot of fun. And I use friday as my off day. So that's what I practice :)
8/30/2005 9:04 AM
chris, great course description!
8/30/2005 10:07 AM
Thanks!!! That WAS a great description. The class you teach sounds really interesting - and like R and SMN said, the students are probably more scared of you than you are of them. And your yoga practice sounds fun and varied. Nuttin' wrong wit dat!
Lauren
8/30/2005 2:24 PM
Thanks,
I like it, too. Now my goal is to keep the course as strong as the description...
8/30/2005 5:39 PM
i don't think you have to worry about that one -- you are obviously dedicated to your students and the subject matter. you are a focused, compassionate individual.
in the end, there will be enough time for everything. and if there isn't, well, we weren't meant to do a million things anyway:-)
i think you might need some good active meditation (i.e., yoga and/or climbing) this weekend!
8/31/2005 8:01 AM
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