Hey Boo Boo, how about a picky-nic?
A quote from Yogi bear, which is fitting for this rant...
*laughing* I remember when I first began studying in earnest to become a Yoga instructor and the doctor I worked for at the time (who was to become one of my better friends and mentors) – used to call me ‘Yogi’ and then would make wise-cracks about Boo-Boo...
Today I fielded yet another phone call sent to my by my ‘partner’ for Yoga. Now mind you he is a massage therapist. He has never taken a Yoga class – let alone mine. When I refer people to him for massage, I never suggest that person get a certain type of massage – in fact I don’t do anything or give them any info other than his name, his phone number and my recommendation that he is a ‘great masseuse’. Not him though, I have gotten calls from his ‘clients’ through him, sending people to my class who really should be taking Yoga with a Yoga therapist NOT a run of the mill Yoga teacher. Now grant it, I do know a lot about Yoga AND it’s therapeutic applications and I have even taught students with problems but it’s been rare and only certain problems – I refer the others elsewhere when there are real issues – I am simply not equipped to teach certain students (like people who have had polio, people with sciatica (especially when these students don’t think it’s important to let me know about their injuries/conditions – which is why insurance is important).
So today I get this frantic call from this young woman –
‘Hi’ she says all perky and breathy, ‘My name is D - and I just talked to Mr. F- and he said he has a Yoga class going on tonight!’
I pause, then I say ‘He has a Yoga class?’
‘Yes, at his place – and I want to take Hatha Yoga and I want to know if you teach Hatha Yoga because I am interested in Hatha Yoga and I want to teach Hatha Yoga and is this a Hatha Yoga class ‘ (I swear to Vishnu this is what she said – and unfortunately Vishnu is not the God of patience because when I get people like this I usually want to avoid them – or in her case hang up the phone)...instead I say:
‘Well yes I teach Hatha Yoga – a lot of the physical practice of Yoga is considered Hatha Yoga – although there are several different styles – I teach a beginner’s Hatha Yoga class that is based on the Iyengar method as well as borrowing from teachers at the Himalayan institute – it’s a class that is very gentle but can also be challenging to students who have taken Yoga before – I would call it classic Yoga’
Her (even more excited now): ‘Well that’s great because I want to make sure this is the class I should be in – I went to one class and the mind set was just terrible because I don’t think they were stressing breathing correctly.’
Me (thinking about how I am going to kill Mr. F - or at least break his hands): ‘So how long have you been practicing Yoga?’
Her: ‘Oh I only went to that one class but they were doing it all wrong’
Me (seething inside): ‘Well D -, sometimes in a beginner’s Yoga class the teacher does not want to make the students feel a lot of pressure so they might wait before really stressing the breath work. In my class I stress how important breathing is but I don’t usually get really in depth until I’ve gotten to know my students a bit better – in fact I’ve actually had students complain to me about talking about breathing too much because it became distracting to them – may I ask how you know about Yoga’
Her: ‘My fiancé is from India and he’s been teaching me. But I want to be a teacher and I know I have to go to a lot of classes first’
Me: ‘Well you are most welcome to come to class’
Her: ‘OK but I work till 6:30 PM and I know your class begins at 7:00 PM so I will just come and watch you – is that OK?’
Me: ‘It is OK if you do not disturb the class in progress’
She then went on about how she wanted to go to school for Yoga but how difficult it was because the only person she knew was all the way down in Marietta. I went on to give her info about a couple of good Yoga schools (including where I got my certification), and talked in general about becoming a teacher. She seemed to breathe herself then and calmed down a bit.
Hopefully, if she does show up for class she won’t be bouncing off the walls and/or expecting to be able to grill me while I am trying to teach (or even afterwards for that matter – especially if she is merely ‘auditing’ my class). I don’t have problems with anyone trying to figure out if a Yoga class is the right class for them. Yoga is a subjective experience. So yes you should by all means go and take a class (a lot of studios offer your initial class for free) – to make sure it’s right for you – but I’d never presume to tell any Yoga teacher how to do their job – or assume they were teaching incorrectly because, as I’ve explained to my own students, you can have 10 different Yoga teachers and they will teach you 10 different ways - I’ve learned some great things about teaching my own students this way. I could always learn some lessons in patience though, hopefully the Godz will help me with that...
^_^
*laughing* I remember when I first began studying in earnest to become a Yoga instructor and the doctor I worked for at the time (who was to become one of my better friends and mentors) – used to call me ‘Yogi’ and then would make wise-cracks about Boo-Boo...
Today I fielded yet another phone call sent to my by my ‘partner’ for Yoga. Now mind you he is a massage therapist. He has never taken a Yoga class – let alone mine. When I refer people to him for massage, I never suggest that person get a certain type of massage – in fact I don’t do anything or give them any info other than his name, his phone number and my recommendation that he is a ‘great masseuse’. Not him though, I have gotten calls from his ‘clients’ through him, sending people to my class who really should be taking Yoga with a Yoga therapist NOT a run of the mill Yoga teacher. Now grant it, I do know a lot about Yoga AND it’s therapeutic applications and I have even taught students with problems but it’s been rare and only certain problems – I refer the others elsewhere when there are real issues – I am simply not equipped to teach certain students (like people who have had polio, people with sciatica (especially when these students don’t think it’s important to let me know about their injuries/conditions – which is why insurance is important).
So today I get this frantic call from this young woman –
‘Hi’ she says all perky and breathy, ‘My name is D - and I just talked to Mr. F- and he said he has a Yoga class going on tonight!’
I pause, then I say ‘He has a Yoga class?’
‘Yes, at his place – and I want to take Hatha Yoga and I want to know if you teach Hatha Yoga because I am interested in Hatha Yoga and I want to teach Hatha Yoga and is this a Hatha Yoga class ‘ (I swear to Vishnu this is what she said – and unfortunately Vishnu is not the God of patience because when I get people like this I usually want to avoid them – or in her case hang up the phone)...instead I say:
‘Well yes I teach Hatha Yoga – a lot of the physical practice of Yoga is considered Hatha Yoga – although there are several different styles – I teach a beginner’s Hatha Yoga class that is based on the Iyengar method as well as borrowing from teachers at the Himalayan institute – it’s a class that is very gentle but can also be challenging to students who have taken Yoga before – I would call it classic Yoga’
Her (even more excited now): ‘Well that’s great because I want to make sure this is the class I should be in – I went to one class and the mind set was just terrible because I don’t think they were stressing breathing correctly.’
Me (thinking about how I am going to kill Mr. F - or at least break his hands): ‘So how long have you been practicing Yoga?’
Her: ‘Oh I only went to that one class but they were doing it all wrong’
Me (seething inside): ‘Well D -, sometimes in a beginner’s Yoga class the teacher does not want to make the students feel a lot of pressure so they might wait before really stressing the breath work. In my class I stress how important breathing is but I don’t usually get really in depth until I’ve gotten to know my students a bit better – in fact I’ve actually had students complain to me about talking about breathing too much because it became distracting to them – may I ask how you know about Yoga’
Her: ‘My fiancé is from India and he’s been teaching me. But I want to be a teacher and I know I have to go to a lot of classes first’
Me: ‘Well you are most welcome to come to class’
Her: ‘OK but I work till 6:30 PM and I know your class begins at 7:00 PM so I will just come and watch you – is that OK?’
Me: ‘It is OK if you do not disturb the class in progress’
She then went on about how she wanted to go to school for Yoga but how difficult it was because the only person she knew was all the way down in Marietta. I went on to give her info about a couple of good Yoga schools (including where I got my certification), and talked in general about becoming a teacher. She seemed to breathe herself then and calmed down a bit.
Hopefully, if she does show up for class she won’t be bouncing off the walls and/or expecting to be able to grill me while I am trying to teach (or even afterwards for that matter – especially if she is merely ‘auditing’ my class). I don’t have problems with anyone trying to figure out if a Yoga class is the right class for them. Yoga is a subjective experience. So yes you should by all means go and take a class (a lot of studios offer your initial class for free) – to make sure it’s right for you – but I’d never presume to tell any Yoga teacher how to do their job – or assume they were teaching incorrectly because, as I’ve explained to my own students, you can have 10 different Yoga teachers and they will teach you 10 different ways - I’ve learned some great things about teaching my own students this way. I could always learn some lessons in patience though, hopefully the Godz will help me with that...
^_^
posted by Colette at 3:55 PM
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