So...
Last night I was all geared up to teach a class at one of our satellite locations. I was told by someone that the room should accommodate 20 people. I did not think that it would. I was right. We had 19 people show up and it was WAY TOO CROWDED. There should have been only 15 people in the room.
The first person to walk into the class was a senior citizen who was using a walker and was hooked up to an oxygen tank. Her oxygen clicked on every couple of seconds. I looked at her and smiled and said:
'Hi! Are you here for the Yoga class?'
'You bet!' she said proudly showing me her new Yoga mat.
'Did they talk to you about the class?' I asked, getting kind of frightened.
'No, she said, why? I am fine!" she went on a bit breathless 'I just got out of the hospital, been in there since January. I had thoracic surgery and I am just fine!'
OK, so by now I am panicking. Very gently I ask:
'Does your doctor know you are here?'
'NO!'
'He should know that you are taking this class, m'am, in fact, I need to get some info from him about you.'
'Why? My physical therapist knows I am here and my doctor knows I do whatever I want to do'
I am really at this point trying not to lose my cool.
'I understand, m'am however, in order to make sure I am not going to hurt you, or impede in any way your healing progress, I need a note from your doctor stating it's OK for you to be in a Yoga class. In the meantime - please just take it easy, don't do anything really strenuous and if you have ANY problems even the slightest one, please tell me'
'OK' she says, and wheels herself off to the back of the room.
The young woman who showed up with her (seemingly with her but at the same time I was not sure) asks me where the restroom is. I show her myself. I then asked if she knew the lady we left behind. She said she was dating the woman's son. I asked her if she thought that the lady with the walker and oxygen would be OK - she said she thinks so but also applauded my concern and my wanting to get a doctor's note. I explain it's a necessity - not me trying to be mean.
I went down to the ground floor to try to help others find the room after hearing a couple of students were having a hard time finding us. I was at the door and one woman, young and quite fit, came up to me asking if I was the Yoga teacher. I answered yes.
'Well you might not get what you can out of me in class tonight' she said, 'I am just getting over an injury.'
I tell her to just be gentle with her body and we would help her get through. She could sit in a chair or just rest and relax during the class, concentrate on the breathing, not the postures.
The room was soon filled with more students than I've seen in a class in a while. It was very crowded. We all managed and I talked and did introductions and we began. It was not a strenuous class at all, still some struggled. Surprisingly NOT the lady on oxygen.
At the end of the class I caught a glimpse of the young woman who had divulged the info about her injury. She was nearly sobbing. I went to the back of the room and hugged her and talked to her. She told me that she was just not ready for this yet (meaning the class), I told her that she did not have to come and that she could call the people that registered her and I would make sure they refunded her money. She then told me that she had been shot up that day with novocaine in and for the intense pain in her back.
Meanwhile, the lady on the walker, using oxygen was in amazing spirits and showed no adverse affect to the session. I was totally chagrined.
**************
There is a cartoon/ad that runs in
Yoga Journal magazine and other Yoga publications showing a Yoga teacher asking the question we are all taught to ask:
"Do you have any physical problems I should know about?"
In the cartoon the teacher is facing a class full of obviously injured students; some of them are on crutches, have bandages on their heads etc. Not a single student offers up information on their 'condition'. It's actually meant to be a funny ad for insurance for Yoga teachers. It unfortunately hits the nail right on the head.
Coming from my own personal experience and the aspect/scenarios I work with I am often working with people who have medical conditions. More often than not it is like pulling teeth to get them to talk to me about their physical problems and I feel in order to teach them I NEED to know. But we can't force a student to tell us their problems. I remember when I was first teaching Yoga (for free) at the very beginning of my teaching career (some 4 years ago now). I had a student who went up into a simple pose of downward-facing dog (if you don't know Yoga poses go look it up - it's not extremely easy but most people can manage this pose). The class all went up into the pose. In about 5 seconds she came down hard on her mat. I had never seen this before. So I asked if she was OK - she said she was. After class I stopped her. I asked further - so what happened? Did you hurt yourself? She all of a sudden told me that she had pins in her forearms and putting any pressure on her arms was very painful. I just looked at her and I asked her why at the beginning of class she didn't tell me that when I asked her if she had any problems.
She had no answer for me. She went on to become one of my best students.
I think that people don't want to be asked things in front of others. I also do everything in my power to get info without being too invasive. I will give the class questionnaires to fill out so I can gather information privately. Last night I did not have any. Next week I will be armed with those and with waivers to sign.
It's part of the job (and occupational hazard if you will), to make sure your students are kept safe and healthy even when they themselves don't think it matters to share important information about their own bodies to help you make the experience the best it can possibly be for them. I also make sure I always tell students to honor their bodies limitations and boundaries and hopefully they are listening to their bodies and to their teacher.
^_^
