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MORE Yoga.

I never did tell you about the last class of the Yoga session, did I? It was possibly the most fun I have ever had teaching, and more importantly, the class loved it. I think I made them nervous at first, because during the previous class I assigned them homework. It was fairly low-stress homework, though. Each student had to bring their most challenging and their favorite pose or type of pose to class.

This, of course, released me from the obligation to do a lot of planning. Usually I put together a class with a certain focus, getting a mix of the various types of poses, yet highlighting a certain type of pose (backbends, twists, balancing, etc.). Pre-planning gives me the time and space to think about proper sequencing and ensuring that no one type of pose gets overdone. However, knowing my class as I did, I figured that everyone would come in with a good mix of things that they liked or didn't like. I even expected (but didn't get, interestingly enough) for someone's most loved to overlap as someone else's most challenging.

All of my students surprised me, but none more than T. Her favorite was balancing - her least favorite was relaxation. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, as she's fairly intense and focused. C surprised me not at all with her favorite, which was warrior poses, but her challenge was transitions between poses in sun salutation.

These and the other students' homework got spun into a class that combined comfort with challenge and worked incredibly specific details, all ending up with a long and varied period of restorative poses. By the end, when everyone sat up, I was surrounded by flushed, smiling, relaxed faces.

It was thrilling. I think I have started a tradition in my own teaching.

Posted: Thursday - March 24, 2005 at 07:24 AM         | |


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