Thursday, November 3, 2011

Verbal Cues & Manual Cues Observation w/ Laurie @BFree Yoga

I went in to BFree on Saturday afternoon because I so rarely ever have a Saturday afternoon off, and I thought I might enjoy some yoga. Well, the only class they were having at that time was a Bikram class. I've taken a couple of various Bikram classes and honestly, I just don't enjoy them the same way that I love Vinyasa flow, but I figured what the heck I was already there anyway so I might as well take the class. Yoga is yoga, right?

Well, the reason I'm writing about this class as an observation when I actually took the class is because this is the first yoga class that I have taken, maybe ever, that I left feeling worse than when I got there. Not that I was feeling bad when I got there, but I count on yoga as a way to relax, rejuvenate, etc. and not to leave feeling more stretched out and uncomfortable than before I took the class. So, I felt like it was important to write about.

It's not that I think Laurie is a bad teacher as I'm aware of the massive difference between Bikram and Vinyasa Flow, but I have still taken Bikram classes where I felt like I got a good workout and felt energized and good at the very least after the class. However, that was just not the case with this class.

I guess since I'm considering this my Language observation, I'll focus on that. There were only 3 students in the class, 2 and myself, and the other 2 were a lot more familiar with Bikram style yoga than I am. I feel like she made the class a lot easier because I was in it, and was talking specifically to me while she taught the class which made me nervous and uncomfortable because I don't want to be singled out while I'm in a group class. That's what private lessons are for, and I don't prefer them.

I felt like she talked a lot just in general as well, and I realize again that in Bikram there is a script to be followed, but I think for my sake and because the class at BFree isn't technically considered Bikram, she strayed away from the script. Which is fine, except that I think the other students would have preferred a more Bikram - scripted class and she changed it up just because I was new. I think more than anything she just got discombobulated because the class was different than she was expecting it to be - with a vinyasa practitioner in the class, she was trying to hard to please everyone when, in reality the class was Bikram style and she should have just stuck to what she was there to teach.

Afterwards, I got to talk to her a little more and she is honestly a very nice lady and I'm sure she's a good teacher but the change in what she was expecting the class to be completely threw her off her game and I think that may be one sign of a "good" teacher - being able to go with the flow so to speak, but also sticking to what you know and teaching Bikram by the script if that's what you're there to do.

Sorry that this was more of a rant than an observation...but I still considered it a good learning experience, which is why I had to write about it!

2nd to last observation - complete! yay

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