I am a very busy person. I work a full time job, which I hope to do less of REAL SOON. I teach eight classes of yoga a week, which I hope to a little more of REAL SOON. I am also director of teacher training at Inner Fire Yoga Center and we are about to start our first session REAL SOON. I also take care of my home, have a large vegetable garden, I bike, and ballroom dance.
My yoga practice is first and foremost and I don't consider it a hobby. It is like eating or sleeping. My practice is all home practice. I just don't have time to go to the studio. Plus, my practice is so focused day to day on what I need, that I doubt going to a generic class would give me what I need. I also spend a lot of time researching online different sequencing and anything else I can find, like a new pose and how to work towards it, in order to give my students something new and fresh. My classes are NEVER the same and are continualy evolving.
I know a lot of teachers spend a lot of time on playlists. Yesterday I found a lot of info on various teachers who put their playlist up on a web site. That is useful for me, since I don't have time to spend before each class putting a new playlist together. I find there are also a lot of compilations already together that Iuse over and over. White Swan Records has a lot of good stuff.
To be honest though I find this a distraction for myself and although students love a good playlist, when I DO get to a class, I appreciate a teacher who has a little more to offer in the way of the actual class. There is no playlist and very little asana in classic yoga. I find myself getting rid of a lot of distractions in my own class that I bring and usually the feedback is good.
A few weeks ago my Ipod fritzed on me before class. It was right after I had been at a weekend workshop with Tias Little. I articulated the class much better and most of the students came back and said they liked it without the music. That seemed to be the answer I was looking for on this question and since then occasionally I just teach without it.
At home I usually practice with nothing, not my voice or anything else, but occasionally I will put some real cool music on and really enjoy what flows out of my body. A lot of times, it allows me to tap into the creative powers of my intuitive mind and I come up with some great sequencing. I like to write these down and they are usually very effective in the classroom.
But sometimes I just like to connect to the clarity of shhhhhh!!!!!
My yoga practice is first and foremost and I don't consider it a hobby. It is like eating or sleeping. My practice is all home practice. I just don't have time to go to the studio. Plus, my practice is so focused day to day on what I need, that I doubt going to a generic class would give me what I need. I also spend a lot of time researching online different sequencing and anything else I can find, like a new pose and how to work towards it, in order to give my students something new and fresh. My classes are NEVER the same and are continualy evolving.
I know a lot of teachers spend a lot of time on playlists. Yesterday I found a lot of info on various teachers who put their playlist up on a web site. That is useful for me, since I don't have time to spend before each class putting a new playlist together. I find there are also a lot of compilations already together that Iuse over and over. White Swan Records has a lot of good stuff.
To be honest though I find this a distraction for myself and although students love a good playlist, when I DO get to a class, I appreciate a teacher who has a little more to offer in the way of the actual class. There is no playlist and very little asana in classic yoga. I find myself getting rid of a lot of distractions in my own class that I bring and usually the feedback is good.
A few weeks ago my Ipod fritzed on me before class. It was right after I had been at a weekend workshop with Tias Little. I articulated the class much better and most of the students came back and said they liked it without the music. That seemed to be the answer I was looking for on this question and since then occasionally I just teach without it.
At home I usually practice with nothing, not my voice or anything else, but occasionally I will put some real cool music on and really enjoy what flows out of my body. A lot of times, it allows me to tap into the creative powers of my intuitive mind and I come up with some great sequencing. I like to write these down and they are usually very effective in the classroom.
But sometimes I just like to connect to the clarity of shhhhhh!!!!!
I enjoy silence and I enjoy music that compliments the energy of the practice. Sometimes that is the sound of silence, sometimes that is the simple chant or the background music that is ambient- the soundtrack that is the beat of your heart, mixed with the vibrations in the room, the breath, and the song either devotional chant, instrumental, but certainly not the overbearing beat or song du jour that makes a class feel more like an aerobics class and less like an offering to your higher self and your community. Ultimately that song should emanate from within and surround you and the class with the flow and the love of the practice.
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