Yoga Teaching Styles, by Caitlin Schwager

Demonstrating and the Walk/Stand + Talk 

By Caitlin Schwager

Demonstrating can seem like the most obvious way to each; students are looking at you because you’re the teacher.

And doing the movements can help you remember your cues, and your rights and lefts. 

But students can’t always see you. The room can be crowded or their head is down. Or you can’t be heard if your head is down, facing away. Even if you demonstrate, you’re still going to need your words.

A few summers ago I took a class at a studio in the Berkshires. I was apparently the only non-regular in the class and the teacher didn’t call poses or cue, beyond “up, down, roll, reach.” She demonstrated the movements, but we were moving quickly and I had trouble seeing her, especially when we were on the floor. It must have been a routine she always did and her regular students knew, but I was totally lost. Later I looked up her bio and was shocked to see she was extremely experienced with 800+ hours of training. I didn’t feel like she taught me anything or guided me anywhere. It was a disappointing experience.

Another challenge of demonstrating is mirroring. That takes practice! Do you face the class and mirror? Face the class and not mirror and risk confusing them? You can face the side of the room to demo so you don’t have to mirror, but then you have a harder time seeing your students. 

And even if you have mastered the art of mirroring, a big leap from student to teacher is bridging the gap between your muscle memory and having the language needed to describe the movements.

Sometimes a demo is important, especially for visual learners. But we don’t want students to learn just by looking - because the shape my body makes will look different than the shape your body makes. It’s not just about a pose looking a certain way. And while showing proper alignment is important, it’s also crucial to set students up to learn to feel what the pose feels like in their body. If they’re listening instead of looking, it may be easier for them to listen to their own internal knowing. Sight is such a strong sense in class, what if we mute it just a little to emphasize hearing and listening, and feeling in our body?

Take the time to develop YOUR language - the words you use to cue, to describe the movements. What do YOU say, and why? What makes sense in your body? Do you say what feels right in your body or do you repeat what you’ve heard other teachers say? And as time goes by, check back in with your cues. Do they still make sense to you, or are you repeating them by habit? Allow your cues to evolve.

Having your language ready to go allows you to stand in stillness or walk around the room to observe, to meet the class where they are. Maybe they don’t need everything you’re prepped to give them in terms of demo or even language. What about those moments when you’re all set to give a cue like “relax your shoulders” but you look around the room and the shoulders are already relaxed?

What experiences have you had in your teaching with demonstrating and walking + talking? 

Are there poses you struggle to cue? To demonstrate?