​This past weekend marked the end of a journey for me.  I finally completed my Master of Science in Yoga Therapy (OOKKK…I still have one assignment to turn in but the classwork and clinics are done!!).  A year ago, before we started our clinical rotation, we were asked to write a letter of encouragement to ourselves from our future selves. After we wrote it, we were to save it and read it when we completed clinic. Here’s what I wrote:

​To: Me
​
You got this!  Be patient with yourself. It will all come in time.  Enjoy the learning process. Enjoy the people you become friends with.  Always show respect and love for your instructors.

You will always be learning and growing.  This was the path you were meant to be on-Don’t forget that and don’t get discouraged.  This will be a transformative year for you.

Always remember that your clients/students will teach you more about yourself than you will ever teach them.

Enjoy the ride-It’s all about the journey.

From: Me 

P.S. My word of intention for the year: Adventure!!


Damn!!  My future self was one smart cookie.   

​I think I should listen to her more often.

​As yoga instructors or yoga therapists, we often use Yoga Nidra or meditation “scripts”.  And just like you, I too find some of the wording cumbersome and I stumble quite often over the language.  There are certain scripts that resonant with me like those created by iRest experts but even those don’t roll off my tongue naturally.

I like language that is clear and concise.  Language that is easy to understand and that anyone participating in my classes can relate to and gain benefit.  I steer away from loaded language and use more Western terminology in my group meditation and Yoga Nidra classes since some students are not coming to class for spiritual or philosophical reasons-they just might be trying to sleep better at night.

A good way to find out how you sound reading one of these pre-written scripts is to record yourself.  It will help you develop an authentic voice as a yoga instructor and/or therapist.  You’ll instantly pick up on those parts of the language that sound “fake”.  You know those parts..."like there is no way in the world I would normally talk like that."

So what do I do?  I change it up!

Some Common Script Language and How I Change It

• Heartfelt Mission: I use “Heartfelt path-the path that makes you feel in harmony with your place in the world.  That motivation to get out of bed in the morning.” WHY:  Heartfelt Mission...that’s not setting students up for failure at alllllll….what if I don’t have something so grand as a MISSION??

 

• Inner Resource: I use “inner place of refuge”.  WHY: You know how many times I’ve been asked to explain "Inner Resource"?  Obviously people don’t have a clue what the hell it means!

 

• Affirm: I use “acknowledge”    WHY: This isn’t a court room.  It’s yoga.  No one but a Judge will ask someone to “Affirm”.

 

• Note: I use “Notice”. WHY: I have never said to anyone anywhere at any time, “Have you noted…”.  Because I don’t live in a Jane Austin novel.

 

• The feeling of life living you with purpose, meaning and value: I use “The feeling of a life lived with purpose, meaning and value.”   WHY: This phrase just sounds like flipping new-age woowoo.  Does anyone understand this? It doesn't sound enlightened...it sounds grammatically fucked up.

What are some ways you, as a yoga instructor, change language to be more authentic?

As a student, what language have you heard an instructor use that sounded odd?

I was once hired at a recreation center for a class called “All Levels Hatha Yoga”.  The core group had been taking this class for a year.  I soon realized they had never been taught alignment, pranayama...well, let's just say, they pretty much hadn't really been taught anything "yoga" in the course of the year.  They were also all over 60 years old.  Not surprisingly, I had to teach with a lot of modifications and props.

After nine months, a director (a non-yoga instructor) takes my class (they develop a performance assessment based on one class) for my yearly appraisal.  A week later, we have my performance discussion. 

Director: You do this weird breathing thing that I’ve never seen.
Me:  You mean pranayama?  No other yoga teacher here does pranayama?  So, I then explained what pranayama was and why I have the class do it.

Director:  We advertise this as a Hatha Yoga class.  Why are you not linking breath to movement?
Me: Do you know what Hatha Yoga means? So I explained Hatha, Vinyasa, etc. and the differences between styles.

Director: Why don’t you use modifications like other instructors?
Me: The poses are already "modified" to the level of the students.  I don’t show them the hardest version and then modify down-that’s demoralizing.

Director: You need to make the class harder, so more students come. 
Me: So, the students you have are not important and you would rather I drive them out of the recreation center in order to increase numbers.  It sounds like you want young students and don’t value your older students.  You also understand that if I make it harder-your current students will get hurt, right?

And so the discussion went….which leads me lead this crazzzy concept called ETHICS!