Effective Language Tools For Pilates and Yoga Teachers Part 2

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Anatomy Dosing

Welcome back…
We can look at anatomy dosing in two different ways:
1. How you use anatomical terms (during classes and sessions) and
2. When to offer anatomical insights or teaching moments/lessons

How & When To Use Anatomy Terms

This is actually the easiest part. The general rule is to keep our fancy anatomy terms out of our teaching unless:

1. You’ve had another teaching moment with these particular students and are reinforcing something you’ve already explained.

2. Your student happens to share your knowledge of anatomy: doctor, chiropractor, massage therapist etc.
*And I would say that they must also have expressed an interest in anatomy or more deeply understanding the body.

The thing about this is that sometimes even the right “type” of person doesn’t want you to talk to them in anatomical terms. They just want you to give it to them straight. Don’t make it too fancy and DON’T TRY TO IMPRESS THEM. This is generally never going to work in your favor.

Listen for the signal from them that they want to shift the conversation. Do they use anatomical terms? Are they getting excited when you start talking about the hip flexors and reply by referencing the psoas? Look for clues that they want to go there before you do.

3. They are another Pilates or movement teacher and they are seeing you for your expertise in anatomy.

Things to be careful of:

1. Be mindful to be consistent in the terms you use: If it’s external rotation usually don’t start using lateral rotation just for kicks or because that’s what some other teacher used in a recent workshop you’ve attended.

2. Say what you mean. If you want them to lift their arm out to the side, don’t say abduct your arm. If you want them to bend forward, try not to say flex the spine. For most students it takes some time getting used to the Pilates vocabulary as it is and if they have to wade through our anatomy terms too they are going to be that much more fuzzy and that’s no bueno.

3. Reinforce your anatomy lessons. If you do decide to have a little teaching moment where you are sharing how the psoas functions and why it might be causing them pain, be sure to keeping bringing them back to it so what they learned makes sense.

*It’s like building a house: first you lay the foundation, then erect the walls, do all the finish work and then start decorating. Using and adding anatomical understanding for your client should always be RELAVENT and come in kind and digestible doses.

The In-class or In-session Anatomy Lesson

If there is time, it doesn’t disrupt the flow of your class or session, and it’s relevant, teaching a little bit of anatomical understanding to your client can be SO USEFUL!

1. It gives them a deeper understanding, and therefore motivation, for knowing their body and making it the best it can be.

2. It helps them to make real connections to what they are experiencing.

3. It also helps to solidify or reinforce the “why” of what you are asking them to do, the exercises they are learning.

Tips

1. ALWAYS make sure it is relevant! It has to be a way of helping your student be more successful.

I would recommend examining your motivations for wanting to share:
Is it because you LOVE anatomy? (this is my problem — the blank stares are a pretty good sign that your student may not share that particular passion).
Is it because you just learned something new?
Is it because you NEED them to understand? You are trying to prove a point (never a good idea to use this tactic).
Is it that just a little bit of understanding would really make a difference in their body and their practice?

Really, the last one is the only motivation that has any merit (in my humble and limited opinion).

2. Keep it short. It would only be one thing. It should link a concept, explain a sensation, help improve a movement, or clarify a cue whether it’s verbal or tactile.

3. If you’re in a class, it should be global. It should have relevance to all the students in the class or at least be applicable to the whole class. If you teaching an anatomical piece in a class, reinforce it with a movement experience or the re-exploration of the exercise or issue that spurred the lesson.

4. If you’re in a session, it should be local and specific to that client. All the same rules apply as above.

5. Don’t just drop it. Continue to bring the lesson back in when it’s appropriate so you are actually educating your student not just making their butt look better or low back more flexible. The more invested they are in “knowing” their body the more likely they will be able to prevent injury or poor movement patterns. We teach movement and we EDUCATE BODIES.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell. If you have thoughts, comments or questions, please feel free to ask. I’d love to hear from you.

I am literally an anatomy geek so your anatomy questions would totally light me up. Bring them on!

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Mentors, heroes and champions

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MENTORS

“A wise and trusted counselor or teacher.” (dictionary.com)
A mentor is someone who who guides you closely. Someone who watches your progress and offers deliberate and direct insight and feedback. They are the ones that help you form your foundation and make sure you acquire the skills needed to be successful on your chosen path. According to Fields, “They serve as mission-critical sources of information and insight — and proof that no matter how uncertain the quest, success is possible.”

 

HEROES

“A [person] of distinguished courage or ability, admired for hisbrave deeds and noble qualities.” (dictionary.com) Heroes are those people who you admire that don”t have to be a part of your day to day learning or give you feedback. They are inspirational individuals who show you that great things an be done, trails can be blazed. The role of hero is a one-way street.

 

CHAMPIONS

“A person who fights for or defends any person or cause: a champion slots online spielen of the oppressed.” (dictionary.com)
Champions are those people who are the closest to your inner circle. Champions are the people that stand by you, support you and believe in you no matter how scary things get. A champion, writes Fields, is “someone deeply invested in [your] journey and equally devoted to seeing its manifestation. Fans, those who watch from the side and cheer you on, come and go. Champions are more difficult to find. They are people who will be there with you, no matter what happens, especially ones who will feel the pain equally, both emotionally and financially, if you fail.”

Who fills these roles for you? How might you begin to fill the spaces and create your own hive to support you on your path to a more masterful teaching career?

I”d like to add one more crucial hive member and that is your fellow teachers: your community.

 

COMMUNITY

A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharingcommon characteristics or interests and perceived orperceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the ): thebusiness community; the community of scholars.

The Skillful Teaching community is one such hive. It”s a place where teachers from various disciplines and stages of teaching can come together and learn from one another, ask poignant questions and spark new paths of discovery. It is also a place to get the guidance you need in whether you are a solo teacher or the owner of a huge studio.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Effective Language Tools For Pilates and Yoga Teachers Part 1

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How often have you really considered the language you use in your teaching? I mean really considered it? In the early stages of teaching we are on an intense learning curve of learning the language of our method be it yoga, Pilates or Feldenkrais. We spend endless hours listening, unraveling, understanding and then regurgitating new language for the purposes of disseminating knowledge. But how much time did you spend refining your language after that? How often have you considered the weight, perceived meaning, tone, pace, volume and connotation of your words?

Have you noticed how it’s not only the words you use but how you use them that affects your students? Words affect us because they convey something, a meaning, but not simply the definition according to Webster. They relate back to our personal experiences,
they carry history, emotion, memory all of which is at play when you teach.

We are going to look at 4 simple elements in creating effective language when teaching over the course of the next several weeks including:

– Word choice
– Conservation of words
– Dosing of anatomical & technical terms
– Delivery – The importance of tone, pacing, clarity, and volume

* Verbal cueing techniques and suggestions we’ll save for our upcoming cueing forum because it’s a HUGE topic.*

We start with…

Word Choice

Let’s jump in and look at some examples:
Examine the difference between these word choices and see how each make you feel. Which would you choose and why?

Pull vs. Tug
Plug in vs. Draw in
Stop vs. Relax or Release
Step vs. Jump (As in step off the reformer or jump off the reformer)
Grab vs. Place
Notice vs. Look or Watch
*And vs. But
Deepen vs. Pull in
Suck in vs. Narrow or Draw in
Grip vs. Hold
Glide vs. Push
*Good vs. Perfect
Stop vs. Pause
Sniff in vs. Breath in
Exhale vs. Ex
Twist vs. Rotate or Turn
Bend vs. Fold
Lengthen vs. Stretch or Open
Compress vs. Close or Support

Your verbal cues significantly impact the quality of action you get.

I can’t say this enough.

You’re words impact, impart, inform the quality of the action your student produces! Don’t just pull a word out of a hat and accept that it’s good enough. You not only sell yourself short you leave your student in a terrible lurch, a victim of your inability to put some thought into what you say. Sometimes this is laziness, the backlash of too many hours saying the same thing or simply a lack of awareness. I think for most of us it’s a combination of all three.

As a teacher your words play a significant role in a student’s ability to truly hear and then manifest change. As a teacher of movement in particular you are responsible for evoking movement not just teaching movement, a crucial distinction.

So first, let’s look at a very interesting and overlooked word choice: the difference between using “but” or “and”. I would venture to guess that more than 50% of the time you use “but” when you mean “and”.

Tomorrow I want you to notice every time you use the word “but” and then ask yourself do you really mean “but” or do you mean “and”?

Using “but” negates whatever came before. “You did great but I want you to inhale next time.” It’s like saying you did great, but not really great because you didn’t inhale.

How would it be different if you said “You did great and next time experiment with inhaling. It will help optimize the ease in your shoulders as you straighten your legs.” Different, no? YES! Totally different.

Now, let’s look at some of the other word choices. How about the word “good”? How many times do you say good or good job or nice or nice job in a day of teaching? Almost certainly too many times. The word “good” or “nice” become totally and absolutely void after about the 5th time you say them. “Good” becomes vacant, meaningless, ambiguous and says you’re not really paying attention.

Can you be specific? I think probably, yes. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it (sorry I couldn’t resist) is to pick out how many times you use these two words or other empty fluff words without backing them up with something real.

When you say “good job releasing your shoulders, Sarah” that is something entirely different. It says you are watching and it gives your client specific, actionable, feedback. This kind of feedback is the only kind that will help them progress.

The other thing about accolades is that they should not be given lightly. If you say perfect you ought to mean perfect! What do you really mean? I would encourage you to examine for yourself that question the next time you teach and take a second to jot down what you discover.

As a starting place begin to pay attention both to how you choose your words — if you do — when you are teaching AND notice how you respond to the words other teachers use when they are teaching you or when you observe them teaching. What ruffles your feathers and why? What resonates and facilitates greater relatability between student and teacher? This will help you make better, wiser choices down the road.

You’ll be surprised at how far you get when you simple notice.

How To Prepare For A Private Pilates Session and/or Mixed Level Class

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How prepared are you for crucial student encounters?

It’s easy to get lost in the demands of teaching and building a student base. There  are so many details to attend to, most of which concern our actual teaching. A crucial part of teaching, however, is preparing and knowing just how you might respond to tricky or new student encounters and situations.

Spurred by a question asked by one of you during our most recent Live Coaching Call, we are going to explore some simple ways you can better prepare yourself for those first conversations, sessions and classes with students including mixed level classes.

[haiku url="ProgrammingAndPreparation.mp3" title="Preparation"]

Questions I ask myself:

How can I keep the student at center stage?
How can I create a situation and environment that addresses the students needs, makes them the priority and keeps them safe?
How can I deliver necessary information and get them curious and excited about Pilates so their decision to sign up is and EASY YES?

Here are some of the key points we are going to address in the audio clip:

1. Create a formula that you always follow:
The intake – how do you do it (sitting, in private, do you send them the form first or go through it before hand, do they need to arrive early?) have all the details down.

2. During the first contact gather as much information from them as you can:
Create a format or form to follow for collecting pertinent information so you are prepared in the first session for anything special or specific they have going on.

3. Create a system for your first session and/or beyond:
What elements do feel like are always important to include in a first, the second through fifth sessions?

4. Balancing insight and body awareness with challenge and successful strength building within each session.

Things that make them curious, things that they can already do but are a little more challenging (pushing them to their edge) and then some totally new stuff to work on.
(Follow up with homework to support the session and prime them for next time).

5. All or as many ROM as possible (of course this depends on their particular situation), not just focusing on the “issues” especially if they are emotionally charged. Give them a whole body workout and make them feel good and successful in other areas of their body.

6. What are their needs? What do you think is important to them?

Listen now to find get more great information on preparing for a first session and how to integrate students into a mixed level class.

 

[haiku url="ProgrammingAndPreparation.mp3" title="Preparation"]

SPECIAL BONUS

As we discussed in the audio clip (make sure you listen) here is a special resource for you to use to help support students who are new to Pilates:

 

 

Be Like Pluto…

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Thoughts on Student-Centered Teaching in the Pilates Universe:

Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.

…and your very flesh shall be a great poem.

— Walt Whitman

Wonderful Walt Whitman — gently, deeply touching the heart of us. I came across this quote recently while working on the newsletter for our studio, Pilates Collective, and every time I read it I get chills. Would that I could stand, soul exposed, before a million universes and have my flesh turned into a great poem.

As they pertain to teaching, Walt”s words bring two things to mind.

One, that teaching can often feel like being at the center of the universe as we face the infinite complexities (should you really care to look, and I do) of the body, mind and spirit of the student in front of us.

Two, that if we live there too long, the center of even our own universe, it is to our ultimate folly.

For when we put ourselves in this place, on stage, in the spotlight, with attention only for our own performance, voice or agenda we not only get in our own way, we are in our student”s way. We deprive our student of the opportunity to inquiry for themselves and create a learning experience that is intrinsic and replicable. If their moments of discovery are not embeded in what comes from them why should they care? It”s not your experience or mine that they will remember later while lugging kids around or executing their tennis serve, it is their own.

We use our experience and insights as tools to evoke and pull forth understanding, but here”s where it can all go wrong. Too much sharing. Too much telling and correcting. Too much guiding and convincing. Too much focus on you and what you”re doing to help them get results, reach goals, feel new things. Too much center of the universe. Not enough Pluto!

When it comes to being truly effective in our teaching, you (and I) are not the center of the universe. We are Pluto! Beautiful, bright — unjustly demoted from planet-hood — sparkling Pluto. We offer a vantage point, a certain perspective, a gravitational pull, but we stand off to the side and watch how the body in front of us (the celestial center) takes it all in and makes use of it. Instead of teacher at the center, we put our student at the center. In this way we give them permission to relate to their own inner knowledge, a way of analyzing and constructing, rather than requiring them to put their trust in us alone.

Here”s a familiar scenario:

Teacher: “Let your shoulders slide down. Yes, perfect. And again…just before you draw your arms back, slide the shoulder blades down. Great.”
Next session: “Okay, now remember arm presses, shoulders release down first to initiate.”
Next session: “Don”t forget to activate from the back, letting your shoulders slide away from your ears before arms engage.”

Ad nauseam…

Do they ever really get it if we always do it this way? If we always tell, lecture, share and give them the answers?

Alternate scenarios:

Teacher: “We are going to revisit arm presses and I want you talk me through it as you do it. What comes first? What sensation initiates each phase of movement?” Or…
Teacher: “How does it feel when you do it that way? Can you do it differently and make it feel more connected/more easeful/stronger but with less effort?” Or…
Teacher: “What image comes to mind when you draw the shoulders down like that? In what other activity in your life do you do that or could you do that?”

These are just simple examples of how we can take ourselves out of center, out of the way, and put the student in the driver”s seat. It”s called student/centered teaching or learning.

In a student-centered approach we put the responsibility into the student”s hands by asking them questions and leading them to explore connections that are inherent in them. We allow them to trust themselves and rely on what their How to Alcohol buy-detox.com at Home. body can do rather than on what we tell them their body can do.

Tenets of student-centered teaching/learning:

  1. ‘the reliance on active rather than passive learning,
  2. an emphasis on deep learning and understanding,
  3. increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student,
  4. an increased sense of autonomy in the learner
  5. an interdependence between teacher and learner,
  6. mutual respect within the learner teacher relationship,
  7. and a reflexive approach to the teaching and learning process on the part of both teacher and learner.’

Lea et al. (2003:322)

Student-centered teaching/learning is a deep and expansive topic which looks at sociocultural influences, environment, cognitive function, and online peliautomaatti active versus passive participation to name a few elements. For our purposes we can focus on environment, active learning and the brain/body connection.

Because student-centered teaching emphasizes the student as an active participant, it is particularly powerful in teaching movement. As we work to encourage and elicit certain patterns in the body we can utilize this turn around in our use of imagery and metaphor, tactile cueing, demonstration, and orientation.

Here are a few simple take-homes you can start playing with right away:

1. Make it personal: Within your session make specific and deliberate references to the student”s goals and previous movement experience.
Ex: “When you connect your shoulders into your back think of it like the moment before you push the lawn mower. Instead of pushing from your arms, you”re initiating from your back.” OR “Feel your hips stable when your waist twists as if you are taking the perfect back swing, powerful yet smooth and without tension.”

2. Use their words: Listen to how students repeat instructions back to you. Use their words rather than your own in order to deepen their relationship with what they are doing. It puts it back in their field of reference and means more. 
Ex: A student is fond of saying “you want me to plug my shoulders in” so you say “plug your shoulders in” when you want them to release their shoulders or anchor into their back.

3. Ask them to notice/Don”t tell them to change: When trying to re-educate, a powerful tool is asking the student to actively notice where their body is in space, how it feels given a certain movement phase or sequence, and what they might do differently. Evoke a sense of curiosity and awareness in order to reinforce what you see and what you want them to achieve/retain for the longterm.
Ex: (In plank position) Ask: “What could you do differently with your neck here?” Or “How could you make this feel better in your neck and shoulders?”
When they correct from a place of internal awareness rather than your constant prompting they are more equipped to make those corrections when you are not around (the other 166 hours per week).

4. Enter their paradigm: (What the heck does that mean?…) Instead of always teaching from your point of view, shift your perspective in order to make exercises, images, metaphors etc. relative to your student”s reality. This can happen in regard to physical or  psychological orientation.
Ex: Physical orientation –  If they are lying down, you lie down and demonstrate. If they are sitting on the chair, you sit on the chair. If you are talking about walking while teaching footwork, stand them up and have them experience the relationship directly. You should be teaching and they should be learning in the same orientation.
Ex: Psychological orientation – If you want your imagery and metaphor to be useful step into their world and see what they would come up with. What experience do they have that will insight improved movement? Say your student has experience as a contractor, use images that related to climbing ladders, using a hammer, bending and squatting etc. And when in doubt, ask: “What image do you think of that helps you connect to your core strength here?”

This is just a starting point. I recommend you begin by playing with just one of these and see what kind of results you get. As you become more comfortable with shifting the responsibility to your student and including them more fully in the process, add in another tool. See what resonates with you, your teaching style and your students.

We are always looking for ways to make a bigger impact on our students so they want to keep coming back. Typically what we do is focus on how to improve our skills, our demeanor, and our knowledge so we perform better. What I would encourage you to do is build skills that turn the focus on improving the student”s ability to learn and retain what you teach them. This is not only liberating for your students, which makes them have more ownership in the process, it will also fuel your curiosity and bring a sense of excitement to your teaching that, as we all know, ebbs and flows.

So, take a step out of the center and embody your best Pluto-like self. Open up to newness and insight from your student. See what they have to offer and watch their universe expand and grow brighter. Pluto has a great view. Wouldn”t you like to check it out?

PS. In light of the recent explosion of body/brain research and neuroscience the study of teaching takes us down a long path to the connection between body and brain and how our brains learn movement via language, touch and perspective. Skillful Teaching has the perfect opportunity for you to learn more about this topic:

Seva Teleclass: February 15th 10 am CST “Developing Mastery through Body and Brain“  – Guest Presenter, Anne Bishop, Ed.M. Mind, Brain and Education Harvard University

Practical tips to enhance your teaching skills and understand how the brain learns movement.

AND if you are REALLY interested, Anne will be hosting a 2-day workshop in Sebastopol, CA Feb. 25th and 26th
Fore Details and to register CLICK HERE! 

Other Resources/References:

USciences – Learner-Centered Teaching
Phyllis Blumberg, Ph.D.
Director of the Teaching and Learning Center
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

AISHE – Student-centred learning: What does it mean for students and lecturers?
Geraldine O”Neill and Tim McMahon
University College Dublin

JSTOR – CalTeach UCSC – Where is the Mind?Constructivist and Sociocultural Perspectives on Mathematical Development
Paul Cobb
Educational Researcher, Vol. 23, No. 7. (Oct., 1994), pp. 13-20.

Search: Teaching/learning/curriculum, Student-centered

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Client Retention Worksheet and Teleclass

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Thank you to everyone who joined us for our January Teleclass. It was a wonderful dialogue with Pilates Biz founder, Gina Axelson.

And of course, it opened up many other aspects of how we work with clients, stay true to ourselves and maintain clear boundaries…not to mention navigating working relationships with other teachers.

I hope this will get your brains perculating and encourage you to make some positive changes in your teaching and business.

For our own part, my business partner and I have already started to implement (well, kind of re-implement) a calling campaign to clients that have drifted away. What we are doing differently this time is including our 8 other teachers, asking them to choose 10 students to contact and then tracking the results. We want PAF ar en forkortning for ”Play Among Friends” och detta marks aven casinot som har flera spel som interagerar flera spelare med varandra. to know just how effective our campaign will be. We will also be making various “come back” offers to see which of those students respond to best.

It's all very exciting! And refreshing to be taking a new look at client retention!

* As an added BONUS I am including a follow-up worksheet based on many of the tips discussed during the teleclass, as well as some new stuff; all practical ways for you to start taking steps. I hope you enjoy it.

My many thanks to Gina Axelson for her contributions. Check her out at thepilatesbiz.com.

Worksheet

[haiku url=”JanTeleclassRetention.mp3″ title=”January Teleclass”]
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Honest & Authentic Connections = Greater Client Retention

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Well, it’s the New Year and if you are like most of us you are thinking a lot about how to make this year better. You are probably also thinking about how to draw-in new students and then how to keep them. At least I hope you are because getting them is one thing, keeping them is another thing altogether. I have definitely explored a plethora of approaches, marketing techniques and business systems to help with this, but what I want to talk about today is something might resonate with you a little more. What if, when we we begin to formulate our marketing and retention plans we begin with something closer to home? What if we start with the teacher? I know it sounds overly simple, but there are two real ways we can do this that are much more authentic to our basic nature as teachers:

1. Making honest, authentic connections by planning and organizing around our natural talents.
2. Enhancing our clients’ success by knowing how they learn and how we can promote that for them from the first day.

Here are a few ideas to get your juices flowing and get you started. Download Worksheet Now 

Exclusive Retreat Discounts and Offers

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New! UPC Member Exclusive Offer!

New! Limited Time $150 General Discount (Good Till Jan. 18th at midnight)

New! 2-Day Advanced Study Mini-Retreat Options

A Day In Your Life…

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How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

– Anne Frank

I hope you all had a marvelous holiday!

We now stand on the precipice of 2012 and one of my most favorite times of year.I’ve always been a fan of what the new year brings, what it means and how it is such a wonderful opportunity for reflection and refocus. Even before Christmas I start to feel the excitement of the coming starting over.

I always think of this time of the year as a gift to each of us, winter is doing it’s work to make us rest and turn inward, the approaching spring brings a whisper of things new beckoning and things familiar being open to adjustment. The beauty of it is, as Helen Keller put it, that we don’t have to wait for the iconic New Year, we can begin any time, right now, tomorrow…anytime is an chance to start making change.

And so…I offer you 3 things in hopes that you will consider making a change for yourself in the new year:

First, come with me…

Take a journey to a day in YOURlife at the teacher’s retreat…


Waking:

The bed you’re in, although not your own, feels soft and embracing as you slowly unfurl from a heavy night’s sleep. It takes you a moment to remember that you are not at home. You turn to look out the window and see low-hanging mist around the pine trees, the red and gold glimmer of a nearby shrine. Silently you are affirmed that you have made a choice to be here with your fellow teachers on a journey of renewal and growth. You have a feeling of being welcomed, supported and encouraged to nurture your creative heart, your authentic self and you know you are in the right place.

Gathering:

The morning has been gentle, and you find yourself relishing the fact that you don’t have to rush to get anything done. As you made your way to breakfast, wrapped in your favorite sweater and boots, you encountered a deer eating at the edge of the grass. Already you can feel the rightness of taking time for yourself. During breakfast you are surprised at how easily connection and conversation comes between you and the other teachers. You find yourself sharing and listening more intently than usual. Breakfast is perfect, all you could ask for. Without hurrying you prepare to make your way to the first morning group session. There is apprehension, a little uncertainty, but that too is a welcome feeling. You are here to look more closely at your work, your path and your intentions. You are here to let more of your authentic self shine through and to bring that into being of greater service. You are here to take care of what is at the heart of your work – you.

Exploring:

The morning session and proceeding reflection time is partly familiar and partly jolting and new. You take comfort in those things you already do in your teaching and work life, feeling supported in what you are doing right. But after the morning’s meditation and explorations you begin to suspect there is so much more to reveal. It’s exciting, thrilling even, emotional, frightening and deeply right. You decide to let go of what you don’t know and be fully present with seeing what comes. The other teachers share your fears, your challenges, your successes and you realize that this is what’s been missing – a like-minded community. You go about your practice and journaling in earnest, but with a sense of humor and lightness. What will the rest of the retreat hold in store for you? You feel safe with not knowing.

Resting:

You are walking back to your room after a fresh and wonderfully wholesome meal, letting it all soak in. The air is chilly but refreshing. The sun has burned off part of the coastal fog. It’s only midday, but somehow you feel light and heavy, tired and vibrant all at the same time. Everything around you is still, peaceful. You realize how much you needed this time away. You remember how you were unsure at first about the dedicatedsilent times, but now it seems easy, perfect. Your bed beckons you for a nap and you chuckle a little thinking how long it’s been since you’ve napped in the middle of the day.

Rejuvenating:

Before the afternoon group sessions you take a hike, partly to wake up and partly to enjoy your beautiful surroundings. Your one-on-one session is tomorrow and the following day you are getting a massage, so hiking seems just the right choice. As you walk everything feels purposeful; every tree in its right place, every sound in its right time. You find yourself thinking about how so much of what you teach is how to create harmony in the body and realize that it’s more than just that. The body is only one piece of the puzzle. Here and now you can be present to every step you take, all your thoughts, your emotions, as well as how your body feels and this is complete. Why don’t you do this more often, you think. When you are taking care of all of you, that is harmony. And you feel it now.

Learning:

The afternoon and evening sessions are invigorating as you continue to get to know the teachers around you. You are working on finding out how you’ve been authentic and inauthentic in your work and much is revealed. You listen to the others and see yourself in them, their comments giving you greater insights into things you had never thought much about. Right away you put those insights into practice, solidifying them and making them your own; you are given ideas and tools for making a change in your teaching and your business right now, and that’s exciting. So much has shifted already.

Resting:

It has been a full day. You’ve rested more than you can remember, but you are also filled up with new possibilities and knowledge. Everything about the day has been rewarding, if sometimes unexpected. But you realize the best things are usually those you are not planning for. It’s time to settle into your room and maybe chat with your bunk-mate, or perhaps you will read the book you brought. How long has it been since you’ve read a book just for you? You are giddy at the prospect. To think you have four more wonderful days of this! It feels good to take care of yourself like this, to be really looking at your work and your teaching…there’s usually just so little time at home, in the midst of it all. Not for the first time you thank yourself for making the decision to come.

Second, the Retreat Agenda

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Third, in celebration of 2012 …

Get $100 Off your registration!

Because I am so sure this retreat is going to make a huge difference for your teaching and your business, I wanted to make sure you could make it. So, you can get an additional $100 by doing one simple thing:

* All you have to do is invite a friend to come on the retreat with you! Contact me via email before Jan. 3rdand I will give you each $100 off your registration!*

If you do this before Dec. 30th (Just two days!) you can also use the installment plan!!