question of teaching

[Guest guest]

Hi. I have been practicing yoga off & on for 8

years & steadily for the past year. My question is...

do you think a yoga instructor should allow a

beginner of yoga that they have never met to step into an

advanced Ashtanga yoga class instead of telling them to

come back in two days to the beginner Ashtanga

class.<br><br>My opinion is that, no...a teacher of yoga should

not do this due to not knowing the students

abilities, & risking having to spend alot of time correcting

this student therefore possibly ignoring the other

students. But most of all I think it would be important for

a student to have practiced the postures &

alignments at a slower & more well-observed pace before

performing them in Ashtanga...for the sake of their health &

appropriate practice. Also, I think Ashtanga can initially be

overwhelming, epecially to a fresh beginner therefore I feel it

inappropriate of an instructor to allow a new student in that

they have never before met or practiced

with.<br><br>What do any of you think? I'd love to hear.

Thanx!<br><br>Namaste, Adriane

[Guest guest]

If the teacher is teaching the correct method there is no reason a beginning

student shouldn't start right in with everybody else, is there?<br><br>FBL

[Guest guest]

>>I think it would be important for a

student to have practiced the postures & alignments at a

slower & more well-observed pace before performing them

in Ashtanga<br><br>... you appear to be suggesting

that nobody should learn ashtanga yoga without some

previous background in some other kind of yoga. I doubt if

you'll find many people agreeing with you around here -

I certainly don't

[Guest guest]

i didn't have the temperament to have started

with any other yoga but ashtanga. But. Anyone who

started with another style that is substantial and

detailed with focus on alignment probably is not that bad

off at all.

[Guest guest]

Well that's certainly true. But as I read the

original message, it seemed to be implying that it's

irresponsible to teach ashtanga to complete beginner. Which, as

we say in England, is complete bollocks.

[Guest guest]

you're right, and that word always brings a chuckle this way.

[Guest guest]

Obviously what I was trying to say appeared wrong

to you. I don't care what the names of the yogas are

& its not my place to suggest who practice which

one(s). My point is (as I typed) that I think it would be

beneficial to a new student if they practice the postures

&allignments at a slower more well-observed pace before

performing them in Ashtanga MEANING performing them at a

faster pace. I am told that Ashtanga is taught at a

somewhat faster pace from the beginning. At least at the

yoga school I'm referring to it is. At my yoga school,

you have to receive the OK from the teacher before

you can begin taking his Ashtanga classes. The

postures I use in ashtanga have been used in all of my

other yoga classes which are taught slower & have a

greater focus on allignment...as well as more observation

per student from the teacher. Somewhat like taking a

class on appropriate posture before lifting heavy

weights. Make more sense?

[Guest guest]

My question is what is the correct method? The

method I saw at this one school I would not agree was

correct for a beginner because the only way the beginner

could be safe & in proper allignment was if the teacher

would be by her side the entire class (which she

wasn't).

[Guest guest]

Oh it makes sense, and I think I understood what

you meant in the first place. I still disagree with

you. Perhaps I shouldn't have disagreed so rudely and

without explaining myself. But it is perfectly possible

and completely fine for people to start with ashtanga

as their first yoga experience - maybe it isn't

suitable for everybody but it works for lots of people.

<br><br>Not just fit athletic young people either. I have

seen Patthabi Jois taking a middle aged lady through

her first primary series led class; they both

appeared to be having a great time. I didn't care that she

was taking up more than her "fair share" of his time

at the expense of me or other students ... and I

think thereby hangs a fundamental philosophical

question of what you think a yoga class and a

teacher-student relationship is about. Which is to say, do you

regard it as some kind of commercial transaction between

a teacher and some individual students who have

each "bought" some part of the teacher's time - in

which case it is a zero-sum game where disproportionate

time spent with one student is some kind of "cost" or

"loss" to the others - or as a group of people all

studying and practicing towards a common goal, where you

accept that you make progress at whatever rate it

happens, and accept the teacher's judgment about who most

happens to need assistance that day?<br><br>That's the

answer I should have taken the time to give to your

first message. Thinking you're wrong doesn't mean I

don't respect you or you opinion, although I suppose it

looked like I didn't.

[Guest guest]

Just so I know what you're talking about, what do

you mean by temperament? (pause) Any relationship to

the three gunas, and aside from expensive visits to

an Ayurvedic practitioner (which I would love to do)

how would you tell which particular guna you most

closely resemble? I think I'm a vata (I know, that

explains my posts) and in the future, what GUNA you are

will replace astology, and it will happen in

California first of course), but I am no expert, being book

taught. Because of where I live there is only one yoga

outfit, and it's kriya. I'm using another type of yoga

called Dynamic Yoga, from a book by Godfrey Devereaux.

If I ever had to develop slow authentic reading, his

background sections would be the cause. Has anyone else ever

heard of this book and how does it stack up against

other recent Ashtanga books? I'd really like to get a

video of Devereau. He's on some island off Africa. I

wrote to try to order a video but I don't think he's

produced one yet because all I got was a brochure. Which

is too bad because I'm orienting towards this book

and could use some additional input from the actual

source. Not that this is a cry for help or anything. By

the way, it's a bitch keeping up with the reading in

this club (miss a day at your peril) but worth it if

you ask me.

[Guest guest]

hi<br>i just meant at first i wanted to be left

alone while i struggle with the newness of yoga, the

myriad of unfamiliar poses, the quick changes (it

seemed) from poses to pose, BUT most of all the

difficulty of moving my body. I didn't want to be pestered

with a myriad of instructions (x)(y)(z)while i'm still

struggling with (a). <br><br>A year or two down the line i

would have wanted to know more about alignment though,

and started to take workshops and was horrified to

see how little i knew. It is still disruptive,

though, to be in a class where the teacher just won't

stop talking.<br><br>(That temperament.)