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Why I Didn’t Cancel Asana Because of Pain

Nostalgia: El jardín inglés de las emociones

La gratitud que los retos pueden inspirar

Descubriendo la tristeza, recobrando la alegría

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- Body Science
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- Myth-Busting
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- Philosophy and Love
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This one goes out to all the technologically unpra

This one goes out to all the technologically unpracticed. The transition to tech for teachers was huge.

But it wasn’t small for some students, either.

I was talking to a regular student yesterday after class and we were discussing how this transition to teaching/learning movement online involved having to learn a lot of other things IN ORDER to be able to continue teaching and learning movement — how to use Zoom among other things.

These were like bonus-lessons we didn’t ask for (and some of us avoided on purpose).
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We both noted how there was often frustration (and even grief) involved in having to learn these bonus lessons (and having no choice in the matter because in-person learning was no longer viable for the foreseeable future.)
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But there we were connecting for 10 or 15 minutes in an intimate exchange after class that would never have been possible without the bonus learning we had both undergone to even know each other at all.
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Cool huh?
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So when we’re trying to “see” students on Zoom, don’t forget to look beyond movement. See the collective learning we’re all undergoing together.
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That’s seeing too. And it’s potentially a pretty joyful thing to look for.

Fitness doesn’t have to hurt. It’s not self-pu

Fitness doesn’t have to hurt. It’s not self-punishment, despite allll the messaging around fitness that says that it is.

Learn to meet yourself where you are each day, continuously improve your skill while working out, AND have fun!

Also, no Kettlebell? No problem. Swing your daughter. (Watch the video 😉)
#swingyourdaughter

Pssssst! I’m running a huge sale on membership to my virtual studio soon. If you don’t wanna miss it, get on my mailing list. Link in bio 👀

A progression is a roadmap for building strength a

A progression is a roadmap for building strength and embodied know how for a particular skill, like forearm stand.

In a progression, the process is the goal. And the process can take weeks and months, not one class. The road can be long.

The adaptions of strength and mobility require patience which, for me, feels joyful when I embrace the trip! When I enjoy the process of becoming more familiar and competent within certain movements and loads and I let go of results.

Yoga!

Here are snippets of yesterday’s 30 minute Yoga Flow sequence that builds toward forearm stand. The emphasis was on shoulder mechanics and tricep conditioning.

Sufficient tricep strength is important for being able to ground the hands down and keep from crashing.

Meanwhile, the triceps, elbow and shoulder extensors, are at a mechanical disadvantage in their ability to generate active tension in dolphin and forearm stand because they are stretched (the shoulders and elbows are flexed.)

When muscles are stretched, they can’t form as many cross bridges between their proteins - like a long boat with lots of rowers but few paddles in the water.

By lifting my elbows up a tiny bit, I take a small amount of elbow flexion out of the pose, I bring a little more weight into my legs and, upside down, I make it less likely to 🍌 Throughout, gravity can assist a bit in pressing my palms down.

All of this allows for better leverage (and more open shoulders) in forearm stand. It makes it easier to hold the pose and maybe, just maybe, go upside down.

The belt provides a helpful constraint by limiting shoulder internal rotation — good for forearm stand to keep the elbows under our center of mass (so that we can vertically rebound.)

The sliding blanket adds an element of core engagement and FUN. (The sliding ditty you see here replaced “the Vinyasa” in the sun-salutes).

SWIPE L for tricep 🔥 and forearm stand fun.

Are you on my mailing list? Link in bio 👀

Join me NEXT TUESDAY, 4pm EST for a FREE resistanc

Join me NEXT TUESDAY, 4pm EST for a FREE resistance bands webinar with Yoga Journal — New Year, New Movement!

Register via the top link in my bio 👀

Get ready for a fresh resistance band practice to start 2021 to challenge your legs and glutes with new moves. If you feel stuck inside or unable to connect with your usual outdoor activity, this practice will get you moving.

Bring a mini-band and one stirrup band (two small loops tied into each end, as pictured here—DM me if you need more info on bands!)

If you can’t attend live, YES, there’s a replay! You can watch whenever and as often as you like. 🙌

Thank you, Stacey Abrams!!!

Thank you, Stacey Abrams!!!

These pictures (taken ca. May 2016) are from one o

These pictures (taken ca. May 2016) are from one of my very first photo shoots.

I’ve come a long way in my teaching since then, but I think it’s pretty cool that Yogi Hip Thruster was one of my go to moves that long ago and it’s still one in my toolbox.

The reason it was one of my essential strength exercises was 6 months before these pictures were taken, I had debilitating SI joint pain.

Yogi Hip Thruster was one of the moves I discovered that helped me feel much better. The inspiration came from doing actual hip thrusters at the gym with a barbell.

I asked myself how I could share a similar load with students who came to my yoga class and who I thought would benefit from strengthening their glutes and hamstrings.

The studio I taught at had chairs and resistance bands, I just needed to show students how to set it all up.

It wasn’t easy. For one, the bands were very short and I had to get to class early and tie all of them ahead of time (anticipating how many students would come.) Then I had to make sure students anchored the bands and climbed in safely.

Plus there was the fact that this was waaaaaay different than anything they had ever done in any of their classes so I had some splainin’ to do.

But for people who needed this external load, they were very receptive.

Since these photos were taken I’ve learned that a Monster band is better than Therabands for this (although you can use Therabands since that’s what I’m using in this photo) AND it’s helpful to anchor the bands differently.

Check out my Reel from yesterday called Yogi Hip Thrusters to see what I’m talking about.

Swipe L for more images, the last of which is much more about the hamstrings, triceps, and erectors.

If you try this, let me know what you think! 🍑 🔥

Psssst! I’m creating an 8-week strength program called Sweet & Simple Strength. It’s for anyone who wants to develop a baseline of strength to support everything else they like to do in their life. If you want to know more about this program, get on my list via the link in my bio! 👀

I’m not sure why teachers choose this, but I kno

I’m not sure why teachers choose this, but I know there are a bunch of good reasons, many of which likely have to do with systems compatibility, and cost/benefit considerations as they relate to time and money.

I use Zoom. I always have, and so I can’t speak with any experience about other streaming platforms.

What I can say, though, is that if couldn’t interact face-to-face with students, it would feel a lot like filming alone in my room to an iPhone, which is not my favorite way to create content (I vastly prefer to create content live and for there to be dialogue before and after class with opportunities for students to ask questions during class and for me to check in with students during class, as well.

In my opinion (my pretty uneducated opinion, because like you, I’m fairly new to this whole livestream thing) I vastly prefer taking class with and teaching classes with Zoom (or similar platforms that allow for a teacher to student face-to-face interaction even if some students keep their cameras off.)

The truth is, I don’t see the point of NOT having that option for livestream. Why not just make the class pre-recorded or take pre-recorded classes?

Thoughts, opinions, preferences? Platforms you use, what you like/don’t like — Drop it in a comment below. 👇🙏

I just updated the info page for my virtual studio

I just updated the info page for my virtual studio and realized I now have over 100 classes! I can’t believe it. 🤯

Wanna know what’s coming? Hint hint...it includes an 8-week strength program called Sweet & Simple Strength starting mid-January. AND a continuing education mini-course Strength Science 101 coming January & February to accompany it. Application (know how) AND theory (know why) a winning combo for movement nerds!

Click the link in my bio to read more about what’s on offer in my virtual studio. 2021 has a lot more exciting content coming your way.

Thanks for the love, @jill.lynch.yoga! When educators like you have this to say about my work,I know I’m on the right track. 💪 💜

Have you expanded your teaching beyond your usual

Have you expanded your teaching beyond your usual repertoire over the past couple of years—maybe even more so during this time teaching on Zoom?

Perhaps you’re even teaching group classes independently from a studio for the first time and now that you are no longer tied to the class title at that studio (where students expected a particular type of class) you’re doing your own thang.

Or, maybe you’ve been teaching something that looks very different from a typical yoga asana class for the past few years, because a while back you realized what you were teaching wasn’t working for you (or your students) anymore.

Either way, it’s likely that when you’re exploring teaching movement that is relatively new, it’s going to be helpful to both you and your students to *show* them the movement while cueing verbally (instead of just cueing it verbally.)

Swipe L for some reasons why.

I think this problem of not being able to see our students as well on Zoom as we could in person is an interesting problem because it’s one that may or may not be in need of a solution, depending on the tradeoff.

Ultimately, this conversation is a ‘what do you gain and what do you lose’ type of conversation. Its about teaching on Zoom, but also teaching, in general.

I believe there’s always a trade off and that identifying the trade off is a better way to reflect on and refine our teaching than trying to find the best way.

Because there is no best way, just ways with fewer/smaller trade offs depending on so many things. Things like who your students are, the class you’re teaching, who you are and are becoming as a teacher, the day, the year (buh bye 2020!) and so much more.

So, with that, if you teach novel movement in your classes, do you demo a lot or do you mostly cue verbally?

What tradeoff are you making by teaching the way you do, and why are you willing to make it?

5 MORE REASONS you can’t see your students when

5 MORE REASONS you can’t see your students when you teach classes (on Zoom) even though their camera is on and you’re looking 👀

#1 - Your student is practicing in a small space without enough distance between themself and the camera. You only see parts of them.

💡- inquire if they have a bigger room conducive to practicing in, but they likely don’t. It’s worth inquiring about if they want feedback you can’t give them in the current arrangement, tho. Also wide angle webcams are amazing at making small rooms bigger.

#2 - Your student is attending via phone and prioritizing seeing you (not you seeing them) - their phone is too close to their mat. You see only parts of them.

💡- suggest they practice with a larger screen if they have it. Not an option? Choose a part of the class where you’d specifically like to give them feedback and encourage them to move their phone back so you can see more. Or, if they can practice to verbal cues only, encourage them to move their phone further away and just listen.

#3 - They haven’t thought about the camera angle or whether or not they’re in frame and are not aware of what you can and can’t see and how that affects your ability to give feedback.

💡- offer some pointers at the beginning of class to be as much in frame as possible (if they want feedback) and also be willing to suggest they change their orientation to the camera when what you’re trying to see is not visible in their current orientation. In other words, now we have to think like photographers as well as teachers! Cool, right?

#4 - They’re practicing in a room with a desktop (relatively fixed camera) in a practice space within that room that is not all in frame relative to the webcam.

💡- similar to #1, it’s worth suggesting another arrangement if the student wants feedback you want to give them, but may not be possible.

#5 - They don’t want you to see a part of the room they’re in (which might mean you don’t see all of them either.)

💡- mind your business

Can you think of any more? How do you help students with the camera part of this whole online teaching thing?

Happy Holidays!

(What I’ve written below doesn’t match the pictures, but it matches the time and how I feel.)

I've found (in combination) these two thoughts to be helpful as I close out 2020:

What has this year taught us and how will it help us grow?

AND

This year was difficult and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I’m glad 2020 is ending. And I’m proud of what I’ve personally accomplished.

For one, I overcame my concerning levels of anxiety around technology.

Computer glitches no longer send me into a meltdown. Instead, I take some breaths and start Googling. I can even step away for a moment and go eat lunch. (That one’s huge.)

I'm not immune to meltdowns, but there’s less weeping and gnashing of teeth. Tech glitches no longer constitute my personal hellscape. The belief that I'm capable replaced the belief that I'm not.

I'm more resilient...maybe.

Or I’m more like my daughter when she grabs her footie pajamas exclaiming, I got this! and then happily struggles for 20 minutes.

According to social workers, resilience is coming out tougher on the other side of adversity. It's (in part) through exposure to adversity that we gain resilience.

The predicament is becoming more resilient involves facing adversity.

In some cases this is actually risky, unlike tech glitches and pajama mishaps. We're not in any danger if my Airpods inexplicably won't work on Zoom or if Eliana puts her leg through the arm hole.

But, when the stakes are higher, adversity is risky—working the ICU at the hospital, or the checkout line at the local grocery during a global pandemic, for example.

Meanwhile resilience is a buzzword in wellness communities. I wonder if we’ve thought about its meaning beyond movement or our own personal privilege sometimes, though.

I think we should. It’s a word that can start meaning nothing, or worse, become a bypass for uncomfortable conversations. Because sometimes adversity doesn’t leave people tougher, it destroys their life.

I'm happy 2020 is ending.

I hope it signals the beginning of the end of a couple of our most immanent threats. And I hope what we learned from these threats helps us do better for each other.

More advantages - demoing on Zoom 👇 1. If stud

More advantages - demoing on Zoom 👇

1. If students have their cameras off, the teacher has little else to go on (see yesterday’s post.)

2. Students have only small images on a screen and are not surrounded by visual cues from a classroom of people practicing.

3. Students may be practicing in a particularly noisy or distracting environment with family members, pets, neighbors, and this might make it more important to have the visual input along with the verbal.

BONUS: teachers your business model might include offering class replays for students who want to attend asynchronously. A visual component for these students is likely more important since they weren’t there live.

Here are some more questions to trouble the claim that demoing while teaching is inferior.

I’ve even heard teachers claim that it’s not teaching, but rather performing. This binary thinking assumes that there is no connection between performance and teaching. (There absolutely is a connection. And if you aren’t interested in that connection, you might be ignoring some key aspects of teaching — like how you use your voice, how you stage your demonstrations to show specific parts of the movement, the power of story-telling, humor, and engaging a large group of people in a collective experience.)

And two, this claim suggests that teaching requires we see our students and (presumably) base our instruction off of what we see (in order for it to be teaching).

But if a student learns from a book, did the writer not teach them? If a student learns from a pre-recorded class, did the teacher who filmed that class not teach them? If I learned something, was I taught?

I guess we have to discuss what teaching is and isn’t to continue this conversation, (and who is the teacher when we learn?) and that’s likely a topic for another Instagram post (or twelve.)

Okay — questions:

If a teacher who teaches mostly just verbally attracts students who prefer that style, but a teacher who mostly demos attracts students who prefer that style, is it possible both are effectively teaching, only differently, and as a result attracting different learners? MORE 👇

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