Teaching student to wake themselves up!

One of the things I learned from my teachers was to teach the students to wake themselves up. I don’t do a lot of hands-on adjustments until I know students really well. Even then — I follow a few simple rules when it comes to adjusting students in class. If I can cue you verbally to find the adjustment yourself I think it’s more powerful than me simply using my knowledge of the pose to put your body in a better position. If verbal cues don’t work, then I’ll try to “mirror” for you what I want you to find in your own body. If that doesn’t work, light touch can be enough. Now, find it on your own. If all else fails or if I think a full hands-on adjustment will really help you deepen your work and you couldn’t get there on your own, then I’ll do the full hands-on adjustment. But the goal is for you to one day not need me around. I think if we do a great job, one day we’ve given our students everything and they don’t need us anymore. In a lot of ways, our job as good teachers, is to one day eliminate ourselves. Is your teacher teaching you to be self sufficient? Are you growing? Are you waking up? Are you waking yourself up? My teacher, Dharma often answers questions by asking a question back — “What do you think? Use your discrimination.” I think the best teacher’s force us to figure things out on our own. Maybe the best thing for you and your growth is to do things incorrectly for a little while and then figure it out on your own?