Many years ago, I was introduced to the concept of “unconscious competence;” the idea that there are things that we each know so well, we don’t even think about how to use that knowledge.. it just flows from us. The example given was one of a pitcher throwing a ball… there’s the idea that they don’t think about pitching.. they just…. well, pitch. All those years of practice bear themselves out in a smooth motion of throwing the ball without having to break it down into all the steps that went into learning the perfect pitch.
Now, think about the idea of anything you know how to do well.. something you know and can explain clearly to someone who doesn’t know it. You can also explain why you’re doing it the way you are and you can also break it down into its parts so it’s easier for someone to learn. Remember how you got there? You had to put in the work of learning the content (the knowledge) and then applying it to the doing, whatever that is.. maybe it’s how to run a marathon or how to play the violin.. maybe it’s how to trade stocks on the stock market or how to knit.
Now, let’s apply that same metaphor to teaching yoga. You first complete a 200 hour training where you’re introduced to lots of information. This part is like the “building of knowledge.” Depending on your training, you may or may not have gotten a lot of experience applying the knowledge to the actual skills you need: cueing, building sequences and answering student questions clearly and confidently. These 3 skills are always the top 3 I hear that teachers want to learn. So you start teaching and you might feel less like the pitcher in the example above and more like a kid learning how to walk. That’s ok, though.. some of that’s inevitable and just part of learning something new and building experience. But at some point you realize that in order to be effective on any level, you need a system or a process to help you organize your thoughts.
One of the best things you can do is to teach from what you know. By far, the quickest way to feeling confident when you teach lies in this idea. It sounds sort of obvious yet it’s quite common for teachers to feel a disconnect between what they say and what they actually know. This is because so much of traditional training is based on the “repeat after me” sort of model.. the idea that there’s a list of poses, you learn the cues and off you go to teach them! Sounds fine but what happens when someone asks you a question? All you’ve got is, “Sorry, this is how I was trained to teach it.” What a confidence killer!
So, here’s a little secret: Teach from what you know and your confidence will grow! And, as your confidence grows, so will your experience because you’ll be more inclined to take on new opportunities. Let’s face it; a teacher who constantly feels like they’re just repeating things is most likely not going to enjoy teaching very much. But someone who feels confident will naturally love what they do and look for more chances to do it.
So, here’s the thing.. if you’re like a lot of the teachers I talk to, the anatomy piece is what’s got your stalled.. you know you need to learn it so you’re trying to learn it on your own. But what can you offer students in the meantime? Use a format of action cues only because this you can confidently share with your students. You know the basics of the poses, right? So, simply teach them how to do the pose using clear action based cues.
“Press your heel down.”
“Root into your feet.
” Lean to the side.”
Sound like a plan that might work for you? Let me know in the comments below!