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Yoga Teacher Talk (YTT) is authenic yoga conversation with your favorite yoga mentors, trend-setting yoga teachers, and wellness experts who are changing the paradym on traditional instruction. YTT invites you add to your 200 or 500-level yoga teacher training and elevate your presence as an instructor. Host Becca Schmidt, E-RYT5000/YACEP, has more than 20 years experience on the lead mat, having taught more than 10,000 classes, workshops and wellness retreats. This show, formerly, The Language of Yoga, offers a fun, engaging platform for yoga teachers of all branches of yoga to gain confidence and continue their YTT for years to come.
Becca Scientific Method EP
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Becca: [00:00:00] Welcome to Yoga Teacher Talk, a podcast for teachers to help you with themes, stories, and ideas to elevate your classes to their highest level. I'm your host, Becca Schmidt. Well, today I am flying solo, no guest here in the studio with me today, but I do have a topic I think you'll really enjoy. So I've been taking some vacation days lately and I've been curious about something.
As yoga teachers, could we guide our students to get more from their yoga practice by applying the scientific method? Hmm. My hypothesis is yes. I've always said that being on the yoga mat is like being with your best therapist. A regular yoga practice allows you the time and the space to ask some questions, and then the freedom to explore some answers.[00:01:00]
So a good therapist is not going to give you the answers. A good therapist is going to ask the same question in various iterations so you can hear the question a couple times and start figuring out the answer. And that is essentially what the scientific method is, right? The scientific method is a systematic problem solving process that begins with curiosity, it's followed by observation, then comes a series of questions asked in different ways, and then the gathering of relevant information, and then the formulation of a hypothesis, or maybe several hypotheses.
So then comes the testing of all of those hypotheses through experimentation and analysis of your observations, and then eventually, voila, you have your answer. So how does curiosity within a yoga practice relate [00:02:00] to classical yoga teachings? Well, if you think about the nyamas, the nyama of self-study called spadyaya.
Sphatyaya begins with observation of habits and patterns, and then it dives deeper into self-awareness and self-improvement all through the lens of compassion. You know all that, right? So I'm suggesting that you apply the scientific method as a way of teaching spat yaya.
But before you get out on the mat as the lead teacher, I want you to practice the scientific method approach in your own yoga practice. Come up with your own question, test out certain theories, and then see what arises. See if you can come up with an answer. All right. So now you're ready to use curiosity as a theme for teaching spatia.[00:03:00]
Okay, so then music.
All right, you'll wanna start your students in an easy seat. And if you have wall space, encourage your students to rest their upper back on the wall for extra support, and then begin with some breath work. Encourage your students to practice non-judgmental observation without control. So it's really important that you practice observation without participation, because you really want to experience that understanding of what's going on before you try to shift it.
. Usually when we have our students in seated pose and we begin a class, we say, "Now it's time to set an intention. If you choose to set an intention for class, take a big breath in, set your intention." But when we are teaching this scientific method, we don't wanna set an intention, we wanna set a question.[00:04:00]
So I often give my students just a little cue or some kind of, you know, some ideas, because this is a pretty new concept, but you wanna set it up with, you know, it's okay, you don't have to ask anything, any universal questions or anything. So I, I usually throw out a few questions that are a little bit more physical oriented for the practice.
It might be what would happen if I extend my fingers and toes long in every one of my poses today, or how would it feel if I make a little noise with my breath today? How can I soften my spirit in today's class? Another question such as, what triggers me to feel off balance? Another one is, why is it so challenging to connect with Adrishti?
. So next, you'll ask your students to come into child's pose and then begin their practice with a [00:05:00] curious mind of the beginner students.
So next, ask your students to come into child's pose and begin their practice with a curious mind, the mind of a beginner student. So as they have this question in mind, they're seeking out an answer throughout class using the scientific method, and we'll help them along. So as you move into twists and lateral extensions or even sun salutations, you want to remind their st- your students to keep the question sort of softly active in their mind, ?
So you're finding a little harmony between your spatia and your flow. This is called active inquiry. So you're doing the practice, you're breathing, you're flowing, you're doing what you normally do, but yet you came, you keep coming back to the mind and you have this question and you're trying to just observe what some of the answers might be [00:06:00] without trying to come up with your final solution.
So you continue to have your students flow through a practice that offers challenges, and then you ask them maybe in a, a pose that offers some stillness to go back to that question. , "Are any answers coming up, any different hypotheses?" And you might even encourage them to be playful or think of something that's really outrageous or funny, just to kind of get the, the blood flowing and the imagination going with this, this whole process.
I especially love using active inquiry in standing poses or standing balance poses. So let's just imagine, , for one of the students, their inquiry is trying to extend their limbs as far as possible, and it could be sort of energetically or physically. So let's say you're in, they're in Warrior One and your [00:07:00] arms are just sort of dangling, and then they ask themselves, "
how can my, , arm bones feel longer? How much more length can I feel in the skin or my palms or my fingers?" And then they follow that with action. And then they hang out in that pose for a moment, having done that, having asked that question, and then done something within, um, exploring. So they're coming up with a hypothesis, and then they're trying it on, and then they learn something about themselves.
They might feel that, that it is good, or if it feels awkward, then they have an opportunity to ask why it felt awkward. And sweet, sweet shavasana is where it all stitches together. I love the stitch metaphor because your students will be able to really visualize all of these answers finally coming together like a piece of fabric or a piece of art, puzzle.[00:08:00]
And every time your students now come to Shavasana, they will have sorted through some of these questions, found at least some theore- theoretical answers, and that all melts together, Shavasana one day, and then the next day, and then the next time, and the next time after that, it will thread together.
Before we end the episode, I wanna share some cues that you can use to help your students enjoy their own curiosity. So you might say, "Today, set your intention not as a statement, but as a question." Think of your question as a hypothesis with many theories to be tested throughout class today. In our balancing poses today, stop, repeat your inquiry three or four times with your breath.
And then toward the end, you wanna ask [00:09:00] them, "How has your question shaped your practice today? How will it shape your practice tomorrow and the next time after that?
I use Spadyaya and the scientific method as a prominent theme for the class I described today, but this can also be a much more subtle theme in conjunction with the chakras, especially the sacral chakra, the solar plexus, and the third eye chakra. I hope today's episode gave you some fun ideas for bringing Spatia to life.
Hey, thanks for listening to today's episode of Yoga Teacher Talk. We launch a new episode every two weeks, so I hope you will continue to tune in, give the show a good rating, and keep [00:10:00] listening.