How much of your private yoga lessons should be planned ahead of time?

This question came in on the blog a few weeks ago:Hi Francesca,Thank you for taking the time to answer questions! I wonder how you format your class content if a student does not lead you to it by way of the questions they answer during the intake process? IE: Do you just create a plan like for a group class, but for one person? Or do you create it “on-the-fly” when you meet with them? Or do you continue questioning until a direction naturally evolves such as working on particular issues? I find that I’m not totally sure what kind of session to create for them without being given direction to particular goals (I’m also a massage therapist and this is similar to massage…..IE: if my client does not have particulars they want to address, we do a general massage with no specific focus unless we find something along the way). Thoughts?Thank you!Lauri GlennThis seems like a simple question, but it highlights how interesting and complicated teaching private sessions can and should be. The answer to Lauri’s great question covers several of the major topics that I cover in my teacher training!This includes:

• how much of a private lesson should be planned ahead of time
• what must be included in a well rounded private lesson
• how to create meaningful sessions on the spot
• unconventional tools for assessment

Let’s talk about planning first:

Are you inherently more of a planner or a winger? Everyone functions differently on this topic, so there is no right way or correct amount to planning your private yoga sessions.Whether you plan your private sessions down to every last pose, or you show up with no plan at all, this is what matters:The most important task at hand is to teach a session that will be meaningful and useful for your student, across the full spectrum of their life. The goal is to be relaxed and focused in your presence and intuitive and alive in your teaching.The question is, “how do you function best?”

• Take the time to get to know your style.
• Do you function best with a plan to fall back on even if it turns out you are unable to use it?
• Or if you have a structured plan are you so tightly tied to it that you can’t be intuitive in your teaching?
• You should try teaching both ways and see what happens.
• For new-ish teachers I think it is a very good idea to come in with a basic structure or sequence planned; that may help you feel more grounded and creative.

It is a good idea to be prepared with a little something that will be balancing and inspiring for your student, but as I say all the time, you have to be willing to drop that if it is not going to meet their needs.When you have been working with a student for a long time, you will be better able to plan a class that suits their specific needs. And yet-- you will never be able to completely predict how your student is going to feel on any given day. You have to be willing to be flexible enough to create the session they most need, on the spot. Your deep attention and presence is required for that kind of creativity.Teaching the body and mind that is right in front of you in the moment is your only true job. {Tweet it!}

“The primary job of a yoga teacher is to mirror back the inner radiance and inherent goodness in each human being.” --Judith Lasater

I function much better as a teacher if I don’t show up with a rigid plan. I spend some time thinking about my student; I picture their bodies, envision their movement patterns, remember what it felt like to be in their energetic presence. That will often give me ideas about patterns, poses and practices I want to work on with them. Then as I chat with them, I assess if those ideas seemed aligned with what I observe in our initial check-in.In my teacher training I discuss several unconventional ways to take an assessment of your students. Let’s talk about one of my favorites here: Using what you see and hear and feel with your intuition to create a plan for the session, right on the spot!

Questions to Ask Yourself in Making Assessments:

At the beginning of class you will have a quick chat with your student as you set up the props and check in about how their body is feeling that day. As you do this, watch your students’ facial expressions; look at their skin, eyes, and body language, and then ask yourself:

• How are they holding their body? Energetically what kind of sense does that give me?
• Which leg do they put more weight on? What would that tell me?
• What is the quality of their breath?
• Where in their body do you see the breath moving?
• Are they breathing diaphragmatically or high up in their neck and chest? And what would that mean?
• How does their voice sound? Is the tone upbeat, strained, depressed, or anxious?
• How does their skin look? Their eyes? Do they look well rested or depleted? Do they look restless and anxious, or calm and grounded?
• What do I see in the space?  In a totally non-judgemental way, you can learn a lot about someone by observing their space.
• There is no good/bad, clean/messy, happy/sad judgement happening here. It is simply:
  • What do I observe?
  • What do I think that means?
  • What do I need to do to help bring them into balance?

The only way to learn how to do this is by practicing.  You simply ask yourself, “what do I see, what do I think that means?”This can become a People Watching Practice. At the grocery store, on the subway, at the airport...watch the people around you and ask all of the above questions.What I think should be included in a well rounded private session is a whole other big topic. Stay tuned for another blog post about that. :-)A seemingly simple question about planning and creating a private yoga session shows just how complex and rich this topic is! The delicate and intuitive work we do as private yoga teachers requires a finely honed eye and a toolbox full of ideas. As always, I recommend grounded presence and loving patience, especially with yourself!Share with us here friends:

• How much do you plan before your private yoga sessions?
• How comfortable are you in creating sessions on the spot?
• What assessment tools do you use when you teach your private yoga students?