When things aren’t always as they seem…
You know when you have an idea of how something is going to go, and it ends up different than you expect? I had that experience this weekend in yoga teacher training.
At the end of the day I was checking in with a student, and I asked her how her day went. With a sneaky smirk and sparkly eyes she said, “Are you asking because you held my face down to the mat earlier?”
I was asking for that very reason (obviously). And before you think I’m coo-coo-loco-bananas, let me explain…
Our posture clinic that day was on back-bending poses. In these clinics we parse down the different poses to explore the movements, mechanics, musculature used, and the different approaches to cueing yogis in and out of the poses.
We were working on cobra pose (this one):
A big emphasis was put on “moving from your back muscles” when doing a backbend. It makes sense. If you want your spine to bend backwards, you need to use your back muscles. Like an army of bobble-head dolls everyone nodded in agreement, including me. It gives your heart that dragonfly-helicopter-wing-flutter when we’re all on the same page.
The trainees were working in small groups, teaching each other cobra pose. I looked over to a group of three and noticed one student moving into her cobra pose from her neck and head instead of her back muscles. I slid over into that group and said,
“I think you’re moving from your neck instead of your back”.
“Really? I’m trying to move from my back.”
“I know you are, and, I think something else is happening. Try again and I’m going to watch you.”
So myself and the two others from the group zoom in on her like arrows to the center ring of a target.
She does the backbend… from her neck.
“You’re totally moving from your neck”, I say. The other two yogis nod in agreement, surprised that they could see it with their own eye-balls.
“Do you mind if I help by putting my hands on you?”
“Please.”
She is belly down with her forehead to the mat. I crouch down near her head, and I use both of my hands - my fingertips are where her neck meets her torso and running up the back of her neck, and the fleshy part of the base of my hand is at the base of her skull.
“I’m going to use my hands to keep you from moving from your head and neck. Go ahead and lift your chest up off the mat using your back muscle.”
As she tries, her head and neck press against my hands. Her chest does not lift.
“Try again, from your back.”
We do this a few times, lots of the back of her neck and head pressing into my hands, and me holding firm like a brick wall so she can feel where she’s moving from. She is doing such a beautiful job of patiently trying different things and creating the space she needs to figure it out.
She pauses, takes a deep breath in and out, and tries again. And in a wonderful unicorns-grazing-in-green-pastures-with-rainbows-the-sky moment, she lifts her chest without pressing her neck and head into my hands.
“You’re doing the thing!”, I say.
“OMGosh - that feels so different!”, she says.
“Try again.”, I reply.
Over a few more repetitions she figured out how to move into cobra pose using her back muscles instead of her neck muscles. In the background somewhere I am sure a choir of angels is singing for her. SUCCESS.
Then she sits up with a broad smile across her lips. “Wow”, she says.
I definitely did not wake up that Saturday morning thinking I was going to be holding someone’s face down into a mat to help them figure out how to use their back muscles… I’m as surprised as anyone about this - I’m not sure that’s anything anyone ever imagined.
The cool thing about teaching, and learning, is that every moment is ripe with the potential for learning and growth. If we are willing to try something new, create the space to try different things, collaborate, co-create, and communicate - anything can happen.
I like to check in with myself around my level of openness: Am I ready to do something different? Do I think I know something and is this helping or hindering? Can I let go of things needing to look or feel a particular way? Sometimes I am, and sometimes I am not… Either way, checking in and increasing my self-awareness is a huge part of the process.
Are you wondering how the student responded to the face-into-the-mat question?
“It was the best day of teacher training yet - I learned so much!”
Learning doesn’t always happen in the ways you expect… The more open we are, the more opportunity for learning and growth. Sometimes it even happens when someone is holding your face down to your yoga mat.
Feel free to leave additional questions and comments below. I am happy to add to this conversation.