Coaches Advice Needed!

[Robert V]

I am trying to figure out what to do with a student in my yoga class. She oddly enough is my most dedicated student, yet she fails to understand that yoga/Body Flow is not something you "attack" and do, but "become" and "feel".

I narrate my entire two hour class with the philosophy of "letting go", becoming the movements and getting out of your own way.

Yet, her attempts are all ego driven.

How do I convince her to let go of her ego and get out of her own way?

[Doug Szolek]

It may be just a matter of time and letting the movement, teach her humility. That's kinda what it takes for me.

Or maybe you could bring up the issue in a way that she could see the benefit of changing. Though now that I write it, it sounds fairly obvious.

How old is she?

[Chuck Kechter]

Robert,

A couple of ideas sprung to mind. I don't know the type of environment the class is in (group, private, noise level, lighting, et cetera), but a possibility might be too limit some of the stimulus for your student. Less people to "compete" with for example, lower light, no noise--eyes closed. Get her to feel the motion and the movement, rather than "seeing" it and/or displacing the kinesthetic sense of it.

Another is to pull a sort of psychological "fast one" on her. When I was younger my boxing coach had a way of getting you out of your head. He'd be talking to you and then all of a sudden he would lob his wallet at you. Invariably you would catch it, and he would say something to the effect that: "there did you have to think about that? No? That's what I'm talkin about." Something like that maybe. . .

And lastly--perhaps "create" something "just for her" to play with, a kinetic chain that is comprised of ONLY "soft" motions and positions--something that would be impossible to attack--only move through. Once she "got" those equate them to her (your) larger practice.

Just some thoughts. Hope they help.
Chuck

[Scott Sonnon]

Robert,

In my experience, you can't convince someone to let go of their ego verbally, because if their ego is holding on (in whatever situation), you'll be speaking only to their ego.

However, I have found that a coach can present an environment conducive to 'letting go'. If you remember from the CST Beta Course, the first day was rather... challenging. What lay beyond "muscling through" movements - what lay on the other side of resisting flow? Now, instructor courses are held to much higher standards, so in the case of a student, one can craft an exercise which pits the student's greatest strengths against an exercise where that strength is of no use.

For instance, bench-press junkies and pec-lovers are very much used to concentrically thumping away, but when confronted with the Quad Hop, they are left sucking their thumb after only a few repetitions (because the exercise utilizes different muscle actions than their developed conditioning prepared them.) These individuals are not fatigued from the exercise but rather from their rendering of the movement. They try to substitute their familiar muscle action rather than learn the skill. And the Quad Hop skill is very much finesse. Once these people fatigue, they realize that they cannot over-power the movement and must find alternate means of accomplishing the exercise. When their minds open here, then learning can begin. Up until they fatigue their 'forcing' (resistance) they are not yet ready to learn - or in other words, their ego is in their way.

Steve Maxwell said that Helio Gracie told him the two most difficult people to teach are the strong and the intelligent. The strong try to over power technique and the intelligent try to over-analyze it. Pre-fatiguing both groups, so that they have no option but to PRACTICE FORM is a viable and effective strategy, but it must be that you create an environment where they realize they have a CHOICE to continue with their fruitless expenditure or explore alternate means. This means that you can't push them, so much as they must problem solve.

Let me know if this helps and keep us advised of your student's progress!

[rbibbs]

Awesome how these threads expand beyond the question they intially address.

Coach: "Steve Maxwell said that Helio Gracie told him the two most difficult people to teach are the strong and the intelligent. The strong try to over power technique and the intelligent try to over-analyze it."

Saw myself in that one! I have had a tendency to stop when I'm oxygen-deprived enough to not analyze well. 16yo boy taught me (at 57) to work through that, couple weeks ago. Working BJJ with a female just tonight, 15# lighter, who expressed that same feeling, we could have stopped but by acknowledging her distress we both worked through it and went another 15 minutes, very productive time for both of us, neither of us threatened, growing past that barrier.

Robert, by no means being critical here, just analytical. Do you feel her tension in yourself when you're instructing her through these barriers? Acknowledge the feeling in yourself and empathize with what she's feeling, show her how you worked past that barrier yourself. If she sees that her feelings are universal, she'll be more inclined to address them objectively rather than ego-defensively.

Just my thoughts, from my limited perspective.

Rick

[SteveB]

Dear Robert---
what exactly are the behaviors that lead you to believe her actions are ego-driven? And what are the behaviors you are trying to install? If it has to do with straining, cursing herself, disrupting the class with self-deprecating comments, or being depressed afterwards due to percieved lack of performance, etc, it may be possible to encourage an emotional shift by changing her performance goals, to engage her ego in the process of letting ego go. Use her problem against itself. To give a specific example, though, I'd need a specific instance.

Steve