anchors for embodied awareness
Anchors for Proprioception and Interoception
There are other ways to support students in their inquiry towards embodiment. Perhaps the next time you teach incorporate a few of these ideas into your sequences and observe how they land in students’ bodies.
Turn down visual cortex. The more students need to look at you or other students to do the pose, the more they are taken out of the inner experience of what the poses can create. Only demo when absolutely necessary. You don’t have to vary your sequences every single week. The more that you can utilize repetition, the more familiar the shapes will be for students.
Self Touch. Inviting students to place their hands on their bodies welcomes attention to settle on the body or breath. Encouraging students to palpate their anatomy or offer themselves an assist familiarizes students to their own unique genetic proportions.
Novelty + Variety of Movement I realize I just said that repetition is your friend and so is variety. A majority of poses in the Yoga canon of asanas are fairly unique to the ways that we often carry ourselves in the world from day to day. For many students, these poses will provide a brand new opportunity to be in their bodies in new and interesting ways. When we can introduce something new from time to time, it gets students out of the “Simon Says” paradigm that exists in so many Yoga classes.
Slow down transitions If you teach in the Vinyasa style of Yoga, a major part of your sequence is dedicated to transitioning students fluidly between poses. As students become more accustomed to your style of classes, these transitions don’t necessarily feel mindful and deliberate. Take time to slow down the movement of stepping a foot forward so students aren’t relying on momentum but can engage their own strength to place the foot between the hands. Teach Chaturanga Dandasana, instead of it being something that students pass through on their way to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana.
Zoom In/Zoom Out There are times in our classes when we may want to fine tune a particular alignment cue or key action in the body. There are other times when the poses are used in the more generalized form. We can vary the ways in which we bring students awareness to a micro-movement and then expanding out to take in the whole shape of the pose. This oscillation of attention prevents students from getting stuck in a particular experience.
Incorporate Moments of Integration Find places throughout your sequence where students have an opportunity to notice how the practice is impacting them. Savasana is, of course, a natural fit for this. After a series of standing poses, invite students to stand in Tadasana and feel whatever is present. Also, offer a moment to pause between asymmetrical poses, like twists or side bends so they can compare the experience from one side to the next.