Trees with Ease

Me teaching the other Jenna the tree pose

For my teaching of folk knowledge, I decided to show two of my room mates, Jenna and Kieren, a few Yoga and Pilates moves. Yoga and Pilates share many similarities, but while Yoga is more spiritually and mentally based, Pilates is based more on working out. So, I enjoy doing a mix of the two. First, I made a short, fifteen minute workout routine consisting of basic Pilates moves such as the Pilates 100 and the single leg stretch, as well as some basic Yoga positions of Warrior, Cat, Cow, and the Tree pose.


While I taught Kieren and Jenna the moves, I learned a few things about teaching. The first thing I learned was that, while it was fairly easy for me to learn these Yoga and Pilates moves, it was very hard for me to pass the information on. Either teaching takes practice or I am not very good at it. It was hard for me to keep my learners motivated and focused on what we were doing. It's hard to teach the Warrior pose when those who you are teaching decide to become actual warriors and have a mini fight! 

Typically, Yoga instructors have soft, soothing voices which they use to say relaxing, metaphorical things like "breathing in the breath of life, breathe in peace." (listen to the first 20 seconds of this video for a sample) I just don't see myself doing that, so others would not get the same type of experience learning yoga from me as they would from learning from the 92 year old yoga master in the video.

The second thing I learned was that I had better go to masters school and get my Occupational Therapy degree or my career choices with a degree in Exercise Science are going to be mainly limited to personal training!
 
We did, however, had a good time exercising, and if you are looking for a new exercise regimen, Pilates or Yoga is a great way to go!