Intention

My intention over the next seven days is to consciously refine my authentic voice and my ability to pay attention through
Tone, Cadence, Pacing, and Navigating the Unexpected

practice

Practice daily. Use your daily practice this week to create sacred speech. Enjoy the Sacred Preparation SOUND. We are working with the fifth chakra Vishudda. The practice theme for this month is Attune. See the Virtual Class Studio or Live Class Recordings.

meditation

Practice daily for 3-11 minutes. Use your meditation this week to bridge your feelings with your thoughts. Hone your ability to listen and verbally express your needs, desires, and opinions truthfully and authentically.

COURSEWORK

one Listen to Sound Frequency. Chant Adi Mantra or another mantra of your choice
two | three Study yourself in conversations. Notice how your cadence changes when you are telling a story, sharing information or facts, or when you want to be heard or understood. Worth with feeling the mantra: I listen before I speak. I listen as I speak. I listen even after I speak.
four This through possible distraction. How might you manage them?

reading

articles pg. 184-187
books continue reading

Journal

one How do you want to contribute on a larger scale? Allow your writing to emotionally prepare you for alignment.
two Underline the words you want to emphasize in your class design. Record your voice speeding up on words that are not underlined and slowing down on words that are. Notice how words are more powerful and how and what changes in speed sound more authentic.
three Contemplate all you have moved through from the 1st - 4th chakra. Now in the 5th chakra, we are moving beyond the chaos of the 5 senses. Reflect on turning down the noise and connecting to your intuitive powers. (hint: this can be done via meditation and breath practice). How can you connect more fully into the highest good for everyone present?

geneva

What does listening to your voice and improvisation have to do with teaching yoga?

SOUND - Week TWO: Session 1: Tone

SOUND - Week TWO: Session 1: Tone

Discussion

• Speaking too quietly, too harshly, offering cues that don’t make sense, repeating the same thing over and over again are all examples of tone in yoga class. 

• What is your natural tone? 

• What is your natural tone within conversation? 

• What is your natural personality? 

• It is difficult to remain authentic and genuine and be universally appealing. It is not easy to be uniquely yourself, creative, and clear all at the same time. Empower others by cultivating clarity. As a teacher you are in a position of power so it is important to notice how your words land. Are you using “should” in a way that imposes a certain belief or are you using more open language that allows for variety and personal responsibility?

“Speaking from your heart, let your technical instructions come across with the same even tonality as if you were speaking casually with a friend. At the same time, play with bringing enthusiasm and inspiration into your teaching through the current of your voice, balancing these qualities with assertiveness that tends more toward loving kindness than stern authority.” - Mark Stephens

• Tone is defined as: the quality of someone's voice, the quality in the voice that expresses the speaker’s feelings or thoughts, often toward the person being spoken to. Tone is also defined as a musical or vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength. Tone is also the way one’s attitude is conveyed through their voice (or work in the case of a writer, or artist). Humor, formality, respectfulness, enthusiasm, kindness are all examples of tone.  
  

I believe that the clearest tone comes from the heart. Speaking from the heart is a way of alchemizing intelligent thought with heart-felt intention and it has everything to do with the frequency and vibration of sound. It is said that the sound of your voice is healing to you and to everyone you are close to.

• Sound is the connector between the physical and soul aspects of ourselves. It Takes everything that we are experiencing on the inside and brings it out. Sound is what creates shifts in behavior - sound is what dissolves releases and uplevels you into a specific state.

• Tone then can be affected by the energy of what is happening internally. We want our tone to be healing; to create subtle changes in behavior for healing. It can be affected by the prana, the charge, of information trying to get through the throat from the heart and the head. 

• When thinking about tone, consider the frequency. The frequency - the vibrational quality of the sounds you make that form words. 

SOUND - Week TWO: Session 2: Cadence

Discussion

• Cadence is your music; it’s the way your words flow. It is how you use the instrument of your body to share and express yourself authentically. Cadence is the resonant quality of your voice that will draw in and keep your listener’s attention. In short, cadence is the conversational quality that you can bring to your classes.

• Be willing to consistently hone your listening skills.

• Listen with your ears, your eyes, your heart, and with your whole body. This listening then is returned to you.

• Cultivate a cadence of patience and trust what feels authentic, your own unique expression, clear and from your highest integrity. Center, ground, trust, and surrender.

• A good cadence in yoga class will deliver information in complete sentences, rhythmically, at digestible intervals. Allow words to land and give space so that they sink in.

• Variations in your cadence:

  • Faster with changes in pitch to produce a bright and friendly rhythm

  • Slower with less variation to allow students time to take in what you are saying, i.e. letting words land

  • Emphasis on important words to ensure understanding

• We all have our own personality and inflections.

• Get to know your natural voice and bring that into your classes. Just like in conversation, a natural cadence will vary. Repetitive cadence comes across as sing-songy and can contribute to losing the attention of your audience. Additionally, varying the speed as you speak so as not to produce monotony will keep your audience’s attention.

• Another important aspect of cadence is to consider who you are talking to. Be present with the rhythms and connect what you are saying to the people who are listening.

SOUND - Week ONE: Session 3: Pacing

SOUND - Week TWO: Session 3: Pacing

Discussion

• Imagine a bell curve. Like the curve, start class slowly and gently, pick up the pace until it is strong yet sustainable, once you hit the peak begin to slow the pace and settle into increased spaciousness. 

• Take your pacing cues from the class. Are they moving with awareness? Are they focused? Do they seem bored or attentive? We are looking for a middle ground that keeps their attention and provides satisfaction. You want the pacing to quicken or slow down based upon the purpose, direction, and goal of the practice. Have a clear sense from the beginning but stay open to what's happening moment to moment.

SOUND - Week TWO: Session 4: Navigating the Unexpected

SOUND - Week TWO: Session 4: Navigating the Unexpected

Discussion
Refer to pg. 41 Week Four: Session Two in Level II

There are some pretty common interruptions that are likely to occur while you are teaching so preparing for them and how to manage them will ensure that you and your students remain undisturbed.

• Students who come in after class starts or leave before class ends.

• Students who talk a lot before class starts.

• Students who talk a lot during class.

• Students who adjust the light, heat, fans, sound or other students.

• Students who have a strong odor.

• Students who practice without a shirt.

• Students who need a lot of attention.

• Students who may want to date you or who are attracted to you.

• Students who don’t know what they are walking into. 

• Students who fart.

• Students with children. 

• Students intent on doing their own thing.

• Students who are intoxicated/high.

• Loud noises or sustained noises outside the studio/class space. 

• Students who are unsafe.

• Students who sustain an injury or calamity.

• Students who cry, giggle, socialize, fall asleep or use the cell phone. 

• Answering questions

• Think through these possible distractions. How might you manage them?

9 - 10am Practice: Ecstatic Dance
Check in and Connect to set container
Say hello to the people near you 

Circle Up
1. Name
2. What was the last song you sang along to?
3. When was the last time you danced?

The 5Rhythms

Flowing Staccato Chaos Lyrical Stillness® – are states of Being. They are a map to everywhere we want to go, on all planes of consciousness – inner and outer, forward and back, physical, emotional and intellectual. They are markers on the way back to a real self, a vulnerable, wild, passionate, instinctive self.

FLOWING

In Flowing, we physically practice the art of being fluid in our bodies. Flowing is the pipeline to our inner truth, the impulse to follow the flow of one’s own energy, to be true to oneself—listening and attending to our needs, receptive to our inner and outer worlds. When we open up to the flow of our physical beings, all other pathways open. It is one of the most beautiful and fascinating ways of dancing—to be in, to be around, and to watch.

Men and women that embody the Rhythm of Flowing are supple, flexible, surrendered and trust their feet to lead them where they are meant to go.

STACCATO

In Staccato we physically practice the power of masculine energy. It is percussive and strong and promotes connection with the rest of the world. Staccato is the gateway to the heart. It shows us how to step out into the world connected to our feet and our feelings. This rhythm is the ruler of our linear world, the ruler of the warrior part of us, the part of us that shows up as truth and clarity. It is the part of us that stands up for what we care about, who we love, and what we love.

Staccato is the fierce teacher of boundaries. And it is the protector and ambassador of our fluid being. Visually, a man or woman fully embodied in the Rhythm of Staccato is defined, clear, connected and not fearful of the transparent expression of their heart. Whether dancing Staccato alone, in partnership, or in groups—it is always a powerful experience.

CHAOS

In Chaos we physically practice the art of fully releasing our bodies - we let go of the head, spine, hips and feet and move faster than we can think. Chaos breaks us free of our illusions and throws us headfirst into the beat. It takes us on the journey from “I can’t” to “I will”. The simple practices of Chaos immediately bring us back to our bodies, to the moment. This rhythm liberates us from all ideas about who we are and gives us a real experience of being total, free, intuitive and creative.

Chaos is the gateway to the big mind. Dancing Chaos is the practice of going into the unknown, not fearing what’s on the other side. Visually we look like a big, hot, giant, sweaty mess overflowing with cathartic energy. This is our big dance, our break out dance, our break through dance.

LYRICAL

In Lyrical we practice the art of coming out of Chaos. It is the physical, energetic, emotional and spiritual dancing rebirth. The practice of Lyrical teaches us how to break out of destructive patterns and surrender into the depths of the fluid, creative repetitions of our soulful self, bubbling up from the deepest parts of ourselves, to the integrity and dignity that we often forget is within us.

Lyrical is expansive and connects us to our humanity, timeless rhythms, repetitions, patterns and cycles. Lyrical is more of a state of being than a Rhythm, as it can be a crystal clear expression of any of the Rhythms in their lightness. We become light in our feet, like birds flying in the air—but make no mistake, in Lyrical we are grounded and fully empowered.

Stillness

Being Still and doing Nothing are totally different. Stillness moves, both within and all around us. The dance is our vehicle, our destination is the Rhythm of Stillness; our challenge is to be a vessel that keeps moving and changing. Physically, in the dance of Stillness, we move in slow motion—like highly unpredictable meditative Tai Chi masters. Shapes from the past, the present and the future come through us—shapes of the Feminine and the Masculine and the magic dance they do together. Moving in Stillness and being still in motion fuses the accumulation of our bodies’ life experiences into our true wisdom. Eventually we dissolve into sitting meditation, where all the other Rhythms of our journey converge in the vital resonance of Stillness.

Each time we dance into Stillness, we practice the art of making humble and mindful endings interpreted by our higher connected self. This carries through to all of our endings in life—the end of this dance, this day, this relationship, or this life cycle. Good endings mean taking responsibility for the whole journey, distilling wisdom from our experience so that we may begin the next wave or cycle clean and not carrying the past with us.

Public speaking - from TedTalk videos notes in your coursework

• Register - speak from the heart

• Timbre - smooth

• Prosody - sing song quality

• Pace

• Silence - when it doubt, silence - just stop

• Pitch - musicians in the room, what is pitch?

• Volume

• Broadcasting

Tone: speaking from your heart. Imagine your words coming from your heart, through your mouth and landing in the heart of your students. Speak slowly, experience your words as they come out of your mouth.

Cadence: natural

Pacing: balanced


Cueing Formulas and Practice Teach Cueing formulas with movement

simple, clear cueing formula
BREATH - ACTION - BODY PART - DIRECTION/LOCATION 

does not have to be in that order 

* Please review pg. 181 - 182 in your manual

effective cueing formula
POSE 1 Transitional Cues - POSE 2 Super, Support, Exit, and Transitional cues  - POSE 3

I am going to give you some quick examples, but the lesson is really about you thinking through the movements so you can take others through the movements and into and out of the poses.

So for example say you have cat/cow as part of your warm up - for the simple you would say something like inhale press the tops of your feet down. 

And for the effective you might say press the tops of your feet down and begin to draw your belly to your spine as you bring your chin to your chest (your people are now in cow pose) 

then add super cues .. press the floor, feel your shoulder blades apart and feel the stretch in the back of the heart .. 

Then add the support cues like .. take a breath in here to crack the carapace of your back, to open into the back of our heart ..

Then exit cues .. exhale and find cow pose.

*Please review pg. 188 - 190 in your manual

Please practice using both formulas before Saturday.
We will practice these formulas in conjunction with you practice-teaching the class designs you have created so please have your class designs prepared as well.