Movement Teacher Tip: Don’t Be Afraid of Repetition
Are you a movement teacher who secretly worries that your classes might be too repetitive or boring? In this episode of the podcast, I’m going to encourage you to embrace repetition as a valuable part of Mindful Movement practice.
Episode Details:
When I was a newer yoga and movement teacher, I felt that pressure to come up with a brand new class plan and fresh sequences every week. I thought that if I repeated the same practices too often, students would get bored or think my classes were too basic.
Photo: Wesley Tingey via Unsplash
However, with more experience teaching, observing others’ classes, and actually listening to my students, I realized that repetition can be incredibly helpful!
My Movement Teacher Tips on Repetition:
- You can build a foundation with repetition and then sprinkle in new poses, movements, and sequences over time.
- Using a repeated class structure can help your students relax into the process and can contribute to a more trauma-informed class style.
- Practicing certain movements repeatedly gives your students a baseline to notice changes in their bodies, so that they can make adjustments for what they are feeling day to day.
- Reviewing practices in class helps your students remember poses and movements they can do on their own.
- Repetition can allow students to shift from thinking to sensing, drop in to the present moment, and go deeper in their practice.
We will also talk about that fear of boredom, and where it comes from. In our hyper stimulating culture, boredom might just be the resistance that comes up for us when we’re doing something that slows us down or has less intensity than we’re used to.
While I do hope my classes are engaging, my intention as a teacher is not to avoid boredom at all costs. I would rather help people develop calm, presence, and perhaps an increased attention span.
For my movement teacher friends, I hope this reflection will help you relax around the idea of repetition! It’s more than ok to review, repeat, and remix in your classes. Your students will benefit from a good balance of novelty and familiarity.
Resources and Links from this episode:
- In this episode, I mentioned an interview with Karen James on creative chair yoga. She was kind enough to add an insightful comment to the Instagram post that inspired this podcast topic, so I wanted to give a shout out to her episode!
- If you liked this topic, you might also enjoy Episode 49: Slow Mindful Yoga – Ways to Be More Present and Episode 46: Do You Crave Intensity in Your Mindful Movement Practice?
- This article by Kimberly Brown in Tricycle Magazine offers an interesting perspective on boredom and how mindfulness can be the antidote!
Learn to infuse mindfulness into your movement classes!
If you are interested in sharing movement-based mindfulness practices with others, take a look at the Mindful Movement Teacher Training! The next round of this online training program begins in October, and the application period is now open.