On Saturday, February 15, seven current 4yoga teachers met at Heather Kessler’s house to discuss several issues related to cueing.  Angie Jones prepared and delivered this workshop, sharing data she collected in advance from 13 of our teachers and guidelines, strategies, and tips that she has learned from her own teachers and self-study.  

We began by reviewing what cues teachers receive from their students, those signals that tell teachers their own instruction is not working as they’d intended.  We then addressed the factors that influence the effectiveness of cueing (e.g., volume, pace or timing, and language).  After the workshop concluded, we socialized and shared snacks.

In reflecting on what was most beneficial from the workshop, Susan Stanton remembered an acronym that Angie learned from Cara Bradley.  Bradley provided this memory aid—WAIT, which stands for “Why Am I Talking?”—in a Yoga Alliance webinar.  Susan called WAIT “a great simple acronym to use as a reminder.”  Susan also pointed out that it is “always a good idea to learn new ideas and concepts and to challenge ourselves to think out of the box as we teach.”  

About the workshop, Debbie Marquette noted, it “served as a reminder to me how important a teacher’s cueing is to the success of each individual student and overall class and that I should continue to improve skills by being more attentive to language and feedback from my students’ practice.”

About our quarterly teacher workshops:  as a community yoga studio, we host workshops to provide opportunities for teachers to spend time together and to learn from and with each other.  As a bonus, when the teacher organizing the workshop is a Yoga Alliance continuing education provider, the events also provide, at no cost, continuing education hours to teachers who participate!  To retain registration with Yoga Alliance, teachers complete at least 30 continuing education hours every three years to show evidence of their ongoing learning.