Introducing Thought Provokers

I have some special content to share with you today. I call them Thought Provokers.

If you’ve read my book, you might remember a series of sidebars, also called Thought Provokers. These were opportunities for me to pose questions for you, insightful questions that don’t always have a “correct” answer. These Thought Provokers usually appeared in the text when compelling research is presented or grand ideas were introduced.

In this last year, I’ve had the opportunity to record hundreds of hours of educational content. Recently, I pulled several short clips (less than one minute each) that were powerful teaching moments. In this post, I’m sharing those clips with you and posing insightful questions for you to explore.

I hope this content will help you start new conversations and deepen existing ones. So much of being a teacher is about being a perpetual student.

Explore These 3 Thought Provokers

Use these questions to challenge yourself and your students, expand your comfort zone, and stimulate new insights. Click the links to watch the video.

Thought Provoker #1:

Shaking Up Comfortable Concepts (click to watch the video)

It’s common to build a class that “strengthens” and “stretches” certain areas that reflect the physical demands of the peak pose. If you were to replace the terms “strengthen” and “stretch” with different types of experiences, what would they be? Perhaps use Triangle Pose for your exploration. What experiences does doing Triangle Pose invoke? Repeat with another pose of your choosing.

Thought Provoker #2:

Supporting Adaptation (click to watch the video)

You are interested in teaching a regular yoga class for people who ______ [insert recreational sport, i.e. running, golfing, tennis, etc.] Do your poses support adaptations for their specific sport, or do they reverse/neutralize those adaptations? By what mechanism? What additional stretching techniques do you include and why? Consider passive, active, dynamic, ballistic, PNF, and resistance stretching.

Thought Provoker #3:

Varying Expressions (click to watch the video)

Consider a common standing pose you teach often. How could you modify/vary the pose to create three different expressions, gestures, or attitudes? Consider arm placement, but also stance and use of props.

I hope these Thought Provokers bring you as much insight as they have for me. If you feel so inclined, I’d love for you to share either by email or as a comment on any social platform where you view the related videos. I look forward to connecting with you at one of my future events.