Yoga things I find stressful to deal with: "restorative" yoga, and "gentle" yoga.
Yoga things I find stressful to deal with: "restorative" yoga, and "gentle" yoga.
I get that some aspects of yoga can be random, but there really ought to be something vaguely standardized. Every time a sub instructor has to come in for the regular gentle yoga instructor it's a completely random exercise. Some people seem to think "gentle" means spend the whole time on your knees. Some people seem to think it means do everything lying on the floor. Some people seem to think it means awkwardly back and front bending over bolsters and other objects. Some people seem to think it means lots of unsupported balance poses or working against the wall or with a chair.
The regular instructor treats it as much as possible like a modified version of a regular flow yoga class, with a little bit of various different positions throughout the workout. Some days have a little more floor, some have a little more standing, some have a little more core or active flow movements. She always warms us up, she almost always gets into more challenging moves gradually. She rarely leaves you without offering pre-emptive modifications, so no one has to feel singled out.
I used to try to regard the subs as an opportunity to check out someone else's style, in case I might want to take a class with them and to learn about other people's philosophy and insights, but 9/10 times I've ended up mildly to moderately hurt, or with an instructor who has no idea what to suggest to modify poses, so I'm either off imagining my own routine or sitting there staring. I don't have the money to afford that, and frankly, I don't have the time. It's supposed to be a time when I'm exercising and mentally relaxing, not not exercising and being worried about getting injured.
As far as "restorative", I really don't know if there's an official determination for it, but around here it seems to mean get into a pose and hold it for a long time. I'd call most of what it seems like to be isometric exercises and some rather extreme stretching. None of that is, in fact, gentle on the body. It almost all requires a fairly high level of muscle tone, excellent balance, and a precise understanding of positioning. It is not as it is treated here, some kind of easy beginner class. And lots of the people who cover the gentle yoga class come in and talk about how we're going to do restorative poses, etc.
The problem is, not having taken classes with every single instructor, you never know what the person is like until you've been through a class with them. I finally asked one of the regulars in my class what the etiquette is if you find out there's a sub when you show up. He said that it seemed reasonable to him that if you start and try the class and it's hurting or not working for you, that it's perfectly reasonable to decide that and leave. I mean, obviously it's probably not cool to spend an hour of an hour and a half class and then walk out, but it's usually clear within 15-30 minutes if this is going to be a problem.
I feel like a jerk whether I immediately walk out upon finding out there's a sub, or leave after the class starts. I mean, the people are nice, it's just whether or not their instruction style works for me. Mostly, it doesn't. There's a couple of people whose classes I'd take, and maybe next time we know ahead if the regular teacher won't be there I'll try and switch to those for those weeks.
I understand there are unforseen situations when the instructor can't be there, I'm just really tired and frustrated because the subs tend to be a bad experience for me and when the yoga is good, it's great, and you can feel yourself making progess. When it's bad, though, it's a really negative experience.
I get that some aspects of yoga can be random, but there really ought to be something vaguely standardized. Every time a sub instructor has to come in for the regular gentle yoga instructor it's a completely random exercise. Some people seem to think "gentle" means spend the whole time on your knees. Some people seem to think it means do everything lying on the floor. Some people seem to think it means awkwardly back and front bending over bolsters and other objects. Some people seem to think it means lots of unsupported balance poses or working against the wall or with a chair.
The regular instructor treats it as much as possible like a modified version of a regular flow yoga class, with a little bit of various different positions throughout the workout. Some days have a little more floor, some have a little more standing, some have a little more core or active flow movements. She always warms us up, she almost always gets into more challenging moves gradually. She rarely leaves you without offering pre-emptive modifications, so no one has to feel singled out.
I used to try to regard the subs as an opportunity to check out someone else's style, in case I might want to take a class with them and to learn about other people's philosophy and insights, but 9/10 times I've ended up mildly to moderately hurt, or with an instructor who has no idea what to suggest to modify poses, so I'm either off imagining my own routine or sitting there staring. I don't have the money to afford that, and frankly, I don't have the time. It's supposed to be a time when I'm exercising and mentally relaxing, not not exercising and being worried about getting injured.
As far as "restorative", I really don't know if there's an official determination for it, but around here it seems to mean get into a pose and hold it for a long time. I'd call most of what it seems like to be isometric exercises and some rather extreme stretching. None of that is, in fact, gentle on the body. It almost all requires a fairly high level of muscle tone, excellent balance, and a precise understanding of positioning. It is not as it is treated here, some kind of easy beginner class. And lots of the people who cover the gentle yoga class come in and talk about how we're going to do restorative poses, etc.
The problem is, not having taken classes with every single instructor, you never know what the person is like until you've been through a class with them. I finally asked one of the regulars in my class what the etiquette is if you find out there's a sub when you show up. He said that it seemed reasonable to him that if you start and try the class and it's hurting or not working for you, that it's perfectly reasonable to decide that and leave. I mean, obviously it's probably not cool to spend an hour of an hour and a half class and then walk out, but it's usually clear within 15-30 minutes if this is going to be a problem.
I feel like a jerk whether I immediately walk out upon finding out there's a sub, or leave after the class starts. I mean, the people are nice, it's just whether or not their instruction style works for me. Mostly, it doesn't. There's a couple of people whose classes I'd take, and maybe next time we know ahead if the regular teacher won't be there I'll try and switch to those for those weeks.
I understand there are unforseen situations when the instructor can't be there, I'm just really tired and frustrated because the subs tend to be a bad experience for me and when the yoga is good, it's great, and you can feel yourself making progess. When it's bad, though, it's a really negative experience.
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