Dear Teacher,
As you will recall, in a previous post you have been learning about non-verbal and verbal means for you to get rapport with your students through pacing the current reality. In addition to physically mirroring the head tilt of your students as you look around the room, you can also begin the class with a few, undeniably true facts, such as where you are, who you are, what time it is, what level of a class it is, as well as stating things like -
- ”…you are sitting here”
- “…breathing and breathing out”
- “…listening to the sounds in the room”
Which the listener will acknowledge as true, opening up a space where it’s likely that what you say that follows these statements will be interpreted to be true as well! This process is called ‘pacing and leading’, or as my teacher Christina Hall says, ‘pacing and inviting’ which may be a more respectful way of considering this.
Before we get into HOW to structure your invitations, I want to talk about pacing realities that happened before the listener got to the room at that moment, what is called Back Track Pacing.
Yoga Elements Studio