This is the most vital part of your apprentice program. Observing classes is great, but you won’t truly learn these concepts and skills until you teach them yourself. Pay attention to the concepts we give you to focus on, and concentrate on them as you perform your Practice and Teaching hours this week. If you have time to teach more than we assign, please do!

Definitions & Guidelines

Personal Practice Hours are the hours that you do in a private session, in a class, or by yourself.
• This is where you will personally experience the work and start to build understanding in your own body.
• Take this opportunity to slow down and feel how the exercises affect your own body. Use this time to discover and explore new ways to enhance your cueing.

Student Teaching Hours are the sessions that you teach to family, friends, or other teachers. They can be done at your home, in a studio, or anywhere you’d like.
• This is where the work really starts to take shape and have meaning. Use the template of the workout as a guide, but be sure to tailor it to the client in front of you. Pay attention to how the body reacts to the sequences.
• To become proficient, teach the same workout to different bodies and note the changes you will have to make as a teacher.
• Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them. Bring your Course Packet and manuals with you so you can write down questions you have during your session or reference the manual if you get stuck.
• It is important to ask your client for feedback. What felt good? Was there anything they didn’t understand? This is important so you can narrow the focus of what you need to work on.
• Keep track of your hours. Even if it is a short amount of time, it still counts!

Observation Hours are the hours you spend observing an approved instructor teaching mat work.

Have fun, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself to know everything at once. This is a process. Don’t worry if you feel like you’re repeating yourself and teaching the same things. Repetition and reinforcement are essential for the beginning teacher. Visit our Forum for support whenever you need it.

Your Assignment:

Refer back to Jen’s article in Session 2 if needed.

Things To Focus On
1.) Find and explore the different ways that your clients can experience the breath in their body. Try different positions and cues to practice how the breath affects the body and how it helps the movement.
2.) Investigate and practice explaining what the breath does to the body bio-mechanically, and how it activates the core musculature. Clients will ask about this, so it is important to know this key concept inside and out.
3.) Play with cueing the breath to influence the flow and tempo of the class. Up the pacing in the more vigorous parts of the class, and slow it down to invite relaxation and release.

1 Personal Practice Hour:

Think about the Breathing concepts we’ve focused on in the last Observation Video and Session Video. Think about the Things to Focus On above. Do a practice hour with these concepts in mind.

2 Student Teaching Hours:

Now, plan two teaching sessions based on these same concepts. Teach these sessions to a friend or family member. Incorporate some of the verbal and hands-on cueing you’ve seen in the videos. Try to make them your own.

Always treat these Teaching Hours the same as if you were in a studio teaching a paying client.

Don’t forget to log these hours in your Master Log!  

Note: The hours that we recommend you Practice and Teach are just that: recommendations. If you stick to our schedule, you will have logged all of your hours by the time you finish this course. But we understand that life doesn’t always make that possible. Do what you can and move at your own pace. This is not a race. You can always continue to log your Practice and Teaching hours even after you have finished the Sessions in this Apprentice Module.