Responsive Cueing
Responsive Cueing Assignment:
Watch the Video or listen to the audio below on the topic of Responsive Cueing
Note: the audio is downloadable if you’d like to let it play on your commute
Read the essay for greater depth and understanding of the topic
Download and print another class planning worksheet.
For inspiration in your vinyasa and class creation, pick a body type that is very different from your own, and imagine that that person is in your class. Let them inspire your work, but it need not dominate the class concept. Remember, this isn’t the only person in your class, but one of let’s say 8-10 people. Let it inspire you, but not determine your entire theme.
Take a picture of your class and email it to Abhaya for feedback (konalaniyoga@gmail.com)
Record and Upload an 8-minute portion of your class via YouTube. In your 2-minute introduction, let us know what responsive cueing body type inspired your work, and why you chose that. As you teach for 8 minutes, be sure to include cues that help that particular person move better and feel supported.
Post a Link to your Video in the comments section of this Blog Post
If taking the course in a group format, please comment on at least two other student’s videos. if taking course in a self-paced format, then watch at least two other videos from previous students and comment on what you learned from them by posting a ‘reply’ under your own post.
Making an Offering: The inward focus of Responsive Cueing
Seeing the Highest Possibility:
As you are able to keep your eyes open and your awareness inside, your cues take on a new dimension of support. They become an offering from you to the divinity you see in your student— you might not see them glowing in white light, but you see how the posture could be more beneficial to them, you see something for them that they can’t see for themself, and that is the source of responsive cueing. Too often we get dragged out of this inward space within ourself as we try to fix what’s wrong in the student, we lose the divine vision of what’s possible in the pose and get sucked into what’s not working. Combine this with the reality that posture always requires many layers of effort over time to truly adjust, and you can see why responsive cueing takes time to master. Our goal today is point you in the highest direction for what’s possible when responding to the needs of your class, as well as to give you practical considerations when taking those steps.
As Babaji teaches: “[Practice develops] loving compassion. You develop the qualities that will be of benefit to you and the people around you. That is how we can truly help others in a real way, by offering them a higher level of consciousness. Each time you experience that divinity in yourself and then recognize it in someone else- even the most difficult of rascals- that vibration is going to lift them up.” (SBF 102)
The practice of Responsive Cueing:
Responsive cueing means cues that are based on what you are seeing in your class, but that misses the greater point. Our goal isn’t to just see and respond, but keep our awareness inside while seeing the outside world, and from that place, respond. This makes our cue more than a response, it makes it an offering. Instead of focusing on what is wrong in a posture, focus on what you see is possible in a posture, and in this way avoid the trappings of the ego when responding to our student’s postures. Because the cues we give may not be accepted, or heard, but when done with an inward gaze we can release our attachments to the fruits of those cues and re-focus on the practice of selfless service, as the Bhagavd Gita describes it: “Your right is to work only and never to the fruit thereof, do not be the cause of the fruit of action. Nor let your attachment be to inaction.” – #BhagavadGita Shlok – (Chapter-2, Verse-47). We make the offering, and leave it at the feet of the deity— whether it is accepted is not up to us, but is up to grace. This is the mindset of responsive cueing.
Letting it Rise Up From Within:
This is not just a poetic invitation, but a real teaching on the art of responsive cueing. Responsive cueing can be a great gift to your students, or a great hindrance. We’ve all been in a class when one students gets too many personalized cues, and felt left out. We’ve also heard a teacher give too many responsive cues in one posture and wondered if they have lost track of time. And maybe we’ve even been an individual receiving too many responsive cues and felt picked on, or nudged to work in a way that didn’t feel good for our body. Responsive cueing is a complex equation that should arise naturally as your practice deepens. They say the entire universe takes place in the space of Vishnu opening and closing their eyes one time— this is to say that the process of opening our eyes while remaining inside takes time, and actually represents the biggest accomplishment of our practice. Trust in your practice, deepen your practice, and let that depth naturally unfold, like Vishnu’s eyelids, allowing you to see clearly and give from the heart.
Practical Considerations for Responsive Cueing
But as always, we seek to combine the metaphysical with the physical, the astral with the practical— and so as you embark on the life long practice of responsive cueing from inside, there are a few practical considerations that can ensure your cues are helpful and well received.
Think Assist, not Fix:
The first consideration when responding to your class is to surrender the need to fix, and focus instead on your ability to assist. This calls back to the idea of your responsive cue being an offering to a deity, instead of trying to repair a sculpture. Yoga is a life long practice— we’ve always got something we are working on, and so do your students. Trying to fix a student’s posture is not only impossible, but is exhausting for you both. Something as fundamental as our posture is not something we can fix in one fell swoop, but is something that slowly illuminates and changes over time. Leave the offering at the feet of the deity, then return to your mat and continue your practice. Keep in mind that a posture may only last 3-5 breaths, that’s 15-25 seconds, so you’ve got to be realistic with what’s possible in that small window. You can assist someone in 20 seconds, you can offer them something in 20 seconds, but you can’t fix them in 20 seconds, or 20 minutes— maybe 20 classes if they are really paying attention, but that’s not up to us either. As teachers, we are guides, not chauffeurs. Experience, in the end, will be the best teacher. At this point in our practice, and especially while navigating a group setting, focus on assisting, let go of fixing, and everyone will feel a lot better.
Foundations First:
A yoga posture can be an optical illusion— what’s easiest to see if often the least important aspect of a posture. For example, one of the most common responsive cues you will hear a new teacher give in Virabhadrasana II is to level the arms, because the arms are easiest to see and easiest to fix. In reality, though, the arms may be the least important aspect of the posture— what about the feet, the knees, the hips, the deep core, etc? This isn’t to say that you have to address all these issues, but it is to say that when you look around your class, try to look first at the foundation, and let that inform your cues. THe beauty of addressing the foundation first is that often it will fix many issues above it. For example, getting someone into the right foot position in Virabhadrasana II will often bring more buoyancy to their deep core, enhancing the breath flow, and allowing them to work more thoroughly in the posture overall.
Connect and Share:
There is a remarkable psychological phenemenon at play when you give a responsive cue— everyone wants to do it. Its like sitting at the dinner table and saying “This broccoli is wonderful”— look around and watch as every single person at the table will take a bite of the broccoli next, guaranteed. Except for Alex, because he hates broccoli, but he’s still thinking about it. In any case, the same is true in the yoga classroom setting— when you respond to something in class with a cue, you might as well try to share it in a way that everyone can try, because they are going to want to do it. For example, you may notice someone craning too far into the twist in Ardha Matsyendrasana, so your next cue will naturally reflect what you saw. Instead of saying it just to Alex, try to frame the cue for everyone to try. “Let yourself come out of the pose halfway, find your breath and focus on buoyancy, and then try to bring that buoyancy with you into the twist.” Alex benefits a little bit, and so does the class. For added insurance, if you say the cue while looking towards Alex, they’ll know and feel the intensity, they don’t even need to hear their name.
One and Done:
And one last tip for beneficial responsive cues, keep it simple— one and done. This is perhaps the most challenging tip of them all— responsive cues are like cliff hangers, each one leads you to the next episode, they never quite conclude like you wish they would. This is why we have to go into the practice of responsive cueing as detached as possible— we are making an offering, waving it before the deity, bowing and returning to our mat.