Batch Cooking For Yoga Teachers
What?
As the name suggest batch cooking is a really useful way of planning several classes at once.
(On my Yin Yoga Teacher refresher course I use this as an expanded idea and show you how to create a years worth of classes in one sitting)
Find my digital course here:
Finding The Yoga in Yin – Yoga By Rose
Why batch cook?
Saves time, a fresh teacher is a better teacher
Adapting ideas and poses in advance not on the spot
Consolidate your thinking, where are you going mentally and physically with the class, what’s its point and purpose?
Layered learning is more possible when we think ahead
Encourages repetitious teaching
Time to teach nervous system safety responses
Opportunity to deconstruct not only poses but yoga concepts
Can create spare time in the class to maybe revisit the same thing a few different ways to find personalisation
What to batch cook?
Your whole class plan with opportunity to include:
Physical stuff
philosophy stuff
Points of interest (could be anatomy, using more Sanskrit, an action like push/pull)
Now use their planning and placement to reinforce what you are teaching
By doing this, you can build more structure to the overall arc of your teachings a bit like a curriculum but still maintain each class as a worthy standalone individual work.
One of my early teachers taught me that the sutras were like a continuous threading of each unique pearl upon pearl (of wisdom)creating an endless thread of learning and I like to think we can find that in planning as well.
Ideas around how to batch cook:
You could thread over a philosophical theme, a couple of poses from one class to the next if your class sequences change, even concepts and ideas, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a physical breath work or shape.
This gives students something familiar each week while expanding their curiosity to learning Yoga and it weaves across a wider spread of classes.
However, those who prefer to teach using a set sequence you can do the same by having a batch cooked month of the same class you can easily shift focus and find fresh in the familiar in an inspired yet systematic way.
I have a whole article on freshening up a set sequence without changing a thing here:
You could start batch cooking classes by taking the same opening one week and including it as the ending another week.
You could include the same middle sequence week to week and create different focus around that every time – but batch cooking doesn’t need to be about repetition if you don’t want it to or in a way that is over or visible in the shapes.
For example you could set out to include a forward fold, a backbend, a twist, a side band, a foot focus, shoulder focus or hips and take one element from each of those categories in every class choosing different shapes to represent the boarder category.
I do something kind of similar using a grid method on my digital Yin Yoga refresher for teachers as that style of yoga really lends itself to problematic sequencing all around one body part. Here it has a sharper idea of what to put where for well rounded sequencing.
You can find my course here:
Finding The Yoga in Yin – Yoga By Rose
Using the grid, a digital equivalent or even four pieces of paper to represent four weeks classes in a month can be really useful to see it all at once and to effortless weave in repetion, curiosity, philosophy, facts or any information you want to teach. Some people have sound or music as a big focus, you can factor that in too if you want.
Once you decide what style/meal you are teaching/cooking , gather a few lists of things you want to include, even word banks, and assemble your first batch cook for a month. Then refine your method a bit and next time you will fly through weeks of planned in one go.
Its quick, easy and effective to do and will both save you time and improve your teaching because we all know that feeling of forgetting to include or say something in class.
