The Starling is celebrating its success.
The flock of Starlings arrived at the bird feeder again today. The noise was extreme as the birds all trumpeted their good fortune at finding this stash of food. The recent severe winter storm buried all their natural food sources.
Their twittering attracted the attention of the neighbourhood cat and she is looking for some food as well.
For the birds there is a right time to twitter and a wrong time. There are good times and bad times for you to talk in yoga class.
When is it right to talk
There are three times when it is good to talk to your yoga teacher and there are particular topics you want to cover then.
Before class
Talk to your yoga teacher before class about any recent injuries. Tell them about the challenges you are having with particular poses.
This information will help your yoga teacher make sure you have a safe yoga class. They will be able to suggest modifications and alternatives to help with your challenges.
Once class starts you may have a need to talk to your teacher again.
During class
You can ask your teacher for clarification about how to do a particular pose. You may not be the only one confused. It is better to speak up and remove your confusion now. Others in your class will be glad that you asked the question and everyone will learn from the explanation.
Keep your questions brief and about the material the teacher is presenting.
Once the class is over you have another opportunity to talk to your teacher.
After class
If you have an observation or insight that you would like to share, you can talk to the teacher after class.
You can tell your teacher about the successes and challenges you had with the class. They may be able to offer some suggestions for your challenges and will be glad to hear about your successes.
We covered the good times for talking now let’s look at the bad times starting with before class.
There are good times and bad times to talk at the yoga studio.
When is it bad to talk
Before class
Carrying on conversations with your friends or those around you is disruptive. A lot of people come to yoga class to relax and get rid of stress. Having several conversations going on around them is not helping them to relax.
It is better to say a soft greeting to the people you know in class. Save your conversations for after the class is over and you have left the practice space.
Once the class has started all conversations should stop.
During class
Once the teacher starts class, refrain from talking to your friends and classmates.
Unless you have a question for the yoga teacher it is best to keep your lips closed and your ears open.
The teacher has a certain amount of material that they want to cover during the class. Long discussions or personal revelations and insights can be time consuming and destroy the flow of the class.
There will be a time after class when it is okay to talk to the teacher but you have to be mindful here as well
After class
As we saw earlier it is okay to talk to the teacher after class. But you should not monopolize the teacher’s time, other people may want to talk to them. They may have another class to teach and there may be another class waiting to start in the room you are in.
Talking during class causes several problems.
Why is it bad to talk
There are three problems with talking during a yoga class
1 You loose focus
Talking while doing a yoga pose causes you to be less focused on the feedback from your body. You could hurt yourself if you are not paying attention to your body’s feedback.
You can harm more than just yourself by talking.
2 It disrupts the people around you
The flock of Starlings arriving at the bird feeder definitely disrupted the people in our house.
Talking during yoga class disrupts the people around you. Not only are you not focused the people around you are distracted by your conversation. They will lose their focus and could hurt themselves.
Talking causes a problem for your teacher as well as your neighbours.
3 Talking shows disrespect for the teacher
When you are talking during the class you are showing disrespect for your teacher. You are not paying attention to the instructions that they are giving.
Summary
Starlings are never quiet when they are feeding. But you are not a Starling.
It’s great to share with friends, but it can be distracting to others to have an extended or loud conversation.
A yoga class is the time to be quiet and focus on your own practice. You can gain a lot of insight about a pose by paying attention to the feedback from your body and you only get that feedback if you are quiet.
Next Step
Get your talking done before class starts.
Additional Reading
If you are new to yoga, new to the studio or new to the teacher the article Why you should talk to your yoga teacher tells you what you should talk to your yoga teacher about.
If you are talking to your yoga neighbour in the hopes of getting a date you need to read How to use the flirt-o-meter to tell if you are flirting during yoga class.
