Hot Yoga Topics > Script Memorization
Hey Alex, Nice to see you two days in a row (after Tuesdays class and on google +). I thought today that in addition to reading through the script over and over; another idea would be to visualize it. We all have gone to classes enough that the cueing is already there. I am going to try this. Hope that helps.
JaneC
Jane, I love seeing you and your lovely curly curly hair. :) as i've been writing it I've been trying to visualize it as well. (you should see my handwriting it looks like sanskrit) And kind of think of it like it's all there in my head already.
AlexandriaS
Hi Girls with pretty hair :) Twice a week I have a far drive to work and I have commited to talking to myself- scripting and visualizing on the drive. Highly recommended! When I get stuck and I don't have my script right there to refer to, it makes me focus on what I don't know until I can look it up and move on...
AmyA
I also try to memorize while I drive, and while I haven't tried Amy's method exactly (though it's a great idea and I will now!), I've been recording myself on my phone and playing it back when I'm driving. Believe it or not, it does help.
I think the picture you drew will help you a lot, too, Alex!
One other thing that's been working--at least for some of them--is re-writing them in a configuration that might be more intuitive for you (June suggested this). I've been laying the directions out slightly differently on the page, and it's helped me to discover patterns, etc., that help with memorization. Plus, by the time you're writing the directions for the second pose of the second set... you've kind of already got the hang of it!
Mary-Rush
And of course, really throwing yourself into that Big Physical does help!
Mary-Rush
These are all wonderful techniques but Amy, no visualizing while driving
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Lets watch our 100 word max on these forum posts... Edit or split your post into two.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
:) Thinking I actually mean "Feeling" more than "visualizing" (but I admit still probably not a good idea while driving).
AmyA
folks, there is this website i use for recording poems... http://audacity.sourceforge.net
I had to download something else to go with it but i recorded it and made it into mp3... so useful when you're driving. hah
AlexandriaS
Kind of big physical-ish, but I've been singing the script in a crazy opera voice to help me memorize it...it is really silly; i am no singer...next I may try English accent.
Laura
Laura,
Your video is amazing (can't wait to take your class); share more of your memorization tips, please! And how do you talk so fast? Do you think that is a result of singing practice?
Thanks!
AmyA
Honestly, my best memorization tip is just to go over the script, pose, by pose. I actually start from the last pose and work my way towards the intro. I try to run through it twice a night. And just focus on the words on the paper. I have a photographic memory, so that must be helping me as well. Each time I practice the script I also envision that I am actually teaching a class, so my delivery is emphasized just as much as the words.
Laura
Some of the script triggers memories of specific teachers saying it in class. For example, "your leg is solid, unbending, like a tree trunk, a lamp post"--Zack always says that so I get an image in my head every time of Zack and his delivery. More now, I hear verbatim script coming out of our teacher's mouths in classes today and I instantly connect those with script practice. If you can make a connection with the script and a positive memory I think it would help.
Laura
Thanks Laura! I'm going to try going through the poses backwards, too...
AmyA
Hi, everyone! I could really use some script memorization tips now that we've gotten to the hour+ portion of the process. I am having trouble carving out the time for going through it each day, but if I don't go through it each day, it starts to slip away.
Also, there are particular poses that give me trouble--standing bow, triangle especially.
Anyone have some tips that are helping them in this phase of the process?
Mary-Rush
Use Mental rehearsal as a great support to your verbal scripting practice - done with joy. Stop that downward spiral of frustration and worry before it gets you spinning; ride the wave upward seeing yourself sailing through those poses you "think" are troublesome. Carving out the time each day will feel less like surgery and more like sculpting in Play Doh once you let go of the stress around scripting. And give yourself a treat to look forward to AFTER scripting practice. Set yourself up for enjoyment and success.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
MR - Choose some of the poses to practice each day if you don't have time to practice all. Sometimes I will go over the 6 I've chosen a few times rather than all the poses. Standing bow trips me up too. Carly mentioned something interesting--that the poses hardest for her to memorize were hardest for her when taking class. If I could perfect any pose, it would be standing bow. I am obsessed with that one because it's so beautiful--must be why I have the memorization blockage.
Laura
I started to practice the floor series as a separate focus- Taped it and listening to it everyday as it is only 1/2 hour it's easy to get through. It feels much more manageable than starting at the beginning and practicing 90 minutes. Then, I reread the standing poses that are still tough for me. I know we discussed this Mary-Rush but interesting to post here we have same struggles with Standing Bow Pulling & Trikanasana script memorization.
AmyA
These are great tips, y'all--thanks so much. I think I've been in a pattern of not doing a terribly good job managing my time, then having to cram the video in at the last minute, then staying up really late, then not wanting to look at it, blah blah blah blah blah.
So funny, though, Laura--the pose I struggle with most (Dandayamana Janushirasana) is the ONLY one I seem to have down pat. What the...?!
So I'll take everyone's advice. And also, I think for my "problem poses," I might try writingit down. I think I might have a "calligraphic memory" (I made that up just now, so... not a real thing) where I remember things better if I force myself to write them from memory, even just once. Must be all those "lines" I had to write in elementary school... "I will not talk after the bell..."
Mary-Rush
But I do not think I will try scripting videos with my husband anymore. I'm not sure what it says about us, and I don't think I'll try to psychoanalyze it, but it... isn't pretty.
Mary-Rush
So true about the husband, Mary-Rush; I experienced this when my husband was a student in class as do many other teachers including Dawn (not sure for Amy Kyle) and its not just in hot yoga. Having your spouse for a student is usually not a good idea. Too much push/pull (literally when it comes to hot yoga, figuratively everywhere else)
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I've heard of people writing the first letter of each word in the sentence down in order to recall the phrase.
LoriR
I've heard of that too Lori - it works best when you want to memorize a phrase rather than an entire script. Two wonderful techniques for memorizing the longer Teacher script: The Big Physical which entails keeping your ENTIRE BODY in motion while you recite your script, and Mental Rehearsal which is using mental imagining to get the script into your subconscious. Stay tuned and I will post short videos of these two techniques right here in this FORUM
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Good points Lori and Rhonda about the trees (remembering a phrase) and forest (the whole shebang) - we can approach each task differently.
KristinaS
Hey, Anyone have any cool creative ideas on going about elmers gluing the script to our heads? I've been trying to think of it like a poem and how I memorize a poem is by writing and rewriting it over and over... Laura and I were talking about doing flashcards. I was thinking of drawing over exaggerated pictures and highlighting all the things that are on there. (i.e., benefits of the pose, maybe even antagonist/agonist muscles) I don't know. Anyone got anything good?