Hot Yoga Topics > Scripting Woes are Wonderful
Alex your post could not come at a more perfect time for me. Thank you! I could not stand looking at myself for the longest time. Seeing myself would totally distract me from what I was doing, and all I could think of was 'damn you look fat today.' So...today I decided to look at myself and say 'you are one hot momma! Look how GOOD you are at this! You are speaking with authority and from the heart and your students will FEEL you!' Alex, sometimes I just want to put you in my pocket for moments like that. Thanks! XOXO, MH
Marguerite
Damn you look PHAT today, gals!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Thank you for this post Alex! When I decided to enjoy this TT, it just changed the game for me. I can make it hard or I can do my very best to enjoy it. I cant make it easy though!!! But thats fine, nothing worthwhile is ever easy, it requires effort.
KimA
Oooo, you had me til the last line, Kim: that's kind of the "no pain/no gain" philosophy I disagree with! Worthwhile is not measured by effort - things of value can be easy, challenging, to anything in between. Degree of difficulty doesnt make something more worthy; your feelings guide you to what will serve you best in your life. And that feeling is always joyful - even if you are choosing challenge.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Yeah scripting videos not my friend. I usually take the first take for our assignment and post that. The more I do the worse they seem to get. I never watch them after I do them, hate seeing myself on tape. I become very critical. Funny though because when teaching people I don't mind looking at myself in the mirror and hearing my voice there. Probably because my mind is preoccupied with teaching:)
GabbyL
hmmm maybe it has something to do with speaking to an audience and then speaking alone in a room to nobody. For some reason it may be easier to go from one pose to the next or one statement to the next knowing that someone is out there receiving it.
I remember hearing this before I think in a public speaking class....and the differences between practicing your speech at home and then speaking in front of a group...
Mark
Not sure I agree with this Mark - although speaking to students has a different feel for sure - but if you feel better scripting to an audience this is an easy one.
How can you do your script to an audience?
You CAN Alex to be your student.
Yes, you can.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
i agree with gabby... the more takes i do the worse i get and the energy is gone. i found this out the hard way after losing a couple of sundays redo-ing hours of scripts. i think this week(7) i got it down to around an 1.5 hrs on my script and big physical. i know i can get to that place where it will be ok if i mess up
danielle bumber
Danielle: it is OK if you mess up - in fact, its cause for a smile. And...you're there.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
HAHA , i was having trouble finding a forum that was relatable to the week... well the universe delivered!!! And instead of being frustrated/mad I'm going to laugh and find my forum! I got to the middle of my script and found out that there was not enough storage to finish the video!!!.... On the VERY PLUS side of things my word was efficient this week, so I was trying to do my lessons ahead of time so everything was done in a timely manner. Good thing i wasn't waiting til the last min... cause clearing out my phone and oh yes my computer is going to take awhile. So thank you universe for my word of the week so I can complete this weeks lessons! And for a good laugh
Becky
Becky you are already a master manifested, understanding how it is you manifest your conditions a and then going easy on yourself- even laughing! - as you notice your power. Now since your words help manifest - how about if you could feel that "clearing out the computer" will be efficient and easy rather than "this will take time"? Because the real power in understading how you're manifesting is awareness and choice!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
The ideas in this forum are so relatable for me right now! I love memorizing my script throughout the week- it's like putting a puzzle together; I already have all the pieces, I'm just fitting them in the right spots. But for the first few weeks of recording myself on video, when the camera came on, I froze. Forgetting lines that I had down pat 30 seconds before the camera was on, forgetting scripts from previous weeks, and dreading getting the technology to post the video working. I'd end up re-recording videos until they felt right, draining hours from my day.
Have you ever had an experience like this- you see a picture of yourself and think "Oh my God I look awful! I'm huge! Ah!" Then you see the same picture a year later and think "WOW! I looked so good back then! I wish I looked that good now!" And on and on... It took me a long time to realize I was doing this to myself and think about why on Earth I would do that. I've consciously made an effort to acknowledge when I look GOOD in pictures, and not worry about when I think I don't look good.
Scripting videos add a whole other dimension to this! Each week, I see myself in a video, focusing on a script that I have enjoyed memorizing, envisioning teaching a class and loving it. The first week of videos, I busted myself making those same old judgements. My voice sounds weird, I look terrible, yada yada yada. BUT something changed along the way and I'm not doing that anymore. Maybe it's confidence about the script or excitement about teaching, but really, who cares what it is?? Now I watch myself and camera and think "Damn! I am killing it on this script! I'm going to be awesome at this by the end of teacher training!"
What a gift!
Chrissy Graziano
That's awesome, Chrissy. As you can read here, you are not the only one who has these self-judgements - its a subtle but sneaky form of self-hate...or at least self-invalidation. But you are in for a treat because this week, coming right up and at just the right time (isnt LOA grand?) is a Blisscipline that should help you quiet that negative self-judgement once and for all!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Oh how I can relate to self judgement when looking into the mirror! And the greatest thing now, I have released that habit once and for all! This TT has helped me do that. I know I have had all this awareness inside of me or rather its been surrounding me my whole life and it was simply about allowing it to come in. Learning the script was a process and so much more than the memorization. The attitude, decision, choice about made the difference for me. I chose to relax, enjoy, re-read, re-listen as many times as it took to 'get it'. And I got it and now I feel my momentum picking up and and I am excited for all that comes in everyday. I have great love for all of this and this community!
Lisa O'Rourke
You got it for sure, Lisa, and there is great love here for you too....because YOU bring that love and nothing but Love is possible for you here. You ARE love looking for a place to happen...I'm glad you chose Riverflow Yoga for that place.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I think you finally helped me understand why I can recite in the car on the way to work but I get on camera, lose my mind and start dropping the eff bomb like a comma. Different perspective, I think I will give some thought to what is blocking my energy when I turn the camera on
Paula
Paula...notice that "giving thought to what is blocking my energy" is just focusing on the belief that you have blocked energy. Before you focus on it, ask yourself this question: "Is blocked energy what I want?" Because in focusing on anything you are expanding and creating more of it.
So how might you start to believe that it is simply possible for you to script on camera? What CAN you say to yourself to move in the direction you want?
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Wow, I am so thrilled I found this post, and super inspired to hear the experiences of previous teachers, and my current fellow teacher trainee Paula. :) I have also gone through a lot of the experiences described above 4 weeks in. So it is comforting to see other go through similar things with scripting...but, in addition to scripting challenges, I also want to share scripting joys I have encountered so far. I love that moment when I realize I have memorized a section I have been stumbling over for awhile. And even more, I love the moment when I string 2 of those sections together, then 3, etc. Best of all, I love how I can work on memorizing for awhile--then step away for a bit to sleep, eat, go to work, whatever it may be--only to come back and realize that my brain was still working on scripting behind the scenes for me even when I wasn't aware of it. Burnout is a real thing, at least for my particular learning style--a little but at a time is the way for me to learn. Thanks to Rhonda and all current teachers and fellow trainees sharing their thoughts about scripting. Very inspiring and learning from all of you is what infuses joy into this process.
Pamela
Thanks for adding your inspiration Pamela and now I want to point out something else fabulous about you: notice how you ended your post by saying what you LOVE about scripting and what you appreciate about yourself ... in doing so you have truly gained a great deal of momentum on what you DO want vs what you don’t want! Often people talk about their woes and end on a note of despair .. and guess which way they just pointed their momentum!
Notice this awareness has come after/ during a particular Blusscipline- the I CAN - and you will see one great example of how the “I can’t/how can i/ I can” blisscipline begins to subtly impact your life for the better : turning you towards what YOU DO want YOUR life to be about and understanding HOW you can be in control of it!
Beautiful, beautiful!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
After reading these posts I realized that, when people ask me how teacher training is going, I tell them that I love the activities but the scripting is hard. Probably would be best to drop that--it is fun when you realize how groups of words have become embedded in your brain. I took another class this morning where the script was very different, and I found myself repeating the words to our script silently in my head.
irenem
Great advice to yourself Irene - because what are you prepaving for yourself when you talk about scripting being hard? And when it shows up as hard next time...well, who did that lol!? (And the LOL is important - because we all do this, we "tell the truth" as if we are obligated to be totally honest about "what is" and we forget that we are recreating that reality for ourselves. Would you rather be right...or have fun?) And now you realize that there actually is a fun part of scripting...so, how might you now talk about scripting to those people who ask?
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
When we (the current TTs) got together to script yesterday my scripting wasn't perfect, but I finally got the sense that I was teaching, and that was fun. So there is fun in scripting!
irenem
Indeed there is, Irene! Now ...more energy and more body movement please...show us the FUN SPIRIT youre feeling....and pace it up!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I can't believe it took me 7 weeks to find this forum. I have spent countless hours stopping and restarting videos. Finally after weeks of anxiety anticipating doing my video and thinking "this was supposed to be fun" I have adopted a one and done philosophy. I know my scripts word for word until the video starts. I go through my classes thinking how is it all these teachers have these scripts down so perfectly? Then I saw names of so many teachers whose classes I've taken on this forum. This has gave me confidence. I will get this.
Much love,
a future yoga teacher
Erica
I've come to a startling realization of all those terrible scripting videos. These are the ones that I have burned away from my hard drive and hidden countless times to avoid ever being retrieved by anyone in the infiniteness of the internets. I do have a phobia of black mail.
In truth, I have probably recorded hundreds of hours worth of tragic scripting videos. I HATED looking at myself or hearing the sound of my one voice. Most of them were emotional, not very well memorized and even more so, my heart was not in them. It wasn't until the very end of my second training that I vowed to enjoy this; no matter what. It was that promise of enjoyment that made me the teacher that I am today.
I realized something during class he other day. I walk into the room. Close the curtains. Welcome the students. We start doing our thing. Then, at the end of Trikonasana; I joked around, "Everyone looks so angry after this pose!" I meant it lightly but it is so true. It is essential to face yourself on camera, reciting something foreign and worrying about your double chin than to be in a very hot room, with people who may or may not like what you are saying to them and may or may not want to jump you in the parking lot. By doing those videos in teacher training, I became a badass even though I hated every second of it.
What I'm getting at, is Scripting is so much more than memory even though that is really only what it looks like at the time. It teaches you discipline, choosing the better feeling thought, and maybe even that you are not as heinous looking as you think you are. It teaches you that you can focus no matter what. So when you graduate and move into furthering yourself as a teacher; anything that happens in that room is simply an act of love and responsibility and you can absolutely do that because you have done that for yourself first.