My towel :(

Hey…sorry you felt yelled at. At least your name wasn’t shouted out! This class can indeed be strict. It is a beginner’s class and there is little tolerance for using props or changing the postures, unless instructed to do so. Hopefully your instructor is also caring and helpful.

It sounds like you are bringing an extra towel into class with you. Is that to use as you described or for wiping sweat? I used to bring a hand towel in with me also at the beginning of my practice. Over time, I learned not to use it and then stopped bringing it in at all. The only posture where a prop is used in that class is in Rabbit, because in that posture losing your grip on your heels can cause injury. But you don’t need it for other postures. It might seem like you do, and I understand your frustration in being corrected for something that made sense for you to do. But you don’t actually need the towel. Over time, you will learn to do the posture without the towel, and without the slipping. I admit that I sometimes wipe my hands on my towel just before I grab my knee, but otherwise work on the grip and you will be fine. If the grip slips, just redo it.

The other posture where people tend to “cheat” in my class is Triangle….they position themselves so one foot is on their towel/mat, to keep from slipping. But here too you can learn to do the posture without slipping, as your muscles improve and you figure out how to engage the thigh muscles to keep your position without sliding. It seems nearly impossible in the beginning!

Hang in there. I encourage you to talk with your instructor about any instruction or correction you don’t understand.

Namaste!

-Kristin

Hello Phil

Kristin and Bunni make some important points. Thank you gals. :cheese: I may expand on a couple:

Wiping sweat causes the body to produce more sweat. As you wipe the sweat away it is taking away that particular cooling mechanism (there are 3). The body then produces more sweat. You lose loads more water and electrolytes and potentially set up a very dangerous situation. You may already know that. It’s possible you thought of taking the towel in because someone had said you need it for sweat or for grip. It really doesn’t matter. Wiping your hands or knee before that posture is OK to do.

Some really inflexible people really DO need to use a towel. But it seems that you could definitely get by without one!

You will be quite surprised (not sure when!) that your hands simply will NOT slip anymore. You’ll be in Standing Bow or holding that knee to your shoulder and realise that you had a steady hold/pull/grip and there was no slippage, EVEN IF you were dripping with sweat and you didn’t wipe off the excess. I PROMISE that happens.

If you are healthy regular person (who has no illnesses or physical conditions requiring modification including injury) and you’re slipping in a pose either feet or hands, or if you feel you need a prop, then I can guarantee there is a technique issue or approach that you can learn (from this forum, my email newsletters or even my products) that will get you over that problem.

So … about that instruction to ‘not use your towel’. Here’s what I want to say: Any instructor who blurts out a command like that, particularly to a beginner should be going about that a much better way.

It was your first class for goodness sake. You are not a child and you need the instructor to guide you not tell you off (or to give you the perception you’re being told off) when you’re doing something ‘wrong’. You’re only doing what made sense.

There! I may get lambasted for that. But hey, if you were in my class you wouldn’t use a towel. Firstly if I saw a handtowel in the room in the hands of the beginner, I would find a moment in the class (either before or after the time they used it) to say some things that point out:

“When you first start, you may think you need to wipe sweat ….” and then I may give a reason as above.
Or I could say to the whole group something like: “Remember when you first came and your hands were slipping with the sweat? Isn’t it amazing that after a while that no longer happens, your hands are really strong now”

There are literally limitless ways to encapsulate something beneficial for the entire group into instruction that doesn’t single anyone out (especially a first-timer). I have only given 2 ideas.

Equally, I could have either said out loud: “Next set, see what it’s like to hold your leg without the towel”. You would know I was talking to you even if I didn’t mention your name. I am giving you a really effective command that keys you into your body to be present with a feeling.

If you didn’t hear me, then I can put that down to it being your first class. There’s a LOT to focus on and you cannot hear everything the first time. Hey, you’ll be hearing things as if they were being said the first time in your hundredth class. 😉

Or I could have waited for people to be in the pose or in savasana and come up to you personally and said, “Hey Phil, I forgot to tell you, you don’t need towels for these poses.” That way there’s no embarrassment either.

If I, for some reason can’t manage to do ANY of those things in class (and yes, there’s almost ALWAYS time to be personal AND give a great class with more than enough detail) then there’s always the time after that class, or if I don’t see you, the next time I see you with that towel.

What’s the rush. I want you to come back. I want you to feel supported.

Instructors need to give people room for a learning curve without calling out negative commands such has “put down that towel” or “don’t do xxx” (unless it’s going to be risky for the student and if they don’t follow that command they will hurt themselves).

There you go! While your post was about slippage, for me it was more about how to be in a class and learn yoga or anything in a dignified and respectful way.

Hope that all our answers have shed some light on the subject. Let us know how you go.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

This is why I will probably never take an official Bikram class. I personally don’t do well with the ‘military’ style of teaching. Please don’t hear me say I do not like Bikram or respect him for his expertise, I quite enjoy the CD I have of his Beginner Class. Overall and he teaches well and has a good sense of humor, but scripted teaching hasn’t done well for me and barking instructions is uncalled for. We’re learning and Yoga is supposed to be about letting go and listening to our bodies. If I am worried about being called out or corrected abruptly I don’t believe I will find letting go to be possible and I may even push myself beyond what is safe for my body.

This is good to know. 🙂

By ‘barking’ I was referring to the way the teacher shouted at the student using the towel – not the general instructions. Sorry if that was confusing.

And Bikram does make me laugh on his CD…Wouldn’t want to be in his class though…LOL!