Cherie Seeto

I have put my classes online via Zoom. Learning curve is steep but it has become necessary to preserve my current only source of income. I have asked my clients to re-enroll at the normal rate. So far I have taught 4 classes. My classes are usually 6 to 8 people. I personally invite them into a new meeting every time. They prepay, otherwise no invite. This allows me to control who can come in and I can mute their microphones. If I feel the need to record the class, I can and this is available on the upgraded paid version.The downside is that it is hard to watch every student and so I invite them to make comments from time to time. My clients have expressed a wish not to follow a video as they like the coaching model of being able to ask me instructions and questions as we practice. I have also found Zoom to be great for 1-on-1 sessions. Private clients have been able to maintain their appointments with me. It’s not ideal but it’s been a good alternative when being face-to-face is not possible. The opportunity out of the current chaos of COVID-19, is that I have invited other teachers to join the class from outside Sydney. To see what others like to do and exchange ideas in real time is great fun. We haven’t had this kind of connection post training. We could also take this idea further and see teachers from the other side of the world on a regular basis without the need to travel. I would like to hear from others doing something like this.

I got my BIG voice learning to be a Futures Commodities Trader. Getting whacked in the back to prompt me to shout was a baptism of fire in voice projection. You can’t trade if no one can hear you in the trading pit. The diaphragm definitely benefits from releasing the HF. The tones you use to soothe a baby are also wonderful for relaxation scripts. Do you agree Nathan?

Another tip for deepening the tone of my voice is to use a Neti Pot, daily, to flush out my sinus cavities. As a female, I can make my voice a lot more soothing with a clear head. It feels like the sound can resonate in my cranial cavities. Please let me know if anyone else has experienced this. If my class has a rambunctious energy, I’ll do a five minute relaxation at the beginning to bring focus and internal awareness to the fore. I also use activities like rubbing circles with the thumb to each finger tip, and vice versa. Notice the quality of the skin, hot/cold, moist/dry, rough/smooth etcetera. Getting the little finger to draw the circle on a stationary thumb is tricky! I got Dave Wardman to do it once and he said “That’s a mind fuck Cher!” Olivia’s directed breathing, lying supine with hands on chest and tummy, is another nice way to get people to relax and become aware of their breathing and body sensations. Thanks for this thread guys!

Hi Wai, 19 years ago Kit told me to do some strength training to help with hyper flexibility. You and I are about the same height and age but I now have more muscle. Kit was right and the advice still stands. I don’t do as much strength work as I desire but what I have done and do with body weight exercises has meant a type of functional endurance for daily life. It’s a daily tinkering that adds zest for activity. I lean on my wrists, I grip over sized objects for time like a lawn bowls ball (1.5-2kg), pull weeds, prune hedges, cook from scratch, play tennis. I’ll show you a few games when we meet again. Training can be fun and before you know it those pesky complaints have disappeared.

I agree with Kit “bent-to-straight leg work: perfect for the morning, because infinitely scalable.“ Personally I start with rolling a ball under my soles, a simple calf stretch, a lunging hip flexor, a squat, a Cossack squat and a Pancake. Just 1-2 reps. A lot of the time that’s all I do. If the day has a lot of teaching ST classes I get to demo and partner more intense stretches. Recently the Elephant Walk in all its glorious variations, has been a staple in class. I prefer to do little versus a lot. Too much has a destabilizing affect on this Temple Dancer’s body.

Sleep and relax, keys things to good practice. The relaxation scripts that have been released to compliment ABSS, have proved very useful before commencing any program. To begin with a relaxed mind and attitude has brought forth more enjoyment in the practice for me and my clients. I have been taking notes as I do each segment. I ask myself lots of questions and comments/ideas. How can I make this exercise easier or harder? Would I use different props? Hey that’s a new blockage in my body! That vector leads to other possibilities...and so on. Diving in deeply into what I’m not good at in the repeated viewings has been gold.

I recall Kit saying that “We can lead a horse to water but we can’t make it drink. Our job is to make them thirsty.” Transorming fear, anxiety, apprehension and even boredom, to curiosity, helps build awareness and human connection. Something I have noticed with the older demographic is the lack of contact to another human. Our culture is so politically correct and touch averse, we seem to have backed ourselves into a corner of self isolation. There is also a tendency to catastrophize a sensation or an experience. “Is that really pain or a strong sensation?” I ask the student. They puzzle over it for a little while and then realize they have a choice about how to experience a stretch. In my classes I use novel games to build rapport and fun. Humor goes a long way to relax people too. Partnered stretching seems a logical step after that.

Cherie talks about “replacing your apprehension with curiosity”. This quote comes from a comment I made at ST Teacher Training Part A, 2017, at GP. New teachers were talking about their fear of public speaking. I too have been there and have changed my fear, anxiety and apprehension into curiosity. One state is completely focused on my internal experience, the curiosity shifts the focus on the recieving audience. By considering what will the student take away, feel, practice, enjoy and share with others has truly changed my experience as a teacher/therapist. The student doesn’t care how flexible I am, they want to know if I care about them. Can I make that student feel excited about new possibilities? Can the student walk out of my class feeling better than when they walked in? Can they transform their own fear into curiosity? Transformation Morgoe is what you’re after!

I use IG to post beginning, middle and end pose of an exercise. It automatically gets posted to FB. The response has been good, like a weekly advertisement to keep my presence up. Along this idea, for the new programs, a single type of exercise with a range of beginner variations, then intermediate, then more advanced, for each 15 minute module. The modules are meant to be repeated before moving to a more difficult routine. I feel this deepens the understanding of a particular stretch versus giving too many exercises at once. In the middle of the 10week program introduce integration and progressions of different exercises to produce a ‘flow’ or routine. A Daily V routine on the floor, on a chair (dressed in office clothes), etcetera. For my type of client, more than 15 minutes seems onerous. I like Pinterest for fresh ideas. Use this like a big advert to direct people to your videos . Apps are good IF YOU USE THEM. I have plenty of good apps I struggle to find time to use to full advantage. If there was a ST app I’d use it as a feeder into buying the vids. YouTube. How can you improve your status there? When I type in Beginners Stretching, it comes up with mostly freakishly skinny flexible females doing yoga. I’m an avid listener of podcasts. Kit’s interviews there are worth repeating. So get interviewed for video and podcast by people with HUGE audiences. For example: Tim Ferris Abel James, The Fat Burning Man Brian Rose, London Real. He has interviewed Steve Maxwell and Ido Portal, multiple times. His email is hello@londonreal.tv.

I like the new split. It's a win-win. I feel having the multiple products caters for an expanding audience of wide ranging needs, is the solution. It's never possible to please everyone all the time. The material is so vast it's like an elephant! You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time. It is daunting to try and find 3 hours to watch all of it and then decide "I only need X amount of time out of that whole production." My clients have expressed they too balk at being given too much information in any given situation. In the end a few stretches and a short film clip have been the best way to get the information across. The price is so reasonable it has not been an issue. Keep it short and simple and I will find it much easier to promote the essential parts to my clients. I appreciate the great deal of effort and work that has gone into this evolution. Thank you!

Working with extremely tight clients, I have had to modify elbow to toes by having them slide the hand down the shin as they pulse. This employs enhanced proprioception through the hand being in contact with their body. They could also measure their progress and keep square hips as the hand reached the ankle. A chair or box was used with the stabilizing hand. I have been encouraging daily practice for these very tight individuals with good results. I was given this tip a long time ago "Don't let the client walk out without feeling they have accomplished something." This has proved important for those who have been discouraged by insensitive instructors/therapists prescribing exercises too difficult for their abilities.

This fascinating thread is quite technical. I'm going for an anecdotal response. What I have noticed in babies is they experience life from a pure place. If they are upset their bodies stiffen and you can literally feel the wail well up inside them before they release a vocal blow wave. When they are happy there is a palpable softening in the body as they contentedly nestle into your arms. A baby doesn't pretend, it's experience is purely in the moment. So if you are tense, they will sense it in a hot second. Hold a baby, they are a marvelous barometer, giving instant feedback on your state of being. Go soft. "More Suffering is Necessary" My teacher's, Lawrence Graziose and Kit Laughlin have uttered this many times but it wasn't until recently that I truly embraced my own 'suffering' as a means for growth. I initially lived my life avoiding suffering, "Kissing off," full immersion in life. This year, IMMENSE financial stress could not be glossed over, I had to face losing everything from home and hearth. Facing trouble/unhappiness head on, versus suppressing/depressing, meant it's negative affect/effect dissipated. Opportunities revealed themselves. Tension dissolved. The reality was the 'thinking' of possible suffering was worse than the experience of what was real. So my point is maybe until you have a strong enough impetus to change, you don't. When you feel you don't have a choice it's because you don't like the choices you have. So embrace a choice and see what happens. Changing your attitude to gratitude changes your mental state, and therefore muscular tension. Big Bob, "Don't you hate the cold winters in Canberra?" Greg Laughlin, "I LOVE all the seasons!"

Hello Matt, My preference is towards the end of the day. After a period of practice it won't necessarily be the Daily Five, it will be instinctual to move for comfort. You have really answered your own question there. When ever you feel you can move, stretch and unwind like a cat is always the best time. Enjoy! Cherie