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12May

5 Things I learned in yoga teacher training that (surprisingly) helped me as an SLP

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Career Advice New SLP Stress Management Yoga
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things I learned in yoga training

When I was in my second year as an SLP, three big things happened in my career and life: I finished my CF (finally), I started yoga teacher training (yay!), and I was laid-off due to budget cuts (wtf?). It was such a mix of joy and hardship and not knowing what I was going to do, and it absolutely sent me into some burnout and chronic stress in the year(s) to follow.

On the SLP side, I ended up going from a hospital setting, with inpatient and outpatient adults, to working in the schools with all ages. I was the solo SLP, aside from my supervisor.manager, and now I was one of three SLPs in my school. And I felt like I was the one who was faking it, floundering, and not as “into” it as they were. 

I had a tough caseload I was taking over. The schedule was set-up by someone else and was NOT compatible for my needs or life. I hadn’t really shifted to school-mode yet. And, a part of me really wanted to teach yoga more, which, at the time and where I lived, was not exactly something that was talked about or put into practice as an SLP.

I ended up leaving a year later, for 5 years. During this time, I taught yoga and mind-body fitness, and helped run yoga studios where I lived. I absolutely used my yoga teacher training to teach yoga – obviously.

But, it was when I came back to being an SLP, that I realized I could use it there as well. There were a few things I learned while training to teach yoga that helped me be, IMO, a better SLP. Or at least feel better about HOW I was working as an SLP. 

And they had nothing to do with incorporating yoga poses, meditation time, or even, really, mindfulness into my sessions. 

Here are 5 things I learned in yoga training that (surprisingly) helped me as an SLP:

1 You can’t look at someone’s face and tell if they are enjoying or getting anything out of the experience.

When I was going through yoga teacher training (YTT), one of the things that the current teachers would share, over and over again, was that you can’t look at someone and know what they are thinking or feeling during the class by the look on their face. They might be smiling, seeming to enjoy it, but internally cursing at you or thinking “why did I bother coming today?”. Or they might  be scowling, maybe even at you, or frowning, but only because they are working through something or concentrating, and fully soaking up and enjoying the experience. 

I learned this firsthand, in my very first class I taught. A woman in the front row had a look of disgust on her face most of the class. And I thought, “oh, sh*&, maybe I’m not very good at this teaching thing yet”. After class, she came up to me, as I internally panicked, and let me know she enjoyed the class very much and was surprised I was a new teacher – it was one of the best classes she had taken. It helped me know what was working as a yoga teacher, and where my strengths landed. 

The same goes for being an SLP Your student or patient  might look bored or annoyed during the session, or even a little checked out. This by no means is a reflection of what they are really thinking or feeling. They might be concentrating, thinking about how to use this in class or outside of the clinic, or trying to figure out what the next step in the task is. Instead of judging yourself and your work, talk to them about the experience after, if they are open to it, so you both can give feedback and shape things from there. 

2. Know what (class) you are teaching, and look at who walks in the door.

As a yoga teacher, you have to know what type of class you are teaching – hot or not, fast or slow, level 1 or level 2 – and have some sort of idea of what to do. But you also have to see who shows up for that class on that day, and what their needs and abilities might be, especially if you teach in a community center or gym, rather than a specific style studio. It might be a more advanced class that day, but, if it’s the only class at that time and the students are not advanced, or they walk in and are exhausted and tired, more than usual, then you have to tailor it to them, and their needs that day. 

This is what happens when you work with humans, having a human experience. 

The same is true for Speech Therapy. You can plan a little and know the goals for who you are seeing, but also see how they are when they show up. YOu might have to make some adjustments or try to grab a new resource to use if they are tired that day, if they are energized beyond measure, or if they are hungry or grumpy or being human in some way. Having this flexibility (no ygpa pin intended) will take you far, and help them more in the long-run.  

3. Having a “rolodex” of poses/resources is a better strategy than planning it all out exactly

(PSSST, this is probably the most important and used thing I learned in yoga training).

Here is a secret – I did not plan a single yoga class for YEARS, and rarely do now. There were no lesson plans or sequences after those first few classes I taught. And I never felt lost or stuck or like I wasn’t giving it my all or that my students would leave with “less” because of it. Once I knew the class style, and practiced or planned a class or two, I relied on the advice from one of the yoga teachers from my training – instead of planning out precisely, think about having a “rolodex” on file of how it all goes together. 

This “rolodex” was like a file to flip through, where you could pull out a pose, and then see who it was connected to  – what other poses could link to it and how to build them together naturally, and, often, in the middle of the class. 

It meant really and truly understanding how they worked together, rather than just what looked good on paper, and helped to make adjustments for who was in the class that day. 

In reality, it looked like knowing the style of the class, how that format flowed, and then choosing a pose to work to or to try or an area to focus on, and then building around it as it went.

As an SLP, this is the most helpful advice I was ever given.

It saved me from over-planning and prepping and feeling stressed to do more. And, because the over-planning does not come naturally to me, it helped me loosen the guilt around not spending hours before and after work plotting out each day and creating lesson plans for it. 

What it gave me was the insights to look more at what I was working on, what that goal was really for, and how to find a way to use it, know matter what materials I had on hand, what I pulled off a shelf or website, or what the student requested to use that day. It brought HUMANITY back to it. 

4. Something is better than nothing/Any bit counts for something.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing each and every time. There were so many times that I wanted to share so many poses, to hit every part of the sequence, or every part of the body (hips, twists, folds, standing, seated, core, backbends, savasana), and it just didn;t happen. It might have been time-management, or that the students needed to linger in a pose longer than planned. And it was ok. The students still got a lot from it, and, maybe, got what they needed, which was better than hitting every piece exactly. 

While it is important to try and get as much as you can, and to work towards the goals you have in front of you for your students, there are times when it is not going to happen. Again, it is part of working with humans. You have plans, and they are living creatures. They might not always match up. 

Even if you end up spending the session talking together or laughing or not focusing on the specific activity you planned, it is ok. It is WORTH it. Because that day, you might be the only kind person they wrun tino. Or the only time they feel they can talk or share or try to communicate safely. Or the only moment they laugh. Or the only person who smiles at them. And THIS is huge. It is so important, and it does, absolutely, make a difference towards halogen them to improve their well-being – which is usually the ultimate goal. 

5. No one will know if you make a mistake or if it doesn’t go as “planned”.

I still have dreams (nightmares) sometimes that I get up in front of the class to teach, and I totally forget what to do and spend an hour trying to remember, until time runs out. Super fun. Very relaxing sleep. 

But, when it comes down to it, there are plenty of times when I have forgotten the next pose, not taught the pose I meant to in the moment, or accidentally changed the sequence or left out an entire chunk of it. And a funny thing happens. No. One. Notices. Or. Cares. And sometimes, it works out better than what I had in mind anyway. 

What I learned in yoga training was this – you can plan (not too much!) and if  you change it or make a mistake, no one knows!! Because YOU are the only one who knows the plan. If it changes to you, the students don;t know. There is NO mistake made to them. In their eyes, this is exactly what was planned.

I learned to just go with it. 

As an SLP, this is haaaaaaard to do. Because perfectionism is strong in our field. And judging and critiquing yourself is commonplace. 

But, if you have an activity or are trying to work on something, and you accidentally do it “wrong”. NO.ONE. KNOWS. It is ok that your plan shifted by mistake. Your students and patients will experience it as what you meant to do that day, and won’t notice. They will still get something out of it, simply because they are there with you.

Mistakes happen, it is ok to do. And you can usually learn something or maybe find a new therapy tool along the way. 

While I also learned some cool “yoga” tricks and tools to use in sessions, and some ways to be more mindful as a practitioner of Yoga and SLP, these are the big things that I learned in toga training that helped me to grow, be more comfortable, and to start to enjoy being an SLP. And, truthfully, they are what helped me feel most connected to my work, and, more importantly, to who I was working with. 

For more resources on yoga, meditation, and other ways to build resilience, enter your email below and get FREE resources to help you stay connected as an SLP.

Which one of these things I learned I yoga training surprised you the most? I’d love to hear how you are going to try to use them in your SLP sessions. Leave a comment below or reach out to jessi@jessiandricks.com.

With Love and Light, 

Jessi

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21May

How Yoga Helps Me Work on My Perfectionism

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Mindful Movement Perfectionism Stress Management
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yoga helps me work on my perfectionism

Perfectionism is something that a LOT of SLPs deal with each day – sometimes as a result of being an SLP and going through the rigorous (often unrelenting) grad school process, and also, sometimes, it is what makes the field and training seem enticing. 

Perfectionism can seem like a great thing – always getting it done and doing it right, no room for nonsense or errors. It can seem powerful and strong, but it can also be really harmful. No mistakes allowed is not realistic. Constantly trying to do more and do better and do best is not sustainable. Always being strong and powerful, with no give and no flexibility, can cause you to break. Making an error or not knowing something leads to imposter syndrome and feeling like you are “not good enough”.

And all of these contribute to major stress, overwhelm and burnout.

I know, because I can relate and have dealt with this myself. 

My Mom recently told me, when I asked her what my biggest behavior challenge was growing up, “Nothing like that. We would just have to try to convince you to put down the [school] books and stop studying.”

Growing up, I was an overachiever without realizing it. I was really hard on myself for not getting the top scores on standardized tests, not winning the entire school spelling bee, not making it into the gifted program on the first try, or not being seen as cool enough by my peers. All of this and more before the age of 10. Ugh.

In later years, it became competitions with my best friend to see who could get the better grade or SAT score. And then, after a brief stint of having no expectations for myself in college, it kicked back up so I could get into my one choice of grad school. And when I got there, I realized, my perfectionism was not just an inner expectation, but an outer expectation from the school itself. But with juggling a LOT of life stuff at this point, my school work was not perfect (but it was absolutely great) and so I would forever feel the “not good enough”, “we expected more”, “ we thought you could do better” that followed me into my career as an SLP. 

And, unfortunately, after talking and working with 100s of SLPs about this, I know I am not alone. Perfectionism often drives us into our career choice, and serves us well early on, but it can also be the thing that leads straight into chronic stress, overwhelm, burnout and the feeling of not knowing, doing, or being good enough. 

yoga helps me work on my perfectionism

It took me a lot of time (5 years away from the field) to really work through this, and I still deal with it every day, at work and at home. I often have feelings of not being productive enough, not doing my share enough, and knowing I could have done more, if only. 

But there are also things that I know can help my work through my perfectionism, and my yoga practice has been #1 in helping me do this. Time after time, yoga helps me work on my perfectionism, among other things. I started practicing more and more as I went through grad school and into my career as an SLP, eventually training to teach yoga. When I feel stress and perfectionism creep in, it is my go to, and often something I had stopped doing in order to tighten up on being perfect in another area. 

My practice has been a true light for me. It started as a fun physical activity, and has become a foundation for how I live my life. 

Here are some (honest) ways yoga helps me work on my perfectionism:

  • My practice is rarely perfect
    • I’ve been teaching for 10 years, and practicing for about 5 more. But it does not mean it is always pretty or that every pose is perfect. In fact, a lot of the time the practice rarely is. 
    • I wobble. I fall. Some days I am strong and others I am weak. Somedays I am flexible and others I feel like I might snap. 
    • I have one pose I have been working on for almost 15 YEARS. And I finally feel like I am making some progress. That is a far cry from perfectionism and it feels damn good. 
  • It challenges me to try new things
    • I never would have tried some of the poses or stood on my head or known I could balance on my arms (sometimes) if my practice had never challenged me to do so. 
    • It helps me to jump into something that I may not be perfect at, to explore it as something new, and to know that, because it is new and a challenge, that it might take time (15 years or so) to achieve it – and then there is always more to do. 
  • It challenges me to grow and expand what I think I know – new ways of doing things
    • It is really easy to get stuck in thinking that my way of doing things is the best way (we all feel this way at times, sometimes pretty often). Yoga helps me see that there are a LOT of different ways to do something. YOu can do the same pose day after day and feel it differently or get to it a different way each time, and you end up with a totally different experience. You can go into a pose from so many different angles or poses and it changes it too. 
    • As a teacher, I get to see how each student and each class varies, and how things can work or backfire differently for each one. 
    • Yoga has helped me see there is no “perfect” way to do something, and that different approaches work at different times. 
  • Sit with the uncomfortable
    • Being perfect is often used to ward off any feelings and thoughts that are uncomfortable. If I (you) am (are) perfect, then there will be no bad feelings, no backlash, nothing uncomfortable to sit with. And of course, this backfires and creates a ton of uncomfortable feelings (like stress) and these continue to feed the control of perfectionism. 
    • Yoga helps me to sit with the uncomfortable, in my body and my thoughts. While taking a meditation, I sit with what shows up, which can sometimes be tension in my body or unkind thoughts. The practice teaches me to just breathe, sit with them, explore them, and remain less attached to them. 
    • During the physical practice, things are NOT always comfortable. But I am cued (by my teacher or myself) to stick with it, focus on breathing, and see what shows up, what shifts, and what I can learn from that discomfort (sharp shooting pains, always move out of the pose, FYI). 
  • There are days when I feel like I nailed it, and others when I think it went all wrong.
    • This is so true, especially for meditation. Some days I feel like I conquered the practice. I was perfect, went beyond what was asked and really enjoyed it. And other days I struggle with the basics, am asked to do something that I haven;t yet mastered (and am therefore far from perfect), or my mind wanders all the way through my guided meditation audio and I realized I heard nothing they dais beyond “take a seat”. 
    • These days are hard, but remind me that it is a practice. It is not meant to be perfect. And life is the same way. 
  • Some days are really, really, unpredictably difficult
    • After practicing, and doing physically demanding classes (and things like running), I expect (aha, perfectionism alert) that my class will be easy. But there are many, many times that a simple, basic class is unpredictably difficult. I feel tight, tired and stiff, my breath feels tuck instead of flowing, and my mind is anything but focused. 
    • It teaches me that, even with training and planning, things happen. Being human happens. Life happens. And we can either get mad at it, or go with it, learn from it and keep on moving. 
  • It is never ending and there is no “perfect”
    • Even with the poses that I have learned, or with a style I am familiar with, there is no perfect. It is a practice. It never ends. Once you learn a pose and can do it without difficulty, there are still ways to deepen, to do more and learn more and take it further. Forever and ever and ever. There is no real perfect, only the process. 

All of these things, and many more, I have grown and worked through with the help of my yoga practice. It remains, after many years, a constant (even when my practice looks very different over the years) in helping me work through perfectionism, and manage my stress and overwhelm overall. 

If you would like to try out a practice, to help you work through some perfectionism, make sure to sign up for the SLP Toolbox for FREE yoga practice audios. You can subscribe below. (Already a member? Click here to access).

You can also download the “Mindful Movement Weekly Planner” available in the SLP Stress Management Shop, to help you start your journey and see how it helps you when you are practicing regularly. The Planner includes a journal and printable planner pages (or use in a digital pdf app), guiding you through what types of yoga (mindful movement) you want to try and when. The planner part takes you through the week, from creating your plan, keeping track of what you are doing and when, and then reviewing how it went and what your next steps are.

It is now currently 50% off (along with the entire SLP Stress Management Shop) for Better Hearing and Speech Month.

Do you practice yoga? How has it helped you with perfectionism, or how do you imagine it might help you? Leave in the comments below!

Much Love, 

Jessi

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5Mar

Yoga as Magic, A Simple Anytime Flow: Mindful Movement for SLPs

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Mindful Movement Stress Management Yoga
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simple anytime flow

There are times when you just need a little break to get up and move around, especially after sitting for so long at your desk, or focusing really hard on something. Even when that work is enjoyable, it can create tension and brain fog. Getting up to move around, whether to take a walk outside or to stretch at your desk, can help you to feel refreshed, recharged, and refocused. 

One way that helps me, is to practice yoga. The combination of breath and movement, especially in a simple anytime flow-style class, for me, is a tiny bit magical. There have been a few times that I was incredibly stressed and felt like everything was falling apart (often related to work and feeling like I was in the wrong field or job or just wanted a little relief). My head was full of what-if’s, how can’s, and why this way, and my body felt tired and stiff. Once I made the decision (usually with some prompting from loved ones to get to a class), I immediately felt better, like a switch had been flipped and I was reset. 

  • There was the time I was crying over finally having a placement for the year (I had secretly hoped they wouldn’t have one, so I would have a real excuse not to go back), and I was contemplating over crawling into my bed at 3pm in the afternoon or going to my favorite yoga class. At the prompting of my loved one, I went to yoga. The teacher said everything I needed to hear (it was kismet), I cried. And I left feeling better, stronger, and ready to accept the position, even if I knew it wasn’t my forever goal (I left the field of SLP 6 months later). 
  • There was the time in more recent years where I had doubled my work hours and felt incredibly stressed and that burnout was creeping back in. I knew it was due to a lack of time for myself and some self-care. I was sitting far too much during the day and didn’t have enough creative time, nevermind time to move. Winter break was coming up and I was excited to have time (and some childcare for a bit) to head to a yoga class or two. But we all got the flu instead (hard) and I had one day before work started, and still had not gone to class. At the prompting of a family member who was visiting, I took time for myself and I went. And I felt an immediate weight lift off of me as I sweat, moved and breathed. It was my first yoga class in almost 2 years (motherhood, moving, new job), and it felt like coming home again. 

This feeling didn’t last forever, but each time it gave me a moment to breathe, to see a parting in the gray clouds that had taken over, and to feel that everything could be ok again, if I just took a  moment to breathe and move and tune in to what I really needed. It helped me see the magic of yoga again, and to feel empowered and more balanced for myself. 

Over the years, I have found that, when I am stressed about my job or life in general, yoga, especially a simple anytime flow type of practice, helps me to concentrate on something other than my work (this is also really helpful when I am having stressful or spiraling thoughts). When needed, it also helps to get back into my body, and less in my head, so my thoughts have a moment to pause and reset, and I can work out any tension that might be building from sitting to work all day. After yoga practice, I usually feel ready to get back to my work, at least for a little while. 

If you love yoga or are looking for a simple practice to help you when you are stressed, you can download a short, audio, 20 minute “Simple Anytime Flow” yoga practice in the SLP Toolbox, a FREE Resource Library full of tools to help you better manage and reduce your stress.

This “Simple Anytime Flow” is designed to help you connect your movement to your breath, so you can get out of your head, ease some tension, and find power within your body and mind. 

Sign up below to access this download and more.

What has your experience been with yoga? How has it helped you when you are stressed? Share in the comments below!

Much Love, 

Jessi

PS Have you checked out the SLP Stress Management Course? It’s an in-depth look at practical ways to manage and reduce your SLP Stress, and gives you the background into the stress you face, how and why it happens, and what will actually work to help it out (not looking at the brightside, ignoring the stress, complaining, wishful thinking, but real strategies that help your brain and body rewire the response to the inevitable stress you face.

This Self-Paced 8-week course is now available, but won’t be for long! (The LIVE version will be coming back soon).


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1Nov

How to Use Movement for SLP Stress Management When You are Short on Time: Quick Interval Mindful Movement for SLPs

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Mindful Movement Reduce Stress
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Movement for SLP Stress Management

When you are stressed, as an SLP or otherwise, one of the best things you can do is to get up and move your body. It could be a stretch at your desk, going for a quick walk down the hall, taking a stroll through your neighborhood, following a short fitness video or audio, or taking an hour for a yoga class. Whatever it is, movement is key to helping you reduce and manage your stress and tension, in both your body and mind.

Movement for SLP Stress Management, especially when done mindfully, can help you in a few different ways, including mental and physical tension relief, health benefits, and stepping away from a place of stress.

(Mindful movement for stress management is something that I dive into in much more depth in the SLP Stress Management Course, along with a few audios and videos to help you get moving).

It can also be really difficult to incorporate into your daily routine, or to start doing at all. Movement can be one of the first things you sacrifice when you are stressed, drained and feeling short on time.

Even when you know that movement is one of the key strategies to reducing and managing stress, it is not always easy to fit into your schedule. In fact, sometimes you are likely to not do these stress management techniques, because finding time for them seems like an additional stress that you are not willing to take on.

When this happens, there are a few ways to add in (or tweak) mindful movement without additional stress:

  • Look for spots in your day that you already have available, but might not be aware of at the moment.
  • Have a few short videos bookmarked on your computer for when you have a no-show or cancellation or a quick 10-15 minute opening
  • Plan for 15-30 minutes at the start of your day or at the end of your work day (and build this into your schedule)
  • Do something you enjoy, so you are likely to look forward to it and make it happen
  • Match your movement o your energy levels, so it feels good and you feel better after, not depleted, exhausted or bored.
  • Keep it short and simple – go for something efficient, like an interval practice that targets your entire body and mind.

Using these tips as guidelines to help you decide what to do, and when, can help you to add in a powerful stress management technique, without adding in more stress. If you are still feeling overwhelmed with this idea, you can get even more guidance and learn how to figure out what works best for you, when to practice it, and how to make it a habit, in the SLP Stress Management Course (available for enrollment now).

If time is the biggest issue for you, and you are looking for something that is efficient and guided, you can download the “Quick Interval” Mindful Movement Audio in the SLP Toolbox. It is a 20 minute, full-body movement practice, that just requires you and no other equipment. Each move is done for a minute or so, before you switch to the other side or a new move, so your body and brain are engaged the entire time, which will help reduce some mental and physical tension and stress.

The SLP Toolbox is a FREE subscribers-only resource library for SLPs, full of practical and effective tools to help reduce and manage stress. It is updated bi-monthly with exclusive content, such a meditation and movement audios.

Not a subscriber to the SLP Toolbox? You can sign up below to access this download as well as many more movement, meditation and journaling tools.

Much Love,

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