Teachers Need to Also Be Students

As dance teachers of little ones it can become easy to lose focus of the need to also be a student.  We need to be a student of life---and definitely remain a dance student ourselves.  It is important to nourish our own souls and dance passion with classes and performances that keep our enthusiasm and art polished, and enabling us to pass on new inspiration to our young students.

A soul left unnourished will soon wither.  If you are an instructor of young ones be sure to invest in yourself so you can keep investing in your students.  Enjoy!

Dealing with stress......

It can be stressful at times constantly pouring yourself out into others---and exhausting working with little ones!  Here's a quick checklist  from Suzanne Martin, PT, DPT to help with stressful times---and possibly to avoid them:

To Avoid Stress:

Get up earlier

Organize your calendar

Arrive early for appointments

Anticipate others' time management issues

To Reduce Stress:

Go with the flow

Practice assertive conversation closers

Take warm baths with Epsom salts

Ask yourself:  "How important is it?"  when things come up

To Relieve Stress:

Unwind

Get worries and frustrations off your chest

Exercise (something other than dance!!)

View the entire forest.  Take off the blinders; you know what you are doing

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Suzanne states that it is much healthier to learn to strategize to cope with stress than spend so much energy trying to get rid of it.  Here's to a less stressful 2009!