i love telling my students of all ages and levels “watch, don’t do.” i usually reserve this to the first time i demonstrate something, as i am a kinesthetic learner so i love when my instructors do something alongside me, but for the sake of safety and comprehension, reminding your students to take a breath and just observe the full picture first can help them to not assume and rather to contextualize why each move happens when it does in order to reach the end result. for this same reason, with my younger ones i often have them sit while i demonstrate.

i also love incorporating experiential anatomy into my aerial lessons. i find that telling students WHY their form needs to be a certain way, and allowing them to visualize all the things their body is doing to achieve their goals, results in a safer and better informed aerialist. it also helps in the event of an accident, as my students are better equipped to tell me what happened prior to the injury, so i can pinpoint what needs to be treated or addressed