I want to make my yoga videos better for you. Tell me how.
I want to make my yoga videos better for you. Tell me how.
I just published some yoga videos. Here are links to what I have so far:
I will probably add a few videos each week for a while. To look for videos that I'll upload after writing this, check out my blog http://www.leroydiener.com/blog/ for updates.
I would appreciate your feedback with the nine questions below and your constructive criticism to help me to improve the work I’m producing. Please comment below with your ideas.
A key question that I'd like answered: 1) What can I do to make these videos more helpful to you?
2) Another important question:
What can I do to make it more appealing for people to want to
- watch my videos,
- to pay for my videos and what I have to offer and
- to improve their lives?
3) So far, I have not added any background music. I would like your feedback about if this would help.
After I have all segments for one daily practice completed with voice-over, then I intend to add the pre-recorded voice-overs of all nine segments onto the full silent video. I’ll have to figure out how to get the timing right, as there are gaps between the segments. I’m guessing that the true value of any yoga video is in the full routine, not in segments.
Question 4): How important is it for you to have the full routine, not just segments?
An issue that I’ve discovered is that I have far more to say about each segment/posture than there is time to say those things in the time that it normally takes me to do them on my own. When I’m teaching a class or leading someone privately, I take more time to explain more. Sometimes, this is between postures. Sometimes, it involves holding a posture longer.
The best solution that I’ve thought of for this purpose is to have a page on a website for each posture or sequence which goes into more detail about that posture or sequence. I’m not sure if what I’m saying currently on the videos is sufficient, though. I’m considering holding postures for a longer time in future videos in order to allow more time for me to say more.
Question 5): How much more explanation would be helpful? In the daily video or on my site? Any other thoughts on this topic?
In the Ma Roller video, the first video from 13 Dec, I have almost nine minutes at the end of the video with no speaking at all. I have ideas of things that I could say during that time, which is a good time near the beginning of a daily practice. Nine minutes will not be enough to say everything, but I can include different topics on different days. Here are some topics in my mind now:
- how to stretch by feel, not comparing distance; how to be safe
- disclaimer, not medical advice, personal responsibility
- humorous warning This program has been known to cause health, vitality, happiness and relaxation
- customize to your individual needs and enjoyment, indulge with playfulness
- continuity, hours per week
- what is yoga as a spiritual path vs my mechanistic approach
- alignment at first for safety and efficacy, later meditative flow
- sequencing ma roller, warm-ups, progressively challenging, inversion therapy
- more info on site about each posture than time permits during video
- reminder where to find supplemental info on my site
- my history, how I developed this protocol
- why I’m making these videos, requests from friends
- importance for athletes and everyone
- importance of effect on life off the mat, how athletes know it works
- spinal decompression theory, why everyone needs it
- need for aerobic activity for health and happiness
- inspirational thought for the day
- shameless advertisement for something or other
- other ideas?
Question 6): What are your thoughts about what might go well in those eight or nine minutes?
On the topic of the Ma Roller, I’ve decided to include it as an integral part of what I teach. I have not included it in the past in my classes, nor generally in my private instruction. Recently, I’ve decided to take more seriously the protocol which I’ve spent years developing. In order for my students to get maximal benefit, I need to include more aspects than just what I’ve been doing in my traditional yoga classes with no equipment or other practices off the mat. For example, the Ma Roller has been an important part of my recovery and my ability now to walk without pain. I use it every day. I travel with it. I think it’s not a big deal to ask my students to find and buy a Ma Roller and to use it daily. My thinking in this direction got reinforced recently when I was considering my $150/hr students and what is in their best interest for their life circumstances. They need more than just instruction on the mat without equipment. Many people do. Even though I do not have it in my video from 13 Dec, I will also encourage students to get equipment for Inversion Therapy, such as an Inversion Table. I will also encourage students to engage in specific activities off the mat, including a little help from experts. I will leave plenty of room for individuals to choose which aspects work best for them.
Question 7): What are your thoughts about a Ma Roller and other “extras”?
Camera angles. In the video from 13 Dec, I used only my phone to film the video of only me in side-view. The advantage of this simplicity is less equipment, I can do it on my own, and it takes less editing work.
Question 8): How important is it to have multiple camera angles? How important is it to have students or other people in a video? How important is it to have a camera follow me (or others) and to zoom in and out? (This would require staff to film.) What are your other thoughts on this topic?
I want to come up with a name for what I’m teaching. My first idea was to call it “Yoga For Athletes”. I like this, even though it’s for everyone, not just athletes. A spin-off I though of is “Yoga for the rest of us.” I don’t like that one too much. Another idea is “Yoga with LeRoy” or even “Yoda Yoga”. I’m questioning if I should include the word yoga at all. Yoga is a spiritual path. What people in USA think of as yoga is the third limb, yogasan, of the eight limbs of yoga. The higher limbs are all about meditation and enlightenment. What I teach uses mostly yogasan, but even the aspects that are on the mat include a bunch from Physical Therapy. So, I’m leaning towards a name like “Spinal Decompresson Protocol”. I like this name because it is a fairly accurate description of what I teach. However, it is probably tragic for marketing purposes.
Question 9): What ideas do you have about a name for what I’m teaching?