Four Stages of Learning: Agreement (1)

Over the many years of teaching, we have noticed four stages of learning that students go through when faced with new information. These stages are based solely on our observation and time spent in yoga rooms around the world. They are also based on how we have personally reacted when faced with a new approach. 

In this blog series, we will outline what we have noticed both in our students and in our own experience learning new, and sometimes challenging, information. Here is the first blog in this series. 

FOUR STAGES OF LEARNING: AGREEMENT
The first stage of learning is agreement. 

When we first hear something new, we tend to automatically agree. We are enthusiastic about a learning experience in general, and are likely feeling good about being in the yoga room with our community and peers. We hear something and automatically think, "Yes! Great!" 

This stage of learning is swept up by infatuation with the whole experience. It is exciting to be in a learning environment. We likely walked into the room because we enjoy what we do and want to learn and better our practice. Humans like to be in agreement, we like things to be simple and safe. So in this stage of learning, we jump on board with whatever we hear, and we agree.

However, in our passionate state, we have not yet realized that what we have heard may conflict with what we already think we know. We haven't actually processed what we've heard, we have just jumped on board without thinking it through. This means that the second we really think about what is being taught, we might find ourselves in a very difficult situation: accept something new or stick with what we know? ​

That's in next blog on stage two of learning: "Wait, what?!"