Are you an advocate for mirrors in the studio?
When it was time to decide, whether to install mirrors in my home studio, I decided to go sans. From experience I’ve learned, that while a mirror can be a helpful tool, when we consciously focus on our inner experience, progress and retention are more significant. I am for learning muscle firing and movement patterns from an inner seeing. I believe in finding it in our own body. Feeling it is owning it. We then experience the movement kinesthetically. We deepen the mind body connection. We have the eye of the instructor to help guide us into better alignment, better execution of movement, through verbal, tactile cues, and mental imagery.
Viewed mindfully, a mirror may be mover’s most honest friend, but more often it can be distracting. We can catch a glimpse of our reflection, but what exactly crosses our minds in that split second view? Some movers become fixated. Are we judging ourselves? Love the skin you’re in! I encourage my students to respect and honor their bodies, and to be true to their bodies TODAY.
Some students are visual learners. They see what they are doing, and that helps them begin to feel it. For those I keep a portable mirror in the studio. I have one student though, who prefers to keep her eyes closed throughout most of the session. She does that not for the sake of adding challenge, but it helps her concentrate, focus, and get deeper into the mind body experience.
What is your preference? I’d love to hear about it!
Mind Body Harmony's Blog 
I’m with you. I believe you need to start feeling your body, although a glimpse in a mirror to see what needs correction can be helpful to some. Love your portable mirror.
btw I also do my practice with my eyes closed for the same reason as your student, focus & concentration.
Thank you for your comment, Susan; I admire both you and my student for being able to perform the exercises with your eyes closed, I find it very challenging. I suggest it sometimes as an option in a workout to challenge balance, i.e. when on quadruped, one arm and opposite leg are extended and reaching in opposition, progress by taking them into a diagonal… etc.
The studio where I work also doesn’t have mirrors. Typically I enjoy the atmosphere that creates. Then my body betrayed me and my left shoulder simply stopped functioning. Frozen shoulder syndrome. It wasn’t just my muscles that stopped working. I’d lost my kinetic sense. My brain had forgotten how to move my arm. Mirrors have been invaluable to me reconnecting my sense of how I’m moving with the reality of how I’m moving. If/when I open my own studio there’s no question there will be mirrors, but with a curtain I can draw over them when I want that more zen atmosphere.
Thank you for taking the time to comment, I can appreciate your usage of the mirror as a tool to get the perception of your alignment. I love your idea of curtains, it allows diversity. Brilliant!
I hope your shoulder heals speedily and completely!
I think mirrors can be both distracting and helpful. It can be helpful in a sense that you can see how you’re doing the exercises. But on one hand, that can be very distracting. Focusing too much on what you see may be the biggest hindrance of concentration but at least you can be aware of how you look when you do the exercise. I think it can be both ways for me. I’ll just have to be confident and ready to look at my physical flaws during the exercise so I wouldn’t be distracted.