The gifts of teaching

There are so many cool things about teaching Yoga. One of which is when your students teach you. I, for one, don't think of myself as a "teacher" but as more of a guide. I unfortunately wasn't born into being a mind reader even though I try as hard as I can to read people's energy while teaching class. I want to know that everyone is having a good time and feeling generally pleasant or at least neutral. That everyone is getting what they want out of the class. I don't want to distract people from their meditative state. By trying to read people's energy I always get a better idea of how the class can flow. Like when people are sweating hard and looking like they might be struggling I will say "skip the vinyasa if you like this round" or "if you want to skip a chattarunga do knees, chest, chin", but then the whole room is still doing chattarunga and powering through it...then I'll wait a couple of poses before child's pose.

My favorite type of students are those who have been practicing for a long time but show up to class and often do their own thing. They don't do all the poses I call out, and have their own variations. I appreciate this. And if I've never taught them before I sometimes wonder, "do they hate this class? is it too slow for them?"...when they come back I realize they're just in their own practice. Often they're my guide to teaching. They set the pace and the breath even if they're doing something different or more advanced. Its great to have this kind of Yogi in class because it sets a rhythm for the beginners.

Beginners teach me to use clearer language. If they're not doing what I said or something different its probably because I said it in a way they don't understand. This helps me to find the right language and better guide them through finding their body awareness.

Thank you to all my Yoga students for keeping me going and teaching me something too!

Thinking of doing a Teacher Training? 200hrs in Bushwick!

Though I began practicing Yoga many years ago...I was never really a big "Yogi". I like Yoga for exercise and then saw the benefits of getting out of my head and relaxing. Then I began my love hate relationship with Yoga. I know, what's there to hate? I ended up in classes with a string of not so great teachers...and then also teachers I didn't mesh well with. At a certain point it became increasingly difficult to find a good consistent practice. Then my friend got really into Yoga and became a teacher. She really changed my view on things a lot...she still does! She helped me into my first headstand, she taught me to remember all the benefits of Yoga and why I even started practicing. I saw the many positive things it did for her and it pushed me to do a teacher training. Now, I didn't think I'd become a teacher really. I decided to do it in order to deepen my practice and to kind of decide if I could see the good in the Yoga or if I'd still write the whole idea off as culty BS. Yes I still think there is a lot of culty BS but there is a lot of good Yoga stuff out there!

In conclusion, if you're thinking about doing a teacher training to become a teacher, do it! If you really want to deepen your practice or get a better understanding of Yoga and how it can work for you...consider a training! Jai Yoga Arts is having an info session on their 200 hr trainings that are coming up!

Hold back!

Today I sat through a 1 hour talk about Clinical Energetics. I don't know what I was expecting but a friend recommended it to me. It was taught by Gary Strauss and though it was pretty brief it gave me perspective in my Yoga practice as an instructor.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what it is to be an instructor or a teacher. Sometimes I think...that's not me. I don't like being the person to tell people what they should be doing because I naturally do not like being told what to do. If its cold out and my mother says bring a warmer jacket or sweater I will automatically NOT listen to her. Its just a plain old bad habit. Mostly this idea of teaching or instructing brings me to a place where I think...I know my body and myself best, because I am me, and its my body. Just like you know yourself and your body best because its yours, you deal with it everyday since the day you were born. Which is why sometimes I feel like its not my place to tell people what to be doing -what do I really know? What do I know more about my yoga students than they do? Though when I think of teaching yoga as a guidance it feels more...ME -I feel more comfortable putting it out there.

So there is this idea that whatever energy you walk into a room with you taint it with. And there is this idea of holding all the energy back in order to allow people who are going through something to have space. This idea of "Holding Space". I loved how this applied so much to my Yoga practice and also what I do wrong as a Yoga teacher. Sometimes I am so worried if the students are enjoying class that the worry is taking up too much of the physical space and that energy is effecting them. There is something to be said about holding all of that back as much as possible while teaching because people's bodies have an innate sense of healing themselves. Its all about giving them the space to do so and giving guidance. Instead of thinking about whether or not the class is going well, or rather thinking about myself, I should be holding it back and thinking that these students know what to do for themselves to make the experience enjoyable. They have their own intuition about how their body is doing at any given moment or in any pose.

Practice yoga outdoors and see how different the energy around you feels when you're not contained and you have infinite space. In the class today Gary Strauss had everyone in the room who complained of back or shoulder pain sit in the front of the room while everyone else in the room made a conscious effort to bring their energy behind them. The others were only told to think "all beings have the capacity to take care of themselves" and "all living things are intelligent" I was sitting in the front of the room with lower back and shoulder pain and after just sitting there I felt the sensations of: lightness and coolness. It was like a weight was lifted. My pain definitely eased but, thought it didn't go away completely or stay away, but there was something there.

So stay positive and don't taint the space with self important junk!