My Top 10 list of key learnings from teaching well over a year now.
1. Be open to feedback but don’t let it crush me; take everything with a grain of salt and stay true to my style.
2. Stay dedicated to my own practice otherwise, I will become uninspired, stop learning and growing, and my teaching will ultimately reflect that.
3. Make sure my playlists have a few songs that don’t include lyrics so I give yogis time to focus on their breath, body, and time for reflection.
4. Don’t beat myself up for bringing a cheat sheet to my class – I take a lot of time prepping for a class for a reason. I want to make sure yogis are properly warmed up for a peak pose or that a sequence is built to avoid injury. I also get stage fright from time to time so having my notes is a nice safety net. Sure I’d like to walk into a room, read people’s minds, and teach a class based on people’s energy but I’m not there yet.
5. Variety: practice with different teachers, at different studios, and try out lots of different styles.
6. If I forget to teach a pose or sequence on one side and remember later know that’s all part of learning and/or that people will not let me forget the pose that was skipped.
7. Always prepare for a class even if it’s just 15-20 minutes.
8. Storytelling: Don’t force telling some insightful story while teaching - this comes naturally at some point and it did right around the year mark.
9. There are a shit ton of politics in the yoga industry (just like any other industry) that I did not know existed before teaching. Stay focused on my passion for teaching yoga and all the good it can do in the world.
10. Have lots of fun and don’t take things so seriously!
So that’s the short list! Below is a longer version of my experience if you choose to continue reading!
It’s been well over a year since I started teaching yoga and I’ve learned so many things. I graduated teacher training at Spira Power Yoga in April of 2015. I was selected to join the mentorship program over the summer of 2015 – this was a fantastic opportunity to practice teach in front of other teachers and people who I graduated training with. In October I gave birth to my daughter, Violet, and took the time I needed to recover, get back to my practice, and take another mentorship course the following summer at Spira. After that, I co-taught the intro series for a total of four classes with the Owner, Dora Gyarmati. It was super nerve-wracking and I bombed the first class but from there, became more comfortable. My final test was to teach an hour private lesson to the Owner. I passed and was added to the sub list until a class opened up for me. I decided to teach at LA Fitness in the interim three nights a week. I highly recommend teaching at a gym to find your footing and work out the kinks.
Eventually, I picked up a class at Spira and I subbed as much as I could. It took me about an hour or so to prepare for each class, I referenced my notes as needed during teaching and played upbeat popular music. I received a lot of feedback from teachers and fellow yogis – lots of positive feedback and feedback on how I could improve. Feedback is absolutely necessary to grow as a teacher but there comes a time when I needed it to stop so I could stay true to my style, my voice, and what felt comfortable to me. I decided to stop asking for feedback unless it was from the Owner.
I realized quickly I did need to change one thing: my music. I needed to allow space for yogis to think, connect to their breath and body and that can be challenging if there are constant lyrics.
I taught at my home studio for several months and then something happened…. I realized I wasn’t practicing, I was just teaching and that is a big no-no! I was losing inspiration quick and realized I was spending so much time prepping classes and teaching that it was time to get back to my practice. I started subbing less and practicing more but not at my home studio. It was hard for me to practice where I was teaching so I started to check out other studios where no one knew me so I could fully focus on my own practice. I was so inspired by a variety of teachers and all of the different styles of yoga out there. Now I teach at a variety of studios and I could not be happier! I’ve grown so much over the past year that all the blood, sweat, and tears were worth every second!
Namaste