REFLECTIONS AS A NEW YOGA TEACHER

Before the first class I taught I read article after article, ‘Preparing yourself for your first class’, ‘Finding your own teacher voice’ etc etc. It was information over load, leaving me to feel like I no longer knew how a yoga class was even sequenced!

Getting your teacher qualification may seem like a journey within itself but what happens after graduation is where the real journey begins.

You learn a lot about yourself when you are starting a new business but aren’t getting the desired income straight away. You may only get a few people at your classes, or none at all at the beginning. Remaining focussed, motivated and passionate whilst reflecting on how far you have come is where the true success lies.

I have been teaching for almost 5 months now. It has been a slow process, full of many trial and errors, ups and downs, tears and laughter and I’m sure it won’t end there but I keep telling myself.. patience, practice and all is coming.

Reading back on the feedback from my final practical exam on my teacher training, some pointers that I didn’t do/needed to work on seemed so simple yet with everything else to remember it was sensory overload. 5 months on, I don’t need that sheet of paper with my sequence written down out in front of me (it’s now underneath my mat) ??

At the beginning, I had to tell myself so many times it’s only yoga! You are only teaching yoga. You are guiding your students into stretches, twists, poses and inversions to help detoxify, cleanse and release toxins and emotions. Who cares if you mix up your right and left or call your knee your elbow. There’s no perfect way to do something. You have to remember that your students have chosen to take an hour out of their day to attend your class.

It took a few months to get used to the intense stare from strangers looking back at you, hanging onto your next word. It’s not until the end of each class when the strangers turn into smiley, calm faces making sure they say thank you and goodbye before leaving did I slowly start to realise the class was enjoyable and went well. On the journey home, I always feel positive with my vibrations high, I start to look at the world differently… And that’s when you start to enjoy the magic of teaching.

When I first arrived in India for my teacher training and met all my fellow yogi’s, when asked, “are you wanting to become a yoga teacher after this?”, I felt shy and that I would never be able to teach to a room of 20 strangers, and now 7 months on from my graduation, I have found excitement, comfort and pleasure teaching to a room of 20!

3 years ago when I graduated from University, I wouldn’t have pictured myself as a yoga teacher but at the end of every class I teach, whether it’s for 1 person or 20 people I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else..

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