What’s yoga got to do with it?

So…… this is my very first blog.

Where do I start?

What do I write?

Hmmmm. I am a yoga teacher. It happened quickly. I completed my training in January this year, after spending more than 200 hours in the course, plus countless hours of my own practise. It was a very intense, difficult, exhilarating, fascinating, uplifting, and emotional journey. I loved every minute of it.

I was so nervous the first time I taught a class. It’s difficult to establish a flow, or a sequence, from start to finish. It feels choppy at first. You feel like you’re off track and you lose track of time. I remember looking at my watch after what felt like an hour and only 15 minutes had gone by. What was I supposed to do with everyone for another hour? I was scared to adjust people. What if they fell over? What if someone got hurt?      

Skip ahead about 20 taught classes and it’s a different story. Completely.

You need to start small. I taught a “serious class” as my first, but after that experience, I invited 4 friends over and I taught a class in my living room. It turned into a weekly practise and it taught me SO much. I got honest feedback. I was in a comfortable environment. It was ok to make a mistake (or two or three….. or four).

Then I rented a space and invited 15 of my friends one Sunday afternoon. Then I started looking for opportunities around the city. I found them quite easily and just said yes to everything that came up.  

I got over the fear of teaching very quickly. I started to relax. People started coming back to my classes. They wanted more! Some even requested private lessons.

All through the training, there was so much information to learn that I doubted my ability to retain everything. The thing is, I had it in me – – I understood it on an organic level. No need to memorize. As long as I understood how my body felt in those postures, I articulated and instructed much more easily.

You let go of the scripts.

You let go of thoughts about how you’re supposed to teach.