1st 'Real' Teaching Experiences

So, a few weeks ago (May 22^nd to be exact) I taught (subbed) my first 2 ‘paid’ yoga classes. This was a *BIG* deal to me, because it was at my favorite yoga studio and also the studio where I trained to become a teacher. Well…that’s not the only reason it was a big deal, but also because I just spent the last several months in teacher training practicing for these very moments, and of course I wanted to put everything I learned into these two classes and make them absolutely awesome for the students…and somehow do all of this without being nervous. No one said it would be easy, right?!  And…let me just say it wasn’t! BUT…it was so much FUN now in retrospect…and scary at the time that I am so happy those two classes are over because they’ve made room for me to realize it’s OK and totally normal to:

·         Get nervous

·         Forget parts of a 1 hour and 15 min class that I had planned down to the second

·         Mix up my right and left

·         Forget to include the pose of the month – (YIKES don’t tell anyone), but I’m sure that the yoga 1 class was happy I didn’t force them to do Lolasana J

·         Trip over a block

·         Stumble over my cue words for yoga 1 half chatturanga -could it be any more difficult for me?

·         Oh…I’m sure the list could just go on and on of these ‘nit picks’ of my performance (by me)

Needless to say, I walked home from the studio that day excited that I was able to successfully teach two classes….and I couldnt believe I received some positive feedback from students after class (YAY..it wasn’t horrible, I thought)….and as the day and week passed…there was this natural high that came from teaching that I couldn’t wait to do it again. So maybe it wasn’t so scary after all.

Sweet message from Tranquil Space thanking me for subbing...a momento!
(I know, I'm corny, but I love to save these kind of things)

Last week, I received the opportunity to substitute teach Thursday nights for the month of June at a gym in Bethesda. So, I approached this teaching opportunity very differently. For one thing, I did not have time to write out a class plan in full detail…actually I did not plan the class sequence in advance at all! For those of you who know me, for me to not plan something in excel with color coding is almost a catastrophe waiting to happen. BUT…it worked amazingly!! I decided that I would work on a peak pose and I worked through the class opening the body for the peak pose with simple 2 or 3 movement sequences (so I could remember and do the same thing on the opposite side) …with some fun with a strap for a few poses. This class gave me so much more confidence in teaching from my own knowledge vs memorizing:

·         No stress

·         Did not trip over any blocks

·         Slowed down my half chatturanga’s so I didn’t trip over my words as much

·         No expectation to remember an entire class

·         Remembering that I was the teacher and the guider – I need to have confidence is KEY

So…all in all I hope I continue to have great classes as this past Thursday evenings one was…but I will also embrace all learning opportunities I have in teaching…each time will ultimately help me be a better teacher and ‘sharer’ of yoga.