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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

First Class as the Regular Teacher (for money)

I've been the regular yoga teacher at my office for a year, but that's a free thing I do to be nice and for practice teaching.

Saturday was my first day as the regular teacher at Spectrum. A week ago, I attended this class and was very nervous and anxious because while it's called "Yoga Flow" the former teacher's style is VERY different from mine. My original intention was to make the class what the students are used to and gradually "make it my own." After attending that class, I thought about it a lot and got some advice from experienced teachers who have been through this. Then I decided to just teach what I'm used to teaching. I can't try to be someone else, nor would I ever want to.

I taught a modified Ashtanga Primary Series, some stuff cut out because it's too hard and I only have an hour and some stuff thrown in for fun. That's what I always do. I change up what I cut out and what I throw in so it's not the same every time. The Ashtanga Primary Series is very therapeutic and leaves students feeling good afterwards. That's what I love about it. I'm so grateful for the teachers who have come before me who came up with this series and passed it on through the generations, eventually making it to me, and then my students.

A lady came up to me at the beginning of class and asked for adviced for pregnancy. Oh, wow, ok good thing I just researched this. She was 12 weeks along, barely out of the 1st trimester. I told her not to do the chaturangas or any deep twisting, and I didn't teach any strong ab poses, but if she's back next time, I will, but I'll need to have alternatives for her in mind. I'll probably get her to do cat/cow or her choice of any pose she'd like. I think I handled that well both as a teacher and as a woman who lost a pregnancy a month ago. I'm proud of myself for feeling helpful and compassionate rather than jealous or angry. I would never wish bad things to happen to people.

Also, after the Kino MacGregor workshop I just attended where she emphasized that muscular burn is ok, even a good thing, I'm going to change my attitude towards pain in practice. I used to say not to push yourself into pain, but I'm going to explain that muscular burn is ok and that it's an individual decision how far you push through the burn.

As class ended I said, "Please let me know if you have any questions or comments." That's when they surprised me. They weren't rolling up their mats and running out of there. They stayed seated on their mats and told me how much they enjoyed the class and how good it made them feel. Awww shucks :-) I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to practice on my coworkers, because otherwise I wouldn't be nearly as prepared to teach a room full of strangers as I am today.

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