teaching

Teaching Your Teacher: Sharing the Love

amyh / Reflections, Thoughts / , , , / 0 Comment

Source: http://www.leeanncareyyogashopping.com/stretch-one-on-one/

My saga of being a newly certified teacher continues! Yesterday I taught a 20min segment to my very favourite teacher – it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

After all the coursework, readings and practical teaching exercises in my summer Yoga Teacher Training, I was feeling pretty good about things. I was getting great feedback from friends and students about my teaching. My youngest brother had a sore calf, which I helped out with using my new therapeutic techniques and a couple of well-considered (and well-taught!) stretches.

I was feeling pretty good – until my favourite teacher in the world asked me to lead her through a short class so she could get a sense of my style. Yikes!

Last week I devoted myself to planning and fretting. I practiced and prepared. I visualized her loving it – and hating it. I’m usually pretty balanced and confident in front of people, but when I placed my mat down and she rolled hers out in front of me, I wondered how such an amazing teacher could even start to enjoy my teaching. How can I, her student, measure up as her teacher?  I became a little undone— I’m not going to lie.

When the music started and I launched into my routine, my voice was a little shaky and my instructions a bit garbled. I realised though, that teaching my teacher was a great opportunity to share my love for yoga in an expression that she hasn’t seen from me before. Not only that, but I could get tips and pointers from someone I respect and admire a great deal to apply to my teaching!

I realised that I should just do what I’ve been compelled to do all along – share my love for yoga in my own way and hope others will feel inspired and drawn to practice it with me. We both had fun!

My Yoga, My Responsibility

Guest Author / Reflections, Teachers, Yogis / , , / 1 Comment

I’ve been thinking a lot about personal responsibility– especially with regards to my yoga practice and the yoga that I teach. Injury is serious, especially in advanced yoga classes. Everyone knows someone who has hurt themselves. Ryan Leier, one of my dear teachers, talked about this the last time he was here in Vancouver: “I’m not going to talk so much about your kneecaps, because I trust that you all know what to do with them”. That trust is vital because it empowers me be conscious and honest within my own practice.

But I’ve been talking about kneecaps in my classes– maybe too much.

Yoga is a tool for me to practice taking responsibility for myself. On my mat I reconnect with who I am and with who I want to be. Yoga gives me the strength and the peace to go out into the world and live the life I want to live. I think that most people who stay with their practice do so because it teaches powerful lessons about personal responsibility. The practice of yoga allows us to be honest and to be present– to take responsibility for our actions and our thoughts.

But yoga teachers do have an enormous responsibility to their students. They are responsible for providing a safe environment and finding a balance between challenging students and protecting them. Ultimately it’s up to each individual to take responsibility, both physically and emotionally. Yoga is intense– it brings stuff up and can be hard on the body if we’re not careful. So each yogi needs to take responsibility for themselves every time they practice.

I feel so lucky that my yoga practice teaches me how.

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