Teacher Training

Finding My Teaching Place

Abbie W1 Comment

What do I mean by my teaching place?  I am not referring to just the physical place I’ll be teaching, but also what I will bring to my students, the type of class I’ll teach in terms of type of yoga as well as what I have to offer.

When I first considered teacher training almost a year ago, I had a lot of uncertainties floating through my mind – would I be a good enough teacher, I’m flexible, but I don’t go to a power class and rock out in hand stand and six other arm balances and get all psyched.  In fact, most days I can’t even maintain  headstand.  When I realized YogaSource offered a Gentle Teacher Training track I knew I had found my training program and was excited to learn more about Yin and Restorative yoga.  I was certain, given my introverted nature and contentedness with silence, that those were going to be where I best fit as as a teacher and could offer the most.

Enter Level 1 of teacher training – 7 days, 10 hours a day, plus homework….no yin, no restorative, all “gentle” vinyasa.  I say “gentle” because our teacher knew we were all experienced practitioners and, while options to down level the poses were offered, they weren’t often taken.  As we began to practice teach segments of a full practice that week – core asanas, standing asanas, and eventually a full sequence, I felt drawn to the rhythmic nature of the gentle vinyasa practice. Inhales, exhales, detailed cues to improve the posture of the pose, a focus on moving with the breath.  This connection to teaching this practice wasn’t what I was expecting.

After teaching our final class, I had pretty much settled into the idea of teaching gentle with about 10 – 15 minutes of yin poses leading up to final savasana.

Enter this past weekend of Restorative Teacher Training.  I love it and think THIS is where I want to be.  So maybe I’ll teach a variety of practices.

But, when I truly think about what I want to teach and how I want to teach self-healing and self-acceptance, if I could design a practice for the general public that provides physical and mental benefits my ideal practice would be teaching what I’ll call a Gen-Yin-Torative class.  Ninety minutes of gentle movement, caring for the nervous and immune systems and being in a place of healing and peace.

Preparing this type of class would present a challenge in striking the right balance, yet would be exciting to continue to develop and modify that balance with time and as the energy of the class dictates.  Yesterday, as we taught and took a 60 minute restorative session, it felt like not nearly enough time.  Today, sitting in two restorative poses for a total of less than 30 minutes, was just what I needed.

Time will tell what type of practice I’ll teach and where, and I am excited for the journey, and to bring a calm oasis of peace to my future students.

Setting sun while waiting on flight out of Kona

Teaching My First Full Class

Abbie WLeave a comment

Sunday November 24th was the big day, the day when I got to teach a full class with fellow teacher trainees present as well as my invited guests – AND got critiqued for my teaching!

I was nervous, but I wasn’t, but I was.  I was so anxious to complete the teaching and officially have taught the class and get feedback on how I did, that there were some nerves shining through.  I think it some of it came from not speaking smoothly while I was also moving through the poses.  Another part came from last minute changes that I thought about too much.  While I had invited everyone on Facebook, I’d also issued a few direct invitations.  I was expecting 4 friends to attend, but one didn’t end up confirming and another cancelled at the last minute.  One who was a definite was 8 months pregnant.

We didn’t spend much time in any of the classes discussing how to modify poses for pregnancy, but did talk about some poses that should be avoided.  My originally planned sequence had a lot of abdominal work and backbends – that should mostly be avoided or at least minimized.  So knowing that I was going to have a small class and Nikki assisting, but that I couldn’t spend my whole time focused on the mama-to-be, I decided to modify my sequence.  I didn’t write down my changes, I didn’t practice them, I just thought about it them in my head.

As the class progressed and my entire opening was different than planned, I realized that despite removing back bends, I was running out of time with my new sequence.  I managed to end up balanced on both sides and still get in three of the planned yin poses in my closing section.  I also changed my music because my original playlist was maybe to upbeat with the changes that I made to the sequence, which ended up making a very mellow practice.  The music was critiqued by different people in different ways, one current teacher thought it was perfect for the class, another that it would be great for yin or an evening flow class, but too mellow for a morning gentle class where you want to get people revved up for their day.

Important things that I learned: I was quite comfortable getting off the mat and walking around the room.  It made me feel more connected to the students, whereas on my mat, I felt a little bit removed from the class and that some students weren’t in my line of sight.  I also learned that I can modify on the fly and maintain a balanced, flowing sequence.  I also have plenty of room to focus on the detail cues and breath as well.  With just a week of practicing the specific sequence and teaching it twice (3 times if you count the final, heavily modified version), I can see great improvements.

And most importantly – I am VERY ready to start teaching regularly!