5 Tips for better yoga classes
As a yoga teacher for over 15 years, former studio owner, studio manager and a teacher training facilitator I have experienced my share of lessons learned “on the job.” From students shouting back questions and comments during class to the time I accidentally taught a 2-hour class (until a student stopped me and said “um…. I have to go to work) I have adjusted and refined my practice as a yoga teacher hundreds of times. In addition, the stories my own students in YTT share about their experiences help inform my ideas of what a great yoga class can be and for that I am eternally grateful. Fold in my own anxiety and desire to be always kind and fair and the pursuit of creating the highest quality yoga class has been born.
Below are some of the tips I share with my new yoga teachers as they venture out of their YTT200 and into the wild world of yoga classes with the masses.
1. Do your practice on your own time
I myself began yoga teacher training with one overarching thought, “I can’t wait to get paid to do yoga all day.” Oh, how misinformed I was! When we enter into a teaching relationship with our students, we are electing to set aside our own practice for the moment in order to walk the path beside someone else and support their journey.
If a teacher is involved on their mat in their own experience of the practice, they are missing a golden opportunity to embody the true energy of “teacher.” One of the elements of a great teacher is their ability to respond to their students needs in the moment. If we are upside down in downward facing dog, how can we see if a student is safe in the posture or lost and looking around for clarification on our cues?
To give the best experience possible as a teacher, we must reserve time on our schedule for our practice, not try to cram it into our students’ experience. In addition, practicing regularly on your own or with other teachers helps refresh your sequencing, cuing and philosophical skills so you can always bring a new perspective to your classes and avoid repetitive lesson plans or worse, burn out.
2. Leave your personal life outside
Teachers are human too, and we have bad days and moments where we may respond with a less than “enlightened” energy to a question or problem in the yoga studio. However, it is in the best interest of our students and the reputation of yoga that we place our personal issues outside the classroom. This might mean letting go of a class for a few weeks if you are processing some heavy life changes or simply taking a deep breath before beginning the class if someone has just ruffled your feathers in the lobby.
Practicing what we preach and working toward self-awareness sets the example for our students and helps us stay with the practice of yoga as we guide others along the path. Remember, non-attachment is one of the first lessons in yoga. Take a breath, say a prayer, drink some water and let it go so you can show up and provide the best class possible for your students.
3. Watch and listen to your students
If you’ve ever been in what I like to call - a “last man standing” yoga class, you have likely experienced a moment where the class becomes so difficult that one by one, everyone begins to sit on their mat in defeat while one or two students keep up with the advanced posture or sequence along with the teacher. If we remember that our job as teachers is to respond to our student’s needs, then how effective are we really if only half the class can even participate ?
We may have a certain goal in mind for our class that day and this is an excellent way to teach, but arming ourselves with options for students makes the class even more effective and helpful. Remember, there is always another variation of a pose if you know the goal you are trying to achieve in the pose. We never have to be the teacher that says “just go to child’s pose” in a class. We can instead search for options that offer the same or similar benefits.
Listening to our students’ conversations with us before class or noticing their breathing patterns during the practice helps us sequence our practice for their present needs. I will often find myself pulling out an entirely new poem for the end of my class based on a personal conversation just before the class with a student, or if I notice someone frustrated with a particular pose or sequence, I can share a few philosophical words of wisdom the class that may be just what that student needs to hear. There is something magical about a student coming up after class and thanking me for teaching “just what they needed” that day. I don’t honestly know going into the lesson what the student needs, but watching and listening helps me respond in the moment to guide their practice based on my observations and more often than not, these are my most powerful classes.
Watching the class helps us know when our students have reached their limit in a pose or what cues to offer to enrich the experience and if it’s time to shift gears entirely to a new plan, which brings me to my next tip….
4. Be ready to change the plan
Planning a class is a great way to offer effective and memorable yoga classes. However, if we are too attached to the lesson plan, we can lose the opportunity to follow a thought or moment to an even more powerful experience. Attachment to our lesson plan takes away our ability to watch and respond to our students’ needs.
For many years when I first became a teacher, I would bring a small yellow post-it note into the room with my basic sequence written down. By placing this post-it note next to the stereo, I was able to casually walk over to it and adjust the music or temperature on the thermostat while glancing at the next posture. This allowed me to relax into my class and know that if I drew a blank on what to teach next, there was a “magic feather” waiting to save me in the corner. With every passing year, I found I needed this tiny lesson plan less and less until eventually, I never knew exactly what I was going to teach that day until I met my students and made note of their energy. I will have a general idea of what I want to accomplish or a greater theme to lean into, but after jotting down my notes of what I’d like to include in my class, I leave my paper at home and venture into the moment in real time to teach.
I’ll never forget the moments that led to this method of teaching. One particularly memorable time was a day where I had planned a brilliant “prone” class where the entire lesson was spent face down on the floor to embody grounding…. And then, a student walked into the room 3 minutes before class began who was 7 months pregnant! I chose to quickly regroup and figure out how to teach the same theme with an entirely different sequence of postures in order to include this student who was unable to lie on her belly at all.
Plan for success but know that life changes the plan and part of embodying the teachings of yoga is rolling with the changes as they come. You’ll be surprised at what kind of brilliance comes from letting go of control when you teach.
5. Leave space for silence
With the exception of a few populations of student such as retired people living alone, the majority of students walking into a yoga class are missing one crucial element in their lives….. silence.
We are inundated with ads, sounds, communication devices and constant connection to the outside world and all of our responsibilities. This constant “doing” contributes to the increasing number of diagnoses of anxiety, depression and auto-immune disorders. The greatest gift of yoga and the ultimate goal of the 8 limbs is finding peace in stillness and silence.
It can be difficult for people to open up to the idea of silence, as it feels foreign and unnatural when we haven’t had it very often and being left alone with our thoughts and emotions can be uncomfortable. However, offering just a few minutes at the end of your class for students to try silence out can settle their nervous system and open the doors of the deeper yogic experience for them. As your students are slipping into savasana, dim the lights, turn down the music, stop talking and adjusting them and just let them be. Ideally for 5-10 minutes if time allows. Offering this gift of advanced yoga can create a powerful experience for your students and bring authenticity to your class.
Remember, Patanjali says: “Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence”
As you explore your own practice as a teacher, remember to make note of the moments and lessons that stand out to you. These moments are what help us grow as teachers and yoga practitioners and remind us not just to share yoga with others but to fully embody the lessons that yoga has to offer.
By: Denver Clark, C-IAYT, ERYT-500
