Teaching Yoga - The other side of the mat

Yes, the time has come and we are starting to teach our first classes! Time has gone so slow and so fast at the same time… I felt so ready but so nervous on my first class! You would think after so many years of teaching (school children) I wouldn't feel so nervous, but you’re wrong. It’s just like the first day of school every year. You have been preparing for you first day and you have everything under control and ready but until you meet your students you never know how it’s going to go. Well, teaching yoga it’s definitely different that teaching in a classroom environment, but most of the feelings remain the same. I was the first to teach my peers and I felt totally ready. I had practiced the sequence (for what it seemed like forever) and had it memorized. I started the class seated, calmed and collected but as we moved into the Sun Salutations I started getting really nervous thinking of all the things that could go wrong (which I had not contemplated until this moment on my mat while teaching my first class!) As my mind stared to race, I started to go a little faster to match the speed of my thoughts. In other words, imagine a fast forward Sun Salutations Sequence. I told my thoughts to stop and be in the present moment and just to breath and do what I always do… then I went blank! Yep, totally blank for what it seemed like eternity to me, but probably just a couple of seconds. At that point I got upset with myself, and it was only the first 10 minutes of class. Looking back, I was very hard on myself and extremely critical of my actions. I continued the class without much more going through my mind but just explaining the poses and observing my beautiful peers as they followed my lead through the class. The rest of the class went pretty smooth, and everything fell into place. Last Wednesday I taught my first community class. I felt just like the first class I taught to my peers, totally ready, only this time I didn't let my thoughts get the worse from me and take me out of that precious moment of my first public class. I enjoyed every word, every pose, every adjustment, and every breath. Of course, it wasn't perfect, nothing is, but I’m looking forward to my next class so I can learn from it and be a better teacher for my students.See you on the other side of the mat!LIGHTRAIL YOGA TEACHER TRAINING http://www.lightrailyoga.com/