After my gong show of a class on Thursday, I was beyond nervous for Friday morning to arrive. People were coming to the studio to practice with me. And paying for it! I feel the level of yoga I’m offering this month is worth the free rate I’m charging, but not $7.

7 people arrived for my class — a few friends and 3 of which I did not know! One lady was in town from Moksha Yoga Cincinnati. How cool! And the other two ladies are regular students at downtown. Erin, the studio manager, and Peter Ward, another teacher of mine, also came to my class. The weirdest feeling came over me when I walked into that room. It was like doing so for the first time all over again. Looking at the bodies lying on the floor, it hit me: I have to instruct them! I’m the one who has to wake them from their savasana and get them moving. When I realized that, being a teacher became real.

This is not Downtown’s hot room, but you get the idea!

60 minutes later it was all over. I survived. And no one died! Nothing bad happened. And to my surprise, I felt like it went well! I had positive feedback from the students, with a few things to work on. Breathing cues again, I instructed pranyama breathing pretty quickly (the first part of class was a bit fast) and so was the flow sequence. But I felt like it was fast too, so at least I was somewhat aware of it. When I slow down in my own body and the rhythm of class with soften.

Peter sat down with me and talked me though his feedback. I need to stick to the Moksha sequence… oops! Getting this locked down means I can then  to mix it up. But not before. I also need to get my hands on people and make adjustments. Another oops. Peter said I was gentle, and friendly, and it was easy to practice with me. Thanks, Peter! You’re feedback means a lot to me!

My next community class at Moksha Yoga Downtown is Friday, May 31st at 8:15am. Come! And you too can give me feedback!

This class was a bit of a rough go on Thursday. Both Jackie and Jacqueline (two of MY teachers!) were in my class! I was nervous and I really didn’t want to be. I know Jacqueline and Jackie will still love me (at least I hope so!) even if I don’t teach the best class ever. But my nerves, they showed up. Big time.

But….everyone said the class wasn’t terrible. Cecilley said it was her favourite class yet, although I need to adjust my pitch at times. Thanks, Cecilley, I appreciate the feedback. Jackie said the class was good too! What? This makes no sense to me.

I felt off. I felt uncomfortable in my own body and I couldn’t get myself grounded or calm. My words weren’t flowing, I was tongue tied. But every teacher gets nervous and every teacher has their off day.

The last time Jackie, Jacqueline, myself, and Cecilley all practiced together we were in Costa Rica! And I was not a teacher!

So things to work on: Some of my breath cues were off. Okay, that’s not so bad. It’s funny how much your own breath helps guide you as you teach. Jackie always said breath with the class. I was not breathing with my class. I also said “here” a lot. Weird. This hadn’t come up in my pervious class with Jackie and I didn’t hear myself saying the word. So where that came from I had no idea, but another easy fix once I take notice of it.

All in all, my transitions were good, however, some sides (for double sided poses) were held longer than the other. Again, if I was actually breathing then maybe this wouldn’t have been an issue. It’s okay, another excellent point to remember for next time.

The feedback was great and if anything I need to prepare myself more for classes in advance. I didn’t feel ready. My next class is in the hot room. Oh my goodness. I best be ready for this one!

One thing I’m learning throughout this practice teaching/planning classes project – people like to work out earlier in the week. Which is totally understandable when you stop to think about it. Most people would prefer to have their Thursday evenings to do as the please. It’s one day away from the weekend and makes for an excellent night out — and now with the beautiful warm weather upon us, hockey playoffs — and that means finding a patio is much more appealing than grabbing your yoga mat.

I decided I would embrace this fact of life and take back Thursdays for myself after years spent at Downtown trading on Thursday nights. I’m running a lot more now and trying to be more serious about it. This means I will train for races and not run 30k on a whim. My goal is to run a marathon. Ideally, it would be this fall, but if Erin’s training is be any indication to the amount of work that needs to be done, I need to smarten up!  I need to create a weekly plan where I have my days to teach, practice, and run! And right now teaching is really important.

So Mondays from now on will be teaching night. Every Monday evening for the spring at 6:30pm I’m offering free non heated classes at Moksha Downtown. In case you haven’t seen it here’s my teaching calendar for May:

My second class took place on a Monday and as expected the turn out was much better (and easier to get people to come!).  I was able to do my thing and didn’t think about what has happening. I was just teaching. It felt natural, I wasn’t crawling with awkwardness, and my students enjoyed themselves! It was a win for everyone.

Join me Monday evenings! And follow us on Facebook for all your yoga event needs. I’d love to have you in my class!

What on earth have I gotten myself into? Someone please remind me again why I’m doing this? I don’t want to be a yoga teacher, who am I kidding?!

I was freaking out. I set up my very first practice teaching class a few Thursdays ago. Jackie had sent me a text moments before the class saying she was coming. Ah! Thankfully Cecilley had said she’d be there (I needed the moral support). And my friend Kara from my Costa Rica retreat #2 brought her boyfriend and a friend of hers. Oh boy, here goes nothing.

While Moksha Downtown in the middle of some major changes — renovating the studio and expanding — there is a cute little space upstairs for new teachers such as myself to practice teach. Thank you, Jackie! Jackie has basically taken me under her wing and it mentoring me in every possible way. But having her in the room made me beyond nervous. Who was I kidding I was just nervous. Period.

I felt my nerves were showing. My voice wasn’t all there and I felt my cues and instructions were quick. I just wanted this hour to pass as fast as it possibly could! But, in spite of all the weirdness I was feeling, moments of strong confidence shined. I actually felt like I knew what I was doing. And that felt really cool. When the classed ended I darted downstairs to hide. Jackie sat me down for a feedback session, which t my surprise was fantastic. Jackie said it was a great class, I was wonderful as a new teacher and she can see the qualities in me that are going to make me shine as a teacher. The words will come and the nervous will settle, in time it’ll all come together.

I have no idea what she’s talking about. I’m just glad everyone, including myself, survived!