You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Five Mistakes I Made As a New Yoga Teacher”.
You are here: Home / Yoga Articles / Teaching • The Business of Yoga / Teaching Insights / Five Mistakes I Made As a New Yoga Teacher
About Seka Ojdrovic-Phillips
Perfectionist. Yogini. High heels by day and torn sweatpants and messy hair by night. Simon's wife. I've fallen in love with people and places around the world and am currently in love with the people (and place!) of Seattle, Washington. Om shanti and all that good stuff along my newly-found Forrest Yoga path.
Great article, and this was my favourite bit – “It’s not about me, it’s not about you, it’s about us, bravely showing up together and doing something that we couldn’t have done without each other.”
Thanks! The other day before closing the practice with Om, I explained that I really mean it when I say “each person in this class has something unique to contribute.” It’s not just yoga mumbo-jumbo, it’s literal. I may spot someone moving into a variation I hadn’t thought of, so I cue it to the rest of the class or the energy in the room is different than the energy I’d planned a class around. The class I plan is rarely the same one I teach!
Wow- printing and framing this as I begin my instructor journey. Thank you so very much for sharing it.
What an amazing compliment! I’m humbled.
Good luck on your journey and thanks for reading. 🙂
Namaste. Seka What a warm and wonderful article. Certainly resonated with me ! Well done x
Glad you connected to it! Thanks for reading. 🙂
Great article and funny, I started my Ashtanga teacher training yesterday. My main goal is to improve my own practice – I am afraid of talking in front of a group so that’s the 2nd goal to be strong relaxed and confident when talking to a group (also at work) and if something comes along (and it often does) I may become a teacher. This article helps already to see what to avoid and what to do!
BTW ; love reading the yoga lunchbox articles there are so many I often have not enough time to read them.
Bye
What’s so awesome about teacher trainings is that you get to see that you’re not alone. Most people struggle with nerves every now and then.
Just last week, I was caught by an unexpected case of the nerves before teaching, which is something that I haven’t felt in a long time. Since it was so strange, it was the first thing I told the class, quickly followed by “I have no idea why I feel this way, you all seem nice enough!” It broke the tension, made everyone laugh, and helped the nervous energy dissipate.
You’ll find what works for you, I have no doubt. 😉
Love your work Seka… nerves can come about at all times. I had them last week when people showed up at a class where I’ve had three weeks of no-shows. It caught me off-guard completely. I suddenly realised I had to teach, and I’d been gearing up to do my own practice again… Cripes! What do I teach again? Ha… a funny moment for sure 🙂
Oh, man. That’s totally happened to me, too! I had an MP3 all loaded up, just getting ready to start Breath of Fire then *bam*. Turned out great, though. I love those impromptu private classes. 🙂
Thank you sharing this, I started teaching about a month ago and I’m still finding my way, I can totally relate to this. Especially trying to please everyone and taking things personally, if someone comes to one class and I never see them again I obsess over what I did wrong, forgetting all the great classes I only went to once because they weren’t what I was looking for at that time.
I know what you mean about the obsessing. Oh, the obsessing… Starting out, there was rarely a class I finished where I was like “I totally rocked that. I’m amazing.” Most of the time I had to fight my own self-doubt demons as they replayed “mistakes” I’d made teaching. I handed those demons way too much power.
And most of it was in my head. Have you ever had a friend apologize for something they’ve been agonizing over for days, when hadn’t offended you at all? Or for something you hadn’t even noticed in the first place? That.
Sounds like you’re doing an awesome job keeping up the self-pep talk by reminding yourself how you saw things as a student. That awareness helps a ton.
Good luck!
Dear Seka,
Thank you for sharing your learnings from your mistakes. I cringed with recognition and laughed along with each and every one. Even now, 4 years after my first gig, I notice myself falling into old mistakes. Sometimes…like closing my eyes and talking through a pose as I “demonstrate” it totally oblivious as to how the poor students are getting on! I know I need to get off my mat and observe what’s going on for them and walk around and it’s always a better class when I do. I thnk I need to chant a little mantra to myself before class….’Be Present’ because those lapses only happen when I forget to be totally there for them….not myself performing! Thanks for the reminder.
My teacher, Ana Forrest, tells a story about one of her students who had the goal of “being present all the time.” Ana was like, “Can you stay present for five minutes?” The answer was no. “Can you stay present for the entirety of one minute?” No. “How about five breaths?” That, she could do.
My takeaway from the story is to work with where I’m at in the moment and build from there. Man, it feels good to take that self-judgment off my shoulders!
Thanks for reading. 🙂
really enjoyed reading this and shared it with my friends..!
It was very helpful and inspiring. Thank you! 🙂
Your comment is healing balm after a very trying week. Thank you. xx