Can we stop trying to fit everything into one yoga class?! As a student – it’s overwhelming. As a teacher – it’s exhausting!
Step off your teacher mat and step onto a student’s mat. Can you imagine if a teacher tried to explain all of the chakras, one peak pose anatomy break-down, one mudra, one mantra, one drishti, a feel good quote, orchestrate a banger playlist, and then hit a few different breath-work techniques before Savasana.
We would all be overwhelmed and worn out from that much talking! Which is definitely another post coming soon – you don’t have to fill every moment with words. The information we have learned as teachers is truly amazing. And if you just finished 200 hr YTT you definitely are eager to share it. When you finish 300 hrs and you start getting into Hindu Mythology – it’ll be hard to contain yourself. But we need to try to scale back all that is being shared in our classes.
Yoga students are coming into class for a yoga practice – not a yoga teacher training. Notice if your plans sound more like an educational workshop with Continuing Education Credits attached. Or if your plans feel more like movement and flow. An opportunity to sprinkle some nuggets.
Yes – we definitely want to incorporate the other limbs of yoga into our classes, but not everyone is looking for an hour of being lectured to, trust me. When I first started taking classes as a young mom, I was looking for silence. I didn’t want to hear tons of information. I was full of school schedules and grocery lists – not much room for memorizing mudras. Some of your students want to turn off their processing brains and be free from lesson overload.
You are in an eager place to share all the wonderful things you’ve just learned. I remember the excitement of coming home and unloading on my husband, “did you know, did you know, did you know?!” No he did not know, and no he was not nearly as excited as I was! Because it wasn’t his passion.
Yoga classes are not teacher training times. Yes you have a room full of people who want to do yoga – most often it’s the asanas they’re in for. Feel free to drop a nugget here or there, and let your students decide if they want to learn more. I once taught the Warrior Flow as the original Hindu Myth of Lord Shiva and Virbhadra. The following week a student returned excited she Googled the story and read all about it because it interested her.
A good rule of thumb is to touch on one thing you naturally want to chat about. It flows from your lips and isn’t a long lecture. If it feels right to make a long topic a series – break it up. I’ve taught seven weeks each time highlighting a Chakra and those appropriate poses. I taught one month of Mudras, until I realized half the class was not participating and lost interest. If there is a topic bubbling up out of you and you are buzzing with excitement – ask to teach a weekend Workshop. Those interested will attend and be great recipients of all you have to share.
Otherwise you’ll have to guard your heart. Because the woman who rolls her eyes at you when you mention the Throat Chakra just might break your spirit. Or the older woman who sighs in boredom when you start class with Lunar Breathwork. Or the man who gives you the stank eye when you mention “feminine left side energy”. Not everyone is open and interested in the things you love. Just as you are not open and excited about the things other people love.
And yes, those are just a few responses I’ve experienced. My favorite, a man approached me after Yin, he thought he was hysterical. “Gallbladder Meridian, (chuckle chuckle) what is that the name of some band? (chuckle) I’ve never heard of that before.” I was surprised since he told me he had taken “a lot of Yin classes”.
I smiled and asked, “Oh really, you take other Yin classes and haven’t heard of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Meridian lines? All of your Yin poses line up with them.” Come to find out he only took one other Yin class. But the exchange made me pull back on highlighting Meridians for awhile. I didn’t think the information was funny. That class wanted to come into a dark quiet room and truly didn’t care one second about the meridians I had planned the entire class around.
I definitely do not recommend cutting every single thing you want to share out of class. Those students who do not like what you teach can easily find another class to attend. But make sure it’s not an overwhelming Thanksgiving plate of information to wade through while paying attention to yoga cues. We want our words to hold meaning and power. We want students to listen to our cues. If yoga teachers are just carrying on about everything – chances are some things will get tuned out. And we definitely don’t want that to happen.