Friday, February 5, 2016

Three things your yoga instructor wants you to know.

By Jessica Jayne
One of my favorite ways to phrase what I do for a living... Is I share yoga with others. I don't particularly like to use to word teach, or instruct. Obviously that IS what I do... But, I don't like to think of myself as higher than my students. I always tell them that this is THEIR practice, I am just there to guide them. I didn't quite understand that when I first starting practicing, I put my teachers on a pedestal that was ridiculous and unfair. Now that I am a teacher myself I try and stress to my students that I am just like them- practicing on my own mat and breathing with my movement. I am just here to make sure it stays safe and serene. There are a lot of things that as yoga teachers, we really want our students to know. But we may not know how to word it, or aren't sure if we should even say it.

1. We stay on our own mat. 
I actually say this in class all of the time. There is nothing worse than feeling the eyes of somebody else on you when you are trying to practice, or feeling like you aren't keeping up with your neighbor and worrying that others are staring as you fail. I know this because I have been there, but as I furthered into my practiced I realized suddenly one day that nobody was paying attention to me. Nobody was seeing how much I could keep up with the person next to me and nobody was seeing how I looked in my wheel. I found that once I was able to let go of that fear of everybody watching me, I was able to fully let go into my own practice.

2. We are all on our own journey.
This is another thing I say in probably every single class. I know it sounds cliche, but I think its important. Not only in yoga, but in LIFE. Every single person you meet has struggled with something that has changed their life. Every single person you meet has gone through something physically or mentally that has scarred them. In the classroom, and in life- we must practice kindness and compassion. This is including ourselves. If you are having a rough day, and feel like you need to be in child's pose the majority of the time, then DO that. We are all on our own journey, I am not here to dictate, I am here to guide.


3. None of us are perfect.
This isn't something I openly speak about in class, but I will throw little hints at. I always set an intention at the beginning of every class and its usually something I feel I need to work on at that time in my life. Whether it be gratitude, compassion, balance, etc. I want my students to know I am not enlightened, I am not perfect and I still struggle. Sometimes as students we see our teachers as these beautifully zen beings, which is wonderful and flattering. But it's also important to realize that we are humans too, and we too are on our own journeys.


Namaste.


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