adjusting

I LOVE adjustments! 
Whenever I go to a class, I wish and wish and wish to be adjusted! I am even considering paying someone to adjust me throughout the class! I am sure that idea is a bit bonkers and will probably be quite distracting! Having said that, not all adjustments feel good. I've fallen from one, over stretched on another, felt bad on some, felt wrong on some.....
Here's what I have learnt


Not everyone enjoys being adjusted. 
Some students excite us! They always look like they have the potential to go a bit more. I had this experience once and would end up maybe adjusting this person once or twice each class. She stopped coming. Usually, I would not question this but I liked this person, so i reached out, just to see if she was ok. She thought i was picking on her and got tired of it! 
Some people should not adjust
If you are not confident of touching someone, don't adjust. It ends up feeling slightly uncomfortable for the student. Practice on friends who will tell you truthfully. Also, if adjusting drains you, leave it! I hear the strain on some teacher's voices when they go to adjust. You have to be able to maintain the rhythm and energy of the class. If it changes your voice, you sacrifice serving everyone to serve one. 
Some people should not be adjusted
It is important to ask the room if anyone is not comfortable being touched. Some people are extremely ticklish. Some are extremely sensitive. And some may have deep rooted reasons. We don't need to know the reason, but we should be clear of boundaries. 
Also, be sensitive around larger bodies, but also very skinny bodies. 
It is not always necessary to adjust
When I first started teaching, I felt like it was my duty to adjust. It felt like it i didn't, I am not doing my job. So i would go around adjusting throughout the class. I was the quintessential 'adjusting monkey'
Later I noticed the value of verbal adjustment. The room is more involved. Everyone gets to learn from instruction whether it applied to them or not. It was more inclusive. I started easing off on manual adjustments and these days try to balance between the two.

Types of adjustments
Verbal, hands on, soft touch 

Verbal adjustments are great but it is important to watch not to over-verbalise either. The class can feel a bit over-loaded. I think if you are holding 5 breaths in a pose, 3 verbal cues is plenty. For beginners, less is more. It is important to leave that space for the instruction to be tried and experienced. I think it is also important to remember that the practice is also about finding sthira sukham asanam - to find that point where it feels steady and comfortable. 

Hands on adjustments can feel like a great massage or torture! I think it is valuable to use it when someone is really struggling to understand the verbal cue- just to help them move into the space, and only if you spot the potential for them to. It should feel comfortable for the adjuster too, so if you feel like you have to crank the adjustment, that is too much and there is the potential of hurting someone. Be mindful where you touch. Pay attention to your breath and the breath of the student before you move forward. Don't rush... imagine like you are about to give this person a massage!

Soft touch is beneficial if you see someone having a hard time. It is a reassuring touch, not a lingering one or that may be misunderstood. This touch can also help someone locate a part of their body or muscle that they seem to be struggling to find. 

Don't let the adjustments be the most important element of the class
Good luck!

the joys!

Often, I would return from a class and as I walk up the hill to my home, I would often feel so full! Full of.... everything! It's a kind of joy, a kind of fullness. And it is not from feeling like I have done a great job- it is from feeling connected to everyone. I used to think that how I did in class either made me feel great or flat. But I now realise, that it was not about me. It was about the room. How i felt after, was about how connected the room felt that day. There's no reason why some days, the connection is not as strong, or perhaps i have not felt it as strong. But i know when everyone felt strongly connected. And it's these days (& there are many) that I would walk home, skipping in my heart, dancing inside. It feels full. And I start to thank everything in the cosmos for this!

This is why teaching is so joyful.

There's also this-

All the things you learn from it feeds your growth. And you feel yourself grow and grow and grow. You start to like yourself more and more and more. You start to appreciate everything. You start to love every being.
Full- you just feel full. Like you don't need much of anything else! :-)

when your practice suffers

One of the things that changes when you first start teaching is your own practice. Over the last 8 years of my teaching career, my relationship with my practice has been up and down. As soon as I made the decision to teach yoga, my practice changed. I no longer practiced for myself. I would go to class and pay attention to every word the teacher is saying. If i heard something i like, i would make note of it; the way some words are said, the way some instructions are made... I no longer moved with my breath but with my head. I was eager to feel and understand every single pose, so in class, I would be making notes; "ah, this feels like this here. If i do this, this will move. What is this muscle. How will i feel if i am tighter here, etc" Everything becomes a little bit clinical or geeky as we call it. I started to hang out with teacher friends and all we talked about is yoga! In those days, a few of us met up at least once a week and adjusted each other, discussed bodies, supported each other's insecurities. I mean.... it was really awesome! 

But of course, when the practice suffers, something goes. I became a better teacher, my asana practice improved of course as I was constantly trying new ways and new things. But, my yoga practice really suffered. I found it difficult to shut out and would be constantly in work mode. I could not go to a class without analysing it. I woke up thinking about class and went to bed analysing the day. And to add to it all, i was keen to build up my experience and clientele so i taught a lot! I think I was doing something like 20 or more classes a week. I wouldn't even go on holiday because I didn't feel like i could leave the class! 

There is a term in the yoga world: 'yoga teacher burnout' 

So I got to a point when I began to loose interest in practice. It just felt like too much yoga! I started to think that maybe this was not for me. It was just draining my energy. I hadn't realised how much energy and commitment it takes to do this job. You really have to love and live it, to teach it on days when only a few people have shown up, on days you know you are making a loss, on days when someone comes and tells you something that touches your heart or that makes you sad, on days when someone argues with you over the £7 fee. I wasn't sure if this was me. I came from the corporate world where i had no problem starting an argument with someone, to a job where I am expected to be all compassionate, patient and understanding. Where i had to be enthusiastic even when I was having a crap day. I just thought... screw this! But i didn't.

I am not sure why I didn't. I believe there was already a deep rooted commitment to the practice. I was also lucky to have spent some time with Claire Missingham, who had shared her experience and taught me about the importance of recharging- massages, holidays, time with family and friends, away from yoga. I also respected her for speaking out about spoiling ourselves with whatever it is that we like; whether it's nice clothes, toiletries, jewellery.... At a time when Lululemon had not exploded into what it is today, when yogi's felt like it was wrong to be materialistic, it was refreshing to hear someone say the opposite. I still remember her saying something like "if you feel good on the inside, you naturally want to express it outwardly" I have not looked back since. Lots of teachers say this now.

So here's my summary:

Take lots of time for yourself - massage is perfect

When you are with your loved ones, leave your phone- you will want to check your messages otherwise, believe me!

I take off on a retreat every year and invite no one, not even my closest yogi friends. It's also a great way to meet new people when you go away on your own. 

Don't say yes to every teaching opportunity. Only take something that suits you, something that feels good to you and for you.

Continue to go to class. Not just workshops and training! Before you go, remind yourself, "this is my time" and disconnect from the teacher person and try to enjoy your class. It is also inspiring to be in another teacher's class.

Don't beat yourself up if you could not get it together before class and felt like you didn't do a good class- normally, these are the classes where you did best. It probably doesn't feel good because you had to concentrate so hard, so you could not possibly be receptive to the energy of the class.

When you don't feel like practicing, try to force yourself onto your mat. These are probably the days when you can practice best without thinking about class! But also know that it is ok not to. 

Be authentic and true to yourself. Never make excuses to yourself or your clients if it really didn't go well. Apologise and do better next time. 

Take up another activity! This really really helps! Something other than yoga that excites you

Enjoy!

y a w n

You will see this a lot in class. 
Some times, breathing makes you yawn :-) It's true. 
But in extreme cases, it can be quite distracting. In one class, I have a client who sighs and yawns (audibly) throughout the class. I am slightly thankful she is not a regular student, as I can tell that the other students start to get a little annoyed and disturbed by it.

It is really important not to be distracted by either the yawning or the annoyance of the other clients. You have to just keep moving the class forward like nothing is happening. If you react to it, it will just cause a chain reaction. Some of our clients become very protective of us, even when we do not need protecting ;-) It is important to remember this as it is not obvious to us some times how much we affect them.

This applies also to sudden and accidental gas releases! Some teachers like to point out that it is completely normal, yoga does this. But personally, I prefer to just move on unless the question is asked as to why it happens, or if someone breaks into laughter, then to make sure that the person feels comfortable about it. 

The other things that will throw you off or distract you is when someone looks at their watch, or worse, when two people look at each other and share a snide smile, like you just said something ridiculous or... when someone is picking their toenails in forward bend (how boring is it??) Just smile.

You never know what kind of day or life someone is having. They could have had such a crazy day and made a point to make it to class. Remember that it is not about you, it is about them. It is their practice. They are not in class to make us feel good about ourselves, but we are here to share something that makes us all feel good. So we stand there and do what we do, even if they look like they rather be somewhere else (for whatever reason) 

And if they really really don't enjoy it, they won't be back, and that is fine too. We cannot please everybody. But we can try..

class attendance

If your class is jammed packed full of people, don't let the ego get you.
If only a couple of people turned up, don't take it personally.

There are many reasons why people show up in class..
You could be the best teacher in the world, in the worst location, teaching the worst possible time slot, wondering why you are not able to get the numbers through your door.

My teacher Sianna Shermann offered the best advice:
"It is not your problem how many people turned up, serve the people who did."
It's the classic, stop fixating on what you don't have and start focusing on what you do.

When I started teaching, I remember many evenings when nobody would turn up. I would have paid for the room, so i either spent my time practicing or just took the time off. We used to say "the universe has given us a day off" This happened a lot! I also remember the class where I met the lovely person who would bring Cooper into our lives and change it forever. For many weeks, or was it months? she would be the only person who would turn up. I learnt so much from teaching her. Eventually, another girl would join her. And they have been my most loyal clients till today and more importantly, my friends. 

It is NOT easy teaching a small class. Some days, you wish nobody had turned up at all. When the class is small, it takes a lot more out of you as you will have to work harder at supporting the energy of the class. Remind yourself on these day, that this is what the job is really about. If you took this job to serve others, then this is it. If you did it to share what yoga does for you, then know, that this too, is yoga. 

When the class is heaving, these are easy days and class flows much better. You almost just.... facilitate. 

One more thing...
When you cover another teacher's class and realise they have so many more students than you do, don't let that start playing on your mind either. Chances are, you will feel like they are a better teacher than you are. If you feel that way, then make time to attend the class and learn from them. But know this, there could be a multitude of reasons why that is so. Just remember your practice- stay true to yourself, aim to learn and always aim to grow.