Yoga Is For Everybody? Not Quite...

This 2-minute quiz shows you if yoga is for you. Or what you should do instead.

Why You Should Love Your Yoga Teacher A Little More

Teaching Yoga | Yoga

I am in week six of my nine-week yoga training to get my 200 hour certificate; my body is sore, my mind is full and my yoga practice, which was once my stress release, is currently my stressor.

My body had mastered the beginning Vinyasa class (or so I thought), and I had a strong desire to share the benefits with the rest of the world, which was what drove me to teacher training. But I have to say…this has turned out to be one of the most challenging things I have ever done.

I try not to put expectations on experiences, so I was slightly surprised by the demand and rigor of yoga teacher training. But the one thing that I think in my head every time I leave class is this: “man I love and appreciate yoga teachers.”

What Teaching Requires

I have my bachelor’s degree in teaching social studies to middle-schoolers, which I can see now was a breeze, compared to learning to teach yoga to beginners. To guide someone that has never done yoga through a Sun Salutation B, or through an Eagle pose, using only your words and a short amount of time…is a phenomenal skill.

Not only do yoga teachers guide you to the general form of a position, but they also have to make sure you are safe and have proper alignment, primarily with their words. They have to monitor all the students in the class and read their energy, and accommodate to all the needs of students with different skills, emotions and desire.

What Yoga Teachers Do

Yoga teachers inspire you to go deeper, be stronger, and stay focused—all while invoking love and light into your life. They adjust your asanas and take your bad energy and replace it with good energy. They make sure you don’t injure your spine in inversions, while making you giggle or ponder an important life lesson at the same time.

It’s multi-tasking at its finest.

Yoga teachers are more than physical trainers, more than therapists, more than a guru of the trade. They yoga, they “yoke” a room full of souls into unison with breath, posture and enlightenment. They give the final “Namaste” and truly honor the lessons they, as teachers, learned from their students.

I have bowed my head and uttered many “Namaste’s” but truly have not honored the teacher or other students, and what they brought to my life until this teacher training.

So in the same way you have been cued to sink a little lower in Chair pose, or lift a little higher in Cobra pose, or twist a little deeper in Revolved Crescent Lunge, I am here to encourage you to do one very simple thing: love your Yoga Teacher just a little more.

Namaste.


Kate BrunelleBy Kate Brunelle – Kate tried yoga for the first time in November and was instantly hooked. She just started on her 200-hr yoga training and would love to share her journey with others.

 

Want to contribute as a member of the DOYOU community too? Submit your article right here!

Featured in New York Magazine, The Guardian, and The Washington Post
Featured in the Huffington Post, USA Today, and VOGUE

Made with ♥ on planet earth.

Copy link
Powered by Social Snap