I confess that I once assumed getting to any yoga class was better than not going to yoga at all. I also reasoned there was benefit in attending classes with a handful of different teachers every week – because who doesn’t love variety? And while there is some truth to that assumption and reasoning, the more time I spend in this wide world of western yoga, the more my viewpoint has shifted drastically. I am starting to think there is something to that guru-student model.
If you are newer to the game (that is, let’s say, having taken fewer than 100 classes), then the strategy of getting to any class and having a variety of teachers to learn from can be a good game plan. It gets us in the habit of making yoga a regular part of our life’s routine. It gives us a broader perspective of all the diversity this ever growing and evolving industry has to offer. But by your 100th class – and for many, long before the 100th class – you should know which style(s) and teacher(s) really serve you best. And that, after all, is the point of any yoga practice: Yoga is meant to serve your mind-body-soul, not the other way around.
For some ideas about finding your ideal teacher, check out Finding Your Yoga Teacher: a Needle in a Haystack?
Just as our own practices evolve – one style suits us pre-children, but another suits us better through parenthood, or one teacher appeals to us in our 20’s, but another teacher resonates more in our 30’s or 40’s – yoga teachers evolve their teaching styles and focus as well. As my own teaching has evolved over the years, I have come to the very real conclusion that I am not the teacher for everybody. Nor do I want to be. So, I confess, I don’t try to be.
Caveat: To be clear, everybody is welcome to attend my studio classes and workshops. I do my utmost to hold space for everyone I have in class – no matter their experience, abilities, intentions, or attentions. I am just not so overly optimistic to believe that everyone will actually always get everything they hoped for in my classes. And that is okay because no one teacher can be all things to all people.
I may not be the teacher for you, if you…
- want so badly to do the latest trendy, über-bendy pose on IG that you will push yourself even after I invite you to give yourself a much needed break.
- just want to be shown “the right way” to do each posture, because the idea that each of us should find our own unique expression of poses seems way too ambiguous. – I know, I hear you type-A-ers out there!
- feel annoyed – or even repulsed – by the suggestion that meditation and mindfulness be the underlying current in all of your yoga, because slow flows, seated breath work, and formal meditation seem to aggravate your anxiety when you just need to move to destress.
- would rather skip Savasana (final resting pose) entirely, because, after all, you are going to yoga to move, and not “lay around”.
- are discouraged by the thought that I will likely wait until you have practiced with me weekly for a year before I even offer to work with you on inversions, arm balances, or other fancy postures that look so intriguing in magazines.
- are approaching yoga as a means of weight loss or otherwise correcting whatever perceived flaw you have hanging around your neck like an albatross – because my deep-seated belief that you are stronger than you think, more flexible than you realize, and wonderful as is might make your eyes roll.
- will think about being ambitious enough to come to five classes every week, but realistically only manage to come to class twice a month.
If you can check any of the boxes above, you might have a tough time in my classes. And I will most likely recognize your annoyance / disappointment / frustration / anxiety in class over it, but only because I have been all of those things listed at some point or another over my nearly two decades on the mat. I will see you! And while you might leave the class feeling like I am just not the teacher for you, I will promise to do my best to make you feel welcome just the same. I also promise not to lose sleep over whether or not you give any of my classes another shot. It’s okay not to like my classes.
Then again, maybe I am a good teacher for you, if you…
- are adventurous enough to use the props, try the adaptations, do the work over time to gradually let yourself find your way into a variation of those über-bendy poses currently trending on IG.
- can be brave enough to let go of the idea that things are a black-and-white, clearly right- or wrong-way, but instead might just actually be the in-between, grey, just-right-way-for-you.
- would humor me enough to include a little meditative, mindful slowing down despite your deeply ingrained need to go-go-go and do-do-do, because maybe, just maybe, slow, grounded, and still actually will have a profound, unexpected impact.
- might be willing to concede five minutes out of your day to giving Savasana an honest effort – just in case it does actually leave an impression on your nervous system and mindset afterwords.
- could buy into the idea that yoga is meant to be part of our life’s routine, not a quick, trendy, learning circus tricks fad – and therefore, can look for the big picture of yoga over years rather than weeks, which makes waiting a year to learn headstand seem to pass by quickly… And, as a bonus, the waiting to build self-awareness, proprioception, and strength for such poses means you could possibly still do them ten or twenty years from now without injury!
- would overlook my ridiculous optimism enough to consider that despite my views about your strength, flexibility and wonderfulness being contrary to a lot of messages from western culture and messaging, I might be right!
- will challenge yourself to stop prioritizing your schedule, but instead schedule yoga as one of your priorities so I can work with you consistently enough to really grow your practice.
So maybe I am just the teacher who resonates with you. Or perhaps I would be the teacher who challenges you to grow – the way things that don’t kill you make you stronger. (At least for this season of life.) Then I invite you to check out my schedule and join me for some yoga.
It could be that I am also just the teacher whose blog is a thoughtful, quick – sometimes quirky – read, but you will skip my classes. And that’s okay, too. Whether or not I get to have you in class or meet with you for 1:1 yoga practices, I am glad you are here. And I wish you the very best in your yoga journey, where ever it takes you!