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| Hello,
I am thinking of becoming a yoga instructor and I would like to get some opinions from people who are currently instructors.
I use to have an excellent practice. I was able to take classes 3 to 4 nights a week and it included Hatha, Astanga, and Bikram. I loved all 3 styles and the more I practiced the better I felt. Then I had surgery and I lost all of my hard earned flexibility and had to start, not just from square 1, but from a place far behind where I’d ever been before. It was a very humbling experience and actually deepened my understanding of what yoga is all about. Sadly, I don’t have the money to practice nearly as often now, but I know it would make be feel better if I could. I thought that maybe if I became an instructor it would be a way to “support my habit.” =) The more I taught the better I’d feel, and I would also be sharing this with any students I had. Is that a selfish reason to study? Would that be a bad reason to become an instructor? I firmly believe that if everyone on the planet had a yoga practice that the world would be a better, healthier, less stressful place and I love the idea of sharing that with anyone and everyone who wants to make yoga a part of their life, but is it wrong of me to see the personal gain and benefits as part of the factors in my decision to become an instructor? |
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| I'm not an instructor, though I'm constantly tempted to do a teacher training (for me, not to teach.)
I don't think looking at personal gain and benefits is necessarily completely wrong, but it seems to me your core reasons aren't particularly good motivations to become an instructor. And, many instructors don't actually practice asana most of the time while teaching them, and you might not even succeed in "supporting your habit."
A home practice is free, and IMO it's something anyone serious about this should be doing anyway. |
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| Hello Elizabeth.
You've taken on a powerful topic for your inaugural post. Very courageous. And it is a very important question to ask (of one's self).
First and foremost this issue of your practice. It's free. You can develop a home practice and come to it every day. There is however several benefits to having a skilled, alignment-based teacher view your asana practice on a regular basis, but that is another topic. Rediscover the joy in your practice and do it at home even if it's only 15 minutes a day.
Now to the issue of teaching or not teaching.
If you are called by your soul to teach as part of your life's mission in the body, and are looking to share yoga with others, willing to examine your Ego, continue your training, work to live Yoga, and open yourself up to allow yoga to pass through you to others in order to empower their lives then Yoga needs you as a teacher.
If you are interested in choreographing, practicing while you teach (which means you cannot fully see the students and therefore cannot mentor their safety), or you aer looking to fill a void of any sort within you, then it should be more carefully examined.
Remember, teaching yoga is about the students and can never be about you.
Edited by purnayoga 2008-09-27 1:17 AM
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| Dear MzLizz: Purna's respond is worth contemplating fully for you. Read it very carefully, and think each line that he has written. Best Luck. |
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| Thank you so much for your honest replies. I see now that while I am not being intentionally selfish, that teaching would not be the best option for me at this time. I am still concentrating on my own practice and would not yet be ready to devote all of my energy to teaching. I had a feeling that this wasn’t quite right and that is why I asked for outside opinions. You all helped me put words to the question hovering in the back of my head and I greatly appreciate that!
To briefly address the suggestion of practicing at home, I wish I could. In a nut shell, my home is not a place that I am able to practice for many, reasons. The biggest one is that I live with my grandparents who require a lot of attention and when I am home my time is not my own. There is no peace here and I rely on classes outside of my home in order to find tranquility.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
 
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Hey Liz,
You can practice yoga just about any place. I have children and a family too. When I need to practice, I ask for 2 hours of complete silence in my tiny little yoga area. Another words, I tell them they can come and go through my room, but they must do it mindfully and not to disturb me.
Now days they are so good at this that my daughter screens my phone calls, she knows about the time I'm finished and waits to enter the room. I've trained them well. I don't think it's too much to ask your family to have your quiet space and time. Believe me, they like me best after my practice, because I feel better and I vibrate positive energy. Not to mention I usually cook something really good afterwards which means they know they get to eat some of it,  |
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| MzLizz - 2008-09-27 8:42 PM...
To briefly address the suggestion of practicing at home, I wish I could. In a nut shell, my home is not a place that I am able to practice for many, reasons. The biggest one is that I live with my grandparents who require a lot of attention and when I am home my time is not my own. There is no peace here and I rely on classes outside of my home in order to find tranquility.
Find a local studio and offer to do a work exchange for classes or studio use. If that isn't possible, use a room at your local gym during off-peak times. If that's not possible do so at the YMCA. If that's not possible, find a friend with a space and do a trade to use that space. If that is not possible check the local college, high school, or middle school. |
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| if you have your own bedroom where you live, then you can create a space within that space.
i have a new baby--my time isn't really mine either, day or night. but, i do get a yoga practice in every day (morning and evening) for at least 10 minutes. and, when my husband gets home, if the baby is fed, then i get 30 minutes then too!
it truly is possible, even if life is very hectic and you're caring for people who can't fully care for themselves. you just need enough space for a mat and 5-10 minutes once or twice a day and you have a home practice.
otherwise--gym, YMCA, church, whatever you can find (outside might work too, in warm weather. |
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Reasons to Become a Teacher?
