Today I met with Caitlin to go over my very first sequence. In the subsequent weeks prior, I have been actively researching and planning for my first class. You could say my training is a little different than what you typically see. I am actually teaching a class prior to my training. I know. I always get that look of confusion from people. "You're teaching, before you're certified? How is that possible?" Yoga training is quite a bit different than say; becoming a doctor, an EMT or even being a school teacher. However, the similarities between all of these things is the requirement for on the job training. Typically, you'll most predominately recognize this as being an intern or in terms of teaching; a student teacher. This is the same concept. Except my experience in yoga also counts as me becoming a teacher. I've learned what I want to include and what I don't and 9 times out of 10, I know what the Sanskrit word for the pose is as well as the benefit of the pose.
But the reason I still need to go through the training is to be able to dig deeper. Why is it affecting these muscles or areas of the body. WHY am I doing THIS pose after or before THIS pose?
So, this is what I'm learning now.
Caitlin approached me a few months ago with the idea of me student teaching a class that she would help me sequence and plan. We would take lots of time to go over it and it would also be a "self-teaching" moment for me. I accepted this challenge with open arms. I mean, who has the opportunity to have this cool experience? It's rare, and I am so eternally grateful to not only have her guidance but her faith in me as a Yoga teacher.
After researching and reading different sequences online, I bravely began composing my class. My first intention was to make those that were attending my class fall in love with yoga. Of course, this isn't always the case for everyone. So, I wanted everyone to walk away feeling renewed, refreshed and intrigued.
I actually centered my practice around Tree pose. (inspiration from a photo I took in Curvy Beloved) But, after I finished the draft of my sequence I later realized I never even included it. I'm thankful I didn't. I think it would have been to hard to start with. I brought my sequence to Caitlin's and we went over it dividing my poses in to YES, NO and MAYBE. From there, we restructured. I had great bones to the class. But there were some things that didn't make sense, and some things we decided to add to help the flow and to give options in case we blow through the poses I had planned.
I never truly realized how much time and energy goes into sequencing a class. I went into this thinking, yeah; someday I'd love to do this and this alone to; maybe I was right in thinking of it just as a hobby. I love Yoga so much, I don't ever want to get burnt out. I don't ever want to resent it.
You can totally tell when a teacher just throws stuff together and when they've taken the time to fully map out their class. It's those classes that help you dive deeper than just the physical movement. It's THOSE classes in which I want to offer.
When it all boils down, it isn't just picking poses that seemed to correlate and going with it. It's picking a PEAK pose, and then structuring your class around it to warm up the body and then release and help loosen those muscles we used even more. Not until we flat out make a list of what strengths and what flexibility is needed for my peak pose did I understand this. Then, everything else seemed to fall into place. There really was only 1 or 2 poses we got rid of completely. Then we added 3 or 4 more based on my deciding warrior would be the peak. The majority of my class had ended up being heart openers. This was extremely interesting to me because I had even chose a reading for Savasana that was based on the heart. This was my intention from the get go. But I just didn't have enough faith in myself that I was doing it correctly.
So, right now - It's safe to say I'm okay with offering select classes. But my goal is and always will be to make Yoga accessible to anyone who wants it. Regardless of their age, body type, mental capacity or financial situation.
My next steps are to practice my sequence for the next 8 days; every other day. Starting out just doing it, and then making mental and actual notes on how I feel during the poses.
