I'm A Teacher!
Ugh.
I know. I haven't written much lately. My first week back in Toronto has been incredibly busy. I haven't even had a chance to do up my summary video blog from the last week of teacher training. But I will early this week. I promise. And in the mean time, I can tell you all about the first class I taught this past week... On Thursday morning.
I was assigned the 6:30am class to teach on Thursday. I showed up about 6am. My studio director was there and gave me the tour of how things work. She also informed me of all the perks of being a teacher (no paying for classes and I get to use a mat for free!)... And she also showed me how to sign everyone in.
This was all the easy stuff. And I was very nervous about going in and teaching the class itself. But she assured me she had faith in me and that I could do it.
I started class about two minutes late, just to give students enough time to get into the room. (People arrive just before the class starts, first thing in the morning.) I walked in, pushed the light dimmers up and said...
"Good morning everyone! My name is The Missus. I am your yoga teacher."
No one was new, so I quickly demonstrated Pranayama breathing. And then got them going. I evidently rushed them through both sets of Pranayama, because I was done with that at the 8-minute mark... Which is where you should be, but only IF you started the class exactly on time. I was two minutes late starting. So I actually got them through both sets of breathing in 6 minutes.
"At least we are on time," I thought to myself. I then went into the rest of the Standing Series, with dialogue... But not verbatim and not in the exact order of words. I did, however, say every posture in Sanskrit as well as the English version. And got them on the floor at about 48 minutes into class.
Not bad.
Because I knew I was ahead of schedule, I did give NICE, LONG Savasanas in between each of the poses. And I only mixed up the whole "right ear on the towel, look to the left/left ear on the towel, look to the right" bit a few times. Class ended two minutes before it was scheduled to, which was a great thing and largely due to the fact that I was wearing a wrist watch as I taught.
At the end of class, I said, "You've worked your body 90 minutes just so you can take advantage of this final Savasana. Please stay for a few minutes. If anyone is American, Happy Thanksgiving. I will be outside if you have any questions. Namaste,"
And I was DONE! Yay!
My studio director came out a minute later and assured me I had done well. She said she felt comfortable leaving me there by myself in the future. She only had a few tips for me...
I know. I haven't written much lately. My first week back in Toronto has been incredibly busy. I haven't even had a chance to do up my summary video blog from the last week of teacher training. But I will early this week. I promise. And in the mean time, I can tell you all about the first class I taught this past week... On Thursday morning.
I was assigned the 6:30am class to teach on Thursday. I showed up about 6am. My studio director was there and gave me the tour of how things work. She also informed me of all the perks of being a teacher (no paying for classes and I get to use a mat for free!)... And she also showed me how to sign everyone in.
This was all the easy stuff. And I was very nervous about going in and teaching the class itself. But she assured me she had faith in me and that I could do it.
I started class about two minutes late, just to give students enough time to get into the room. (People arrive just before the class starts, first thing in the morning.) I walked in, pushed the light dimmers up and said...
"Good morning everyone! My name is The Missus. I am your yoga teacher."
No one was new, so I quickly demonstrated Pranayama breathing. And then got them going. I evidently rushed them through both sets of Pranayama, because I was done with that at the 8-minute mark... Which is where you should be, but only IF you started the class exactly on time. I was two minutes late starting. So I actually got them through both sets of breathing in 6 minutes.
"At least we are on time," I thought to myself. I then went into the rest of the Standing Series, with dialogue... But not verbatim and not in the exact order of words. I did, however, say every posture in Sanskrit as well as the English version. And got them on the floor at about 48 minutes into class.
Not bad.
Because I knew I was ahead of schedule, I did give NICE, LONG Savasanas in between each of the poses. And I only mixed up the whole "right ear on the towel, look to the left/left ear on the towel, look to the right" bit a few times. Class ended two minutes before it was scheduled to, which was a great thing and largely due to the fact that I was wearing a wrist watch as I taught.
At the end of class, I said, "You've worked your body 90 minutes just so you can take advantage of this final Savasana. Please stay for a few minutes. If anyone is American, Happy Thanksgiving. I will be outside if you have any questions. Namaste,"
And I was DONE! Yay!
My studio director came out a minute later and assured me I had done well. She said she felt comfortable leaving me there by myself in the future. She only had a few tips for me...
- Don't rush Pranayama.
- Change up the dialogue for Eagle. (I said the same exact thing 4 times).
- Be less "cheerleadery".
- Don't mix up my "rights and lefts".
- When I do mix them up, don't say "Sorry".
- Don't sit on the podium the entire time during the Floor series. Stand up and give energy.
Teaching is fun!!
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