I Don't Practice Where I Teach... And Other Things I Do As A Yoga Teacher.

There is a reason I went a good almost decade between teaching regularly at a studio...

It disrupts my practice. 

I love teaching. I really do. But it is terrible for my own practice. 

So in August I decided I would pay for a membership at another studio that only has like six Bikram style classes a week, and practice there. I let my studio know I was unavailable for teaching on Tuesday and Thursday evenings - times I would sometimes get scheduled. 

The challenges I have had with my own practice over the past few months include:

• I never had consistency with which nights/days I would bee teaching. It would vary each week. Which prevents me from having a committed practice schedule for myself.
• I was covering for so many teachers out on vacation that I was at the studio just to teach 3-4 times a week. On my off days, I just didn't want to be there.
• It's hard for me to separate in my mind how I teach the class in the same exact studio space compared to others. (More on that in a moment...)

So here I am last night, rolling my mat out at a studio closer to home...

This mat is legendary. It's been with me across 7 or 8 studios in the 18 years that I have owned it.

I will never part with it. 

Do other yoga teachers have fun yoga mats? 

Probably not.

I'm not saying I'm better than other yoga teachers. But I have a better sense of humor. That's for sure.

Also... I don't keep the room insanely hot and humid. I let the temperature hover around 105/106 degrees Fahrenheit. And once the humidity hits 45%, I turn the humidifier off for the rest of class. You don't need it hotter and more humid than this. But so many teachers never turn the humidifier off... at all. they let it pipe in for the full length of the class. And then wonder why students - myself included - stop doing the poses and just lay there. 

I monitor shit all throughout class... And I open doors. I let a breeze in for a good 20 seconds once students hit savasana. Many other teachers do not do this. Not these days, anyway. It was standard practice at studios in Boston and Toronto back when I practiced in those cities decades ago.

I cut postures shorts... Because I will do whatever I have to in order to end class on time. I do not go over. I won't cut postures out completely either. Just shorten them. Punctuality is critical for me. 

In the past few weeks, since I began committing to practicing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at minimum, my postures have started to come back - along with my endurance in them. 

This is because the studio I practice at how doesn't keep things insanely hot and humid. 

Do they teach the class the way I would? No.

Do they even know I am a teacher? Also no.

And I plan on keeping that quiet forever from them. 

I just want to "Doo Yoga."