By:
Virginia Iversen, M.Ed
When we
are in an expansive state of being, our hearts are ebullient and our spirits
are light. One of the fundamental reasons that may have prompted you to become
a professional Yoga teacher is the sense of lightness, well being and
expansiveness that a regular practice of postures, breathing exercises and
meditation techniques generates. You may have also discovered over months and
years of practicing Yoga that your own regard for yourself is higher.
In
addition, you probably have noticed that you take care of yourself better now
than you did before you started practicing and teaching Yoga. One of the
reasons that Yoga expands self-love is the sense of accomplishment and
self-appreciation that is generated over time. On the flip side of the
proverbial coin, a dedicated practice of Yoga also has the ability to uncover
our weaknesses and idiosyncratic foibles, both physically and
psychologically.
As a
professional Yoga teacher, you have probably learned that
patient, persistent effort and unconditional kind regard for yourself
and your students tends to generate the most effective positive change.
When you approach your own goals and level of accomplishment in your personal
Yoga practice with patience and dedication, you will be more able to approach
your students with the same level of diligence. In addition, it is important to
engage in your own personal practice with kindness towards your self.
By
implementing patience, dedication and kind regard in your own personal practice,
it will become second nature to teach your classes in the same loving manner. A
wonderful way to help you stay heart-centered when you teach Yoga is to focus
on appreciation. Appreciation can include the gift of having the time, health
and physical space in which to teach. Appreciation can also include gratitude
for the dedicated efforts of your students.
By
grounding your teaching with a feeling of appreciation, your students will feel
more supported and safer in your Yoga class. Take an opposite example to
illustrate this point. Several years ago, I was taking a Yoga class at a well
known and highly reputed holistic educational retreat center. When I entered
the class, I was surprised that there were only five participants. It wasn't
long before I found out why the class was so poorly attended!
The Yoga
teacher, who was leading the class, was quite militant in his insistence to do
exactly as he instructed, regardless of what my own individual needs were. He
insisted that I ignore the signals that my body was giving me, and that I
compliantly follow his commands. At the time, I was still healing from a
serious knee injury, so rather than damaging a delicately healing knee joint, I
slipped out the door. In this situation, I felt disrespected and unsafe.
In the
same way, if you disrespect the individual needs of your students by insisting
that all of your students adhere to a preset sequence of Yoga postures, you
will likely generate resentment and fear. This will undermine your students'
progress in the practice. An effective antidote to this situation is
to cultivate a feeling of appreciation for your students and for
the opportunity to teach Yoga classes.
When you
cultivate an internal stance of gratitude your own heart will open, which will
generate feelings of empathy and understanding between you and your students.
Your students will also learn how to generate feelings of appreciation and love
for themselves, by emulating you when you exemplify a grateful heart and mind
in the way that you teach your classes. In turn, expanding a sense of
appreciation and self-love, both on and off the Yoga mat, has the profound
ability to truly transform your students' lives for the better.
Virginia
Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty
years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an
academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related
writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.
©
Copyright 2016 – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center – Publications
Division
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