How we approach our yoga teaching
Isaac and I have been talking about who we want to be as teachers, where we see ourselves headed, what we want to create, which spaces we do and do not feel comfortable teaching in, how we can show up more authentically and be of service, the message we hope to offer, why we show up on the mat as teachers…
It was helpful for us (and maybe will be helpful for our students) to articulate where we are coming from as yoga teachers.
Isaac shares…
Why/ What I want to achieve while teaching
- Connect the asana with real life situation
- Talk/ speak to spirit, body, mind
- Speak to the possibility/ what’s possible; make it able to be visualized or seen by the practitioner; make that possibility reachable/ doable
- Spread love, peace and unity among all creatures and nature
- Be a moving example of what I teach/ share
Sarah shares…
3 Commitments in teaching right now:
- Support participant in healing and feeling better during and after the session — physically, emotionally, mentally.
- Encourage impact beyond the yoga mat and that extends beyond the individual’s life. How can our individual and collective practice influence and affect positive change? How can our yoga empower the fight against injustice, bring more awareness and to ourselves and our worlds so that change (racial, economic, climate, and beyond) actually happens?
- Financially support myself and my family.
How I’m approaching my teaching:
I speak and move from my own experience in my life and my body, and from what I observe in my students- what’s communicated verbally and non-verbally. I don’t have any one style or methodology that I work from, although my greatest teaching influence is probably Baron Baptiste.
Baron demonstrates how to speak to the body as a way of empowering the mind and opening up a new path of thinking and acting. When I consider a theme for a class, I start from a simple message like: “keep it simple, use the existing tools right around you” and then link it into the physical practice, implying that the same tools and awareness can be applied to the rest of the day , i.e.— “you have the tools right around you- use the radiator as a prop, use the falling snow to calm and create flow in your breath”.
Like Baron, it is my intention to inspire discovery in the physical body, mental space and our current realities so that through our new awareness we can create choice and action, shifting the whole course of our lives, however subtle the shift. I want to continue trying to do this in my teaching, but more than ever I am committed to discovering how the practice can expand beyond the body and beyond individuals. How can each and every decision/ action that we take be of positive service, directly contribute to justice, and contribute to healing? Asking these questions right now…
