Advice to New Teachers: Enjoy Being New

Photo by Rory Rogina

I taught fitness classes for a decade before I started teaching yoga classes. I practiced asana for many years before I began teaching, during which time I learned from  experienced teachers who excelled at asana, pranayama, and therapeutic applications of yoga.  Since I had good training from my teachers, teaching experience in other fields, and clear communication skills, I was a reasonably effective beginning teacher. However, due to my insecurities and a whopping case of imposter syndrome, I lacked to the confidence to openly acknowledge my lack of experience.

Many years into teaching, when students came to my workshops and classes expecting me to answer their questions, to train them how to teach, and to provide some sort of expertise,  I realized I had missed a golden opportunity as a new teacher. I missed a good five years of teaching when I could have simply said, “Oh, I am not sure about that. I am a new teacher.” 

Of course, I would have needed to be a different person than I was at the time to say, “I am a new teacher.” Over twenty years, many thousands of teaching hours, and hundreds of therapy sessions later, I no longer fear not knowing the answer to every question I am asked. I no longer feel that  being unable to help everyone means I am unqualified to teach. Don’t get me wrong— I prefer knowing the answers, being  knowledgeable, and being valued for my insight. Of course, I like that.  And up to a point, sure, I think we should have some proficiency, expertise and experience to offer our students. I don’t teach math or music, remember?

That being said, I have students with far more anatomical knowledge than I do, with psychology backgrounds that exceed my own, who are more deeply steeped in philosophical studies than I am, and who are  more established in meditative practices than me.   I am rarely the strongest or the most bendable person in the room. And yet, enough people  like to practice and learn with me  that I’ve managed to stay the course as a yoga teacher.   I used to think I had to be “the best” to be a good teacher and that not knowing or being able to do everything would compromise people’s confidence in me. Turns out, there is more to the story of teaching  than being a know-it-all. 

Thank God. 

Regardless of all of the technique about asana, pranayama, philosophy, and various teaching methods that anyone learns in teacher training, I think new teachers should focus on what I call Getting From Om to Om— that is, getting students from the opening to the closing Om without having a panic attack or a break down. People think I am kidding when I say this, but I am completely serious. Getting through class is the first task you have. And, because the yoga is on our side, getting your students through the practice will help most of the people most of the time. Movement with breath and awareness will do most of the job for you. 

Now, as time goes by and you have managed to get people from Om to Om without a meltdown, you can  pay closer attention to  the time between the Om’s. I suggest the K.I.S.S. approach— Keep it Simple, Sweetheart. As a new teacher, concern yourself with getting people into and out of poses with an economy of words, with active commands, and in a sequence that makes basic sense. Don’t be fancy— you are a new teacher, after all. Even if, as a student,  you love  practicing fancy poses, flowing through creative transitions, pondering deep intellectual considerations, exploring obscure links between postures, and diving deep into  theme-based practices, as a new teacher, keep it simple. Everyone will be better off, I promise you. (And, for those of you experienced teachers struggling with burnout,  feel free to return to the K.I.S.S. protocol anytime.)

I regularly  get an emails from sincere students who enjoy my classes and who want to learn to “teach like I do.”  Sometimes they like the way I sequence. Sometimes they like the way I weave a theme into class.  Sometimes they like the anatomical perspective from which I teach. From what I can tell, what someone responds to in my teaching varies a bit from person to person.  I always feel validated when I receive these emails and I am always happy to see them pop up in my inbox. Sometimes I think I should save some of those notes for  days when my self-esteem flags. 

But the truth is, even if you like the way I teach— and not everyone does— I didn’t teach like I teach when I started.   And, even if I could teach you all that I know, you won’t teach like I do when you finish training. Even with good training, sincere intention, and a heart of gold, you will be a new teacher. And, when twenty years pass, you will care less about teaching like I do, or how your particular trainers taught you to teach,  because you will  be quite busy teaching how you teach. No one told me this when I started and I was stressed out as a new teacher attempting to emulate the seasoned teachers who taught me.

You don’t have to know it all. You do not have to teach like an experienced teacher when you are new.  Eventually, not only will you be able to get fancier and more refined in what and how you are teaching, you will have enough experience to actually try to help people, which was the job of teaching is all about.

If you haven’t noticed, this whole entry has been about you, the new teacher. I truly want you to enjoy the process of getting started and being new as much as you can. An anxious, stressed-out, perfectionistic, self-critical yoga teacher is teaching in a dis-regulated nervous system. Stressing out  about teaching rarely helps anyone be a better teacher and the point of being a better teacher is to be better able to serve the people in our classroom. I believe the biggest gift we can give  the students in our classroom is our own, somewhat-regulated, nervous system.  (Please notice I said somewhat-regulated nervous system. Don’t get neurotic about this either; it’s not an all-or-nothing game.)

As teachers, we can  refine our craft for the sake of it, if we are so inclined. But the craft of teaching is not in service to itself. The craft of teaching is in service to the process  of the student’s becoming more truly themselves. One empowers the other. The more I relax about whether or not I know everything, the more I trust the yoga is on my side, the simpler I keep things, the more I know the class is not about me, the better I teach. In fact, one of my favorite things about teaching is finding the slipstream where I am 100% myself and  not self-conscious;  anchored in myself and in service to others. I glimpsed the possibility of the slipstream from the very first class I taught, but  I was self-obsessed so I got in my own way a lot, which got in the student’s way a lot. 

Be  who you are and what you are— a new teacher.  Before you know it, you will have some experience, people will expect you to know things, and you will be happy you didn’t miss the golden opportunity of  being new. 

Keep the faith. 

More soon. 

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