What Your Yoga Teacher is Really Thinking

I can’t speak for every yoga teacher of course, but as a student I do wonder what the view is like from up there, at the front of the class, and what the instructor might be thinking as he or she is taking us through the flow.  On the flip side, I know exactly what I’m thinking as I’m teaching a class.  Here are some of those thoughts:

I like her outfit.  Total chick move, but yes, I am noticing the cute tanks and leggings the students wear to class.  If I ask you where you got it, just tell me it was super expensive.  I need to stop.

I’m sorry my hands are so cold.  Every time I assist someone, I rub my hands so they are aware of my presence, but also to try to warm them up.  It’s a lost cause. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone waived off an assist because I was freezing them out, but so far that hasn’t happened.

Am I making sense?  Even though the cues I’m giving come from my training, experience and my own practice, sometimes I wonder if they make sense when they fall on my students’ ears.  I know your can’t really “shine” your chest forward… unless it’s a really sweaty class… but it might make you open up more and that’s what we’re after.   If I ask you to breathe into your left thigh, you have my permission to throw a block at me.

I’m really glad you’re here.  I am grateful for everyone who shows up to class.  I know the good that it’s doing them, and I selfishly feel good about helping them feel good.  It’s a regular feel-good-festival going on.

Y’all are doing so great!  I give encouragement during class all the time, but sometimes I just want to yell, “Oh my gosh! You guys look great!!”  I don’t want to disrupt everyone’s flow, so I don’t.  But just know that watching a class all flow together is awesome.  It’s like a dance.  It’s expressive and vulnerable and just beautiful.  You’re doing amazing.  Trust me.

Until I became a teacher, I didn’t realize how much instructors root for their students.  We notice if you look stressed walking in, and we hope you are less stressed walking out.  We notice if you are hard on yourself or if you are pumped at holding dancer for a few seconds longer than usual.  We see your focus and your progress and we are just so dang proud.

At the end of class, when we’re seated in easy pose and I look out at the faces, what I’m thinking most, is thank you.  Without the students, there is no teacher, and the act of teaching makes me a better student…and there’s that feel-good-festival all over again.  So when I bow I am saying thank you.  Thank you for choosing to be on your mat and to be in this class and to contribute to our flow.  The light and love in me, sees and reflects the light and love in you.  Namaste.