I wish I could say that I’ve been diligently working on building my beginner’s yoga class for my upcoming teacher stint. I’ve been trying so hard at not letting myself get all stressed out about my first ever teaching job that my total avoidance of the subject is really paying off. I haven’t been stressed at all. Too bad my first class is still rapidly approaching whether I’ve been stressing about it or not. Unfortunately ignoring the fact is not making it go away. I know I should be excited and looking forward to teaching. After all, it took a lot of effort to get my certification . . . but the truth is that I’m terrified to teach and I’m almost regretting accepting the position. I always look forward to challenges in my life, but I also always question my decisions. Life would be so much easier if I wasn’t so eager to face a challenge.
Anyway, to avoid the stress of building my first routine I’ve been happily playing with my new Wii. I just love it. The Wii Fit is simply a ball and I swear using that balance board is going to improve my yoga postures. It certainly does add a new twist to have each pose measured for balance and accuracy. I am very happy to announce that I almost always score “Yoga Trainer” on each posture. So that counts for preparing for my class, right? It helped to build some much needed confidence, that is for sure. I’m wondering if any new yoga instructors walk into their first class with confidence? Is it just me that worries that maybe I’m not ready to take the next step? Is it just me that worries my students will get hurt, or lost, or even worse – be bored? Please tell me that I’m not alone with these feelings of insecurity.
3 comments:
Definitely not alone! I've only been teaching four months, and my first class I was so nervous that I had to consciously will myself to speak slowly so I wouldn't dissolve into babbling. But, the feeling after the class was unbelievable! I started to feel like I really could do this. I went home that night and wrote five classes. I'm still very new at teaching, but I find I'm less and less anxious about it as time goes on.
The more we can get out of our own heads, the more we can be more effective teachers. I try to keep that in mind when ever I start to mentally get in my own way. It also really helps to practice the sequence that you will be teaching a few times beforehand. Sometimes it's fun to verbalize what I will say too, in part to really find my own teaching voice, and to make the verbal teaching more potent when I do teach.
You are NOT alone! I teach my first class tomorrow night. Now, I've been practicing in my head when I lay down to go to sleep at night, but until yesterday I hadn't put any lesson ideas to paper. And I still haven't practiced it yet! That's the part that intimidates me, the lesson planning. Oh, and that I have no idea what the skill levels of my participants will be since it's a walk-in class!
Good luck!
Aaaaah, it's so comforting to know that other new instructors feel exactly the same way I do. Thanks for the feedback! My lesson plan will start tonight.
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