On Friday, January 12 at 2 p.m. (a date and time that has been ingrained in my mind for the past 6 weeks), I taught my first community yoga class. Through weekends of yoga teacher training, multiple practice sessions and hours spent planning and preparing, this was the big moment. I’m so proud of myself.
I was so confident about my sequence and the entire theme for the class. But after Laura's community class, I don't know what happened to me, I started feeling extremely nervous. She taught on Tuesday and mine was on Friday. I will never forget those three days of my life. I woke up each day with butterflies in my stomach just thinking about what it might be like to finally teach my own class.
On Friday, the day of my class, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself until 2 p.m... finally around 1 p.m. left my house for the studio which is just 5 minutes away from my house. I just went there and sat.. Around 1:30 pm Dina, our teacher trainer and studio owner, showed me around the studio, how the speaker system works, how the lights, fans and heater works.. I plugged in my playlist, walked around the studio, sat on my mat with eyes closed and focusing my self as a teacher. It made whole difference... got my confidence back and was all ready to teach..
I knew that few follow teacher trainers were coming to my class, my meditation teacher Kristin was coming with her daughter, Dina and other few teachers were coming to support me too. Mahesh was able to attend the class, that made me feel good.
Students began to join in and settle on their mats. It was such a powerful moment when I stood at the front of the room/front desk and introduced myself, as I’ve seen my teachers do so many times before.
At 2 p.m. I opened class with some breath work and began to set an intention for the practice. One of my favorite things about yoga is when a teacher reads a quote or sets an intention. That really makes me think and gives me something to focus on. So I knew it was important to me to incorporate that into my class. My class's intention was “finding peace” through out the practice.
Once class started, I was in the zone. I had prepared for this moment and at that time, there was nothing else to do except turn on and teach. I had my notes under my mat just in case I needed a quick check, but I never used them.
It was SO cool to see the class that I’ve planned coming into action with a room full of yogis. Once I put the class in Savasana, I sat quietly on the mat and tried to fully soak in and appreciate the moment. It was so beautiful to see so many yogis resting peacefully after listening to my guidance for the past 45-50 minutes.
Before closing the class I did some pranayama practice "nadi shodhanam".
I closed class with one chant of AUM followed my 3 Shantis. And a quote सर्वेपि सुखिनः सन्तु, सर्वे सन्तु निरामय: May all being be happy and know peace..
After teaching, I felt SO excited, proud and relieved.
I’m so incredibly grateful for my yoga family, from my teacher training friends and teachers and fellow students. I’m lucky enough to call them my family. I’m so thankful to be part of this community.
-मी मधुरा..
************************************************
