My First Time Teaching Yoga!

Friday afternoon my friend Jacqui, a yoga teacher, called me up in a bind. She was asked to volunteer to teach 6 classes for the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer. She called me to see if I could teach and help her out. I couldn't believe she was asking me! At Yoga Teacher Training on Thursday we were talking about the last month of scheduling, and teaching our "final exam" which is a 45 minute class teaching each other. I asked one of my teachers if she thought we were ready to teach and she threw it right back at me and asked if I thought I was. I didn't know. I think that I have had the best training with some of the best teachers, but my confidence was lacking. My head has been spinning with ideas for taking the next step in this journey and actually teaching. 

I said yes to teaching and I said that I could teach not one, but two classes. I had one night to prepare. I was so nervous and excited I felt just like I did when I would sing for a show or recital growing up. I haven't had those butterflies in a long time. To prepare, I was talking to myself the entire night, going over what I wanted to teach, the timing, and getting more comfortable with this whole thing. 

I woke up at 630am wide awake. I could sleep until 8:45 until I had to get ready to drive to my mom's pilates studio to take a class with her. My guy was asleep and I didn't know what to do so I tweeted! So many of my twitter friends were so supportive and it instantly made me feel better. Thankfully, I was able to fall back to sleep for an hour or so before my alarm went off. 

I had a great class with my mom at her pilates studio, Oxygen Mind and Body. I have taken mat pilates before but I have never done pilates on a reformer. I have a bad hip that clicks and rubs when I do certain movements and it was aggravated a lot with the circles we were doing and the leg work with the resistance bands. I really enjoyed the class but I do not think its for me because of my hip. It was nice to see my mom in her element since I have been sharing my yoga with her.

After class, I bolted down to the Reebok Headquarters in Canton, MA. Reebok Headquarters is absolutely amazing. They have a full basketball court and gym for the employees, a store, cafeteria, and amazing product development rooms. As a marketing person, this was a big deal! The Avon Walk is a two day event. Saturday participants walk from Boston to Canton for a total of 26.2 miles and then Sunday they walked 13.1 miles back to Boston. Walkers started trickling in when I got there at 1:15. There was a tent set up that Prevention Magazine and Women's Health Magazine hosted. There were mat-like flooring put down for the yoga classes. 

My first class was at 2 and I only had 5 people. I took them through a gentle beginners sequence informing them on how to take the pose and trying to stretch out their tired and stressed bodies. The first class was only about 37-40 minutes instead of 45 minutes because of a shortened sivasana and a shortened opener. We were positioned close to the music and cheering area as walkers finished their marathon and entered Reebok Headquarters so it was very loud. I could see students eyes blinking open and I knew I wouldn't be able to take a real sivasana while listening to Lady Gaga either. 

My second class was packed! There were about 25-30 students who were all eager for me to guide them through a gentle yoga sequence. I noticed how unlike a studio, I had to demonstrate and STAY in every pose. A few times I moved out of the pose to visually check in on students and everyone started to get out of the pose. So I continued to flow with my students for their own benefit. I wish I could have been able to check in on them more but the nature of the event and class didn't provide me with the opportunity to do so. I had a few really nice compliments at the end of class. One older woman said "Great job girl!" and another woman made it a point to raise her voice across the tent to tell me how wonderful class was. I felt amazing! I was so happy that I could treat these people who have raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer to a class that would help their bodies recover from such a long walk. 

I left the tent and I told Jacqui "Well I'm glad I liked teaching!". I could have gone through all of this training (and money) and come out of it not liking it. I LOVED teaching. I loved being able to help people, share my love of yoga, and practice what I have been working so hard towards. Yesterday might not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, because really it isn't but it was a huge achievement for me just to take the risk putting myself out there. My guy has been SO supportive of all of my yoga, blogging, and dietary changes. He totally understood how important my first class was. He randomly said to me a few times last night "I can't believe you taught today. I am so proud of you". It means so much to me that he understands all of this!

So that's my experience! Mazel Tov if you made it through this post! Check out the pictures at www.onaninhale.com & thanks for following me on this ride. 

Kendall

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