Yesterday, I subbed Focus on Form at Castle Hill for Clayton, did an inversion practice and then went home for lunch with Kelly. We took a drive out to locate Bodhi Bee Caves- wow, is that an unbelievable space!- and then I subbed vinyasa for Malissa at Castle Hill at 5:45 and then met up with Laura for some girl time at Whole Foods.
Subbing classes is such an interesting thing. You get a chance to meet people who you might never get a chance to meet and to teach people who have probably been learning in a different way and so it is a fun challenge, for the most part. Generally I do not like to teach much on Mondays as it is a day I often take as a weekend but yesterday was pretty fun. I must say I do find myself a little tired this morning.
This morning begins my Tuesday morning class at Bodhi Bee Caves. I think there is a lot of potential for that space to grow and prosper out there in the hills. Sean and Anna did such a nice job on it and they have even more plans for its growth and development. It is pretty exciting to be a part of it all.
So, I was thinking, "What shall I teach?" and then I thought, "Wow, new studio, first class you have ever taught there and who even knows if someone will come! You just cannot make much of a plan, Christina!" But I have a few ideas and a few contingency plans and at this point in my life as a yoga teacher I am pretty confident I can teach to who shows up.
It has been interesting to be branching out to teach at so many new places after 3 years of my public classes at the same place. It is a learning process, for sure. My style is pretty versatile, I think. I can effectively teach all ages, levels and abilities. I can teach in start and stop with tons of technique and I can teach technique in flow and a great breath-based vinyasa with a good soundtrack and so on. But what I cannot do, and probably have no interest in doing, is teach a class that doesn't demand work and doesn't demand the student's pay attention. I do , however, know how to get people to work. And so students who want that tend to love my classes. Students who do not want that, think I am a yoga Nazi. Funny, but true. Oh well, I am what I am!
4 comments:
Love love how you make people work in your classes, the only way I can practice! No Yoga Nazi, but true Yoga Enthusiast. Thanks for also all your chat about how in your own practice you continue to challenge yourself in many different styles, using the Anusara knowledge towards Ashtanga. I'm going to challenge myself to continue to think outsid the box, and try to add a little to my repertoire this week.
Yoganatrix!
As John says, so often, "It's not casual."
You are simply exSELLent.
I think of Yoga Nazis as the folks who judge you based on how much of an asana you can make of yourself :-). I actually ran into a crew of those folks (nobody that anyone reading your blog would know :-), but that's a different story. Very different :-).
I've never seen you devalue a person on any grounds. You always seem to treat folks as if they were manifestations of the Divine, without judging them by their practice.
But a great motivator, yes - you are able to transmit your enthusiasm into a class & make them want to be stronger, more skilled, more filled with enthusiasm.
Yoga teacher & cheerleader :-).
Aw, shucks, you guys...
Post a Comment