Are You a Perfectionist Yoga Teacher?

As a new yoga teacher, there’s a lot to keep track of.

Alignment… sequencing… the studio environment… personalities of students, studio owners and other teachers… stepping into your power… using your voice…

Eek! It’s so much on your plate and sometimes it can leave your head spinning.

There can sometimes be this pressure to get everything right, even though you’re still in the learning process.

So, how do you stay calm and enjoy the process of teaching new classes?

How do you let go of wanting the approval and attention of students, or feeling like you need big, busy classes in order to be ‘successful’ as a teacher?

How do you navigate discovering what you’re meant to teach while you aren’t sure what you’re doing yet?

Here are 6 ways to let go of stress as a new yoga teacher.

1. Let it be messy. Simply decide to let yourself off the hook! If you stumble over your words, if you get lost or teach the same side of a pose twice, if you forget where you were going… let that be OK. Remind yourself before, during and after class: it’s ok if this isn’t perfect. Perfect is showing up and being willing to be vulnerable.

2. Use your physical posture to ground your mental/emotional energy. If you’re feeling scattered during a class, take notice of your posture. Are you standing up tall, shoulders back, chest forward? Are you hunched and closed off? Can you feel your feet on the ground or do you feel wobbly? Take a strong, confident posture— it will help signal your brain to focus, and help signal your heart to open. Our posture comes across to students, too— if you stand confidently, it boosts their confidence.

3. Laugh it off if you make a mistake or get flustered— and get them in child’s pose. ;) If you get stuck or need a breather, get the class in child’s pose. This gives you a moment to collect yourself and calm your nerves. Even if you have to chuckle at yourself and do an awkward transition of just asking the class to move into child’s pose without any fancy transitions, go there! In my experience, students usually appreciate the chance to check in with their breathing and relax for a moment.

4. Slow down. Teaching at a slower pace can help calm your nerves.

5. Be willing to politely decline feedback. If you’re new to teaching, be aware of when you allow yourself to receive feedback. Are you in the right head space? Is now a good time for you to hear from a student, studio owner or fellow teacher about your class and what can be improved? Feel free to say, “Today’s not a good day for me to receive feedback. Can we touch base again at a different time?” If you’re overwhelmed and know that constructive criticism might be difficult, or might make you feel discouraged— speak up! Most of the time people are willing to honor this. Along those same lines, take all feedback with a grain of salt. Everyone has different opinions about how one should teach yoga and every perspective has value. As you go forward, you’ll learn what works for you and what resonates. Stay humble and stay grateful and you’ll be just fine. ;)

6. Find a tool that helps you memorize a few sequences that you have down pat. Are you struggling to keep track of the basic flow of a class? Memorization tools can help, especially as you are first getting started. Sometimes it’s easy to teach during training but then you get in front of a live group of new students and you’re a little lost! Highly recommend a tool like my yoga script if you are feeling stuck and need help just going over the basics to nail down a class you’re feeling super confident in teaching. Once you have those basics, you can mix it up and get fancier with your different flows, but for now, keep it simple.

Power Yoga Script

Calling all new yoga teachers! Are you ready to teach a badass power yoga class?! This script can help you improve your cues, build your confidence, and discover the sequencing and pacing that will define your unique style as a teacher. A great tool for transitioning from your yoga teacher training into any environment where you are leading classes, whether that’s a studio, gym, corporate setting, or private classes.

If you are struggling to remember what to say when you teach, or you’re having trouble guiding students from pose to pose, this script can help. The Power Yoga Script breaks down exactly what verbs and cue details to use as you teach. Are there fears or insecurities holding you back? Are you comparing yourself to other yoga teachers instead of letting your voice be heard? Explore the big questions behind how and why you teach using this helpful guide.

The sequencing follows the Baptiste methodology including the following sections: Integration, Awakening, Vitality, Equanimity, Grounding, Igniting, Stability, Opening, Release, Rejuvenation and Deep Rest.

This 48-page script includes:

• Introductions

• Warm ups

• Sun salutations

• Warrior poses

• Balancing poses

• Triangle series

• Backbending

• Abs and core work

• Hips

• Forward bending

• Inversions

• Cool down and shavasana

There’s also space for you to plan out a class and write out all the cues you’ll use to guide students safely through the poses, plus a list of questions to help you discover where you’re feeling stuck.

Precise cues, smart sequencing, and ideas for how to start and end the class in an engaging and authentic way. Walk into class feeling empowered and prepared to deliver a kick-ass yoga experience to your students.

Take your teaching from basic to badass with this power yoga script.

Here’s what yoga teachers are saying about the POWER YOGA SCRIPT:

“This definitely helped me improve my flow with teaching asana after my teacher training.” -Donita, Vinyasa yoga teacher

”I love how you laid this script out. I felt confused and scattered as I was working on my classes and this helped me save time in the process. Thank you!” -Keyla, yin yoga teacher

“I’ll be honest: when I got done with my 200-hour training, I felt totally lost. I mean, my trainers went over all the poses but as soon as I’d get in front of the room, the words just weren’t there. I felt so stuck. This book helped me build my confidence and doing some memorization so I wasn’t always so terrified to teach.” -Beth, power vinyasa teacher

Teaching yoga is a deeply healing and transformative process.

In my experience, part of it is learning to let go of the desire to teach a ‘perfect’ class. Give yourself grace. Show up as you are.

All you have to do is be you, and be willing to surrender to the moment. Everything flows from there.

As always, if you need support, I’m here!