Teachers’ Tales:
T
his year marks eight years since I embarked on teacher
training and subsequently began to teach. Where did
the time go?! The woman who never imagined she
would ever teach yoga is somehow still here doing just
that. I’ve written here before about how my personal
yoga practice has continued to evolve, and my teaching has most
definitely changed in that time too. So, I wanted to reflect a little on
my teaching path to date and just a few things I have learned so far:n Experience cannot be bought, and while you’ll never stop
learning you can never know everything. Yes, as a brand new
teacher you can be great and have lots to offer, yet experience only
truly comes over time. It’s not possible to shortcut the process by
doing lots of trainings back-to-back and collecting more and more
certificates, particularly if you are not allowing yourself time to
integrate what you’ve learned on each training before moving onto
the next one. As sure as night follows day, I know that my teaching
will keep evolving with time, and that’s a good thing.n Less is more. Teaching fewer classes per week suits me better. I
feel more able to give my best that way. Related to this...Sometimes the real rewards take longer to reveal themselves.
Paula Hines reflects on how her teaching has evolved through the years
n Charging all over town does not work for me. I learned this the
hard way quite early on. I went from covering the odd class and
having no classes of my own to travelling the length and breadth of
London teaching between 15 to 20 classes per week. Unsurprisingly,
burnout followed.n I don’t like teaching big classes much. By big classes, I mean
anything above 30 people. I have done this and I am happy to do so
occasionally (for an event, or when covering a class, for instance),
but for my regular classes I like to be in smaller spaces with smaller
numbers of people. For me, I feel as though once a class is above
a certain size it becomes ‘leading’ a class rather than teaching,
especially if you are the sole teacher with no assistants in the room.
The biggest weekly class I teach currently is 20 people, and I really
enjoy all the classes I teach now.n I still love yoga, but in a different way from when I started
practicing almost 20 years ago. It’s a relationship that’s grown and
deepened – and long may it continue!Paula Hines is a London-based yoga teacher and writer
(ucanyoga.co.uk)You can’t rush the process
Te acher zone