Whole Life Magazine

August/September 2014

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People, Not Poses. And conversely, "What makes you feel like a piece of meat or a robot?" Mistakes New Teachers Make When Fields started teaching yoga 15 years ago, she took on the role of what she thought a yoga teacher was supposed to be: an enlightened being who rose above all the messy problems of life. After a while, she realized she was being a one-dimensional phony. So one of her 12 principles is "Be yourself." She real- ized that yoga didn't increase her enlightenment, but instead helped her to unfold her own true path. Learning to be more herself made space for Fields' students to be more themselves. New teachers are often wannabe gurus, Shaw says, who want people to worship them. And they're usually not great com- municators. "New teachers make the mistake of speaking too much," she says. She also thinks they spend too much time demonstrating poses and not enough time walking around the room helping their students. Consider the Venue Shaw developed the YogaFit program in 1994 to fi ll a need she saw in gyms. When she was getting her own certifi cation, she learned a lot about yoga history and philosophy. But that wasn't necessarily what people at the fi tness center wanted. "You have a lot of people who are there purely for the physical benefi ts," she says, "who might not want the other aspects of yoga." So she created a style that cut the Sanskrit and chanting, and fo- cused on strength and fl exibility. Instructors who teach in gyms should also expect fewer regular students, and more drop-ins who come and go, she says. Don't Try to Please Everyone It can take a while for new teachers to develop their style, and while they're still un- certain about who they are as teachers, they're more likely to constantly try to accommodate every- body's preferences. Fields remembers feeling desperate to be liked and to make everyone happy during her early teaching. As a result of her energetic plea for help, she constantly got suggestions for im- provement. But after a few years she grew comfortable in her leadership position and clearer on who she was as a teacher. The suggestions decreased as her confi dence increased. "In my clarity, my students get to feel if what I have to offer reso- nates or not, and choose accordingly," she says. Vulnerability and Connection Fields' principle, "Show your vulnerability and your expertise," makes a huge difference in retaining students, she reports. Most people come to yoga class because they're trying to work out knots and kinks in the body. But they stay with a teacher when they feel an emotional connection. The right combination of vulnerability and expertise makes students feel cared for and in good hands. Shaw similarly sees a need for teachers to emotionally con- nect with their students. "I think they need to bring in their compassion and sensitivity," she says. L.A. has many yoga teachers, so if your intention is to have a successful business—and as much as it is a practice, a path or a passion, teaching is indeed a business—it's clear from these ex- perts that you'll need to connect with your students and share from your heart. YogaFit and Beth Shaw, www.yogafi t.com/ Jay Fields, www.graceandgrityoga.com/ photo: Kuzmich Photo august/september 2014 19

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