Why I love my yoga teacher

Teachers are the worst students. They judge, question, and find faults. Whenever I'm taught, I do too. I'm also choosy and I have high standards. It's hard to win me over as a student. Not impossible though. In this post, I want to share why I like my yoga teacher.

1. Her class is one continuous flow.

The class is one long uninterrupted exercise. She always knows what to do next. I take it as a sign of confidence and experience. The reason I value it is it allows me to stay fully focused for 90 minutes.

2. The exercises are in the right order.

I actually don’t know the right order, but even to me the order makes sense. There is always a warm-up and a cool-down. Some exercises are meant to prepare us for other, more complicated exercises later in class. The difficulty of exercises grows gradually. This is how any learning works. This is also the reason the class is easy to survive.

3. Her instructions are clear and meticulous.

Instructions in yoga are particularly vital for two reasons. First, you can’t always see the teacher when you are doing an asana. Instructions are all you have. Second, a lot of correct yoga movements are counter-intuitive for our bodies. Precise and detailed instructions are the key to doing asanas right. Doing an asana wrong is either useless or harmful, neither of which is a desired result of attending yoga classes.

4. She gives us asana modifications.

She knows how to adjust different asanas for different people or states. If some people struggle with a particular pose, she sees that and tells them what to do instead. I take it as a sign of profound understanding of how asanas and bodies work. It also means that everyone is welcome in class, not only the elite flexible ones.

5. She keeps an eye on everyone.

She has everyone under control. She checks whether everyone understood the instructions and is doing the asana right. I know how tempting it is to pay more attention to successful or experienced students. Which is why I really appreciate it when teachers don't play favorites.

6. She is patient.

I am only human and make stupid mistakes. In the first couple of months, sometimes I would raise my left arm when told to raise the right arm. It just happened for no particular reason. And it happens to everyone. The teacher makes sure all of us raise the right arm. Of course, after we've figured out what to do with our arms, half of us forget about what our feet/legs are supposed to be doing. So she also has to remind us of that. The amount of tact and patience she does that with is incredible.

7. She maintains a positive atmosphere.

There is not even a slightest hint of mocking, annoyance, or sarcasm. There is support.

I've been attending this yoga class for 1.5 years now. In this class, I always know what to do and I am not afraid to do it. I know I will be corrected and supported. I feel safe and want to do my best. This is how the teacher won me over.

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