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Diary of a new class
By Christina | June 14, 2008
I started a new class at Mind Body Connection in Cooper City, a hot yoga class to be concise. I love hot yoga because I love the heat, love yoga and the combination of the two if pure joy. When I teach, however, it is not about what I love but rather what the studio wants and what brings the members through the doors. Now before I go on, it is important to remember that yoga is a practice, not a class, and for me, it encompasses the following:
- Physical body pose
- Life sustaining breathing (prana)
- Withdrawl of the senses (not letting things get to you or distract you)
- Meditation
- Holding steady eye gaze
I taught my first class a week ago and this was my experience:
The room was not as hot as it should be as I walked in, it was still getting to its desired temperature of 102 but certainly, not cold. A few people entered the room and said, “it’s not hot enough.” I kicked up the heat to please my new members. We started the practice and all was going well. I looked around and saw that the class was challenging for some and less so for others but all were able to participate, which is my goal. I do not set out to teach a class where no one can keep up, that’s boot camp and its ego and has no place in a yoga studio in my opinion.
Halfway through I asked how the temperature felt since I had upped the heat. A few people let out a gasp as if to say “we are dying” so I reduced the heat and we continued. A few moments later one woman asked if she could open the door to let the heat out. “NO!” That would really cause imbalance in the room so she had to leave for a bit to cool off. The class continued and I thought it was going well. As we reached the end of the physical practice, it was time for final relaxation so we laid down and released our bodies and minds and then the music changed.
My CD ended and I heard another click on so I just let it play since it is a yoga studio, it must be yoga music. Nope, never assume as they say, it was “cafe” music, at least that’s where I thought I was as I heard the music, in some cafe in Costa Rica with a lot of noise. It was awful music for relaxation but I thought, there is a reason and a lesson for everything that happens in life so maybe this was my lesson for the day; to let go and not stress something so insignificant as a piece of music.
If only the others had the same interpretation. The synopsis of the class: Too hot, too cold, too hard, too easy, music not “yogic” enough (the CD was titled Trikonasana which is Sanskrit for Triangle Pose), the end music was too lively and not good for relaxing. AHHHHH.
It took me awhile to get over the stress of not pleasing anyone it seemed but get over I did and went on to teach again Wednesday and had a great class. My moral of the story: You cannot please everyone everytime just do your best and trust that all is happening for a reason.
Topics: General, Yoga | No Comments »
