Do You Have Fear About Teaching Yoga - How to Overcome It

When I was taking yoga, I found out that there was athemselves, less reactive in work situations or around
teacher training program available. My first concerntheir parents. I found myself able to handle difficult
was that I wanted to just learn more and not be asituations with less stress.
teacher. Could I do that? The instructor said that wasNear the end of the training, we had to pair up with
fine, but to keep an open mind. My interest was in thesomeone and teach the class. I had a lot of fear, but
profound changes I found in my flexibility, ability to dealpicked music that I found inspiring and a yoga
with stress and physical energy. The course coveredsequence of asanas that always left me in a more
meditation and the underlying philosophy behind theelevated state than before. This was helpful to get in
postures.the zone and to try to find the best way to help others
There were some people who were taking theexperience the benefits of the poses. I wasn't totally
teacher training class because they wanted to teachrelaxed, but it was not the terror I had expected it to
at a health spa or work at a yoga studio. They werebe.
comfortable in group settings and had previousDuring the summer I had the opportunity to substitute
teaching background through other holistic modalities.for my teacher when she went to India and this was a
One woman was an actress and taught fitnessvery positive experience. When people thank you
classes. Another class member taught elementaryafter a class and comment on the difference it made
school students. There were a few people like myself,in their week, it eases a lot of anxiety and puts the
that could not picture running a class.focus on others rather than yourself. I was offered a
As the course went on over ten months, many typesclass during the fall of that year and it became the
of fears dropped for myself and others. It often wasbest part of my week.
subtle and not easy to formulate. People found