Creating the Perfect Yoga Class
Today I’m going to drop some tips that are not only going to help my yoga teachers out there but are also going to help my yoga practitioners find the right teacher for them. I’m dropping gems on the five things that I do to create a really impactful and empowering yoga experience.
1.Environment
You want to cultivate the environment and the space so that you can create a safe container for the experience. For me, that means when I’m teaching from home I’m making sure that the environment is clean, making sure that the background behind where I’m teaching is nice and clean, really trying to create an aesthetic visual experience. If I’m teaching in real life, I also want to make sure I’m bringing people to a space that feels open and inspiring and just, you know, a space that has good vibrations.
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2. Ambiance
You can create ambiance in a space a number of different ways but I like to be guided by the five senses. If I’m practicing at home I’m using my essential oils or some incense or sage, when I’m in person I often use those things as well. Candles or some other type of ambient lighting is great; I have my salt lamp on in the background whenever I’m teaching. If you’re in an outdoor space perhaps you can think about the lighting there. Sound is also so important, so using music or sound bowls, if you’re out in nature it could be the natural birdsong.
You can’t really do much around taste unfortunately but if you’re cultivating an experience in person perhaps there might be an opportunity for tea or infused water or something like that. Thinking about sight; when I’m teaching live on Zoom from my home I always create a graphic in Canva that I put up as a welcome screen while people are waiting for the class to start, I also am playing music to start to create an ambiance. The graphics typically share what the class is, a short description of the class and it is also branded so that folks are engaging with an Afro Yoga experience from the moment they log on and I know I’m bringing the brand through even in these virtual environments. In person it could be similar; perhaps you’re wearing your brand colors or merchandise. If it’s your own event, perhaps you have some sort of branded signage or photo backdrop for folks to use.
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3. Education
This is something that not all yoga teachers do, but I always provide education. I don’t like to assume that people know what the practice is intended for and what the objective is. I also don’t always expect folks to know what yoga really means. People will often not know what the word “yoga” means, so I like to give some context around the practice, if I’m teaching a yin yoga class I will let people know that for some people this stillness and this silence is beautiful for some people and they can really rest, but for other people it can be really uncomfortable. In sharing with people what they can expect from certain types of practices, when those things come up for people during the practice you’ve already made them aware. It allows the nervous system to be at ease and allows people to have a different type of measure of success in the practice.
When folks are newer to the practice they may be prone to thinking it’s all about being flexible or being able to do all these different poses and breathing on time with the teacher’s prompts. But that’s not really what it’s about; the yoga practice is about being present, being fully there with yourself and carving out time for you to cultivate a connection with your self. It’s about having an internal experience. So being able to explain that while teaching, you can give people a different mark of success. Then you can end up having folks who think “wow I really was able to connect to my breath” or “I got really present, I got in touch with my emotions” and that’s so different from folks being in class and worried that their Warrior Two doesn’t look like the person next to them. I think it’s really important and very empowering to give people the knowledge and the understanding of what the possibilities are in their practice.
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4. Empowering Language
What the yoga teacher says in a class has the potential to either develop and inspire trust about the practice or the person or it can completely dissuade them. Any yoga teachers out there just know that your words are incredibly powerful and keep in mind the idea of making sure the practice always feels accessible. For example I never say “if you can’t do this, try this…” instead I say “if it feels good to you, you could try this…”. Being able to empower people to make their own choices within the practice as you guide them.
Some empowering phrases could include:
“if you have it in your practice, now I a great opportunity to come into a wheel pose…”
“if this feels good in your body, try x, y, z…”
“if you’re curious, maybe you can try this variation…”
“here is another place that you could go with this and if it doesn’t feel good for you, you can always come back…”
“on the next breath in, if it sounds good, you could take a mini back-bend…”
Giving people options and giving people the permission while never making people feel like they are less than if they don’t take the choice you’re providing.
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5. Community connection
I always give space for folks to have their own experience, so I don’t talk during the entire class. At the very end I always round out my classes with community connection and give people the opportunity to share what their experience was like or if they would like to share a reflection about the practice. What this does is that it cultivates an atmosphere of safety and of affirmation that all experiences are valid and other people will be inspired by that.
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If you want to create the perfect yoga class those are five things that go into the Afro Yoga secret teaching sauce. You heard it first from ya girl!
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What I would suggest if yoga really hasn’t been your thing and you’ve not been feeling it up to today, I would say to just consider whether you have the wrong teacher because you should try at least three different yoga classes and three different teachers before you say it’s not for you. Look for a teacher that you vibe with and whose teaching style you enjoy and you feel the music that they play.
Then you need to find a style that works for you – be thinking about what your goals are for your practice. Are you looking to build strength? Are you looking to find peace of mind and de-stress? Try to look for the styles of yoga that can really help you with the goals that you have and move with the yoga that is the right pace for you.
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All that said, if you like my teaching style and you like the way that I deliver and that I’m knowledgeable on my topics and you want to get into some yoga and give it another try I am going to SHAMELESSLY plug myself and say that I have a whole Online Studio including:
35 on-demand classes.
Two new classes added every month so the longer you’re a member the more classes you get.
You get to join me twice a month in live online classes.
Around 60 plant-based recipes, and
18 guided meditations.
I really designed the studio as a way to be a more wholistic experience and support you as you start to move your body, sweat, feel good about yourself. It’s important to have those recipes so you’re eating to support your health, the meditations are there to support your mental health and you get to be in community particularly with the live classes.