Why I Love Teaching Yoga at the Gym

For as long as I’ve been practicing and teaching yoga, I’ve noticed a divide between studio yoga and gym yoga. It’s a division I never really understood. I’ve had wonderful and inspiring yoga teachers at the various gyms I’ve belonged to … most of whom have been better teachers than at some studios with reputations for being The Best of FILL IN CITY NAME HERE.

My first paid yoga teaching gig  was at the same gym where I took my first yoga class.  It was a place I felt comfortable.  I knew a lot of the staff, some of the students, and was excited to work with them on a new level.

Since that day, I’ve chosen to teach more at gyms rather than at studios. Some might wonder why I’ve passed up opportunities to teach at more studios in favor of taking on gym classes.  Traditionally studios paychecks are higher, the hours more flexible and the space is devoted (usually) to one activity: yoga. No space sharing with the Zumba class, or weaving your way through the grunting weight-lifters, and everyone has a mat, strap and a block at the studio.

So why would I choose to teach at a gym, specifically a university gym?  One answer: the students.  I don’t just mean the actual students, but the blend of faculty, staff and students who show up, eagerly and with a bit of trepidation every September. It’s always a blank slate; the most perfect storm of Beginners Mind.

Each September I get a new group of yogis, excited for the chance to stretch out, strengthen, and escape the rigors of college for 60 or 75 minutes. They are from all backgrounds and run the gamut of abilities.  There’s something about yoga at a gym that’s much less threatening than yoga at a studio.  There’s less pressure at the gym to be perfect. Everyone’s a beginner here and we all practice together on the unsprung hardwood floors, attempting to tune out the repetitive thud of basketballs from the courts above.

Every week these students show up, ready to try something new on their mats, and ready to learn how to breath. It’s this dedication that keeps me teaching at gyms and keeps me inspired.

Teaching at a studio is fun, don’t get me wrong. I teach at a beautiful studio and work with an incredibly loving and supportive community there. But there is, atevery studio I’ve gone to, an added level of perfectionism that I don’t find at gym yoga. Perhaps it stems from the single-purpose of the studio. With only one dedicated activity, one cannot help but navel-gaze, often to our own detriment.  (Yes, I realize that writing about navel-gazing on a personal blog is the height of redundancy. Yes kettle, I know I’m black.)

There’s a space and a time for yoga in a studio and there’s a space and a time for yoga at the gym. But as someone who found her way to yoga in the dark basement of a gym, gym yoga, for all it’s trials and tribulations, will always have a soft spot in my heart.

Banana Bread Yoga

A while back, Yoga Dork polled her readers asking about sequencing.  How much does it really matter?

The results aren’t surprising with 43% of respondents saying that creative, complex and unpredictable classes worked best for them, another 43% said that structured classes that lead to a specific peak or pose was their cup of tea, while 13% liked classes that were consistent with little or no change. (I’d imagine this last 13% are Bikram devotees.)

Of course, this got me thinking about my own teaching.  Where, as a teacher, do I fall on the spectrum?   What about as a student? What are my preferences and how much do they dictate where and how often I practice?

As a student I fall squarely in the camp of liking a structured class leading to a peak pose.  I like the journey and knowing that, at the end, I’ll learn/experience something new.  Even if it’s poses I’ve done before (backbends or half pigeon), the WAY the teacher takes me there is the best part of class and gives me the space to shape my practice within a loving framework.

As a teacher, I strive to do the same in my classes: give students the space to explore their journey to a particular pose or series of poses.  I worry, though, that sometimes it gets too stale or repetitive.  And then I try to get creative and it all goes to hell.  There’s a lot to be said for the basics.

Teaching yoga is like making banana bread.  There are a thousand recipes out there, all of which  make slightly different bread.

For me, though, there’s one stand by recipe:  Marjorie Standish’s in her classic cookbook Cooking Downeast.  I may experiment around, try other recipes and other forms, but for me, this recipe is the standard.

Yoga feels the same way.  At my home studio, there’s a standard, and there’s nothing more comforting than walking to that space, knowing a little bit about what will happen, looking forward to trying something new, and mostly knowing that the end result is a body and mind that feels as comforting, homey, warm and soothing as fresh baked banana bread.

Snowasana: A Flow for the Snow

REJOICE!  A new sequence post!  This is inspired by the amazing students who came to yoga the night of the Big Blizzard a few days ago.  Here’s a 60 minute “power vinyasa” sequence for tired and tight shoulders and backs with a little extra core-strengthening to balance out the back work.

What I’ve Learned in 2010

Last year, for the first time in many years, I set some goals and resolutions. I’ve never been much of a resolution-maker, thinking that making them just sets you up for disappointment when they get broken.  A bit of a perfectionist, (understatement of the year,) I never saw the point in setting goals unless there was absolute assurance that they would be completed to the very best of my ability and with 110% satisfaction.  Oh how things change in a year!

Focus

Everyone’s been in one of those yoga classes where things happen that destroy your focus.  Someone’s cell phone rings, a digital watch beeps, late arrivals or early departures, a crash landing from a headstand or arm balance, noise from the street interrupts your moment of zen.  There are a thousand and one things that can take us our of focus in our yoga practice, mostly our own minds.

Today I experienced true focus.  At the generosity of the Harvard Varisty Fencing team, my Wednesday night yoga class is held in their space in the fencing studio.  Today, upon entering the room, it was half full of boots, bags, backpacks and fencing accoutrement, leaving little space to roll out a mat.  Luckily a gym staff member came by and noticed our predicament.  She went and talked to the coach who promised his students would be quiet upon re-entering the room to get their stuff.  “Oh boy,” I thought. “This is going to be great.”  But I tried to smile and roll with the punches.  After all, this is a true test of yoga right here, in the moment.  Can I, as the instructor, stay calm and lead a class where the students feel empowered enough to maintain focus in the face of major distractions? Can my students stay with their breath and flow even while people are packing up and moving around them?

Wouldn’t you know it … THEY DID!  My students are SO FREAKING AWESOME.  They never even batted an eyelid when 20 extra people suddenly entered the space.  The breath barely wavered.  I have never felt such intention and focus in class before.  Sometimes adverse situations really do bring out the best we have to offer.

Today, my students brought their very best to their mats in so many ways.

I am awed and humbled by their dedication and focus.

Daily Gratitude: 4 & 5

It’s the end of the week.  I’m dragging, my body’s dragging, my spirit is dragging … and yet, even though it’s at the tail end of a long day, I am always grateful for my yoga students.

Just stepping into the room with them, turning on some good music, watching them unroll their mats and settle in with a smile on their faces, toes tapping, makes even the craziest, stressful, hard-luck days melt away.

Thank you, students and fellow yogis.  You lift up my spirit, share your joy, and teach me more, every day, about why I teach.

In gratitude, I bow and say

Workshop: Yoga for Runners

This past Saturday I taught a Yoga for Runners workshop over at the Hemenway Gym for Harvard Recreation.  The weather was one of those perfect early autumn days that you only get in New England and seem all the more picturesque for being on a college campus. I was a little worried that no one was going to come and that they’d all go running instead! Luckily, though, I had a wonderful group of runners, cyclists, tennis players and a bunch of other athletes.

A Lifestyle Balance Sheet

Great news P&P followers!  Starting Friday, September 17th I’ll be teaching a permanent class at Prana Power Yoga in Cambridge, MA.  Class will be from 7:15 to 8:30pm!  It’s a delicious all-levels, heated class.

I’m thrilled to be a part of the inspiring teaching staff at Prana, though accepting this class forced me to look hard at my schedule.  Working full-time, teaching four nights a week, maintaining the relationships, friendships and lifestyle that I love, PLUS finding time for my own practice and learning to play tennis meant that something had to give.

What gave was my Monday night class where I work the front desk at the studio in exchange for taking the class free.  I ADORE the teacher for this class, but I’ve got to be honest and give myself the time and space to just relax.

It’s taken many years to learn that I am an introvert trapped inside an extrovert.  I still struggle with this as I love being busy, having a schedule, doing things I love with people I care about, but I also require significant amounts of “down time”.  Time to decompress, to watch a silly movie and paint my toenails.  Maybe cook a meal.  Or maybe just sit in a quiet place and read a book for an hour or two.  Every so often I need some “me” time.

Giving up Monday night wasn’t easy and I feel guilty about having to say no.  But I realize that whatever sad/guilty feelings I may have about saying “no” now, will be far outweighed when I don’t have a melt down mid-way through the fall because I’m over-committed and stressed out.

Self-knowledge. Sometimes it’s a real kick in the teeth.

Balance: a state of equilibrium

Balance is also defined as:

• equality between the totals of the credit and debit sides of an account
• proportion: harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design); “in all perfectly beautiful objects there is found the opposition of one part to another and a reciprocal balance”- John Ruskin
• equality of distribution
• counterweight: a weight that balances another weight
• poise: hold or carry in equilibrium

The Little Things

I was in Meghan R’s yoga class at Prana on Saturday when she used a cue that just about blew my mind.  We were in bridge and she cued us to press down through our big toes.  So simple.  So easy.  And yet it opened up a whole new world in that pose.  I’ve probably done thousands of bridges by now and this tiny little cue refreshed and remade the pose into something I’ve never experienced before.