Breathe with them
A post for beginner yoga teachers. It keeps coming up for me to write a short post about breathing with your students, so here is what I have to say about this and it may or may not apply to you. It’s been my fairly regular experience that when in a pose in class, the teacher will say take 1, 3 or 5 more breaths. Sometimes a teacher will say as you arrive into a pose, “we will stay here for 10 or more breaths.” Personally, if I plan to keep them in a pose a bit longer than others, I may mention this, but I won’t suggest out loud that they will be taking 10-20 breaths here and the main reason is that is that I am then asking them to access their left brain and ‘think’ about what they are doing and I want them to chill out as much as possible.
What I often notice is that the teacher will say “take 3 more breaths” and as I am inhaling or exhaling on that first breath, they then ask you to come out of the pose. I used to practice at a studio I taught at on the North Shore years ago and it was an advanced class and we would often be in a tough asana (posture) and this one teacher would say “take 3 more breaths” and then she would keep us there for a good 10 more breaths or begin to correct or chat with a student and fail to bring us out of the pose.
A few things here I have learned over the years are: to breathe with them, if I say take 3 more breaths here, I myself take 3 deep inhales with them, then bring them out, it shows them I am present with them and guiding them, which is my job. If I see a student needs a hand, I still take 3 deep inhales myself and tend to that student but I will multitask, keep eye contact with them and perhaps nod, so they know I will tend to them in a second and I will let the rest of the class know, they can come out and or take childs pose, then I can take care of the one that needs my assistance. All in all as teachers, whatever we are saying out loud in class, we need to be clear, aware, and articulate, we are guiding a group of people through a well being practice, it is important for us to remain alert and hold the space for them. For the duration of class, we are their leader, their rock, if you align with your integrity they will feel so much better and more relaxed at the end of your class.