My First Yoga Teaching Class

I taught my first yoga class yesterday after having completed my Yogaworks Teacher Training programme and obtaining my Yogaworks Teacher Certification.

It was not a planned teaching as I had went to Chi Fitness, BSC to attend a class with a replacement teacher as the regular teacher was on leave.  Actually, I was still contemplating whether I should attend the class as some of the practitioners who had attended the replacement teacher's class before did not like her class.  I decided to try out her class as being a new teacher myself, I know it is difficult to get students to attend your class when you are replacing a class.

Five practitioners besides myself was waiting for the teacher and when it was time for the class to start, we were informed that the replacement teacher had not turned up and they were not able to contact her.

As one of the practitioners was actually talking to me about my teacher training and certification while we were waiting, I was asked to take over the class.  The other practitioners were agreeable to the suggestion as they did not want to leave without doing the practice after getting up early and coming all the way to attend the class.

Although I did not have a class plan in mind, I decided to take up the challenge as it was a good opportunity for me to gain some experience teaching a class.

I managed to do a sequence that incorporated sun salutations, forward bends, seated poses and a supine twist at the end before finishing in savasana.    During the class I gave some tips to the practitioners on how to do a proper Chaturanga Dandasana as I noticed that normally, teachers tend to neglect this pose in a multi-level class.  

I found that even seasoned practitioners have difficulty in maintaining the proper alignment in this pose when they are doing the vinyasa.   When we are not doing the pose properly, we often end up with soreness in our shoulders after class and in the long term, it can cause shoulder and rotator cuff injuries as well as neck and low back pain.

I am sharing this article on 7 Common Chaturanga Mistakes (And What To Do Instead) from Yoga International in this post and hope that it will help you to practice the pose in a safe and injury-free way.

After the class,  I was glad to receive positive response from the practitioners who attended the class as I had wanted to impart some of the knowledge I have learned from my yoga teacher training to them.   The class has also given me the confidence to teach other classes when the opportunity arises and I hope to do a properly sequenced class when I teach again.

Picture taken from here