Have you ever attended a yoga session that made you feel out of place or gave you the notion that yoga isn't for you? Don't be concerned, you're not alone. Nowadays with social media, a lot of people get the wrong impression about yoga as only suitable for flexible people and that it is all about how you look in the yoga postures.
It is important to find a warm welcoming yoga instructor, one that you feel comfortable with to enjoy and learn, discover spirituality but also have fun.
Maybe you have tried yoga on youtube and various videos, now it is time to go with a live, in-person yoga instructor, one who can understand your body and can provide you with the skills you need to develop in your practice. Here is a list of topics to think about when looking for a teacher:
1. Ability to communicate
Whoever you are, whatever your background, flexible or not, a professional yoga teacher makes everyone feel at ease. He or she makes yoga accessible. That is key, because yoga really is for everybody. Anybody can do yoga, despite what instagram tells you.
2. Personality and energy
Some teachers touch your heart with the manner they educate, while others provide levity and a sense of humor. Each style of yoga also has a different personality and energy, find one that matches yours.
3. Do they teach you what you need to learn?
Is the yoga teacher more concerned with showing off their own practice and flexibility or are they actually delivering to the client, you, the stuff that you want to learn. Are they giving appropriate corrections? Do they answer your questions professionally? Is it a two-way discussion or do you feel like it is their way or the highway? Hopefully at this day and age, yoga is adapted to the client and the yoga instructor is choosing the appropriate postures and rhythm of class for the client.
4. Anatomy or Spirituality or a bit of both?
If the yoga instructor you've picked isn't teaching the aspects of yoga you're interested in, he or she isn't the ideal one for you. Your best buddy might be your favorite person on the planet as well as the greatest yoga instructor in town. But, in the end, if she offers a fierce hot yoga session and you adore a peaceful restoration class, she isn't the instructor for you. It is critical to analyze what the instructor includes in their class. If you're interested in theory and chant but your instructor just gives a 60-minute lesson of asana (or posture), you might want to look for another teacher.
5. They adapt classes to the students present
Yoga classes aren't always uniform. In a class, there may be nervous newcomers mixed in with long-time yoga practitioners, frequent and infrequent visitors to the mat. A skilled yoga instructor will be able to view all of the students and notice these dimensions, give appropriate attention to individuals. Every learner should feel noticed and heard without being overtly referred to.