The world needs good yoga teachers. I\u2019ve been teaching yoga as a career for over 16 years and have logged more than 20,000 teaching hours. I will forever be a student both of yoga and the practice of teaching yoga and I suppose that I\u2019ll always be learning how to be more effective.<\/p>\n
Yet, through the trial and error of my own teaching, teaching dozens of teacher training programs, and by mentoring many other yoga teachers, I\u2019ve learned volumes about what makes the difference between a so-so or less effective teacher and what makes a great teacher.<\/p>\n
Here are three easy tools that I\u2019ve seen help several teachers raise their effectiveness from so-so, to excellent. Try them on and see if they won\u2019t immediately improve your teaching by helping your students respond to you better.<\/p>\n
#1 Be Authentic<\/strong><\/p>\n Great teachers don\u2019t try to teach like their teachers or yoga idols, they integrate what they\u2019ve learned and then teach from their own hearts. Being authentic in your teaching speaks to the yoga principle of\u00a0Satya<\/em>\u00a0or Truth. If you are truthful in your teaching, your best friends and family will still recognize you while you\u2019re teaching yoga. Know who you are and teach as that person<\/p>\n And for\u00a0Ganesh\u2019s\u00a0sake, ditch the overly-calm \u201cYoga Teacher\u201d persona . . . \u00a0(I pause to retch). And if that\u2019s the real way you talk, then you probably have a lucrative career recording the \u201cThank you for holding\u201d message for banks. But if you\u2019re not being you, your students will see through it before your first OM.<\/p>\n Authenticity wins over experience every time. Try starting class with what\u2019s real for you in the moment. \u201cOk! I\u2019m kinda new at this so I\u2019m nervous as hell but I\u2019m excited to be here so I\u2019ll try to stay grounded in my body during class as I\u2019m inviting you to do likewise.\u201d Boom! If I were a student in a class and my teacher started out with that kind of honesty, they would instantly have my buy-in, despite their lack of experience.<\/p>\n