to be a good teacher, you have to want it

This pearl came from one of the yoga teachers I have the pleasure to work alongside at my yoga studio. So simple, yet so overlooked.

Nowadays, yoga students all over the country are coming out to 200 hour yoga teacher trainings and being handed the reigns to teaching a practice that dates back thousands of years. And this practice looks much different now than the shatkarmas and seated postures from the early days. [ Teachers, if you are uncertain what a shatkarma is, you may want to continue your yoga studies. ]

My first yoga teacher of a 100 hour yoga training course had the following advice to all of us:

“Just start teaching.”

I always admired how inspirational he was, but it would be years before I even attempted to stand in front of my peers and cue their bodies. Later I would learn that most vinyasa classes are set up to show the way through practice, and his advise most likely meant that the path would unravel before me just how my body would continue to adapt to the asanas and to meet it in the moment.

And yes, teaching yoga is just like doing yoga – you have to practice. But ask any yoga teacher and the majority will tell you that their practice was the first thing to go once they started teaching. Some may even tell you that they never really had a practice to begin with.

“Practice and all is coming.” – Sri Pattabi Jois

The foundation of a strong yoga practice is key to being a good teacher.

A strong practice doesn’t mean we look like Yoga Journal covers, either. A strong practice is a willingness to show up on the mat and in life with all of the practice behind us. The deeper aspects of this practice show up every time you step on your mat. The intention to practice, sit with ourselves, and tap in creates an undeniable presence for a teacher.

To our students who are still living life in the annamaya kosha, they may look to your physicality, abilities, and stamina as a sign of your value as a teacher. Hopefully these students stay with the practice long enough to peel back their own “layers of the onion,” to find value in the deeper and strongest parts of the practice. Some teachers are blessed with good genes or a background in dance or gymnastics. Others have to work hard on their mat. And most of us need to embrace Santosha just a little more and quit fighting the body we were born into.

I feel it is important for yoga teachers to be able to describe and demonstrate the poses they choose to teach others (though I have known teachers who can describe well enough to not have to demo), in an aligned way. If you are still building towards your own Chaturanga as a teacher, demo the modifications to your class. Those who know will go. Students love a sense of humility within a teacher, especially when they are working with their own on the mat.

Svadhyaya, one of the niyamas, is also key. Self-study and Jnana Yoga (or the yoga of wisdom and studying sacred texts) are ways to not only improve your teaching, but your life and depth of understanding. In fact, all of the Yamas & Niyamas are so key that Yoga Alliance makes you swear to uphold these moral codes as a teacher when registering to be a teacher.

So, what makes a good yoga teacher?

You have to want it, everyday, and practice what you teach.