"Oh God! These are real people I’m teaching here!”
In 2013 I started teaching yoga. I hadn't planned this. That came more out of necessity. You can read here how I support prospective teachers to follow their path today – 6 years later.
It all started with a request for representation. I had completed my training 2 months earlier and had no specific intention to teach. However, when I was looking for work in 2013, my teacher friend's request to replace me came at just the right time.
I was doing very poorly at the time because, despite all my efforts, I couldn't find a permanent job after graduating. I doubted myself and over time I hardly saw any reasons to get up in the morning. I felt lost and useless.
Then the yoga request appeared like a bright star in the sky. At that time I taught Sivananda Yoga and represented a Vinyasa course. In retrospect, I would assume that the students were probably initially surprised at what was going on. I was also nervous and kept thinking: “Oh God! These are real people I’m teaching here!”
Because during the training I moved among like-minded people - everyone was in training, everyone was in the same boat. I moved in a safe yoga bubble. I didn’t feel quite prepared for the emergency “outside”. Suddenly there were people sitting there whose eyes widened when they were asked to chant mantras or when I philosophized about the concept of brahmacharya (sexual abstinence).
In general, I had a lot of uncertainty. For me, teaching was a big step out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, I stuck with it. This was partly due to the situation, but of course also because of the joy of teaching. Otherwise I wouldn't have stuck with it to this day.
My yoga teacher friend contributed a lot to this and supported me a lot along the way. As I now know, she was my mentor. I was able to ask her all my questions. And I had many! She imparted knowledge and gave me concrete advice. That helped me immensely to grow into my role.
“You have to have learned a lot to be able to ask questions about what you don’t know.”
Today, 6 years later, I am giving back what I received back then. I support aspiring yoga teachers through mentoring. This is about profile development, especially at the beginning. Who do I actually want to be as a teacher? What is important to me? What do I want to stand for?
I would like to share with you some of the questions I use for this purpose.
The first part is about general marking out the terrain:
- What am I really good at?
- What am I not good at or what do I not want to be able to do?
- What do I need to improve on if I want to live my dream?
- What excites me?
- What do I want to be remembered for?
- What do I believe in? What are values that are important to me?
- How do my friends describe me?
The second part is more specific about the activity of teaching yoga:
- What motivates me to teach yoga? Why do I want to do this?
- What gives me strength and energy about teaching?
- Who do I want to teach? Who should my target group be?
- What do I want to offer (teaching style)?
- Where do I want to teach?
- What makes me unique?
These questions can help you gain clarity about yourself. At first it may not seem so important. Most of the time you are completely busy with other things and you get through your hours quite well.
Sooner or later, however, you will come to a point where it is time to ask yourself these or similar questions. At least I hope so. The clarity and security that individuals gain from this will also be evident in the classroom. I agree with Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “You have to have learned a lot in order to be able to ask questions about what you don’t know.” It is therefore worth asking yourself questions at any time on the yoga path. Not just once, but again and again.
Photo: @scorpionmind (Instagram)
Mirijam Lorch is a business psychologist and yoga teacher. In her work she devotes herself to the topics of physical and mental well-being. For this purpose she offers yoga, as well as online and offline workshops and coaching. You can find all information about their offers at www.mirijam-lorch.de .
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