I have been teaching yoga now for 17 years.
I long ago gave up teaching aerobics, although I am thankful that teaching aerobics taught me how to teach movement eventually.
And I am so glad I got so tired teaching aerobics that I eventually found my way along to teaching yoga.
Thank God I was a failed aerobics teacher!
If I had succeeded, I might not have found my way to my true calling.
Over the years, my students have come to me for various reasons.
Some of the reasons people come to yoga include:
They want to find a way to exercise that does not work.
They are too tired to do any other form of .
Their back hurts.
Their shoulder hurts.
They hurt themselves in another kind of exercise class.
They are too tired to do any other form of exercise.
Their back hurts.
Their shoulder hurts.
They hurt themselves in another kind of exercise class.
They are depressed.
They can’t make a spiritual or emotional connection to most forms of exercise, and they are looking for something deeper.
They are too intelligent to hang out in the average gym and get bored with the gym culture and mentality.
They feel stiff all over and know they need to stretch.
They want to find a new group of friends.
They want to lose weight.
Whatever actually brings you to yoga, more than likely your yoga journey will take you in directions that you never expected.
For some people, this can be a scary thing.
For other people, this can be an exciting thing.
When I began practicing yoga with the Ganga White and Tracy Rich video years ago on my red living room rug years ago, within a month of practice, my entire spiritual outlook shifted.
At the time, I just took the changes in stride.
The church that I had been attending was a good place for me to worship but it no longer felt satisfying enough.
Looking back, I realize that as I connected to more parts of myself – even practicing with a little video – I began to enjoy a bigger picture not only of my own life but of the entire world that I had been living in.
A few years later, once I had bought myself an actual yoga mat and had done my first yoga teacher training, I moved my residence closer to town and began developing my little yoga class at the church.
It is not an understatement to say that I actually love each and every one of my yoga students.
I admire their efforts and enjoy challenging them and encouraging them.
It is fun to watch each of my students recover more of who they really are with their practice.