Yoga with Barb

Private classes – part 2/2

A private class is a personal and intimate journey. As teachers, we can see our student in quite a vulnerable state. They are sharing their practice, their story, sometimes their home, with you, the teacher. We might catch them at a stressful part of their day, or at a challenging time in their life, and our presence serves to make them pause and turn inwards. This is such a powerful and humbling thing to witness, and to be responsible for. This kind of connection is very special and more difficult to reach in a group class.

In turn, the student might not know much about us and what’s going on in our life. This is comparable to the situation of many professions – e.g. health care providers, mental health professionals, social workers, etc. – where one is offering their expertise, support and guidance to someone in need. If this is you, make sure you are also looking after yourself. As they say: “you can’t pour from an empty cup”. It’s winter here in the Southern hemisphere, and it’s a great time to slow down, nurture and care for ourselves.

Private classes – part 1/2

I'll be honest: when I was a language teacher, teaching private classes wasn't my favourite thing.
Language is all about communication. So in a one-on-one situation, the dynamic of the class is quite different to the one of a group class and there are some activities that can’t be implemented. If the student isn’t very responsive, it can feel a bit… tedious at times.

In contrast, yoga is very introspective. If anything, it can be better as a student to not be distracted by their peers and comparing practices. And as a teacher, it really allows us to tailor the class to the student’s needs and capabilities.
I have found myself enjoying really getting to know my private-class students and witness them grow through the practice.

What are your thoughts on private classes - as a student, as a teacher?

My morning routine

Wake up, hit snooze, repeat x42. Get up eventually. Get ready in the smallest amount of time possible because I hit snooze too many times… ⏰

You get the gist, I am not a morning person. 🤦🏽‍♀️

In an effort to improve our health and wellness, and thanks to social media, we can feel pressured to accomplish a lot as soon as we open an eyelid: meditate, exercise, journal, take a cold shower, eat a healthy breakfast, etc. 📈

If you are working on your morning routine, good on you. But remember to be kind to yourself. The sky won't fall if you hit that snooze button – I am living proof. 😉

How I started practicing yoga – Part 3/3

Of course, it wasn’t just my teacher’s adjustments. It was her precise cues, the way she explained the purpose and the mechanics of a pose, the prevalence a good alignment. Her classes are challenging, because the poses are held for a bit longer, her sequencing is intelligent, and I also understood then that yoga can actually be quite physical. It might sound like I’m exaggerating, but I resonated with her teaching style and personality, with her way of pushing my abilities, and she inspires me. She probably feels this way about her own teacher.

The point of this story is, if you contemplate trying yoga, or if you have and you’re still not enthused, I encourage you to try again, and try different styles with different teachers, until you find someone you resonate with. Because there will be something beneficial there for you.

For most of us, it begins with the physical practice. In my case, not only was I not able to touch my toes, I couldn’t even reach my ankles! Flexibility is perhaps the most obvious benefit, but there is so much more to it. Becoming more aware, more present, developing propioception, finding stillness, and all these words that didn’t make sense to me during the first few months. Learning how to breathe, and remembering to do it.

Take one step at a time. You don’t need to change your lifestyle drastically overnight to start practicing yoga - believe me: I attended a few classes with a massive hangover… also, I absolutely do not recommend!

How I started practicing yoga – Part 2/3

I have no idea why I gave yoga another shot. I was available, curious, intrigued, still left with a desire to get fitter without actually wanting to work for it (surely yoga is not really exercising, it can’t be that hard, right?). I came back. Regularly. At the Lululemon store, for the free class. It was a different teacher every time. Maybe I started observing that the class was very different depending on who was teaching. At some point I was coerced by my then-partner to attend a paid (!) class at his local studio. I still wasn’t transcended, but at least the space was nice and we were a much smaller group of students.

All of this went on for a few months. I persevered but I wasn’t convinced. Far from it. I didn’t get the point. What’s this about? Along the way, I also got curious about meditation and I had remained equally unconvinced by some YouTube videos I had tried, so I went to my first Vipassana 10-day silent meditation retreat (and it was free!).

Then I moved to Brisbane and continued to attend the Lululemon free classes – lucky for me they also had them on Wednesday nights, so I didn’t have to wake up early on Sundays! Eventually I bought a trial pass at my local yoga studio, and, still determined to make the most out of my investment (it really wasn’t much, but it wasn’t free), I attended one – sometimes two! – classes a day for the duration of the trial. This experience really confirmed that the classes were very different from one another – because of the different types of yoga, sure, but also because of the teacher.

Amongst them was June. During her class, it was the first time I received hands-on adjustments (again, pre-Covid). Wow, what a world of difference that made! It was crazy how, by the slightest touch of a finger, she could unlock capabilities within my own body, finding so much space. I remember it distinctly, it was then, when I felt it in my body, what the purpose of the pose was, that I understood. Not yoga, but the point of practicing it. Sure, maybe (most definitely) it makes you fitter, more flexible. But this is such a small by-product of what it actually offers.

How I started practicing yoga – Part 1/3

This might sound surprising, but after attending my first yoga class, I really didn’t like it!

I didn’t have a lot of money and there was no way I was going to pay for something I didn’t know I was going to enjoy or not. But everyone was talking about it and so I decided to see for myself what all the fuss was about.

I was in New Zealand and Lululemon held a weekly free yoga class on Sundays at 8am. I am not a morning person but I made it out of bed that day. I remember the class being very busy – this was of course pre-Covid. I had no idea what was going on or what I was doing: sometimes I couldn’t hear the teacher; and even when I could hear her, I wouldn’t understand what she was saying (down-what??). In my abyss of ignorance, I tried to look at others around me and attempted to copy them – “how do they even do that?! I’m going to break a bone, or whatever that muscle is that I’m feeling for the first time ever today”.

I tried my best to follow the flow. When the teacher was asking if we could feel a certain sensation, erm no I couldn’t feel anything. There were only two explanations: I was doing it wrong, or this was complete bull$ #*& (I was convinced it was the latter). Anything spiritual in the slightest made me feel like I was being recruited by a cult.

The ‘coup de grace’ was the finale. Savasana, which I nicknamed ‘lying on the floor’. I had plenty of time whilst in savasana to reflect about the absurdity of it all. “Good thing I’m not paying for this, what a waste of money this would have been, paying for lying on the floor ha! I could do this at home”. I had no clue on how to meditate and why should anyone do this in the first place.

A little introduction

🇫🇷 I was born and raised in France
👩🏻‍🏫 I'm a qualified French teacher
🌏 From a young age, I became very passionate about languages and other cultures, which later turned into a passion for travelling
👄 I speak French, English and Spanish fluently - and because I'm a bit of a nerd, I've also studied a bit of Mandarin (Chinese), Italian, Arabic and Māori
🇳🇿 Before moving to Australia, I lived in New Zealand for three years and I absolutely fell in love with the country and its people
🦘 I've been living in Brisbane for over three years now

Follow Your Heart 💙

2020 has definitely been a rough year. At the end of it, I needed to do something for myself, and I decided to join a Yoga Teacher Training. At the time, my motivation was to look after myself both physically and mentally, and to learn more about my new-found passion for yoga. The training would help me deepen my practice and keep me accountable.

When I graduated thus becoming a certified yoga teacher, the question arose as to what to do with it. I could leave it at that, and continue on with my personal practice; or, I could make the drastic decision of a career change. Very hesitant and scared, I started to seek the opinion of the people around me and my favourite yoga teacher asked me:

"What does your heart tell you?"

This question got me pondering. After all, as a Language Teacher, I already had the experience and passion for knowledge and connection that ensues. What is stopping me? Is it the fear of failure? So what if I do? Then I thought the start of the year is the perfect time for a fresh start.

So, let's take a leap of faith in myself, and follow my heart.