Yoga with Henry

Would love to know about you, so tell me a little bit about yourself in the comments! 😄

Would love to know who you are, so tell me a little bit about yourself in the comments!

A little late, but here’s the customary montage of to mark the end of 2023!⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Posting was really scant in 2023 due to various life events, I realized I was consistent for the first few weeks before posting started to taper off, definitely not hitting the target of 1 post every week. 😂😂😂⁣⁣⁣⁣
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2024 kicks off with my classes being shifted 30 minutes earlier, which means classes start at 0800 and 0930 - both pros and cons, waiting to see if attendance picks up for 0800 classes to build strong foundational basics for eventual practice! 🥳🥳🥳⁣⁣
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Will probably not be sure how much time I can allocate to 3-hour UY practices or workshops in 2024, as I’m exceedingly a**l on the content I deliver (which must be of value to the practitioner), plus changing of priorities as well. Nonetheless, I'll definitely update in my Whatsapp broadcast if there are planned things in advance, so that there is sufficient time for interested folks to sign up! ⁣
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My wish for 2024 remains the same: for more people to understand the full spectrum of yoga (through UY or not), so that holistic practices become the norm instead of a rarity. There's simply too much oversimplification for semi-related deep topics (mobility, overall health, ayuveda, therapy, mindfulness, etc), or extremely narrow perspectives (only asana / only therapy / only mindfulness, etc.) simply because it can sell well and at scale, but offers little in effectiveness and efficiency. Time is our greatest currency - beware of teachers who efficiency, they are likely to be stagnating or wasting your precious time!⁣
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You have limited time on earth - while we do learn from making mistakes (like attending bad classes), one should learn from past mistakes and seek out good teachers to learn from, so that you can truly incorporate yoga in your life, in the way that it should be! (ie. real ) 🕉️🙏🏻😊⁣⁣⁣
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No arm balance for today due to a shoulder strain, and taken outside the departure gate as there are very few people at this hour!

A simple revolved head to knee pose ( ) to stretch out the sides and activate the spine - common things that are often overlooked in a world frequently dominated by handstands!

Not teaching this coming Sunday - will be covering my classes as usual - remember to go practice, and see you on the mat the following week after National Day! 😄😄😄

# #8 🚩: Low/No standards in Hiring Teachers⁣⁣
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From time to time, I get questions on what studios are worth paying a membership for, as it’s quite costly to purchase class cards to attend classes from specific teachers in different studios. It’s often a tough question to answer, because I have the same difficulty myself, and I’m always cognizant of the fact that I have to keep up with my own practice (and ahead of my students) to ensure I have something to teach them! Plus, not everyone would have the time/finances/dedication to attend UYTT to be able to create balanced sequences (and memorize them) for self practice!⁣
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That being said, one should never sign up with a studio with low/no standards in hiring teachers, some examples below:⁣
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▶️ Hiring teachers based on IG popularity, number of followers, and students they can bring in⁣
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🔴 While this is clearly a smart business decision, it often runs contrary to the energy of the community built by the yoga studio. More often than not, the studio ends up with wannabe “yogis” who practice for entertainment purposes only.⁣
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▶️ Hiring teachers based on personal asana mastery only⁣
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🔴 Practicing and teaching are two entirely different things. A person can be an awesome practitioner but can be clueless at holding space for practice, especially if he/she has never even taught before! Which brings me to the next point below.⁣
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▶️ No checks & balances on the interview process⁣
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🔴 As in my previous post on Hobbyist Teachers, a yoga teaching job is a skilled job, which demands proper interviews just like any skilled job.⁣
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TL;DR: If a yoga studio doesn’t establish a high bar for hiring teachers, it’s definitely not worth your investment in signing up for any long-term membership, because things will only go downhill from there.⁣
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📸: Classic UY in the snowy woods⁣
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While it’s always a challenge to create new sequences due to the various dimensions required (eg. counting & calculating the number of poses & holding periods to excruciating detail, amongst others), it is still manageable because all 14 elements for a UY sequence are already memorized at the back of my head - the challenge is more in the creative aspect, which is tedious for me as creativity is not my strong suit.

Creating generic Hatha/Vinyasa sequences to suit all levels is actually much harder - this is because there are even more aspects to consider given that it is geared towards beginners as well as advanced practitioners - which means there must be various options available to make sure every student walks away from some result from the class. This is why it took me that long to create a new generic Hatha sequence to work on specific fundamentals!

As with anything in life, iterative improvements will always be made going forward, depending on how students react & perform in class, so don’t be shy in giving me feedback! 🙏🏻🕉️😄⁣
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It's the first "normal" weekend in a long time, with both my Vinyasa & classes back! My regulars commented I was going all-out today with a lot of strengthening in both my classes, & they needed a longer stretch! 😂😂😂⁣
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Recently, I came across IG posts from young female yogis (some are recent YTT grads) who were "promoting" yoga by claiming all the muscles & strength they've built came from yoga, & that they've never once been to the gym, by posting insta-worthy pics that appear challenging to a layperson.⁣ While it's possible, context is required. When you're young (20+), yes, it's definitely possible to grow muscles from practicing challenging asanas. Not the case for a 50 year old.
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This is why I continue to teach. I've mentioned this before in the past (quoting Ghandar-ji from my first YTT): "Practicing yoga for weight loss is akin to using a cannon ball to kill a mosquito." Replace weight loss with anything you see in the modern yoga industry, & you'll get a huge range of non-yoga related activities but slapped with the word "yoga" to sell you an ineffective and/or nonsensical product/service.⁣
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While asanas CAN be used for fitness purposes. but it doesn't mean it SHOULD. Yoga, in its full essence, can fix many things. Using it just for vanity's sake is a poor & inefficient use of a great tool. ⁣If students (& teachers) are not aware of the complete picture of yoga, they will tire of it like any other fitness fad. Depending on the individual, they can experience fad waves (leave yoga, come back to yoga), or leaving yoga altogether due to inefficiencies of asanas being used as fitness.⁣ And that is, in my opinion, the 2nd greatest tragedy of yoga history (the 1st is a history lesson for another day). Ignorance isn't bliss here, ignorance will cause suffering. Don't become another statistic! ♥️🕉️🙏🏻 ⁣⁣⁣⁣
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#7 🚩: Hobbyist Teachers⁣
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Despite being a part-time teacher, I treat the profession very seriously and on equal footing with my full-time job, because it IS a skilled job. But with YTTs galore churning out YA-certified teachers non-stop, it creates a new problem: Hobbyist teachers (HT) who discredit the profession with their half-assed attitude, eg:⁣
1️⃣ "It's just a side job, no huge income, just do it for fun"⁣
2️⃣ "Only teaching 1 class a week, I can easily wing it, no need to prepare"⁣
3️⃣ "No need to upskill, already have cert to teach"⁣
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If these HTs are not teaching in a yoga studio, maybe it MIGHT be ok to some people (it's a known fact that gyms and non-yoga places don't uphold high standards). But if they're teaching in a yoga studio, this is totally unacceptable & disrespectful to full-time yoga teachers. I've known of HTs (teaching in yoga studios) who:⁣
1️⃣ Barely do any form of practice themselves (not even 1 class/week)⁣
2️⃣ Do ultra simple sequences as they can't demo even basic poses⁣
3️⃣ Make the class exceedingly difficult by introducing fitness elements, or exceedingly easy by making it almost like a Yin class⁣
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In short, these HTs greatly affect the reputation of yoga teachers with their low standards - like how cheap offshore IT lowers the wages of IT professionals in Singapore - because the customers (students) view EVERYONE in the profession collectively as a whole!⁣
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TL;DR: Be wary of hobbyist teachers who don't put in the work to be respectful to the profession, or can barely be a decent student in a yoga class! A certificate means nothing if you don't walk the talk, or even practice yourself. Either stop teaching altogether, or live up to the standards of a proper yoga teacher, part-time or not. ♥️😊🙏🏻🕉️⁣⁣⁣
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