:: YogiSutras: Yoga Blog - Journeys into Yoga ::

I’m sure you’ve all experienced the “yoga teachers rut.” You teach anywhere from 2-10 classes a week, and you feel like you’re teaching the same thing, over and over again. Not only that, you SAY the same thing over, and over.

Well, I’m there. This week, I taught 4 classes, and I think I repeated the same words over 100 times, and somehow, even though I didn’t plan it, I taught the same vinyasa sequence, with minor options.

My original strategy to combat the “rut” was to go to other classes. Take seminars. Learn from other mentors. Seems easy, right? Yes, you can easily learn and teach someone else’s class, but I’ve found that in order to be yourself, a better strategy is to practice your own practice.

Now, this is hard. There’s no one else in the studio! There’s no external prana to help you go within! But once you get beyond that, and find your mind/body connection and meditation, you’ll find some beautiful vinyasas that really work, and that your students will enjoy.

Here’s a little tip (that I learned from one of my mentors, Shiva Rea). Find the vinyasa within the asana. Find the mini-movement (whether it be arm, hip, leg, a hop, etc), and integrate that into your asanas. Here is an example:

Utkatasana. (This is one of my own personal nemisis’). Awkward Chair Pose, or Thunderbolt Pose. Start with moving your hips side to side. Then, add your arms, and sway your hips side to side while your arms are swaying in the opposite direction. Have some fun with music with a beat! Or, simply switch your weight from heal to toe, while gently moving your hips forward and back. You’ll find perhaps a deeper Utkatasana, and settle into the pose. Not only that, you’ll find new words to guide them through this mini-vinyasa within the asana.

I’d love to hear your strategies for combating the “rut.” I’ll share more later.

~Namaste,

–Jennifer