I used to be a Vinyasa Yoga teacher.
Over the past several years, I have been gradually changing my teaching style.
Because I felt that the style of yoga I had been practicing was injurious to my body, I decided to go back to my Iyengar roots.
The change has not been easy on me or on my students.
On several occasions, students would contact me and say that they did not like my classes anymore because they were too much like a workshop. They wanted me to play music again and they wanted to flow.
But I wasn’t practicing that way anymore. I couldn’t. It hurt. I was losing my ability to do certain poses.
For a while I was teaching flow, but practicing Iyengar. I felt like I was cheating on someone (mostly myself!) (That is an interesting topic for another discussion in regard to chronic pain syndromes - the relationship between pain and when you are not being true to yourself. Your body will let you know!)
The principles of the Iyengar method have been so beneficial and healing for me that I cannot go back to my old ways. I had too much misalignment when flowing from one pose to the next. I was creating painful situations, not fixing them. Since I have been back to practicing Iyengar Yoga, my posture has improved and I feel stronger than ever and mostly pain free, now.
I thought I’d share these pictures of me:
The one of me coming out out of the ocean was taken after one of my MS Bike Rides. It was so hot that year, that I took a dip in my biking clothes. I didn’t know that a teammate had taken a picture of me. I hated the way that I looked. You could see this twist and misalignment in my torso. I was always in a lot of pain. That picture was taken in September 2018. I had been working with an Iyengar teacher for just over two years. The other picture is more recent. It’s just one of the ones from my classes. I no longer have that twist or the pain. I thank my teachers for helping me.
The Covid epidemic was a real crossroads for me. I was grateful for the ability to still work and teach online, but teaching online was really hard on my body. Before the pandemic, I used to teach my classes walking around adjusting and assisting my students. I didn’t practice with them. But, when teaching online, I had to do the practices. That was when I realized that I did not want to be practicing vinyasa flow anymore.
Maybe it is also just a sign of aging. I find a more measured, but deep practice suits me very well these days.
I love the Iyengar method of practice and teaching. It is really hard for me to watch students flow through poses with misalignments knowing that they are potentially causing damage over time.
As of November 12, I hope to become a certified Iyengar teacher. From then on, I will only be teaching in the Iyengar method.
I am sorry to lose so many students who are not happy with the changes in me. But I know that there are many other styles of yoga out there and many teachers to go with those styles. I know those students will find a new yoga home.
But I have to be true to myself and teach what I am passionate about.
New students are finding me each week, and I am excited to see the progress they are making in their practice.
When I am officially certified, I will be able to change the name of my classes to Iyengar Yoga classes.
I am proud to be one of the few Iyengar Yoga teachers in the area.
I know my students will find me. A lot of them already have.