What is it like teaching for the first time...after YTT

So you've just proudly graduated from your 200hr YTT and you're so full of happiness that you want to share that joy of yoga with the world so you eagerly volunteer to lead a weekly free Karma yoga class with your community...but then reality sets in and you find yourself beginning to question whether or not your eagerness was a good idea; if you've been here before, don't worry we're here to support you! And if you're curious to know what it's like to be the new yoga teacher on the block, read on to find out one of  our recent YTT grad's experience!

​After anxiously waiting for the results of my final YTT exam an opportunity came up to teach a weekly free Karma yoga class with my community - it was such a fun offer and a great way to get more experience that I couldn't pass it up! So I eagerly volunteered hoping to be chosen for the first round of recent YTT grads to lead a class. 

Shortly after our graduation, I was told that my first class would be in a week and while it was such an exciting opportunity, about 15 minutes later I found myself wondering, "Oh my gosh - I have no sequence, what do I do? Where do I even begin!?" - cue in full freak out here. While it wasn't very "calm" of me to have that moment, it was a reminder that we're all human (yes even yoga instructors freak out too). 

​After taking a breath and doing a few rounds of Sun Salutations to clear my head, I realized that I had a sequence all along! Note, this was realized on a Tuesday and my first class was on a Saturday morning! So after I played around with the sequence, practiced timing and cueing multiple times, I felt ready...sort of! 

On the Friday night before my debut as a certified yoga instructor leading my first class, I remember practicing my sequence a couple times and then deciding that whatever happens on Saturday morning, happens. A simple nudge to the universe if you will. 

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, had a bit of breakfast, meditated and set up my space for class. Was I nervous and anxious and even experiencing a bit of stage fright? You bet I was! As the clock ticked down to 9:25AM (five minutes before my class began) I remember telling myself repeatedly that I could do this and that everything would be okay. 

9:30AM the class began to sign on and as I found myself on my mat looking right at my laptop, I took a breath and for the next 45 minutes of class, I can only describe it as a "flow zone" because it felt like I just blanked out and taught my sequence. During the final savasana, I remember looking at my watch and wondering how the heck I just taught my first class. 

So all this to say is that after that nervousness and stage fright left me, all I had to share with the class was my sequence and it felt like a really cool out of body experience where you find yourself just teaching and flowing and making adjustments on the fly with no other thoughts except being in the present moment. As I closed off my first class I remember feeling this sense of bliss take over and it felt like such a great accomplishment and the first of many classes!