Why You Should Thank Your Yoga Teacher

Before I started yoga teacher training I didn't give much thought to how yoga classes were constructed, what all went into them and how much of a difference good sequencing could make in a class. Sure, I've had classes that flew by where I loved the flow and thought "Wow, that was a great class!" But I never realized how much has to click in order to find that magic formula. I completely took it for granted that my teacher spent hours refining the sequence they built for that week including the theme, playlist and how they were going to transition and open me up enough to achieve those apex or peak poses. But without knowing what all goes into it and how hard it actually is, my perception of it all was much different.

One of our first homework assignments was to create a 15-minute sequence that included all elements of a full 60-minute class. Sounds simple enough, right? How hard is it to fill 15 minutes with yoga poses? WRONG. Making sure everything flowed and was building correctly was more difficult than I thought. I also didn't realize how hard it was to memorize an hour sequence and make sure that all poses were cued correctly.

When I thought I had the perfect sequence I had Jeff go through it and realized how much longer than 15 minutes it was, how I couldn't remember what came next half of the time and how off my adjustments and cues were. It was an extremely humbling experience that showed me how much I still have to learn and practice — which is the beauty in this entire process. Learning new things, challenging myself and being vulnerable AF has been hard, but also really empowering and life-changing. 

I kept refining, practicing my sequence solo and also asked my fellow yoga teachers to take my 15-minute sequence. It's far from perfect, but I've really learned throughout this process to let that go and embrace what is.

Moral of the story: next time you take a yoga class and really felt connected to the theme, flow, teacher, etc. — tell them. Thank them for guiding you through a great sequence and for all of their time and energy to put it together for you. Trust me, it will make their week. 

Namaste,
Amanda