2002

First time teaching

In June Susan asked me if I would be interested in in teaching a level one yoga class at the local Herndon Community Center. I was quite surprised that she would ask me to teach the class as I would not finish the teacher HAYC teacher training program until October. The HAYC being in Herndon, Susan said that the Herndon Community Center had contacted her about someone to teach a level one yoga class for the summer as their regular yoga teacher would be away. I felt quite honored that Susan would recommend me before I had even finished the teacher training course. After talking to the community center manager, I accepted and started teaching a basic level one class once a week on Sunday. I was a little nervous about teaching the first class but I was quite prepared having made a syllabus for each class based on the HAYC Level 1 session and from what I had learned in the HAYC teacher training. The hardest thing I found was pacing the class, either going too slow and not finishing everything on the syllabus or going too fast and finishing before the class finished. The latter was less of an issue as I could always do a longer final relaxation at the end. It didn’t pay much, $12 a class but I wasn’t doing it for the pay. The Herndon Community center required at least 5 students to sign up for the class or it would be canceled, that first class I had nine.

My first Yoga 1 Class Syllabus

Focus: moving into major poses: Dog Pose Center: Diaphragmatic Breathing	Take slow deep breaths, let the day go, focus on your breath
Preps: Lying leg stretch – press opposite leg down Explain sitting bones Seated shoulder stretches: Arms up, interlace fingers, side to side Cactus Pose Eagle Arms Triceps Stretch Lunge: 1. back knee down 2. back knee lifted Plank Pose (hold 20 sec), lower to…. No arms Cobra x2/3 – (option on blanket) Cat & Dog tilts Dog Pose Hands and feet sticky mat width Hands turn out
Poses: Air Chair Proud Warrior Spine vertical Tuck tail, front knee over ankle Extended Leg Stretch straight back, hands on hipshands on block, straight back, look up	Side Angle – to block Triangle Pose x2
Quieting: Knee squeezeRelaxation	Lying bent leg twist

At the end of the summer the students said they really liked my teaching so much more than their past teacher, they recommended to the director of the community center that they keep me on instead of the previous teacher which they did. I felt somewhat bad for when the previous teacher came back and found they replaced her with me, on the other hand it felt good the students liked my instruction. I continued to teach the level 1 class there for three years.

The following week I wrote Susan about the teaching my first class…

Updated: 05-25-2024

First Teaching