Finding a Balance Between Teaching & Practicing

Before I decided to complete my yoga teacher training (YTT), I did a lot of yoga. The amount that I practiced had steadily increased over the course of 3 years. I started with once a week, then moved to twice a week, then got up to 3–5 times per week, depending on the week. At one point, I was going every day, and my gym rat days became a thing of the past.

I love practicing yoga. I love the way it makes me feel both physically and mentally. I love the way my body feels long and lean when I practice regularly. I love the way my mind slows down and being patient feels a tiny bit easier.

This is why I decided to become a yoga teacher.

I wanted to share my love of yoga with other people.

After I completed my YTT, I returned and taught sporadically. I knew I wanted to teach, but I was afraid to put myself out there, so I coasted along for the first few months, teaching every now and then. I continued to practice as much as possible, improving on poses that I was teaching, and listening to the way my favorite yoga teachers taught.

At some point, I decided to stop being afraid and ask a studio owner at a local yoga studio for a job. Long story short, she said “yes”, and added me to her sub list.

I rode that wave of momentum, and asked a second yoga studio owner if I could teach there. She also said “yes”.

As time went on, I began teaching more regularly. I taught anywhere from 1 class to 7 classes in a week.

The more I teach, the more I discover how much I love teaching.

However, the more I teach, the less yoga I practice.

On a day when I teach 3 yoga classes, I have no interest in getting on my mat and doing my own self-practice. I have no interest in going to someone else’s class and spending any more time in a yoga studio.

The more yoga I teach, the more yoga-ed out I get. The more yoga I teach, the more I find myself struggling to maintain a balance in my life between teaching and practicing.

I am slowly learning the importance of my personal practice for my own sanity, and my own physical and mental health. I am slowly finding where my limit as a teacher is. There is a fine line between where I feel burnt out and I can’t give any more, and where I have enough energy left to give back to myself.

I am slowly learning that it is okay to say “no” when I am at my max, because when my tank is empty, I am not a good teacher.

I am slowly learning that showing up on my mat is simply enough, even if I lie in child’s pose the entire time.

I am slowly learning that everything I tell my students applies to me as well, and that to truly live my yoga, I must practice what I preach. And in order to practice what I preach, I cannot stop practicing.

Your own practice is your most important tool as a yoga teacher, and it is the one thing that you cannot lose sight of if you want to have a successful career as a yoga teacher.

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Originally published at www.mbomyoga.com on March 23, 2016.