Teaching a basic yoga class means you have the opportunity to introduce yoga to new practitioners. It requires patience, but it can also be rewarding. Teach with kindness and compassion. Remember that the point of a basics class is to help your students feel comfortable in a yoga environment; yoga can be intimidating to new participants and helping them understand that they do not need to be flexible or strong to start can be extremely important in making them feel welcome.
Step 1
Practice patience. Experienced practitioners can often forget what it is like to be in your first yoga class. Even simple poses and sequences can be extremely awkward and difficult to new students.
Step 2
Keep it interesting. You'll be teaching simpler poses, but students will still want to try different sequences and be challenged. Vary your routine from class to class so that students will want to keep up their attendance.
Step 3
Offer praise. Engaging in a new activity has a learning curve. Words of praise are encouraging. A few positive words here and there about your students' efforts and progress go a long way to making their yoga journey a positive one.
Step 4
Educate your students on the different limbs of yoga, such as meditation, pranayama, concentration and withdrawal of the senses, along with the asanas, so that they gain an understanding of all that yoga entails and that it is more than just a physical exercise.
Step 5
Teach your students how to breathe properly during a yoga class. Spend some time reviewing and practicing the ujjayi breathing method, which is used while practicing most forms of yoga. Students are often told to focus on their breath during a physical practice, but someone new may not understand exactly what that means or how to go about it. Take a few minutes during class to make sure the students are breathing correctly; this will benefit them throughout the remainder of the class.
Step 6
Repeat basic postures several times so that students are able to understand how to do them. When you have been practicing yoga for a long time, simple poses, such as sun salutations, downward dog, warrior I, warrior II, chair pose and even child's pose can be automatic, but to someone new, these poses may be challenging. Repetition will help to imprint the poses on the beginner's brains.
Things You'll Need
- Yoga class
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