Just because you've put in XX amount of hours in a studio doesn't make you a good yoga instructor. Just because you can contort and pretzel your body, bind in ways that seem impossible, and do downward dog with your heels and forehead touching the ground that doesn't make you a good yoga instructor. Ugh, it ruins my zen just thinking about it.
If you've ever been to an exercise class you know that the people that generally know what's going on hang out near the front and the ones that aren't so sure hang out towards the back. Well, yesterday I attended a yoga class I've never been to before and took a place in the back just because. I've been practicing for 10+ years but only in group class and almost always at my gym. I'm by no means a yogi, but I do know what a bad instructor is.
This particular instructor spent the first 25 minutes of the class on her mat in the front doing the poses with us but never giving additional hints on how to do them properly. When she did eventually move from her mat and walk around the room she didn't bother to help the people that needed it the most. There were a few people hanging out in the back that had no clue what was going on and she never once approached them. It irritates me because then those people will leave the class thinking they've done yoga and they've done nothing other than poorly executed calisthenics.
What I would've have loved to say to the instructor: "just because you can do the poses doesn't mean you can teach them. Please help all students in your class become better yoga practitioners by giving them individualized advice and guidance. Standing at the front of the room and saying 'you guys are awesome, great job' when some are obviously struggling does the students and the study of yoga a huge disservice. You need to teach them about foot position, hand position, activated and slack muscles. You need to TEACH yoga, not just demonstrate it in front of the class."
Also, to the yoga studios issues these certifications: make sure the 'instructors' you release out into the wild can actually instruct people on how to do yoga. Just being able to do the poses isn't enough if you can't tell others how to correctly come into the poses.
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| And stop telling the class to do Crow pose if you're not going to take the time to properly teach it! |
