How I Became a Teacher

I began my journey into yoga unknowingly when I was taking private programming lessons from a friend over video chat in the early 2010s, while I was in college. I really respected and admired this friend, and while he was teaching me about programming and guiding me through little problems to solve, he would also practice yoga asanas (or postures).

Curious, I asked him about it, and he mentioned he was taking an official yoga course as part of his college education. I was intrigued, but I forgot about it for a time. In 2013, I became a mother to my first daughter, and I was seeking ways to return to a more active lifestyle, but gently. This is when I truly began to practice yoga personally.

I started with a YouTube video that was titled “yoga for complete beginners”. The very first video I tried, I absolutely adored. I am still so, so grateful to that one yoga teacher. I ended up doing the same 30-minute practice for several years. I was inconsistent, my practice fell off for months at a time occasionally, but eventually I had memorized the sequence in the video and I began to modify it to suit my needs day-to-day, skipping more difficult postures or spending more time in them dependent on my energy level.

I really admired the instructor not only for his clear direction, but for his lighthearted and joyful presentation of yoga breath and postures. I remember clearly thinking many times during my practice that I wanted to be more like him, in personality and physically. How delightfully silly that I ended up taking up yoga instruction as my own career further on. I never would have expected it then.

Flash forward to 2021, when I entered my third decade of life, having borne three beautiful daughters; I decided to get more serious about my yoga practice. I invested in a new mat, since my puppy had chewed up my old one, and I purchased an app called DownDog that I could use to explore different styles of yoga and set how long I wanted to practice each day.

I quickly fell in love with all the different formats and styles and began to experiment with longer and shorter times, harder and easier difficulties, and various other settings to find what fit best for me. Honestly, I still don’t know! What my body and mind needs varies day-to-day, and part of my practice is learning to just observe that and go with the flow.

After a few steady months of practicing on the app, I was ready to try practicing in a studio setting. I was so apprehensive about it! But a good friend of mine from church suggested we meet up at LifeTime Fitness for a mom date to do yoga and catch up in the cafe afterwards. It was fate! I greatly enjoyed the class and left feeling hungry for more. A few weeks later, I signed up for my own membership at LifeTime.

I entered my first class a few minutes late, having had difficulty finding the studio at the location closest to me. It was a vinyasa flow class, with flow on your own time built into the format, and when I arrived the teacher instructed the class to continue the flow on their own. I had no idea what to do! The other class I had been to was completely guided. Nonetheless, I was invested in learning this new style of yoga.

I began attending FLOW classes at LifeTime once a week, then twice, eventually averaging 3-4 classes a week. At that time, my practice was all about becoming more fit and flexible, and maintaining my youth as I entered the third decade of my life. I didn’t meditate, I didn’t practice any slower styles of yoga, but I was yearning for a deeper connection to my self, even if I didn’t know it yet.

I saw advertisements for a teacher training coming up at the LifeTime studio I had been practicing at for a few months. I didn’t think I wanted to teach, or that I could teach, but I did know that I was really interested in knowing more about yoga and why it made me feel so wonderful. I talked to the instructors about it, and called my partner fully expecting him to tell me it was a far-fetched dream. But he supported me in taking the training, and to this day, I am so, so grateful he did.

My partner took on all the responsibility of our three kids 4 days a week for 5 hour sessions where I practiced yoga, meditation, listened to lectures, and took tests on my yoga knowledge. For 12 weeks, every day I was expected to meditate, practice yoga postures, eat a yoga meal, and journal about my experiences. We were assigned six different texts to read, some of which exceeded 600 pages. We learned about anatomy, adjustments, the lineage of the practice, and so much more. During teacher training I was able to practice teaching the other teachers-in-training and my own instructors, and I began to fall in love with teaching in a way I hadn’t foreseen.

After teacher training, I began honing my teaching skills with a fellow recent graduate. We would meet up for a few hours, and she would teach me a class and then vice-versa. A few friends and family members let me teach private lessons and small group lessons to them. I appreciate all the help I received on my path to be the teacher I am today. No one gets anywhere good all on their own. A few months into practicing, an opportunity just fell into my lap.

One of the members of my church was also a yoga instructor, and he needed a substitute for his class while he went on vacation. He heard of my recent graduation from teacher training and reached out to me with his boss’s contact information. Within the week, I was hired as an instructor at Livonia Recreation Center. This was in February of 2022, just one year after I had committed to a daily practice. I felt a little overwhelmed, and maybe under qualified! But I trusted in my own practice and my love for it, and I took the leap of faith.

I started out teaching rockily! My first class had only 4 students when I arrived because the previous substitute teacher was a Barre instructor which caused some students to drop out of the class. I went in teaching the fast vinyasa style I knew and loved, and quickly received feedback that the group would like a slower, gentler style. I hadn’t learned that in my YTT! I did research, went back to the roots of my practice and the style I started with, and began teaching a slower style of yoga, still with elements of vinyasa.

Once I found the right style for the community, my classes began to grow and I added on a yin class and my own Barre fitness class at the Livonia Recreation Center. In September of 2022, I started teaching at the Northville Community Center, where I still offer classes. I have also taught classes at Mid-American Fitness in Farmington Hills, Unitarian Universalist Church of Farmington, RealJoy Yoga, and outdoors in my community!

I continue to practice yoga every day and journal my findings from time to time. I have a regular mediation practice and I spend time reading and learning about yoga regularly, always seeking to deepen my pool of knowledge so I can continue to spread the joy and love of yoga to others.