Building Confidence as a Yoga Teacher: Embrace Your Authentic Self and Empower Your Students
by Heather Agnew, ERYT-500, Senior Yoga Educator
Welcome to this week’s yoga coaching discussion on building confidence as a yoga teacher! Whether you’re just starting your teaching journey or have a few classes under your belt, this video is packed with insights, strategies, and mindset tricks to help you grow as a confident and authentic instructor.
Watch the video, or read the discussion notes below.
Building Confidence as a Yoga Teacher: Embrace Your Authentic Self and Empower Your Students
This week’s topic is all about building confidence in yourself and your yoga teaching practice.
Confidence might seem like a key ingredient to successful teaching, and I’ll admit it can be an asset, but it’s not always there when you get started as a yoga teacher. So, how do you begin? This week we’ll talk about how you can build confidence in your teaching, and we’ll also talk about how you can teach without being the boldest and bravest, by embracing your authentic self.
Many new teachers or teachers-in-training have faced this dilemma; you want to wait to feel more confident before you teach, but how you build confidence is by teaching – it’s a catch-22 that can keep you stuck as a new yoga teacher! This week we’ll talk about the practicalities of building confidence, a few strategies and mindset tricks to help you get on your way, and we’ll talk a bit about the source of your nerves.
Confidence looks (and feels) different for everyone, so I hope that you can bring your own insights, experiences, questions, and, yes, even your worries to this chat, and we’ll dig into how you can build confidence and self-assurance while still remaining your wonderful, unique, authentic self.
Whether you’ve got a few classes (or more) under your yoga belt, or you are just starting your teaching journey, I hope our discussion will empower you to create a more nurturing and impactful space for both you and your students.
1. It’s Not a Performance: Be Yourself and Embrace Mistakes
The first step to building confidence as a yoga teacher is to understand that it’s not a performance. You don’t have to be anyone else other than you. You might have had teachers in the past who project a lot of confidence, or knowingness, or spirituality, or calm, but if that’s not you, you don’t have to pretend it is. Be genuine, be yourself, and allow yourself to make mistakes. Remember that your authenticity is what will connect you with your students on a deeper level.
It’s hard work pretending to be someone or something that you are not, and it’s really not in the spirit of yoga to be putting on a persona rather than being yourself. Yoga is all about understanding and being in our true nature, so that has to be part of our teaching practice – how we show up on the mat at the front of the class, and how we model yoga to our students.
Consider: If you are putting on a persona, how do you create connection and intimacy with your students?
2. Nervousness Signifies Care
Feeling nervous before a class is entirely natural. Feeling nervous means you care, and caring is a good thing. You care about your students and their well-being, and you care about doing a good job, and this is a good thing. Take some time to think about how you might embrace your nervousness as a positive indicator of your commitment to delivering the best experience possible.
Consider: I’m going to be nervous, and it’s because I care, so I’m going to do it anyway, and I’ll just bring my nerves along with me for the ride.
3. It’s About Your Students
While you want to do a great job, always keep in mind that the focus should be on your students’ experience. Their safety and well-being and their experience of yoga are the aim, not your ‘performance’ as a teacher. Shifting your perspective in this way can help alleviate some of the pressure you might feel.
Consider: keep your eyes on what your students need in the moment, and your words will often flow much better.
4. Confidence Grows with Practice
Confidence is not something that happens overnight. It grows with practice. How we build confidence and self-esteem is by doing things that challenge us, things that we aren’t sure we will be completely successful at the first time out.
Don’t wait for ‘perfect’ before you teach but do be ready.
If you genuinely can’t hold a safe space for yourself as a teacher yet, don’t teach professionally yet. Find some friends to teach with as you build your comfort on the mat at the front of the class. It’s important that you can be empowered on your mat, so that you can empower your students on their mats.
Consider: embracing the fear, feel it, and do it anyway. Each class you teach is an opportunity for personal and professional growth.
5. Draw from Other Areas of Confidence
Think about the confidence you’ve built in other aspects of your life, whether it’s in your career, sports, hobbies, art etc. Transfer this confidence into your teaching practice and draw upon it when you need a boost.
Consider: have you built confidence in other areas of your life? How did you do it? Can you transfer those strategies or skills to teaching yoga?
6. No One Is Really Thinking About You
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that everyone is scrutinizing your every move. The truth is, most people are primarily focused on themselves and their own experiences. This can help you let go of unnecessary self-consciousness.
No one is leaving your class and talking about how you mixed up left and right that one time. We think about our students all the time, and it can be relaxing to know that they aren’t thinking about us between classes, they are thinking about themselves, their practice, their lives – and that’s where we should be keeping the focus.
Consider: remember that students are focused on their experience, not on you as their teacher.
7. Confidence does not equal knowledge, or success
Some of the most effective and inspiring teachers you know struggle with confidence. In fact, I would go so far as to say that every teacher has confidence wobbles from time to time. They key is to keep on teaching, listening, learning, and allowing yourself space to evolve.
Confidence and charisma are very attractive qualities, and we see them a lot in leaders, teachers, and in social media. But they don’t necessarily mean someone is knowledgeable, and they aren’t the only admirable qualities. Build on your own inherent traits; curiosity, compassion, excitement, quiet, openness, nurturing, challenging, whatever is authentic for you.
Consider: Pretending to be overly confident may come across as insincere, both to your students and to yourself. Embrace authenticity and let your natural charisma shine through.
8. Find What Works For You
There might not be easy tricks to build confidence, but then again you might have a trick or two that works for you to get you started – to find your place on the mat, ground, and get present, so your mind doesn’t run off towards nervousness or overthinking.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of opening the class, and then it all flows from there. Here are some ideas from former students I wanted to share:
Have notes, or don’t have notes. Sometimes making and having notes with you gives you a sense of stability. Sometimes it’s a distraction. Find out what works for you.
Find a friendly face in the crowd to focus on. Or take a break from faces if you need to. Child’s pose, Down Dog, these are places where you can give yourself a bit of breathing space if you get shaky.
Changing the narrative – from teacher to guide, emphasizing that we are doing this together, rather than a me vs the class feeling. It seems like a small thing, but it might matter to you, and it also creates a nice community vibe in your classes.
Whatever it is, starting with music or no music, having an opening routine or ritual, silence or sharing a theme – find what works for you to get yourself grounded and present, and let your class flow from there.
9. Care and Holding Space
Ultimately, what matters more than confidence is caring for your students and holding a space for both you and others to practice and grow. Your genuine care and the supportive environment you create are the cornerstones of your effectiveness as a yoga teacher.
As you continue your journey as a yoga instructor, remember that building confidence is an ongoing process. Embrace your uniqueness, understand that your nervousness is a sign of your dedication, and always prioritize your students’ experiences. With practice and self-compassion, you’ll find your confidence as a yoga teacher steadily growing, allowing you to make a positive impact on your students’ lives.
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