Teaching Journey: Conquering Fear.

Think of a situation in which you are afraid of failure. Visualize yourself now hitting an obstacle, allow yourself to feel the fear, and then see yourself moving forward. Next, spend a few minutes planning how to overcome whatever obstacles may stand in your way. Then see yourself succeeding despite these obstacles.

Confidence is not something that can be learned like a set of rules; confidence is a state of mind. Positive thinking, practice, training, knowledge and talking to other people are all useful ways to help improve or boost your confidence levels.

Today, I was invited in to do a "pep talk" to the teacher trainees of batch 2. Amazing how time flies.... I am now sharing my struggles and successes and learnings to this new group.

It felt great going back to what I was before and now looking at how I've grown as a teacher.... and a student.


I've learned so much from my Teacher Training last year and now Im sharing tips on how will you face those struggling times during your TT journey (or whatever journey you may face).  Hopefully, this blog post is a detailed one. :)

1.Breathe.... We all have our stories... I am sure you can finish every challenge in your life. Being a yogi is an advantage because you know how to breathe. Inhale... long exhales. :)

2. Always always fix your mindset. If you think negative then negative vibes will come near you and you are going to fail..... but if you are positive everything will be okay. Believe me.

3. Do Powerpose.

4. Come back to your goal... Why are you here? What's your teaching goal? What's your goal after...You've started it already what's the sense of giving up in the middle? Remember when you are about to give up... there will be always a good result at the end.. It will be all worth it.

5. FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT. 

6.  Get support group. Surround yourself with positive people... People that will help you go up the ladder. Stay connected with your students. Get energy from them.

7. Just be yourself. Show them who you are. ;) Be authentic. 

8. You cannot please everyone so... accept the criticisms, feedback... these will all make you stronger.

9. Teach what you know. Don't invent.... but remember just a thought even if you cannot do a specific pose... you can teach it. :) That's why you're there in teacher training... to learn. :) 

10. Ground down. Root down. Get energy from the earth. Honor it.

11. Take care of your body. Its a temple. Eat. You need food and water. Don't allow yourself to get injured.... i know its impossible but you have to be extra careful. REST even for few hours.

12. Study, Read, Read,.... practice, practice.. keep on practicing. Buy yoga books. Feed your mind.... Practice. Meditate. Personal practice will be a struggle now but you should make time. find time. Remember that yoga is NOT more of a workout... its more of working on what's inside of you. Let go of your issues. embrace them accept them and let them go.

13. Cry. Laugh... go crazy..... express what you feel but you have to control all of it once you are inside the yoga room. let go of your ego. ;)

14. TEACH. Show them that you are the authorized person inside of the room. If you made mistakes, missed a pose... its okay carry on. Just keep on going.. tell your dialogue. pam pam pam pam pam. change! 

15. And lastly, When you are teaching already.... It's not about you....  Imagine you are now at the heated room... and you felt fear... your students will smell it and they will never see you as teacher so don't let fear eat you up!!!! So again, It's not about you.... You have students now - Remind yourself of the same thing as a yoga teacher. People are coming to yoga class to get to a better place somehow, and they've chosen your class because they think you might help do that. They want you to succeed. They aren't coming to class to critique you. In fact, they're probably seeking your approval much more than they're deciding whether you get theirs. Make your instruction more about them than it is about you. You chose to teach so that they could practice. Speak the words that allow that to happen without fear of criticism.

16. And.... if you want start a journal. start a blog. write everything what you think, what you want.. and things to let go..........

I guess that's it. If I have more ill share it soon.

I will always be grateful to my batchmates, to my mentors, family and friends who supported me all the way. Also to Miss Dinah for inviting me in today. I also had the chance to sit in and be the guest teacher to evaluate them during their Practice Teach... Awesome experience! :)

Keep on practicing, Keep on teaching... Don't stop teaching!!!!!

Be open and hungry for learning.

Let me know if you need to talk to me.

Ill see you soon. NAMASTE. :D

Teaching Log # 6 : Mission Accomplised... I hope it will be like this forever....

May 25, 2014

Delayed blog as my macbook was broken... and my heart is sad. But anyway... I had the chance to borrow my brother's macbook.


Here we go. I just needed to blog this.

It was a sunday! a happy happy sunday. I was tasked to cover for Chi as she's out of town. I arrived at the studio an hour early. I was expecting 10+ number of students as it is a sunday.... Since it was early I read through my dialogue... prayed.. became still. power pose. I was nervous yes but i really had the feeling that that day was really for me. 8:50am students were coming in... I was so excited to teach at makati.. I felt different, I felt awesome, I felt happy about the environment... and seeing the students (Oh! there was this one student that was my hire at work! - How cool was that?!)

So i started on time... everything went well. I really felt I glued everything in between.. Of course i had my weaknesses too but this class was the best class from all of the classes I taught. Not to compare the crowd at the other studio but this was more welcoming, this crowd was like "please teach me more... i'd like to know better about the poses..." I liked the people around.. they make me feel "you're okay... you will be okay.." its like everyone was really listening to me. awesomeeeee! even if there were people doing auto pilots - they stop and do it again....

I was standing at the back, going around the room to feel the temperature... and I know my left and rights still sucks but this time i didnt messed up.. I was grounding myself that this will be okay, I can finish the class... I felt i was teaching with my heart, my soul was alive.....


Savasana came and i was like - wow that was fast.. and i didnt want to end the class. I just want to hug everybody for the energy they shared... I was roaming around to fix everyone's savasana....  and they were all relaxed.... I went out.. and 5 mins they are all still resting... How beautiful to see that all of them are restoring and taking full benefits of the asanas.

Class ended... and students came to me, waiting for me to finish talking to another student... and personally they went to me to say thank you... How wonderful to hear those words from your students... THANK YOU FOR CLASS. YOU WERE GREAT. ID LOVE TO TAKE AGAIN YOUR CLASS......  my heart was crying with joy... I was like. Thank you Lord... I hope this I can keep this up.

Grounding myself.. and accepting that there will be good days and rough days too...

I will be forever grateful to teach... I have a lot to learn, a lot to hear and a lot to see.

Namaste!

Teaching Log #4 Self-Confidence... Acceptance... Moving Forward...

I am going to express myself into writing… Things has been tough. Work itself and now teaching career is adding on… Work itself mainly is really hard. 1. Roles that im handling are really technical roles that no all recruiters are doing. 2. Some personal issues at work, HR to HR related issues which I am not allowed to disclose for some personal reasons.. 3. I have tasted some feedback from my students…. Some good and some bad….. What I’ve learned today requires an open mind and feel like crying while writing this… Or should I say I am crying now. This week has been crazy – I have 17 open roles and how do I close this? 4 Japanese open roles. Wow. And Finding Yoga in it is the restoring plan….

I taught today and for some reason I was nervous again… Maybe it was really normal to feel that way… I did power poses that can help me ease all of the nerves. I am glad that my co-teachers supports even on facebook messaging… So I started the class and I was really taking it slow as there was a first timer… I felt calm and just doing my thing… In the middle of the class 2 walked out. This is my first time to encounter it I don’t know why but my first time seemed okay and never left the room. Was it because of the heat? I stayed with 36 degrees… But anyway I was focusing on who I have inside the hot room.. I gave them long savasanas to rest… And after class a student spoke to me giving a feedback – well I was hoping for a positive one but I got a negative one the student said I was too slow and the momentum was on and off….  The student also mentioned about he was expecting a lot of me because I was better last week… Tough thing…. Setting expectations.. I am truly sorry about not meeting your expectations. I really feel bad.. But I did my best. It’s so hard to speak infront and show poses while you are talking.. And all I wanted to do is to help these people through yoga… I am sorry if you guys didn’t like today ‘s class but I know I was doing my thing…. Yes, thank you for the comments… It is just my 3^rd time teaching in public… Maybe I need more practice… Okay – Thankful for the feedback at least I know where my students are coming from.. And 2 students spoke to me – saying Thank you, I did well. And another came – Was it your first time ? You still sound nervous…….. Thank you again.. Ill make it up to you next week.

Real world is really tough. I spoke to a lot of people just to let me understand the other side. I feel like – Was I the worse teacher today? But I am thankful for my Co-Teachers for helping me uplift my spirit. A friend also treated me for café and cake as work and this feeling is not a good combination today.

My family asked me How was my class and I said…. It went okay but I think I was not my day… I told them about  students giving feedback and it’s a good thing to hear their side – I realize I need to stay open with these and accept criticisms… These things are the things that I need to show the world that I can do it.. That I deserve this, to serve and share yoga.…. My dad said – “Find your way… Show them what you have… SELF CONFIDENCE is the key, you know this. You’ve been doing this.”

These mistakes will be a mark for improvement… One day I will do better. I will prove you wrong…. And I will survive this. Claiming that everything will be okay next week.

Thanking all the people who I spoke to today that I needed comfort. We have rough days, bad days…. And eventually good days to come--- This is part of life… Up and downs…. Embracing it… Living with it and NOT ALLOWING IT get into me. Another Day is ANOTHER CHANCE TO PROVE THEM WRONG.

You can do this Yogi.

You can nail this next time!

Thank you Lord for friends, co-teachers which I can talk to easily.

Thank you for the gift of Family….

And Thank you Universe for listening….

Namaste.