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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
   
Location: right where I'm supposed to be | Yes, that is what I meant.
Honestly, I don't have the time to go practice at the studios. I teach often and when I do practice, I like to practice alone. Sometimes I will go to take classes. There are certain teachers I really enjoy but that is when I travel. I have not found a teacher that inspires me (besides my mentor, and Shiva of course. That woman is awesome)
One studio knows me from day one as I did my training for my 200 hour there and am presently there with my 500 hour training. Some of the teachers have actually dropped into my classes to "CHECK ME OUT". All teachers within a 5 mile radius personally know me and my practice.
All the studios within a 15 mile radius know who I am from the media exposure I've received. I do have a pretty distinctive look. Our yoga community is very dense with my teachers competing for the same students. I have caught media attention because I actively seek and run many fundraising functions locally, I have written articles in local papers, I have promoted my branded name "Mishoga Wellness" very well. This is not something that is exclusive to me. Any yogi can go about promoting themselves as long as they have the time, energy, and perseverence (I think I spelled that wrong). It is dedication, drive, passion and work. I do what I do because I enjoy it. Receiving payment for teaching a class is nice but there is nothing better (one example) than helping a woman and her children cope with their daily issues since the recent loss of their father/husband. That is real. My payment is knowing that I gave them the tools to be stronger one day at a time. I don't even need to hear a thank you. The thank you is in their eyes. I don't want to take their pain away. Just help them cope a little better.
How can a teacher who has been teaching 2 yoga classes a week for 5+ years judge me? Yes, I have been teaching for a shorter amount of time but my practical experience is deeper. And on another note, for over 20 years I have been teaching large groups of people and one on one sessions of the movement of the body. Whether someone wants to acknowledge that or not doesn't matter to me. I know where my strengths are.
And where is their seva? To me, I respect a yogi that gives back. "Walk the walk", so to say.
There is the girl who teaches yoga, needs a little bit more refinement of her alignment technique, but she works with rehabilitating drug addicts and women who have been abused. Every week she visits the "Hope House" to work with these individuals. She recieves no compensation. To me......that is living her yoga. Yet, the studios wouldn't even look her way! Why?
To me what counts most with all individuals "it's what you do, not what you say you do". Actions speak much louder than words to me. Am I a tough cookie, no doubt. (BTW, I'm in a no frills mood today)  so look out!!!! 
Edited by mishoga 2007-05-09 8:29 AM
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| You American Yogis are a CRAZY bunch |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
Location: right where I'm supposed to be |
We are CRAZY  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| I don't really know how other studios work. With an Iyengar background, unless you are trained in Iyengar, of course you would not get a job at our studio. But I am guessing that most studios have a similar trend in that they would prefer teachers who have been through their own teacher training (and most of them run trainings regularly so they'll have lots of new teachers in the "pipeline").
It is similar to where I work. If we get a good student teacher doing a practicum with us, we will try really hard to find a space for her to teach because we will know her, her capabilities and whether or not she fits in with the staff. And since our child care centre has somewhat of a unique way of working, we will know that she is trained in our particular style. New people coming in will be a wild card that we are less likely to take an immediate liking to.
If I were trying to "break in" to a studio (not to steal things!  ) I would definitely take classes there for a good long time so the other teachers could get to know me. |
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| That's how I got my first break at a yoga studio.
I was practing there and they asked me to teach. I think I benefit by being male. There are not as many male teachers and although there are several very flexible/strong women at the studio, men, not so much. The bikram classes tend to have more male students too. So, by added me to the schedule they had a hatha teacher that was male and didn't teach bikram. I filled a gap in their diversity plan 
I remember doing a drop back when I first started there and another student saying I've never seen anyone "so big" doing dropbacks. She then corrected herself and said tall, but I think I knew what she meant. Being 6'1" and 200 pounds + at the time it was unusual to see a "guy" that was more flexible than most of the women.
Students notice you and they get curious.
Speaking of Iyengar: I think I will practice ashtanga for about 10 more years. This will add up to 15 years. Then I will decide if I want to keep my practice, or make changes. Iyengar or anusara seem to be my next favorite style. I like the idea of using props when I age to help support me.
Eric
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
Location: right where I'm supposed to be | I've heard a lot of people say that and it really does make sense (practice at the studio). I just can't do it consistently. I can't make that time commitment. Not because I wouldn't enjoy it but because I would have to sacrifice something else to find that time.
I'm not about to give up classes. I love my students. Randomly I will start to take some classes but it really is dependent on my physical and spiritual state.
I think my decision is wise for my health and my relationship with my family. Only handle what I can.
Which by the way, this June I am starting to teach in a yoga studio. Should be interesting. I'm excited and nervous. 
Tourist, you're right. The Iyengar studios out here only employ Iyengar trainees.
But the trend in the other studios of the suburbs is a varied style with many teachers.
Except this one Mysore studio and the Bikram studios.
Edited by mishoga 2007-05-09 11:41 AM
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| Mishoga, yes, I do remember that thread and as I remember that I could very much relate to it. Women are very competitive with one another and this doesn't change just because we're all in the yoga teaching profession. They try to cover it up with over-the-top praise towards one another, but you can still sense the undercurrent of competition and rivalry. It seems like younger women are more susceptible to it, but I get surprised sometimes when I find a motherly older woman behaving in the same catty manner. This, in addition to the self promotion that's necessary for getting into a good studio, really has affected my desire to continue teaching yoga in the longterm.
As for your question on why I'm teaching, well I guess I never ask myself this because the answer is so obvious for me. I really believe that my purpose in this lifetime is to be some sort of healer. I got my degree in nutrition and thought about healing people through diet. I've also dabbled in counseling, massage, chinese medicine, all different forms of 'alternative' healing. I chose yoga specifically because it covers so many aspects of a person, mental, energetic, physical, spiritual.
To tampa eric, I saw that favoritism in my teacher training. The few guys who were in the program were treated like they were on a higher level than all the women. One of the guys who was just another trainee was actually told by the trainer to teach all of us. I'm sure part of it is related to the fact that there is an overflow of female yoga instructors and a shortage of males.
So I suppose if I continue to dislike these extra not-so-great bonus features of yoga teaching, I will go back to school to get a degree in another healing profession, maybe physical therapy. At least with a masters degree I'd get some respect and when I'd get a job I could just help people and not worry about getting professional pictures of myself in pincha mayurasana.
Edited by shalamOM 2007-05-09 11:43 AM
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
Location: right where I'm supposed to be | shalam, follow your heart. It will guide you. If you stray from yoga, you can always come back.
Take your path and see where it leads you.
Yoga is like a parent, when you need it most, it will always be there.
One thing you know for sure, YOU ARE A HEALER! That's good. Maybe you just need to find the right fit (modality)
Edited by mishoga 2007-05-09 11:49 AM
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| I don't understand this American gym v studio thing.
What's the difference? |
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| The prejudice is that gym yoga is all physical and the instructors ill trained compared to studios where there is more emphasis on the spiritual and the traditional. There probably is some truth to the generality, but like all generalities, they can foster prejudice. Some of the studio instructors who bring up 'gym' yoga probably never even went to a gym yoga class. |
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| ...but there aren't different certifications for gym or studio teachers are there?
When you use the word 'gym', do you literally mean a gym with free weights, machines and exercise equipment etc? |
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| Jonnie,
there are some differences that are not so general.
Gyms (which does refer to free weights, cardio machines, nautilus, group x) have some environmental differences.
Control of heat and lighting typically are not individualized for the space.
Sound is primarily go-go for the weight lifting function and the surrounding noise is that of plates, dumbells and barbells dropping. Props are often incomplete, dirty, or in disrepair in the gyms.
From a scheduling standpoint in a gum yoga classes are being mixed in with ab blasters, bun burners, step series, pilates, et al. As a result, the typical class duration in a gym is an hour on the schedule but about 50 minutes considering class transition times.
With regard to certification, I have taught at gyms without a certification but not without documenting a teacher training. Many gyms I am told now prefer you to have a Yogafit cert which I believe you can get in a weekend with 18 hours of your time.
When talking about skilled teachers we get more fully into generalities. What I have found is that in cities where there are a lot of well trained teachers, they tend to trickle down into the gym environment. Cities like San Francisco, New York, LA...others may have different experiences in this regard.
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| Mishy: Yoga is like a parent, when you need it most, it will always be there.
Thanks, and Fantastic! Salutations. |
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| Thanks Gordon,
We have a similiar set up in the UK and Dubai. Teachers either teach in professional Yoga studios, gyms/health clubs, rented spaces like church halls etc or even in their own home.
There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to these as you have mentioned, though I have never noticed the rivalary that people on the forum often mention.
Over here it's common to see the same instructors teaching in all the above places.
Edited by jonnie 2007-05-09 11:37 PM
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| WARNING: Major generalizations follow, but still, there is a great deal of truth in them. In a gym, it's all about the ego. It's about perfecting the exterior, with blatant disregard for the interior. With the recent realization that the exercises used in yoga practice will make you lean and strong, everyone at the gym now wants to "do yoga" as part of their fitness regimen. Basically, asana is the only limb anyone cares about as being yoga, and so the main point of yoga practice (to reduce the fluctuations of the mindstuff) is lost on most gym-goers. When you're first trained as a yoga teacher, the most accessible place at which to start teaching is at a gym, because even the management doesn't consider yoga to be anything more than just another fitness class. OK, so they "breathe" there, and some even do that weird chanting, but hey, it's the cool trend these days, so fine, they want yoga classes at their facilities. The standards for being a group fitness instructor are not incredibly strenuous (you can get that with a weekend certification), so in turn, since gym managements pretty much consider all group instructors on a par with each other (save for maybe Pilates instructors), they don't have different standards for hiring group fitness instructors vs. yoga instructors. Notice the use of my word "instructors" here. At the gym, you're a yoga INSTRUCTOR, not TEACHER. This, I believe, is at the heart of the difference here. I'm probably sounding quite bitter about all this, which I do recognize is my own stuff. And I readily admit that. I'm also primarily a jnana and bhakti yoga, so of course I'd have issues teaching at a gym, because I don't believe anyone who goes there would be interested in being infused with the concepts of sacred text study and universal love and devotion as part of their physical fitness regimen. My yoga friends all tell me I'm wrong, and just go out and trust myself, and teach what I believe in, but I find it so hard, having come from that ego-infused fitness background. Even in my YogaFit trainings, the ego I encountered in both the workshop attendees as well as the instructors disturbed me so much. I went there hoping to learn how to be a yogini, because I believed you need to be that first before you can teach yoga to others. But the people teaching from YF weren't yogis and yoginis, imho. I learned poses and alignment and proper verbiage, but not the true depth of practice, which is what I feel one needs to be a teacher. Maybe if I had stuck in the program longer (only completed a third of it), I would've eventually been exposed to what my heart was yearning for. But I disagree that those things should be delayed until more "advanced" trainings. Maybe it was just me, but that's how I felt. What's even harder in my case is that my background in teaching fitness isn't even that engrained, only the last 5 years. Intuitively I've always steered toward a yogic philosophy in my fitness regimen and (as a result, I believe) have NOT been successful in gathering a following. So that is why I'm convinced the gym setting isn't the right audience for what yoga means to me. So does that clear things up a little more for you Jonnie, as to the difference between studio and gym yoga? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
Location: right where I'm supposed to be | Om, I think you are on target with describing the gym atmosphere but I do believe it's changing. That is why class numbers are increasing steadily for yoga classes. The demand is there. People are looking for more.
You have to experiement with how far you can take it.
It is foolish for a studio owner to assume that a gym yogi can not effectively lead a quality yoga class with a element of spirituality and philosophy. There use to be tthe attitude that you couldn't bring in the deeper dimensions of yoga but that no longer exists. At least out here in the gyms it's changing. I'm optimistic in where yoga is going in general. |
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| OrangeMat - 2007-05-10 3:44 PM
So does that clear things up a little more for you Jonnie, as to the difference between studio and gym yoga?
Yes thanks.
I'm coming to the States in August, so I'll make sure that I try both a gym class and a studio class, so I can experience the difference myself.
OM, you have so much wonderful knowledge to give. Choose your approach and stick to it, regardless of having 2 students in a gym or 200 in a studio.
Think quality not quantity.
Jonathon |
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| OrangeMat - 2007-05-10 7:44 AM
WARNING: Major generalizations follow, but still, there is a great deal of truth in them. In a gym, it's all about the ego. It's about perfecting the exterior, with blatant disregard for the interior. With the recent realization that the exercises used in yoga practice will make you lean and strong, everyone at the gym now wants to "do yoga" as part of their fitness regimen. Basically, asana is the only limb anyone cares about as being yoga, and so the main point of yoga practice (to reduce the fluctuations of the mindstuff) is lost on most gym-goers.
If a yoga class is led well with moments of meditation and a still quality, the stilling of the mind just happens. That's what's almost magical and attractive about yoga. In a studio, instuctors are just more overt about the mind, but this isn't even necessary. Sometimes when studio instructors bring up spiritual matters it can really sound hokey and it cheapens it IMO.
When you're first trained as a yoga teacher, the most accessible place at which to start teaching is at a gym, because even the management doesn't consider yoga to be anything more than just another fitness class. OK, so they "breathe" there, and some even do that weird chanting, but hey, it's the cool trend these days, so fine, they want yoga classes at their facilities. The standards for being a group fitness instructor are not incredibly strenuous (you can get that with a weekend certification ), so in turn, since gym managements pretty much consider all group instructors on a par with each other (save for maybe Pilates instructors ), they don't have different standards for hiring group fitness instructors vs. yoga instructors. Notice the use of my word "instructors" here. At the gym, you're a yoga INSTRUCTOR, not TEACHER. This, I believe, is at the heart of the difference here. I'm probably sounding quite bitter about all this, which I do recognize is my own stuff. And I readily admit that. I'm also primarily a jnana and bhakti yoga, so of course I'd have issues teaching at a gym, because I don't believe anyone who goes there would be interested in being infused with the concepts of sacred text study and universal love and devotion as part of their physical fitness regimen.
Well I guess it all depends on the atmosphere of the specific studio or gym. At the gym I teach at the people are very much into the community of the gym and being healthy. It's not a showy meat market type of gym. Most of these people really get what yoga is all about. At a studio where I've subbed and taken classes there is more talk of 'spirituality', chakras, and prana I guess, but it often times sounds hokey and corny. Chanting 'aum' seems almost comical when you look at the instructors and they have the om symbol tattooed on their body. I guess that's so you can read it and you won't forget what to chant. Gym instructors in some ways are just normal people who love yoga, not people who are striving to fit the yoga instructor stereotype down to a tee. That can turn people off to yoga who'd otherwise be open to it. I've also noticed that studio instructors are so into the high they get from yoga that they don't really know how to prevent injuries on a physical level. Their knowledge of the physical really gets neglected. They often times make jokes about LSD, making you think that they just replaced the high of drugs with the high that yoga can give you. You get the feeling it is all about escapism, not immersing oneself in reality.
My yoga friends all tell me I'm wrong, and just go out and trust myself, and teach what I believe in, but I find it so hard, having come from that ego-infused fitness background. Even in my YogaFit trainings, the ego I encountered in both the workshop attendees as well as the instructors disturbed me so much. I went there hoping to learn how to be a yogini, because I believed you need to be that first before you can teach yoga to others. But the people teaching from YF weren't yogis and yoginis, imho. I learned poses and alignment and proper verbiage, but not the true depth of practice, which is what I feel one needs to be a teacher. Maybe if I had stuck in the program longer (only completed a third of it ), I would've eventually been exposed to what my heart was yearning for. But I disagree that those things should be delayed until more "advanced" trainings. Maybe it was just me, but that's how I felt. What's even harder in my case is that my background in teaching fitness isn't even that engrained, only the last 5 years. Intuitively I've always steered toward a yogic philosophy in my fitness regimen and (as a result, I believe) have NOT been successful in gathering a following. So that is why I'm convinced the gym setting isn't the right audience for what yoga means to me. So does that clear things up a little more for you Jonnie, as to the difference between studio and gym yoga?
Again, I really think it depends on the gym. My sister is a personal trainer in a gym, but is in many ways like a good yoga instructor. Her clients aren't externally obsessed...They are people whose doctors told them they need to start exercising for their heart or their bones. She helps them physically and mentally as well. I think what happens in a gym is that 90% of people there are just trying to be healthier, but that small 10% or whatever that is overfocused on the physical are so annoying that it colors your entire impression of the place. One of the trainers at the gym I teach has an artificial baked tan, a smoker's voice, bleached hair, and doesn't appear at all healthy. On some level you just have to realize that these people don't represent most of the others in a gym and unfortunately are attracted to a gym environment. But I've also seen my fare share of anorexic studio yoginis so it goes both ways.
Ultimately I don't believe there is a huge difference. Going through 200-500 hours of training doesn't change who you are as an instructor. I know this from experience. My spirit and personal practice would probably be going in the same direction whether or not I went through the training program.
Edited by shalamOM 2007-05-10 11:03 AM
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| OrangeMat-take heart-what you bring to the mat is what people will expect and accept from you. If you bring more than asana, the people will soak it in. For example, I started out with NO chanting in my music b/c I was not yet comfortable with it in my setting (gym-but, BTW, I can control heat and lighting). I asked my group X coordinator if I could play some music with Sanskrit chanting and OM'ing, and she smiled like the Chesire cat and told me to push the envelope. My own hesitation and mindstuff kept me from doing is sooner. Follow your heart and try not to make assumptions about how your yoga will be receieved.
Oh, and my coordinator spent time in India and teaches yoga.
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feel crummy about teaching
