Figuring out my teaching style: Phyllis

As we started teaching more and more, I started to become very aware of how my
teaching voice sounded very different from my normal voice. My teaching voice didn’t feel
right, it never felt like it belonged to me. It constantly felt like I was trying to sound like
someone I was not and instead, to sound like what I thought yoga teachers are supposed to
sound like. The people close to me found my teaching voice weird as they were not used to
me speaking like that. I became very conscious of my teaching voice but at the same time, I
also felt like I couldn’t use my normal voice to teach either. This created a disharmony within
me whenever I was teaching as there would always be a small voice at the back of my head
telling me that I sound weird, and that people are going to think that I sound weird.

 

I told Jessica about the disharmony I was feeling and asked for her advice. She
advised me to redirect my focus away from what other people thought about me and instead,
focus on the top two priorities I should have as a teacher. The first priority is the safety of the
people that I am teaching. The second priority is making sure that my instruction cues can be
understood. Her advice struck a chord within me, and I instantly understood that I needed to
re-direct my focus back onto why I had decided to sign up for the YTT and to ground myself,
and my intentions again.

 

I also asked Jessica for advice on how I can discover my own teaching style and she
gave me very useful tips that will definitely help me in my journey of discovering my own
style. Jessica said that I could use landmarks such as windows or mirrors when giving cues
and it brought back memories of how helpful landmark cues were when other teachers had
used them in classes I attended. Jessica also advised me to use a higher-pitched voice when
giving instruction cues and use a lower-pitched voice when easing people into a more relaxed
state.

 

The lesson that I have learned from this would definitely ripple out into other aspects
of my life as well as I become more aware of re-shifting my focus and re-grounding my
intentions onto things that truly matter.

 

Phyllis
200HR YTT Jul’21 Weekend