How To Care For Your Practice As A Yoga Teacher

You may have heard the term: “How can you receive love unless you love yourself first”, well this is true and so is the quote: “In order to be able to give fully, teachers must be full themselves”. 

There’s no doubt that as a yoga teacher we facilitate students' practice which is an invaluable service, and yes, it is rewarding in so many ways, but at some point your personal practice seems to fall by the wayside, you’re caring for others, traveling from one venue to another, thinking of new sequences, learning new things… There’s a lot of responsibility and a lot to juggle! 

All the more reason to care for your practice, to stay in touch with why you started and get closer to your true self. Practice what you preach, right? Well quite literally! So here’s some of our tips and tricks to look after yourself!

1. Make Time

You’ve heard it time and time again. Rule number one and probably the hardest of them all! We recommend starting with just 5 minutes, meditate or stretch, then each week increase the time by 5 minutes. Once you get your mat out, that 5 minutes soon turns into “I’ll stay a little while longer…”

2. Rest

Teaching yoga is not only incredibly enjoyable and rewarding but also physically and mentally tasking, the best thing to do is try and get those 8 hours of sleep, keeping a notepad by the side of your bed so any exciting thoughts that pop up can be shelved for the night!

Dedicate time in between classes to do something other than yoga, this could be another fitness class or something fun, catching up with friends/family, having a nice bath or taking the dog for a walk! Work-life balance is a challenging thing to find but yoga is all about balance in all forms of life and practice. 

3. Eat Well & Nourish Yourself

Running from one class to another and wanting to practice on an empty stomach means we sometimes will grab something quick and easy, which isn’t always the healthiest option! 

We recommend devoting time to food preparation once a week or once every few days, not only will this save you money and time but help keep you healthy. 

There are some lovely recipes and ideas for quick and healthy meals that will keep in the fridge so you can grab and go! BBC Good Food have got a whole section dedicated to this, from breakfast to dinner, give them a whirl: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/meal-prep-recipes 

4. Find Teachers And Classes You Love

Remember why you started! Attending classes you love will inspire you and leave you feeling great but you may also find a mentor and friend along the way, Yoga is something you’ll continue to learn throughout life so finding yogi friends alike will mean you can have conversations and offload to someone who knows a little bit about what it’s like to walk in your shoes. 

5. Focus On Your Voice

It’s too easy to be bombarded with lots of different yoga voices, especially looking at Instagram, making time for yourself and holding onto your values and teaching will ensure your voice isn’t lost amongst the noise, hold onto what you believe in.

 Written by: Brioney Russ