I was keeping a list of every faux pas I have as a yoga teacher. I figured I would compile them later this year and share them here at The Daily Downward Dog. By then, I rationalized, I wouldn’t be as embarrassed to share all the mistakes (or perhaps I should say “important life lessons”) I made. I thought it would be a karmic public service to pass along my learning to fellow newbie yoga teachers; you know, kind of like taking one for the team. But I just couldn’t wait until the end of the year. I’m ready to pitch them out there right now (in the spirit of Home Opener Day for the Tribe!).
Incident Lesson #1 — Proper Tingsha Usage
Tingshas are those groovy mini-chimes that are attached together by a piece of leather. They are struck together lightly (lightly being the definitive word) to produce a soft ringing sound that is the perfect way to be woken up from savasana or meditation.
I actually have used tingshas in the past. You hold the strap with both hands far enough apart so that the two chimes do not touch and then, oh so gingerly, allow the two chimes to tap each other.
During a class, as my students comfortably relaxed and enjoyed savasana, I accidently lifted up the tingshas from the middle of the leather strap with one hand. As they were lifting off the table, the chimes struck against each other with what seemed like a ferocious force. The jarring high-pitched vibrations were enough, I’m sure, to jerk my students out of what to that point had been a blissful savasana experience. I quickly grabbed both of the chimes and stopped the noise but felt terrible that I had brought the students out of savasana with such a harsh, unsettling sound. Can you say embarrassing? Luckily, yoga students are patient and forgiving and we all had a good laugh about the incident after class.
So, my words of wisdom: If you are going to use tingshas, make sure you practice using them before attempting to deliver your students through a peaceful departure from savasana.
I know this will be the first of many posts about my mishaps on the yoga mat, but hey, we all need to laugh at ourselves and learn as we grow!
It’s time to fess up. What is one of the most embarrassing things you did as a yoga teacher or an important lesson you learned the hard way?
I have only been teaching for 2 months, but twice a week, so I can chalk up at least say 20 classes.
So far, I have got my right and left mixed up…. I was born without the ability to know my left from my right eventhough I am 42! I have a small R in one corner of my mat and a small L on the other side which does help.
Most of my most embarrassing moments are getting my dialogue mixed up… for instance on Wednesday night I asked them to raise their right shoulder, when I meant knee to prepare for Tree. Luckily, I can laugh at myself!!!! It would be a long lonely road if I couldn’t laugh.
Sara x
Sara,
I’ve been teaching for almost a year and 1/2. Like you, I had problems with my right and lefts before teaching – now it’s worse! I have considered doing the mark on the mat too. And just this week I cued grabbing their elbow instead of ankle in standing split!
We laugh. It just shows that we’re all human.
I farted loudly while demoing wheel dropbacks to my class. That was just this morning.
And I have TOTALLY done the tingsha thing, too. I think the worst “rude awakening” I’ve done though is when my ipod skipped from “Peaceful ocean waves” to Queen’s “Bicycle Race” midway during savasana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CTPLUcQAjk
Embrace your goof-ups – they keep life interesting! 🙂
Believe it or not I still haven’t gotten tingshas even though I really want them, I think I may be unconsciously avoiding making huge crashing sounds in class. I do that enough by tripping over blocks.
Haven’t got tingshas either, and so far avoided the savasana screw-up. Doesn’t mean I won’t do anything stupid in the future though.
So, what have I got? Right/left: check; foot/hand: check. Okay, not too bad, I can laugh at myself too 🙂
Thanks for your honesty, Maria! Next time I “make a mistake” or do something silly, I’ll think of them as life lessons and try not be too hard on myself.
I have tingshas and I think I’ve only managed to avoid this problem because I’ve been super-super-paranoid about it since I first got them. It’s a big fear of mine.
Probably my important lesson that I’ve learned the hard way – is to have a plan for what to do if someone falls asleep during savasana and then doesn’t wake up by the time everything is done. It has happened twice in my classes (always the same class too) and both times I was unsure when or how to wake them and then they got so embarrassed that they never came back.
Well, good to know there are teachers out there as dorky as I am. Right/ left confusion….check….farting……check……forgetting to repeat asana on other side…..check…….
I am going to be writing all your tips down so I can try to avoid the same mistakes when I start teaching! I’m sure though I am destined to just make other ones 😉
there’s a VERY well-known teacher here in LA who still has no idea how to use her gong. went to her class once and it was so bad, i had to cover my ears. we’re talking ruptured e-drums. so awful.
Sending much love out to all of you yoginis that joined in the confessional! I have a serious R/L issue – so nice to know I’m not alone! Really hoping I never fart. I’ll keep the confessions coming…stay tuned 🙂
oh my i could list so many. i recently realized that one of my breasts was out of my shirt. had the studio not had mirrors, i would have never known. i learned the life lesson to always try out a new top during my own practice before doing it in public.
thanks for this.
The l/r is a common problem I have as a student and I’ve notice some teachers struggle with that , too. It’s hard mirroring!
You are too funny Maria! I didn’t even know what those things were CALLED, and even just their NAME is funny for gosh sakes! I’ve clanged them the wrong way too, I try to be careful but I still do it wrong sometimes. I never knew what they were called, I call them those little ringy thingies so thank you for this!
Ah, well, one of my best sayings, I think, was “now breathe amongst yourselves..” I think I meant “we’ll all meet up in Downdog” which a lot of teachers use but it came out…”just breathe amongst yourselves.” Yikes.
Ya gotta laugh that is for sure!!
Cathy
I have been teaching for almost 7 years. However, last week I taught one of my worst classes in recent memory…at least in terms of mess-ups! Not only did I get rights & lefts mixed up (which I do just about every class), and body parts mixed up (which happens a lot–saying elbows when you mean knees,etc.), but a few times I forgot what I’d done on the first side when I got to the 2nd side! I was saying things like, “no wait…that’s not what we did…uh, what did we do?” I felt so bad, after Savasana I actually apologized for all the “boo-boos.” One of my students said, “Oh, Mercury is in retrograde. It affects communication.” ah….I’m not responsible! What a relief. (LOL)
So glad I found this column and comments before teaching my first class next week – at the age of 63! R/L mixups are the least of my problem – try going off HRT and dripping all over my mat. And then there’s the short term memory issues that come with aging…
Luckily a lot of my students will be my age and won’t remember what happened 5 minutes after they leave class 🙂