My First Virtual Zoom Class Teaching Yoga

Today I taught my first virtual class! My coworker, Arinjay, holds weekly yoga sessions for all of my company (Flexera) , although in reality only a handful of employees attend. I had mentioned to him that I recently got yoga certified and he immediately invited me to guest teach his class and I immediately was thrilled and terrified all at the same time! 

I took a couple hours to set up my area, clean it, add some plants and cover up a bookcase. Then I reviewed the sequence I was going to do and actually did the sequence out loud to give myself confidence, and tried to memorize the flow. 

Finally, I scheduled a set up check  ahead of time with Arinjay, that was key-ensuring I showed up completely on the mat. Its important to use 2 devices, one with a tripod far away from you to capture a landscape view of you, and the other a laptop that is close to you so you can view your students. He helped me adjust tripod to the right level. A good tip he gave was for me to mark my tripod spot with some tape so I would know where to place next time!  Beyond set up he also gave me tips on things like: 

1. Once you are a yoga teacher you  become really pliable and forget/take for granted sometimes that some who don't practice as much or don't have the flexibility, may have a difficult time, even for the "easier" poses, so for instance coming from downward dog to low lunge, seems relatively easy but some people cannot get feet between palms on the first go- and you need to let them know that they can simply bring their hands back to meet their foot. 

2. Breathing /pranayama techniques need to built up - so from learning to belly breathe, to ujjai breath, to full yogic breath and finally advanced breathing like agni saran or kapalabhathi. 

3. Music playing - haven't been able to get that right over MS Teams- sometimes its too loud sometimes too soft.

4. Props - most general people for a company class don't have props, so he suggested using a towel for the prop (which I realized I forgot to cue the towel for the poses that could have used it!!!)

I did have a hiccup where I did not have the link to the class somehow last minute I realized! My coworker helped me right away by sending me link.

I introduced myself, thanked Arinjay for having me and explained a little of my style of yoga I would be teaching. I introduced props, asked if anyone had any physical conditions, said hello to each of the students by name and then did centering, om chant, yoga definition sukshma vyamama and poses - I was able to fit  in all poses but one! And keeping a check on time I wanted to ensure I had 10 mins fully for yoga nidra.

I had a sheet by my side in case I needed to reference it. I just realized that I completely forgot to do Sukshma Vyayama!!! But now I know that if I did I would have never been able to make it fit a 60 min class! Unless I cut down Yoga Nidra. That is a good learning, I didn't even realize til now!

I did hear some echo on the computer. I had to mute the phone and use sound through computer, that took away the loud echo, though there was still a soft one. 

I feel I may have talked a little too much but not sure as I was trying to give some good alignment suggestions. I think that in first few classes, until they know the moves, I'd like to give my alignment corrections and then I can start allowing more quiet time for them to feel the posture and be with themselves. 

The feedback after class I got was:

"That was so great, thank you!"

"I really enjoyed it, thank you! I could actually do some of the poses I didn't even realize I could do!"

"Did you relax eventually, you said you were nervous but it seemed like when you got into it you were able to relax!"

"You are welcome to guest teach anytime, even I learned a few things myself!"

All in all I was so grateful for the experience. I learned A LOT!! The best part was hearing the student feedback to confirm it went ok!