How To Be More Grounded Before Teaching A Class

How to be more grounded and calm before teaching a class? My method is to arrive at the class 20 mins earlier and use 5 minutes to meditate if I feel a bit fussy that day. You might think yoga teachers are always calmer and more tranquil. However, we are also humans, we have emotions and negativities, we have ups and downs.

Like this morning, I rushed out of the house because my kids were a drag. If you are a mom, you probably can hear me. :) I drove faster than usual and luckily I was not late for the class. But I did feel my fast heartbeat. I had to get myself into a state of tranquility as soon as I can. I appreciate that, as a yoga teacher, I've already known the tool that can help me calm down in a short time---Breath-based meditation. I actually just did 1-minute deep breathing practice and I felt really calm and fully ready for the class.

Do you believe 1-minute conscious breathing can settle you in right away? That's why I always start my class with at least 5-10 mins pranayama, sometimes together with meditation. The breathing pattern really affects our body and mind. Our mind is always busy and thinking. When we stop thinking, our breath becomes slow and when our mind is excited by anger, our breath becomes fast. On this principle, the science of breathing is based.

B.K.S Iyengar said, "Breath is the king of the mind". The research is also very clear that breathing exercises (e.g. pranayama breathing) can enhance parasympathetic tone, decrease sympathetic nervous activity, improve respiratory and cardiovascular function, decrease the effects of stress, and improve physical and mental health.

On the other hand, I know pranayama is really tough for a lot of beginners. "Being aware of breath" is the subtlest but essential part to begin pranayama. Breath awareness means consciously feeling the touch of every breath count at nostrils one after another, again and again. For beginners, you can feel the sense of breath awareness on every inhale and exhale of a minute. But the difficult part is it's still hard for you to always focus on the breath during the practice. I want to say, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! It happens to everyone. Our mind is just too busy living in this competitive world. We can't let go of everything simply during a class. However, we are learning how to give our thinking mind a break by using those techniques. At least we use this tool to temporarily shift our mind from the external world to ourselves within. It's not asking you to empty your mind, instead, it's just inviting you to focus on something happening in your body and your mind, such as the breath, or an emotion or a thought. We simply notice them without judgment, we simply observe them without criticism.

If you are a beginner, allow some time to change your breathing pattern by noticing it and practicing it consciously. Sitting breathing is not a waste of time, instead, it's invaluable for our holistic well-being.

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