Yoga teachers: Want to get better at teaching? Start by asking for feedback from your peers, not your students. Your fellow teachers can offer insights that will help you improve in ways your students can’t. Don’t be afraid to seek out constructive criticism—it’s key to your growth.
Yoga teachers: you have to ask for help so you can get better.
And your students aren’t the best ones to ask. Instead, ask other teachers.
Students can’t give you the best feedback; they don’t have the tools to describe what worked and what didn’t. It’s like a chef cooking for, say, a teenage soccer team—they won’t have the palate or vocabulary to critique the food, they’re just glad to eat. Your peers, especially your colleagues in teacher training and at the venue where you teach, will be better. To get useful feedback, a chef must serve other chefs and experienced eaters—not the hungry soccer team. And it’s probably best if these chefs are skilled in the same kind of cooking—that is, your best evaluators will come from a similar background as you do and they will work with a student population similar to yours.
Invite a friend to class expressly to offer you evaluation. This might be one of your studio colleagues, or one of your yoga teacher training buddies. If your friend can set up discreetly in the back, they may even make a few notes. If the venue allows observation and you are especially open and willing to succeed, you can have them sit and watch instead of participating, or record a whole class for them to review. But that’s not always feasible. At my studio, Carrboro Yoga, we don’t allow nonparticipating students to sit and observe class, as we think it creates a strange situation for the participating students. But at your class, it might make sense. Just let the students know what’s happening—or that you are recording yourself because you want to be the best teacher possible for your students!
If you already teach in video format, share a recording with a peer to get feedback.
Then listen carefully to their input and make the tweaks you need so that you can help your students better.
And let me say: I know that growth is hard. Growth requires being uncomfortable. But without opening yourself up to constructive criticism, there will be no growth at all, and your career will wither on the vine. All your good intentions about helping your students through yoga will come to nothing if you don’t challenge yourself to improve.
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