Tuned in to Teaching...

This post is dedicated to my amazing mentor Lindsey... She has inspired me and helped me so much through my teacher training and I'm so grateful that God led me to mentor in her prenatal class!!

Below is an excerpt from my journal the first day of mentoring on June 18:
"I am so nervous for mentoring today. I really hope that I won't have to teach at all this first day because I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I'm very excited to learn about prenatal yoga and it looks like Lindsey is going to be a great person to learn from! The reason I'm nervous is because pregnancy is such a delicate time and there are so many poses that are restricted for pregnant women or need to be modified. I don't know enough about which poses are restricted to know what kind of class I can teach. I'm worried that I would instruct the women to do a pose they shouldn't do and therefore be responsible for someone getting hurt."

Here's another excerpt from July 2:
"I just got really nervous that Lindsey wouldn't show up today and that I would have to teach. It happened to Debra last week!! While I'm scared of that happening, part of me thinks that is what I need in order to get over my shyness and get comfortable teaching. If that happened what would I teach? I know Lindsey's overall sequence well enough that I think I could do it!"

And finally this past week on August 6:
I got to teach today!!! And it went soooo well. Lindsey showed up, but was really tired after having been at a birth the night before. She asked if I would be interested in teaching the class and I said I'd give it a shot. She totally sprung it on me, which is what I needed. If she had told me a week before or even a day before, I might have been a bit more prepared, but would have also been a heck of a lot more nervous. I would have psyched myself out. By asking me right before class, she gave me a few minutes to prepare, which left little time for nerves. Overall it went really well, despite the fact that I rushed through the first half of class and ran out of poses for them to do. But Lindsey sensed my need for help and stepped in a few times which I really appreciated."

My transformation over the past 2 months is evident in my journaling. When we first started, I couldn't even imagine teaching in front of people, but now it's becoming more and more exciting and more attainable. After Wednesday I feel so much more confident in my "yoga voice" and know what things I need to work on. I am so grateful to Lindsey for all of the advice and guidance she has given me these past 2 months. When I started this journey, I wanted to focus more on kids yoga, but have now given in to the fact that prenatal and mommy & me classes are going to be a huge part of my yogic path. I only have a few weeks of my internship left before I graduate and am on my own and I feel that I'm almost ready!! It's an awesome feeling!