Finding and Building Community as a Yoga Teacher

This morning, I dropped my kids off at their school (God bless the year round schedule), picked up my favorite vegan breakfast burrito, and then went to my yoga studio. This time, though, I was not teaching a class, but getting to settle in as a student. And, let me tell you, it is always such a treat to get to walk into the studio and slip into the role of a student.

At first glance, teaching yoga may not seem like a potentially isolating profession, but I have found that teaching yoga can be very lonely if I do not place intention on building my community. Yes, building my community does mean finding students to fill my classes, but it also means finding people who I connect with, who I want to hang out with, and who make me feel seen and held. As much as I would like for this to happen without any effort on my part, it really does require effort to make and maintain community, and as a teacher, I have found that one of the best ways to do that is to remain a student.

I’m really lucky that I teach at a studio with such a wide variety of classes on the schedule, and I’m equally as lucky that one of the perks of the job is that we get to take classes from each other for free. Going in to take classes as a student is a way that I can feel held and supported by one of my peer teachers, and as much as I value my home practice, it always feels so nourishing to have someone guiding me through a practice. I love being able to sink into the practice and feel myself enlivened by the group experience rather than being the one to create the container for the group. I’m so grateful to have access to taking classes from my peers for free, and for the opportunity to get to know my peer teachers better by joining their classes. Taking one another’s classes is a way for us to disrupt the hierarchy of studio life and to truly see each other as peers and community members. If you teach weekly classes and have the opportunity to, give yourself the gift of being a student at least once a week.

In addition to all the support I receive from taking part in the group experience, taking classes as a student has allowed me to meet so many people who then end up trying one of my classes. Don’t get me wrong—It’s not as if I go to classes to make a pitch for why students should come to my classes— but it’s often an organic outgrowth of the experience. Students see teachers who go to one another’s classes as true community members. When teachers go to classes as students, they take time to make themselves vulnerable and to be seen. It’s inspiring to take a class and see a teacher taking a pause in child’s pose when the flow is no longer serving them or struggling with their balance, but trying again instead of getting frustrated. 

Lastly, I go to classes as a student to remind myself that yoga is fun. One of my peer teachers likes to remind her students that “play is the pathway to joy.” What a gift it is to live in a body that can move through a practice and try out new poses. It’s so fun to move and breathe with a community of like minded individuals, and that sense of fun, connects me to aliveness and expresses as joy. Yoga is a path to liberation, and shouldn’t one of the things we’re getting liberated from be the need to take ourselves so seriously? I certainly think so, and going to classes in addition to my home practice reminds me that “play is the pathway to joy.” And, oh, what a gift that is.