How to Spice Up Your Yoga Classes When You're Feeling Bored with Your Teaching

5/16/2017

Every couple of months, I get really sick of hearing myself talk/teach/cue the same poses over and over again. Let me be clear: I love repetition in yoga and I think it's important for students to do the same poses time and again, but I've found that as a teacher who teaches multiple classes per week, no matter how much I love the poses, I'm bound to get bored with my teaching every once in a while.

So, since I've been teaching a lot of yoga classes every week for quite a long time now (7 years, woah!), I've had to come up with a few ways to infuse my classes, my teaching, and my own practice with a bit of variety, new inspiration, and fresh sequencing ideas.

Today, I thought I would share my 5 favorite ways to get inspired, from most basic to most elaborate:

Take an online class with a new teacher (or a favorite teacher who you find super inspirational).
Time commitment: 30-90 minutes
Financial commitment: Free or about $18/month (if you subscribe to a service)
For me, this usually comes in the form of a YogaGlo class, but you can find classes on YouTube or Gaia, too. This is the easiest, most straightforward way that I've found to get inspired; I *always* learn something new when I take a class with a new teacher and love to bring that inspiration into my classes.
Take a different kind of yoga class, or different style of yoga than you teach.
Time commitment: 60-90 minutes
Financial commitment: The cost of 1 yoga class
Are you a vinyasa teacher? Take an Iyengar class, or a Bikram class. Are you an Ashtanga teacher? Go to a Yin class. Do something totally different from what you usually teach (and practice) and see if you can pull some principles from that class into the next sequence that you create or class you teach.
Take another kind of movement-based fitness class.
Time commitment: around 60 minutes
Financial commitment: Usually about $15-20, depending on the class type and location
This could be a pilates class, a barre class, a dance class, an online Momma Strong video (my go-to these days), a bootcamp class, whatever. See if you can infuse your yoga class with some of the movements you did in that class, but make them more yogic or suited to your sequence or teaching style. I love doing this and find that usually, my students really benefit from my teaching non-traditional movements right alongside yoga poses and transitions.
Take a workshop with a new [to you] teacher at a new [to you] studio.
Time commitment: 2-4 hours
Financial commitment: Between $25-90, depending on the workshop type and location
Since this is so similar to Tip #1, I don't think it needs much explanation, but bottom line: if you take a workshop from a new-to-you, experienced teacher, you're bound to be inspired in one way or another. Even if it's just one pose or an interesting transition, sometimes that can be all you need to feel reinvigorated!
Take a training geared towards teachers.
Time commitment: anywhere from 1 day-1+ years, depending on what kind of training you take!
Financial commitment: varies drastically depending on the program
Whether this is something big like a 500-hour training or something small like a 4-hour training on a Saturday, doing some continuing education is one of the best (or the best?) ways to get some immediate inspiration and beat the boredom. This is an investment of time and money, but it's totally worth it if you need some serious rejuvenation.

What helps you get re-inspired? Anything I left off of this list? Let me know!

Oh, and here are a few more related past posts that my fellow yoga teachers might appreciate: