She was crying...but then something amazing happened!
Hi there!
I hope you are doing well this week and enjoying life. I am enjoying life and seeing so many of you in my classes and connecting with you on social media and email, always the highlight of my week!
Today I want to tell you about something that happened at one of my Chair Yoga trainings in Brisbane.
We were doing one of the practical parts of the training where everyone has the opportunity to teach a little 10-minute Chair Yoga class to the rest of the group. For some people, this is exciting but for others, it can be absolutely terrifying.
One woman in this particular group was so nervous about doing it that she was actually in tears. And I completely understood how she was feeling! I’ve been there myself before…there is something quite vulnerable about standing up in front of a room full of people, especially in front of your peers, and saying, "Okay, I'm going to teach you something I just learned for the first time yesterday!"
So I gently encouraged her, but I also told her that she didn't have to do it if she really didn't want to. There was no pressure from me, she could take her time to decide for herself if she wanted to give it a go. So that's exactly what she did.
She sat back and watched everyone else have their turn. She watched people who were nervous & people who were confident. Some people had been teaching for years & some had never taught anything to anyone before.
By the time we got closer to the end, something changed. She got this inner fire of courage that sparked within her and she decided she wanted to have a go. So she got up, taught her mini class...and she did such an amazing job! I was so proud of her! But more than that, I was really happy for her, because she had just discovered something about herself that she hadn't known before - that she could do it!
And that moment was another one of the reasons I love teaching teachers so much. Because I actually see this kind of thing happen all the time. Often people find themselves nervous about the teaching experience, but once they see everyone in action and realise it’s a safe space just to try and do their best, they decide to have a go.
So many different people come into the training with completely different backgrounds and completely different amounts of yoga, teaching, life experiences and personalities.
Some have been teaching Yoga or fitness for years and some have never stood in front of a group before. Some are naturally confident, even if they haven’t taught, and some are absolutely convinced they are going to make a complete fool of themselves even if they’ve taught for 100 years. But…all of them have something to teach each other. And to teach me!
That's actually one of my favourite things about the training. We do lots of things together - we practice, work in groups, teach each other, share ideas, have conversations, ask questions, laugh, and sometimes get things wrong together too! It's not a weekend of me standing at the front talking at you. It's a room full of supportive, amazing, interesting people learning from each other, and everybody brings something different and important to the table.
And I'll let you in on a little secret...I get nervous too sometimes. Even after all these years, there are still moments when I feel that little flutter of nerves when I'm teaching in front of my peers. And for a long time, I used to worry that someone in the room might know more than me. Now I actually think...I hope they do! I love it when someone knows something I don't know, I get to learn something new!
I know a LOT about Chair Yoga, but I have realised that I don't want to be the person in the room who knows everything about everything (even though I’m a Gemini so I actually kind of do want to know everything about everything! haha). I want to be in a room where everyone knows something different and I can get inspired by new ideas.
That's where the magic happens!
Maybe that's something we forget about learning? We think we need to feel confident before we begin, we think we need to keep learning until we finally know enough, or until we're somehow "ready". We think everyone else is going to be better than us and we need to have it all figured out.
But my students often teach me that sometimes you just need to be willing to have a go, even if you don’t know everything yet. And who knows, you might surprise yourself with what you can do!
You might discover that you're capable of something you were absolutely certain you couldn't do. You might even find that the thing you were most nervous about becomes the thing you're most proud of, and that you have something valuable to share with other people too.
So, perhaps that's something worth remembering? Whether you're thinking about teaching Chair Yoga, starting something completely new, or wondering what might be possible for you next: Sometimes we don't know what we're capable of until we give ourselves the chance to find out.
Is there something you've been thinking about doing that you aren’t sure you could? Well, maybe it's time to jump in and find out!?
Love Claire x
PS. If Chair Yoga has been one of those little "maybe I could..." thoughts you've been carrying around, perhaps it's worth listening to that one too? I’m so grateful that I did when I heard that little calling. Training starts in just over 3 weeks and you are most welcome to reach out to find out more or check out the link below. I’d love to see you there on the chair for a fun weekend of learning and growing together!
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