How I built the confidence to teach away from my mat

I remember this being a big thing for me. It can feel like a real safety net staying on your mat to teach. You have your notes next to you, you’re showing the students the poses so they can see what to do, but then you find it hard to get away from your mat to teach.

I knew that I wanted to have the confidence to not be on my mat as much and to be walking around the room supporting my students where I can, but how to get over the daunting feeling of leaving the mat?! Below I share the three things that I did to help build my confidence so that I could be off my mat more when teaching.

Your class doesn’t have to be complicated ..

I used to be writing elaborate flows as I thought this was going to make my students enjoy the class more and to make it feel more exciting. However, your class doesn’t have to be complicated for it to be enjoyable and for you students to get satisfaction. Coming back to poses that they have done before will only build their confidence and allow them to see how they can get more from the pose each time. Also, the simpler your class structure, the easier it is going to be for you to remember when leaving your mat.

You don’t have to have a brand new class every time you teach ..

Again coming back to making it easy for you to remember. Keeping the structure familiar and not changing your class every time. I like to look at a flow I taught the previous week and change just a couple of things that are going to make the class slightly different. Maybe it’s swapping a pose for a different one or adding in a different transition. This will help you feel more comfortable as it is only slightly different from the class you taught the previous week so you will be much more familiar with what’s to come.

Think before hand how you could be supporting your students in the class..

Thinking of adjustments that you might want to give that they’re going to benefit from, cues that you’re giving that you could then look out for in your students and demonstrations that may be needed that you could do else where in the studio. Preparing your mind with how you can support them is going to give you confidence in walking around and how you can best support them in their practice.