I have been teaching and attending on line yoga classes for well over a year. On-line teaching enabled me to continue to guide students through their practice and keep a little bit of normalcy and connection in their lives when we were all isolated. I evolved as an instructor as I pivoted to the new world of virtual teaching. It enabled me to reconnect with students who had moved to other cities.
On a personal note, I was able to keep a consistent practice alive and take classes and workshops from instructors in Israel, Australia and many cities in the U.S. that would not have been accessible.
Now as we see our local restrictions suddenly removed we find ourselves in a position of asking can I transition to attending a live yoga class?
For some it is a no brainer they have been waiting for the moment to get back into a live studio setting as they missed the energy of a live instructor and live students. Others have a wait and see attitude, they will let the others test the water and see how the opening up of society pans out before they come back. There is a third group that may not go back to a live setting.
The best time to transition to attending a live yoga class is when you are ready.
There are as many reasons to continue attending virtual classes as there are to attend a live yoga class. Only you will know if and when you are comfortable to come back to the live group setting.
I taught my first in person class in a long time recently. It was a hybrid class so I essentially have two groups of students. For me as an instructor, I enjoyed being able to feel the energy of people in the room and guide them through the class as I had done so many times before. I feel I was still able to continue with the connection to the online students. So I am experiencing another sense of growth in my teaching.
I don’t look at our current situation and wait to “go back to the way it was.” I look at it from “how do we adapt and move forward.” Everyone has their own comfort level of change and adaption. I will respect your decision to determine when the timing is right for you to transition to attending a live yoga class. When you do, we will be here!
Hybrid classes will not be going away it only makes sense for us to provide that accessibility. Plus we now have the extra feature of video on demand classes to make us even more accessible.
I would like to thank everyone who attended our on line classes and enabled our yoga community to continue.
I look forward to getting together with you on the mat in person or virtually.
Enjoy your practice!
Kelly Cooper, 200RYT
AYC Public Class Teacher with 17 years teaching experience