Yoga Class Not "Hard" or "Challenging"

OK, this weekend, one of the students that attend the Yoga classes I teach mentioned to me when was I going to teach a “hard class?” By “hard” she explain doing poses such as “Flying Crow”, “Side Crow” and what some call “Running Man.” Early during the week, the same student stated to me she wanted to take a class from a Yoga studio that was “hard” and “challenging.”

My response to her was that the classes I teach are challenging. Does such pose as mentioned above make a class “hard” or “challenging?” I have taken classes where we only did Sun A and Sun B for the most part. Let me tell you – those classes were “challenging” or “hard.”

I often tell students during class, wherever they are with their Yoga practice is where they are to be at present or that they are at the perfect place in their practice. They just need to see what has surface and work with that information. I see to many students wanting to move to the next level and are yet to experience the true joy of how their body feels after they just finished a Yoga class.

I see so many students (20s’, 30’s and some 40’s) only wanting the physical part of Yoga. They fail to experience the spiritual side of Yoga, which is connected with the physical. They ignore it! I see the more mature students grasping hold to this principle early on in the beginning of their Yoga practice. Their practice is more of a solid foundation. They never get bored or experience an “easy” class. From my personal experience, I have never taken a Yoga class that was not challenging. Whether is restorative, gentle or power Yoga. All of them were “challenging” or “hard.”

Just perhaps, the style of teaching I do is just not the style of Yoga that no longer works for this student. She may have to shop around until she finds a class that fits with what she wants to experience.

If you get a chance, take a look at the blog I wrote sometime ago “Yoga is Boring?”

Much love,
Joseph