Teaching yoga to new students for the first time will seem tough. There would be different students with different mentalities and physicalities. But, if you follow the tips mentioned below, you might even start enjoying their company and teaching them yoga. In addition, you can stop thinking: “I need to do my thesis on my own and spend a lot of time on doing it”, and hire a writing expert to help you while you’re practicing yoga.
Don’t Overwhelm Your New Students
Don’t bomber your new yoga students with refinements that may overwhelm them. As a professional, it’d be tough to not correct their posture on every step, but for new students, try to not discourage them with technicalities. Try starting slow. After all, your goal is to have returning students. If you try to fill them up with information that they can’t process at that time, it’ll neither be beneficial for them nor for you.
And remember, it may not be new to you, but it could be for them. Just as you can’t learn a new skill in a single session, they can’t too. They are trying their best to not do it wrong. But you, trying to make them do it perfectly is the first go might drive new students away.
Make them understand the idea of safety while doing their first lessons. It’s possible they might hurt themselves during advanced asanas. So, as a teacher, your duty is to keep them safe during it.
Engage Them by Setting Up the Pose
It’s tough to teach yoga to new students. Especially if they aren’t from a physical background. For the first week, explain the poses thoroughly. Where to face while doing a pose, how to breathe, how their stance should be. They expect you to correct their poses, but they still aren’t ready for the harsh truth yet.
But how to engage them without being overwhelming? Refer to your old students. Tell the new ones how they perfected the pose and why their ones are different from theirs. But don’t compare. Just keep a neutral tone and teach the new students through your old ones. Simple corrections go a long way. When your new students would see how you bring your left leg towards the front and with ease, they’d understand their mistakes and soon would want to correct them. One thing that’d be most beneficial to you is writing companies. Get killer papers discount ! With all the yoga lessons, when you’d be tired. It will help you take a rest.
Be Mindful of Who You Teach
Not everyone starting yoga is going to be in their best shape. Most of your new students would either be physically unfit or novices. You need to customize your teaching methods according to every student present in the room. No one method fits them all . Try understanding their mindset and start with small flexings. If possible, don’t even start with yoga in the first class. Just make them comfortable around you.
Understand their abilities. Don’t push someone who is used to lifting, to do a Vujangashana right away. They aren’t even able to scratch their back, how do you expect them to be so flexible?
Don’t show up unprepared. While it won’t be possible every time to attend your lessons with a blank slate, try not to force your parameters onto them. You might’ve been in the business for a decade or two, they aren’t.
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Encourage Your New Students
Let’s be completely honest. You want your students to come back. For the sake of your business, you want each one of them to be back the next day. Encourage them. We are humans, we crave encouragement. Try to give that to your new students on a daily basis, for at least the first month. But don’t lie to them. If they are doing something wrong, correct them, but don’t be rude about it. And if they do something right, shower them with encouragement.
It’s likely that your students have different body characteristics. While some of them have long limbs, some have a strong torso. It’s yoga. Be flexible about it. Design your lessons according to each of their capabilities and limitations. Don’t force their hand onto the floor, if their spine isn’t allowing it to. Try to make them look like a bad yogi at that moment. If you do so, they might never come back.
Let Them Ask Questions
After the first few lessons, hold a doubt clearing session for the new students. Let them be candid for the moment. If they need to know something, tell them. If they have a complaint, listen to them. Always encourage questions. When you allow your new students to engage, you build a personal bond with them. Which makes them want to come back next week.
The Bottom Line:
Yoga is all about persistence. If you want to keep your new students, don’t force them into doing things that they aren’t ready for. Try to talk. And keep things simple between your students and yoga. Do encourage them to do it correctly. But don’t scare them off.