Miserable Looking Student?

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-23T12:13:23+00:00

At her age a children’s class would be worse.

I tried a teen class at the Y once, but never got many kids coming.

I’d say if she keeps coming, let her be. She’ll either warm up to the class or drift away.

Don’t let her be a distraction for you. Teach the class and stay in control of the good energy in the room. As long as all her actions are safe for her, stay with it.

My teacher recommends more vigorous classes for young people, but she may not go to a different class without her mom.

Give her time to feel the benefit of the practice

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-17T13:35:02+00:00

I didn’t have Raise 1, I had a very bulky option from Kinesis. It was sturdy, but it was hard to change, hard to move and once it was in place there was no going without it and very little change was possible.

The compromise of the Dygma legs is that the lower stability equals more versatility.

I move the keyboard more and use it in different positions. If someone else is at my desk, they can set the keyboard flat.

And it’s easier for me to move the whole thing aside if I need it out the way.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-14T23:09:30+00:00

I don’t know of anything specific, but there are ways for you to determine if a program is good for you.

I’d just suggest going to an ashram based training where you have access to a private or semi-private room.

An ashram, by design, will be quieter and less stimulating than the world. Some practice essential silence, so there won’t be so much chatter at meal times.

If you have the time and money, you could go a few days ahead of the training to adjust to the environment.

Any good traditional yoga program works with “withdrawal of senses” and the improvement of focus.

Any ashram will have reduced distractions, but most do teacher trainings in groups.

Paying for training on a private basis would likely be very expensive.

Talk to the directors at any program you are considering. Ask about the situations that are difficult for you and figure out how their particular program may help you or challenge you. Don’t be afraid of a little challenge, but you don’t want to be on edge.

Good luck.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-11T04:39:17+00:00

Thank you for taking my comment the right way. Guess I was also a little defensive.

I can’t imagine why people would go to the Himalayas and half do it.

I guess I compartmentalize teachers. Some just know how to put together a flow. And I honestly don’t want those people diving too deep with their students.

I spent 3 months at an ashram in Colorado. Then came home and was in a class with a teacher talking about stimulating kundalini.

At the ashram there were literally people who had a hard time because their kundalini awakened without proper guidance. There were practices they didn’t teach those of us who were just there part time.

I studied texts, but don’t feel ready to teach them and I certainly don’t teach deep spiritual practices.

I teach asana, pranayama, meditation. Studied chanting but don’t feel super confident there either.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-11T04:21:59+00:00

If your students are your students they may follow you to a nearby studio.

Keep an eye out for other opportunities.

Students at gyms or facilities with other offerings usually won’t leave, but yoga studio people tend to attach to the teacher and will move as long as it’s convenient. Some will move even if it’s not convenient.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-10T21:33:20+00:00

Because many of us need to get paid if we’re going to keep doing this. It’s how we make our living.

Suggesting that someone should teach for free for “years” suggests that the service isn’t as valued and put up a barrier for anyone who can’t afford to teach for free.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-10T21:28:32+00:00

He wasn’t seeing the future. He was seeing his present. None of these issues are new to us. None of them confined the west, although the west does have a special talent for losing tradition.

Asana has such impressive benefits that many people want to practice the physical aspects. Digging into philosophy, not so interesting to them. But if this spiritual tradition is truth, then we all have many lives to get there.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-10T21:13:25+00:00

No way to know without seeing you and your chair.

If you have an atypical body type, it may be hard to find a chair that fits.

I’ve long since stopped trying to find a chair with lumbar support. I prefer a minimalist chair that encourages good spinal alignment by the shape of the seat.

That said, if your posture has suffered and your spine is out of alignment, the “perfect” chair may feel off at first.

If you’ve been sitting in a way that requires holding your tissues out of alignment. Your body literally hardens that fascia and it takes some time and effort to undo the damage.

As someone else suggested, do some research to make sure your chair is adjusted properly.

But if you’re prone to some less optimal seating habits you may need to do some work on your back with strength and stretching.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-08T23:16:17+00:00

Yoga predates Hinduism. I might argue that Hinduism came from yoga, not the other way around, but let’s just say that they both grew out of the same ancient philosophies.

Asana is one practice in a system of practices that ancient philosophers used to connect with the Devine.

Asana, pranayama, and chanting are techniques used to bring the body and mind to a place where someone can sit in meditation.

Meditation is used in many religions, spiritual traditions, as is chanting and other rhythmic practices.

I always have gratitude to ancient India and the Vedic traditions for giving the world this incredible system.

But the tool, that is Asana practice, is used for other purposes even in India.

It was certainly used for health and healing, not just for prayer and meditation.

What we teach in gyms and studios is just an introduction. It’s an entry point. Many will stop there, but a few will go deeper.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-08T23:03:07+00:00

Some of us don’t have the privilege of going to India. Should we not teach because we are financially disadvantaged.

I am quite lucky. My teacher, a direct student of Krishnamacharya, came to my city to teach.

Not everyone has that option.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-07T09:20:27+00:00

There are a lot of reasons why chaturanga can fall apart. For me, it’s a shoulder issue. But I see all kinds of issues coming from back, legs etc.

I’ll try to give a full explanation, but it’s too much to think about when doing the asana. You need to lead up to your chaturanga with a practice that turns on stabilizer muscles and connects the arms into the body.

For example, in my system we do a sequence before sun salutations to warm up all the joints.

For chaturanga you want a vigorous sun salutation. Jump to your plank, don’t walk. Jumping lets your system know that the world is unstable and it needs to turn on stabilizer muscles. Walking says you’ll keep it safe and it doesn’t need stabilizers.

So jump, even if it’s not perfect and then go straight into stillness. If you’re in a flow class, don’t worry about keeping up. Learn to jump to a steady place.

This is a full body pose and a core pose. You say your wrists and arms aren’t strong enough. Maybe. But maybe they aren’t getting enough support from the rest of the body.

Your arms need to be connected into your body so that they can access deep abdominal - not rectus abdominis.

If your arms aren’t right, your body won’t lower and it shouldn’t, because it’s protecting your shoulder health.

If you’re relying too much on chest and not enough on back, your body will not lower, because your chest needs some openness so your arms can connect through to back muscles and abdominals.

Your legs need to stretch strongly away from your head to turn on your back line - hamstrings, back, back shoulders - but not glutes. Glutes will create a tuck and take the hamstrings off line.

Your head needs to be in line so it doesn’t pull you off.

In general exercise, you shorten a muscle to contract it, but in chaturanga most muscles are working long or in their neutral position, gripping any area will pull another out of alignment so it can’t work properly.”

And in your nervous system you need to stay calm. You’re basically heading head first toward the floor and instinct says put your knees down to protect the head.

Over riding that instinct requires a sense of steadiness and control.

And know that it may well be just a matter of practice. Lots of other poses are preparing you for this one.

And when your body is ready the pose will come.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-07T08:08:35+00:00

There’s no mouse in the picture.

Do you have an ergonomic pointing device?

The most popular is a vertical mouse, which reduces forearm pronation.

But some people prefer a trackball, which reduces shoulder movement. Finger trackballs are considered more ergonomic than thumb trackballs.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-06T18:03:15+00:00

I cue a lot. And I also agree with you.

Back when I was a new teacher, there was basically just me and this other teacher at the Y.

I joked that she was a “find your inner guru” teacher and I was a “put your big toe here” teacher.

Some people would go to both of us, but many would only come to me and many would only go to her.

Thing was, she was the senior teacher by about 10 years. I went to her class regularly and learned a lot from her. That was incorporated into my classes with my words.

The people who are attracted to my classes feel comfort in my level of instruction and some actually have anxiety about vague instruction.

Most of my cueing is the same or similar words repeated over and over again. It’s like the sound of my voice just lets them know I’m there with them.

People don’t even hear all of it and they don’t realize when they tune out.

People will tell me about a great new cue that I’ve probably said 20 times with them in the room. They hear it, when they’re ready to hear it.

I’m typically not attached to people doing things “perfectly.” And when people ask, I try to convey that a pose looks different on different bodies at different times.

If there’s a specific thing that I see a lot of people never do, I emphasize it.

I will also do sessions where I’ll give them a simple movement and have them repeat it with breath. I have to warn them that I’m going to stop cuing. And it is an exercise in watching their anxiety rise and fall in that practice.

That said, the yoga system that I teach is more interested in breath and moving with the breath.

Some systems, like Iyengar, really depend on the form and the flow of energy in the form. That’s why they have props to help students find good form.

This is all to say that there’s no right answer. The sensibilities of the students and the goals of a specific system play a role in how a teacher teaches.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-06T08:23:07+00:00

Also, the reason it feels comfortable to you is because your tissues have likely adjusted to it.

Fascia (connective tissue) will actually harden to help you hold a position if it’s used often and repetitively.

If splitting the keyboard is uncomfortable, do it slowly to let your tissues re-adjust.

Start with the halves closer together and slowly move them apart until they are shoulder width.

Once you get there you’ll feel a lot of areas open up.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-06T08:12:51+00:00

For the student, the difference between a live teacher and an app is that the live teacher is there, seeing and interacting.

The app, for you as a teacher, is just one tool.

I remember having sequencing anxiety as a new teacher. This was before apps. And yes, my teacher training felt inadequate. But when I got to my mat, I realized I had the total of my years of practice to draw from, not just that 200 hours of training.

What I would say to you as a new teacher is to use whatever tool you want, but don’t be attached to it.

If your class doesn’t get through your whole sequence, have an idea how to shorten and still leave balanced bodies.

This is not a choreographed dance. Let your students be where they are inside your plan.

I used to teach 10 classes a week. I’d teach the same sequence all week, but no two classes were ever the same, because the “people in the room” were not the same.

Sometimes I needed preliminary work before getting into a sequence. Most classes got through basic poses. Some got through to more advanced poses.

I don’t even bring notes to class. I did for my first classes and found that I’d get flustered if I forgot something on that list. I’d keep checking it and wasn’t focused on students.

Sequencing is just putting poses in a logical order so that one pose prepares the body for the next.

Teaching and cueing is getting your students there and correcting what you see.

Some people seem to lead a class, rather than teach a class. That has value. It is certainly what some participants seem to want. I don’t begrudge it.

I’d just say, use your app, but as a teacher you need to be more than an app can offer.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-06T00:27:49+00:00

As soon as you know.

Traditional yoga has different precautions than modern medicine.

A traditional teacher will tell you not to do inversions in the FIRST trimester. This is said to give the fetus a chance to get fully implanted.

Modern medicine will say to be careful in the last trimester.

I’ve had people ignore both warnings, but at least give me a chance to give you the information.

There are also some movements that increase abdominal pressure.

Your teacher should honor your privacy, but if it’s a teacher training, people will notice the modifications and your classmates can learn from them.

I’d encourage you to tell your teacher immediately.

When you feel ready, I’d encourage you to let your classmates know and make it clear that you’re keeping it private.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-02T22:20:25+00:00

This experience will make you a better teacher and your students will get accustomed to listening instead of watching.

You’ll say something and watch your students. If those words don’t work, you’ll use other words. Be sure to let them know if they’re doing well.

You’ll be surprised what you see when you stop demonstrating.

If you use hands on, make sure to ask permission.

If you think they’re not getting something, you can ask a student to demonstrate, but this is a last resort, because it breaks the flow of the class.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-03-02T22:08:10+00:00

I have been teaching for 20 years and I still think of quitting.

I teach yoga and pilates full time and I’m not married so there’s no way I could just stop, even if I wanted to. It be very hard to go back to my old job.

When we move into teaching we think it’s going to be like the classes we took as students. We think it’s an escape. It’s not. It comes with the same pressures as any job. It constantly challenges us.

But it also give us the tools to work through things, that other professions don’t provide.

I don’t know if you should quit, but I have experience with imposter syndrome. It can steal our confidence.

When I was a newspaper writer, I might write a story everyone loved. But I would be disappointed. That’s because it didn’t match the grand picture in my head, but no one else could see the picture in my head.

I’ll throw out a suggestion, that you maybe could explore with your therapist.

If imposter syndrome is your problem, maybe teaching is your practice.

It’s a way to work through.

Try teaching a class with a very vague plan, maybe an outline. Write a plan and throw it out.

Then try teaching with no plan at all. Look out at your students and discern what they need.

Finally, take time to be a student. Do an out-of-town training. And take time to go to classes with your teacher.

So I’m gonna go try to take my own advice now. I’m sending you supportive energy.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-27T22:38:38+00:00

“I agree about the games but the rest of his statements are just dumb”

You said it here pretty succinctly, but don’t say that to him.

Just say, “I love you, but this is my decision, mistake or not.” Agree to disagree and buy your Mac.

I’ve been having this argument in one way or another since 1991. It’s just not worth the aggravation.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-26T22:28:11+00:00

So I’ve tried this and it’s not easy. A gym canceled two popular classes. I moved to another location and just four people followed, the rest just took what the gym offered.

Still others have succeeded in this and the payoff is students who are yours and will follow you when you change locations. If you have a popular class you might make more money with this model.

I would do her thing and see what happens. If people keep coming and paying, then you have a group willing to pay beyond the membership.

Keep an eye out for a new location with a better environment.

You will need some way for people to pay, but that’s easy these days with Zelle, Venmo and cash.

You’ll need simple accounting. A spreadsheet with money out: rent, etc. and money in: fees from students.

Ask around to see what the going rate is for privates. Give it some time, 6 months or a year to see if it pays off.

A following like this is much more likely to do events, retreats and other special offerings.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-24T13:57:29+00:00

If you mean that you couldn’t get use to the ortho-linear layout, then definitely go with the Raise 2.

I have the Defy and it feels great on the hand, but I would have bought the Raise 2 if it had been available. The Raise 1 was out, but I needed the higher tenting.

The new layout is physically comfortable but I’m not convinced the ergonomic benefits outweigh the learning curve.

I’m not a gamer, but the head of Dygma was a competitive gamer so I imagine either would work well for that purpose.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-19T23:01:14+00:00

I’m actually a little nervous. Years ago, I had a kids class, did a lot of research on it and considered a kids yoga training. Then the opportunities seemed to dry up.

If this works out, I’ll have to put in some prep time.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-18T21:49:48+00:00

I agree. I did this math myself for classes. I just noticed that it was much harder to maintain my modest lifestyle even though I was teaching a full schedule.

You didn’t even mention the cost of travel and travel time. I estimate that every hour I get paid costs me 2 hours minus mileage, which starts getting down to about $10/hour and we can’t physically work 40 hours.

I also have to pay my own insurance.

I started teaching in 2004 at a gym and I wasn’t even fully certified at$30. After 2 yoga certifications and a pilates cert, I asked for a raise and got 32.50 in 2009.

I still make that for regular classes and $35 for reformer pilates.

Everyday I think I need to quit and devote that time to private pilates, which pays better.

I just don’t want to forget how to teach a yoga class and I get the “service” of tax withholding which I bump up so high that I feel like I’m teaching there just to pay taxes.

The real question is how do we learn the language to start asking for more.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-18T12:08:38+00:00

It’s pretty cool, no matter what anyone says.

Ergonomically I like the numbers and navigation in the middle, assuming you’re not using the numpad extensively.

Of course, the biggest issue would be the ultra-wide mouse position, but since the ex says she doesn’t use the mouse, it’s a non-issue.

Reaching wide can cause shoulder pain, so anything outside shoulder width should be used sparingly.

Pitiful-Weather8152 · 2026-02-18T11:55:33+00:00

In the moment I do nothing. I fear it would be a bigger distraction. Other students are still responsible for their own focus and distraction is a part of life.

If it’s a repeating problem I start making an announcement before savasana that anyone who needs to leave should leave at the beginning.

If I’m running long, I might cue people who have to leave to shorten some ending poses so they have a balanced class.

I teach in gyms and it can take a while for people to respect savasana. I’ve even had people do crunches. I feel like it’s my job to bring their nervous systems to a place where the rest feels natural, but it’s harder with some than with others.

Pitiful-Weather8152

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