Difficult Yoga Class

I had an experience in class last week that’s been bugging me. I hope you guys can help me get some perspective.

The short version is this: I took a class that was too hard for me, and I got frustrated. Really frustrated. Like I was crying in class.

Some background info:

  • I haven’t been to a formal Yoga class (besides prenatal or mommy and me) in about 2 years.
  • this class was advertised as Level 1/2.

I was really nervous at the beginning of class. At first it was helpful when the teacher talked about Yoga as play, and not taking yourself too seriously. But then, it got bad. After the warmup, I was exhausted, and we had 45 minutes yet to go. Hearing, “hey, this is fun!” got really annoying when I was struggling to keep up.

I emailed the teacher about this last week, and haven’t heard back yet.

I guess it’s my ego in the way, but is it too much to ask that I enjoy the class? That I can keep up? I feel like I shouldn’t be upset about this - that I should be able to let go of expectations and just do things at my own pace. But when I’m so far behind, it’s really hard.

Am I just practicing to feed my ego? How do I let go of this? And the key question: should I go back to this studio?

If this was a flow or vinyasa class then it might have been a bit much to go to a 1/2 class instead of a Level 1. Though pragmatically a class advertised as Level 1/2 should be appropriate for a Level 1 student.

In my experience there is a bit of teaching jargon that seems to get handed down in Vinyasa trainings. And most of that seems to center around lightening up a very physically intense practice. Of course we shouldn’t take our asana practice (or ourselves) too seriously. But to have to constantly remind students of such things for 75-90 minutes has to make one wonder. Being playful with students during the practice is wonderful when it’s authentic but annoying when it’s regurgitated scripting.

I don’t get a sense your Ego is the issue here. But if you outline the practice in greater detail (simply saying you went to a level 1/2 yoga class means very little to me) I might be able to lend more perspective.

Whether you go back or not is up to you. Presuming the teacher received your email, I find the lack of a reply to be distancing, aloof, and unresponsive and those are not qualities I desire in my yoga teacher.

Hi There,

I think there are two issues here: Firstly, does your teacher have the necessary sensitivity to adapt her programme to all participants in the class? It seems not. You have to ask yourself then if this is the right class for you, otherwise your frustration will persist. Perhaps change to a beginners class? I am not familiar with the level 1/2 in South Africa, so I am not sure how advanced or not this may be.

The second issue concerns youself, and that is, do you have the necessary patience with your own limitations at this stage to continue going, ignoring the teacher’s flow and to just persist at your own pace doing what you can no matter what, without getting frustrated and bursting out in tears.

My other advise would be to find another class if this one is too frustrating to you. The lack of responsiveness from the teacher is unfortunately a red light for me.

Trust you will find your place somewhere, somehow. :slight_smile:

I’ve taken classes at this shala before and always found them challenging. It was, I believe, Anusara style yoga. I usually practice something closer to Ashtanga - I like knowing the poses and the sequence. This was very free form and most of the poses I had never seen before.

As I’m writing this, I’m really seeing that this class was difficult and probably too difficult for me. I think what was disappointing for me was that I got so attached to success in that class. That I didn’t have the strength to just shrug my shoulders and do my own thing.

I’m always so sensitive to where I am in regards to other students in the class. If I’m further along, I’m always worried that I’m showing off, and feel guilty when I enjoy being just that much more flexibile. If I’m not as skilled as the rest of the class, I feel insecure.

It’s funny that you mention you are used to Ashtanga and that this class was Anusara based…I too started yoga at a studio that taught (at least the classes I took)the Primary series of Ashtanga. It was very difficult at first but after building up endurance and becoming familiar with the sequence of posture you do enjoy the class more and there is a comfort in knowing what posture comes next. To me that is part of the beauty of Ashtanga that you can almost become entranced in your breath knowing what the next posture will be.
The next studio I practiced at was Anusara based and yes it was very different at first. I was frustrated that I had no clue as to what postures were coming next, but in time I came to enjoy the emotional “lightness” of the class and the heart opening sequences that were to me very uplifting.

I would say stick it out. Perhaps next time you can stay at the back of the class so that you can watch the people in front of you.
Also, did you advise the teacher you were new to the class? Our teacher will always ask if there are any newbie’s today…
Anyways I would give it a try , it could also simply have been an emotional day for you. Change is always difficult but its not always a bad thing.

[quote=geekyMary;12179]I’ve taken classes at this shala before and always found them challenging. It was, I believe, Anusara style yoga. I usually practice something closer to Ashtanga - I like knowing the poses and the sequence. This was very free form and most of the poses I had never seen before.

As I’m writing this, I’m really seeing that this class was difficult and probably too difficult for me. I think what was disappointing for me was that I got so attached to success in that class. That I didn’t have the strength to just shrug my shoulders and do my own thing.

I’m always so sensitive to where I am in regards to other students in the class. If I’m further along, I’m always worried that I’m showing off, and feel guilty when I enjoy being just that much more flexibile. If I’m not as skilled as the rest of the class, I feel insecure.[/quote]

I think you’re answering your own Qs.
If, as you say, your awareness moves easily to what others are doing, then you’ve left yourself. Elvis has left the building.
Being within yourself means you’re not gonna know if you’re ‘showing off’ or being left behind until you hear verbal instruction regarding the next asana, or find yourself out of sync (if thats a big deal).
Then , as IA points out, ‘Flow’ or Vinyasa (as it currently seems to be practiced in many classes) may not suit either.
And Pandera points out the ‘leader/instructor’ issue. In their defense, given the expectations of the majority within any class, they need to address the heavy part of the bell curve, which may leave you doin your own thang.
I gotta say though, that I’m extremely lucky with teachers. Mine all seem to have a skill at keeping ‘new’ or struggling class members going at their own pace and feeling good about themselves and still leading great classes.

I personally have a difficult time in ‘Flow’ classes for a couple reasons. Relating to asanas, I don;t get as much benefit from them if I’m moving quickly from one to the next. As an overall practice, I try to focus on my breath, and honestly, I breath slowly. It seems much, much slower than many others in my classes, which means I move thru asanas at a much slower pace. Its important for me to be able to go inward and keeping with the breath helps me do that. I really don;t care if I’m outta sync, but prolly don;t go back to the quick flow classes cause swimming against the ‘flow’ is pretty useless.
I think there are many others, like myself who might be less than enamoured with many of the ‘flow’ classes being done.
Maybe you might be able to find a ‘slow flow’ or similar class. We’re lucky out here, since there are numerous studios and plenty of variety. There’s seems enough choices for me to find what works for me.

As for learning new poses. That’s usually only a problem the 1st couple times as you associate the ‘name’ with the intented asana. Familiarity comes quickly.

I know it seems easy enough for me to say, but there’s always child’s pose and downdog when the going gets beyond your comfort or pace and you need to catch up with yourself and center again. Or even tadasana is really great for getting composure, when you’ve lost your intent.
I use them alot and they help me get over any ‘ego’ tendencies. Then its easy to remember that my practice is all about me, not anyone else. As your’s should be about you.

namast

from my perspective, if I was a yoga teacher and a student had a problem with my class and sent me an email on it I am not sure I would respond. I find the computer to be very impersonal and the hard part with it is that emotions can come across not how you intend them. There are also times I am not at a computer for a couple weeks or sometimes even a month. How hard was the class? Hard for me to speculate because I was not there. I have been to classes that were VERY hard for me and then something clicked, maybe my prana changed levels and then the rest of the class was very easy. If you find yourself getting more irratated, for me I find this causes more resistence, and makes it much harder.

should every student enjoy every class and be able to keep up? Mary I would have to say the answer is probably not. expanding oneself does not always come easy, I dont like this fact but I find it true. maybe the class is not for you and you should move on, maybe the instructor does have a really big ego, or maybe you were just not ready for the class at the moment you went there. Personally I went to a class over a year ago and the instructor asked something of me and I avoided going back untill I was capable of doing what the instructor asked.
in life there are three sides to every coin
Neil

I recently attended an anusara yoga class lead by an advanced teacher who emphasized being “playful” in postures. I was probably the only person who wasn’t a teacher in the class. When the teacher instructed everyone to do a headstand on their forehead I was dismayed to see the rest of the class going into this headstand position. This instruction seemed more risky than playful to me and I just passed on the experience. Is headstand on your forehead a valid headstand position?

Also, the “apex pose” for the class was going into a headstand with feet piked onto the floor and then spinning around into Vaparita Dandasana and then around again to a piked position. This also seemed dangerous to me.

Input appreciated.

Tim

Practise focusing on the moment. Focus on each breath, each second.

If you are breathing and focusing on your own practice and pushing yourself to the edge of where you are going. You are doing your best. You are keeping up as well as you can.

If you go back to that class and find yourself out of breath, simply rest and wait and breathe.

If you are just focussing on that, you won’t notice where you are in the class, who is better than who, if you are ‘good’ or ‘not’ and you will be moving towards a much more fulfilling practise.

Hi Sophie,

You realize of course that this thread was last “active” nearly three years ago?

That may be so Gordon, but I’ve seen a couple of posts around the same feeling. I also began my practice in a class well advanced of what I could do - level 2 ashtanga after taking a couple of light classes in Mexico. After my first class my instructor suggested I opt for a level 1 until I got ‘up to speed’. Did not fit my schedule. I decided that this was MY practice and continued - resting in childs pose at times. At the same time, I rehearsed the sequence at home and it didn’t take long before I caught up.

The take-away is that when you attend class remember it is your practice, and do so according to your level and ability. Even now, I listen to my body and my head and adjust my practice accordingly. Sometimes I have loads of energy. Sometimes I just want to lie in shavasana.

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