lessons I have learnt while teaching yoga

I have been teaching yoga for 4 years now, and I still feel I have so much to learn, so much space for me to be the best yoga teacher I can be. Every day I learn something new from my students. I would like to share with you some of my daily lessons:

we don’t know how to breathe!

It sounds pretty silly but it is true, when we were born our breathing came to us naturally, and might be that we have never payed attention to it for years. So once we get into the yoga room for the first time it is amazing to discover we can actually feel our breath, and move with it.

everyone has their own struggles

I see my students (and myself) get on our yoga mats thinking we are the only ones with negativity and that we all want to leave it on our mat. Some might have an awesome and gorgeous practice but deep inside they are struggling. Each one of us has our own story, with it’s ups and downs and sometimes the yoga room is the best place to forget about all that. Remember – you are not the only one struggling.

the little things make the biggest difference

How awesome does it feel when you finally touch your heels in camel pose? How good does it feel when you move your forehead one centimeter more and can finally touch your forehead to your knee? I love to see the faces of students when they finally get that posture they have been working on and it is when you realize, that the minor details are the ones that matter the most.

when you are ready for a change, it will happen

Not before. It’s that simple. In the hot room, the teachers have a dialogue; it is always the same instructions in the same order. It might be that you will not hear what your body needs until it is ready, not before, not after. “You’ve never said that before in X posture” I have that heard many times. The mind is focussed on what needs to be done at the exact moment, and when that work is done, the mind is open for what is coming next.

everyone has their own process

And this one, I am still learning and practicing every day. As a teacher I cannot rush the process of others. Even though I want my students to improve their postures every day, I must understand they have their own process, their own injuries and or struggles they are working on.

we are always so connected with our ego

It seems like we are always looking to be really mean to ourselves, to push to our limits, to stay on one foot even when our body wants to sit for a while. Stop being so hard on yourself, come to yoga to just embrace what you have at each moment and celebrate when you ALLOW yourself to take it slow.

our human nature loves to encourage the others

I love to hear the chitta chatta after yoga class, with the sweaty, no make-up, and happy faces. All the conversations are so positive and so encouraging. LOVE is our true nature and when we finally leave the ego aside the love vibration raises and it is impossible not to share it with others, with our yoga community.

the power of our eyes

How powerful are those eyes looking at you in the mirror, when you are all sweaty, struggling just to breathe, those eyes that tell you; you are pretty, powerful and it is going to be ok. In a hot room where most of the 90 minutes are focussed on yourself in the mirror and facing your own image, it is so powerful. It might be difficult to appreciate that image at the beginning, and as days pass by, you begin to feel more comfortable with it, and you begin to realize that the image you see is in fact your friend and not your enemy. And suddenly you begin to find comfort looking at yourself in the eyes, that stranger now is your best friend, the friend that will be with you for a lifetime.

Every class I teach is a class where I learn. I learn about myself, about human nature and about love. I am thankful for my path where day by day I am able to encourage people to be the best version of themselves. I am thankful I can share the practice that has changed my life and makes me be the best version of me, every day.

Ana Lopez

After dedicating her full attention to hot yoga for two years in Madrid, Ana fell in love with hot yoga and its benefits. She got certified with Evolation Yoga in 2014 and now she is teaching yoga in Helsinki, Finland. Ana owns a hot yoga studio there as she has discovered that Finns can really benefit from yoga with the hard climatic changes that surrounds them. She truly believes in healing the human body with the energy of asanas and correct stimulation.