Everyone is believed to have get used to the new norms now. Studios practice SOP and students knew better than the teachers about the physical social distancing at class. More and more requests from students looking for private yoga classes and I don't know why. Finally, I found out the reasons from members.
I am willing to spend some money now to get my physical body health back in shape. I am so young and a lot of body aches here and there — B.
I have been stopped yoga for a while because of MCO, now I am with my gang of friends looking at losing weight and toning up. — J.
I knew my shoulders are really tight. I just want to get it right. — G.
I am not sure I am doing it right at group class, just want to try few private sessions to get the alignments right. — K.
Students who come to private yoga session, they will have their own goals and objectives. No matter it is to fix certain body postures or muscles, or just purely enjoying their own personal practice time without being interrupted by other students.
Private class is always different from group class. Group class is based on the teacher's preferred yoga flow, scheduled program and lesson plan of the day. In private class, whatever the teacher going to deliver in the session is all based on the student's specific body condition and student's objectives in practicing yoga. Students have their own expectations and that is why they are here for private class. The image on the left is how each session is planned and what I tried to focus to help students to work on or improve. It's a focused practice with personalized yoga poses in a flow based on student's progress.
I agree "Yoga for all bodies", but not to all at one time. The same yoga asana/pose, student A needs to take the variation 1, while student B can perfectly pose it and student C can go for another variation to deepen his/her practice. In group class, students are well aware of their body and comfort level. For any yoga poses they feel they can go more, they try or choose the options they think their body allows to do so. That makes the difference in the group class!
For private class, the most common feedback I heard is that "I couldn't follow the class, the group class is too fast". The interest in private yoga class is even stronger after MCO lifted as people started to notice their body heath when they spend more time at home. Work-from-home may be subconsciously telling you, you are one step away from your work. You can start your work straight away when you open your eyes and unlock your phone screen in your bed. It can be a good thing or might be a bad thing if you prioritize work-life balance.
Not sure what you want? Let's try the questions below.
Do you feel shy/hard feelings when you can't follow the pace in yoga class?
Do you have any bad injury or any part of your body needs your extra attention?
Do you feel comfortable when you get full attention from yoga teacher?
Are you working towards your own goal/objective such as improving seating postures, body flexibility or sleeping?
If three out of four questions are yes, you may consider to join private yoga and talk to a yoga teacher in your neighbourhood.
This is one of my private sessions with B.. She sets her goal at the start to learn the basic yoga before joining my group yoga class. Image shows the body alignment with and without a yoga block. Sometimes we may not be able to see our own body postures until we have been pointed out by someone or realized it by ourselves at later stage. Just a simple high lunge position, the lifting heel position made such big difference that affecting the hips, spine and shoulder alignment without her notice until I took the photo for her. I am not a therapist or medical doctor, but what I can do is to help students to improve their body awareness through different means in yoga practice, allowing them to explore their own journey to be mindful at how they stand, sit, pose, walk, talk and think.
Yoga is simple. Welcome to begin your yoga practice.
P/s If physical yoga is difficult for you at this moment, come online and talk to me at Our Journey to Self. This is an online yoga platform to allow everyone to try yoga once in a lifetime, online private yoga is available. Check it out if you need it.