I used to get DESTROYED teaching yoga—completely drained.
I’d especially get drained by teaching Yoga Nidra, sometimes to the point where I’d have to go and lay down by myself for an hour or two and simply not talk to anyone for a while.
It really did a number to me.
I felt like I’d just finished a full day of exams or a long, loud band rehearsal, or really intense and emotional discussion.
I mean, even when I’m teaching asana classes, apart from demonstrating a pose here or there, I typically teach by following my lesson plan while informing myself of the students’ needs by watching them do the poses. And when teaching Yoga Nidra, the most physical activity I might do is to occasionally walk over to a student and lovingly squeeze their foot if they’ve lapsed into heavy snoring.
So if I was doing little or nothing physical in my classes, why did I get so absolutely drained?
Then, I began considering all of the energy I was managing in the room—or better said, all the energy I wasn’t managing.
As a teacher, therapist, coach, and even as a parent, whether you realize it or not, to create a good learning environment you must learn to recognize, hold, and direct the combined energy in the room. In gatherings such as a yoga class, school class, or a party with a lot of different people, there may be several—perhaps dozens—of people in a room, each one with wildly different energy. Stress, joy, contentment, playfulness, boredom, jealousy, anger, gratitude, peace, grief, fear, or even trauma can all be silently swirling in the energetic milieu. Even if you can’t name the energy in the room, you can likely feel it. So can your students.
As the leader of a class, client session, or gathering, it’s your role to hold, manage, and direct the energy in the room in a way that helps everyone grow.
But where do you learn those kinds of skills? Some people understand how to do this naturally and for others, this skill is less intuitive.
Personally, I had to learn the hard way.
One of the things I absolutely adore about teaching, what has driven me to pursue teaching as a career, is the immense pleasure of helping people. Early on in my career, I thought that my job was to help people by making them feel better by teaching a great yoga or meditation class. But, in my attempt to help people, I inadvertently took on all the energy in the room.
For example, if someone came to class because they were going through a life-crisis or just had an immensely stressful day and just needed yoga, meditation, or Yoga Nidra to cope with life in a productive way, the “helper” part of me would feel overly responsible to try fix their problems. But often, despite my efforts, the student with the stressful day or life-crisis would still walk out of class no better than they came in and I’d walk away with weight on my shoulders and a stone in my heart. Ugh!
Then, I discovered the crucial life-saver for both me and my clients:
The heavens opened and angels sang the day I realized the truth that it’s 100% NOT my job to fix, help, or heal anyone. In fact, I understood that to try to do so is actually a massive disservice to both myself and my students.
In fact, it’s not even the role of yoga or meditation to fix, help, or heal.
The game-changer was realizing that my job is to honor my students’ process, hold space for them, and skillfully invite them to apply the principles of practices like yoga and meditation to facilitate pointing all students back to the wise teacher inside of themselves, the part of themselves that IS capable of fixing, helping, and healing.
This was immensely empowering for my students and prevented me from feeling responsible to “fix” people.
I’m a facilitator, not a fixer!
So yeah, in class, there might 5 people who are going through a break up, 10 people who are feeling massively stressed out after a long day, 1 person whose dog just died, 3 people who just came from a job they hate and are so bored that they can’t even see straight, 2 people who just lost their $#!t at another motorist while driving to class and incidentally happened to roll out their mats right next to each other … awkward! And in the face of this petulant potpourri of prana, my only job is to invite each of us to look inward to remember that they are the very thing they are searching for, regardless of whether or not we can see that in this moment.
My job is to invite everyone to take a deep breath and look inside.
Over the 20 or so years I’ve been teaching, I’ve discovered a few really helpful and fairly simple ways to help manage energy in a teaching environment. They have helped me immensely and perhaps they could help you too.
Whether you’re a yoga or meditation teacher, a school teacher, therapist, coach, corporate manager or director, or parent, maybe some of these ideas can help facilitate the wise inner teacher inside of you to in turn help you facilitate the wise inner teacher inside of your students and clients.
Energy Management Ideas
I spend at least a few minutes before class grounding myself with either:
Conscious breathing such as ujjayi breath.
Calm music
Brief Meditation
Quiet.
I visualize how I’d like class to go, not just the delivery but also how I will feel and how others will feel during and after class.
I visualize specific people who might be in class, or if it’s a private session, the individual who will be coming to class. I picture their needs, personality, and see them opening to their own magnificence.
On the way to class, I avoid the news, loud music, or anything requiring excessive energy.
I give myself plenty of time to arrive early to class to make sure I’m not rushing, that the space is clean and in order, smelling nice, and possibly with some nice music playing. This sets a grounding and beautiful energy in the room and is very powerful to help your students feel welcome and to release any negative energy before arriving. It’s like walking through a curtain of good juju on the way into class.
At the beginning of class, I smile and consciously welcome people to class by looking at my students’ faces and letting them know that they are welcome here however they are.
At the beginning of class, I invite everyone to take a shared breath, a moment of quiet, let go of any frenetic energy they came into class with, and to set an intention for feeling amazing both during and after class. If it’s a large class, and there’s a lot of movement and chatter before class, I invite everyone to breathe in, hold their breath for a second, and let out a long sigh. This is as much or more for myself than my students and does wonders to change the room from being frenetic to being focused.
At the beginning of class, I verbally share my own personal intention for class.
I personally avoid superfluous movement and talking during class.
If someone comes into class with frenetic or “needy” energy, in my mind (or out loud if appropriate) I tell them that I have faith in the part of themselves that knows the solution to their problems and I tell them that I’m pulling for them. Again, I invite them to take a deep breath—it’s incredible what this simple action can do.
If offering physical adjustments, or if I feel someone’s energy around me, I do some energy “dusting,” meaning I literally wipe off my body while exhaling and free myself from any of their energy so I don’t carry it with me or pass it along to someone else.
If I’m offering a physical adjustment and I can feel an energy transfer, I give a steady exhale. This is both for me as well as the student who will usually mirror my breath and without a word both of us are joined in the action of letting go of
If there’s a distraction in class or if someone comes in late, instead of pretending it didn’t happen, I invite us all to open our hearts and welcome that/them in with joy, compassion, and curiosity—I turn it into a learning opportunity
After class, I consciously leave the class in the studio and leave all energy behind me.
What do YOU do to manage energy? I’d love to hear your ideas.
Starting this weekend, I’m hosting a 20-hour course designed to support teachers who are going through my Yoga Nidra teacher training, either for the first time or as continuing students. Part of what we’ll be exploring is how to create an expert the container to facilitate transformation for your students, how to create a water-tight learning environment, and how to hold energy in a way that empowers your students and helps you so you don’t walk out the room and feel like you need to take a shower … or find a new job.
