Kids or Teen Yoga Teacher Training - What to Expect? An Emotional Rollercoaster!
By Veronica Greene (Printed in OM Yoga & Lifestyle Magazine NOV 2020)
Veronica Greene founded Little Greene Yoga® and offers a Certified Children’s Teacher Training package (3-5yrs; 5-8yrs; 8-12yrs & Teens)
Walking into a room to start a teacher training course is exciting! The first day of your new life, so why feel so nervous?
The first challenge to overcome, for most, in a teacher training course is “Imposter Syndrome”! According to a research paper published in the Journal of Behavioural Science around 70% of the population experience this feeling of ‘not good enough’ at some time in their life.
As the group sit around, tentatively chatting, asking a little about each other, but not wanting to know too much, it’s my job to break down barriers; let everyone know that we all have something to offer as a children or teen yoga teacher.
I run Specialist Yoga Teacher Training courses in Kids and Teen Yoga. 3 separate courses attracting students from 2 distinct groups – yoga teachers who would like to offer classes to the younger generation and people who already work with the younger generation who would like to introduce the benefits of yoga!
Kids Yoga Teacher Training
Teen Yoga Teacher Training
As the introductions continue the school teachers begin to worry that their lack of yoga training will be their downfall. As part of the introductions I make it very clear that each of us is bringing something new and fresh to the table, or more specifically the yoga mat!. Each student has been through an application process and wouldn’t be on the course if I didn’t think they had something to offer.
Then we do our first practical session…………………if it’s the 3-8yr course we may be crawling along the floor; the 8-12yr some challenging partner work and if it’s the Teen course it may be a plan to introduce the teens to some arm balance!
At this point the school teachers and youth workers recognise the language I use and begin to think “yes I can do this!” Whereas the yoga teachers may recognise the postures but are thinking “that’s not like any class I’ve ever taught before!”
Time for another discussions and this time I’ll open up a little more about my journey as a Children and Teen yoga teacher- my background, my disastrous classes, behavioral challenges I’ve met, the pitfalls and then the amazing feelings of connection we will all get with our students while knowing that we are making a difference in their lives – the reason we’re all doing it in the first place!
I explain that the course will be one huge emotional and physical journey. Simply showing up and attending will not make you a good Specialist yoga teacher but fully committing to the experiences, all of them, will.
This emotional rollercoaster is exactly how our students will feel, particularly the teen group –as adults we can use our brain to rationalise emotions and self sooth but a teenager’s brain is rewiring and their rationalisation skills are not yet developed. To help develop healthy connections they need understanding teachers and mentors who can guide them to make sense of their reactions, even in a yoga class.
I also prepare them for the biggest emotion they will meet - FEAR!
On the last day of the course our small group, of trainees, will visit a local school. Here they will each teach their own class to the relevant age group. They are assured that the worst that can happen is they will ‘freeze’ and I will step in and take over.
As the weekend progresses and we work through the syllabus they gain the knowledge and skills to develop successful, class plans and how to manage and teach a class.
Final day arrives, the class taught and the course finished.
Anxiety and fear have been replaced by a huge sense of achievement, at having taught their first class, and excitement of what the future holds. They return home to one last emotion………………exhaustion………………..but all agree the journey is worth it!
REMEMBER that the reason for doing a Kids Yoga Teacher Training course or a Teen Yoga Teacher is to LEARN to skills to become a teacher…….. and it’s our job at Little Greene Yoga to make sure you develop those skills.