Doing something good for yourself shouldn’t make you self-conscious.
There are many reasons people come to private, personalized yoga sessions. Some people need the flexible scheduling. Others want hands-on adjustments and modifications. (Hey, if you have a particular injury that doesn’t let you do backbends, it’s your class. We’re not going to do backbends yet.) If you’re in these two categories, you already know that you want private yoga and are just trying to decide if you want my private yoga.
But there’s a third major reason that people need private yoga. New Student Anxiety.
We’ve all been told by a friend or a magazine that yoga is a Big Thing, but when you don’t know what to expect, taking a class is scary. You get worried that classes are going to go too fast or be too hard. You get embarrassed about attending alongside people who are better, stronger, zen-er, and maybe secretly judging you for showing up. You’re anxious that you’ll be too uncoordinated, too overweight, too something.
And your same friend who told you to go to yoga tries to allay your fears, but it doesn’t help. “None of that matters,” says your friend. “No one is judging you when they’re concentrating on their own mat.” But even if your mind believes this, your heart doesn’t.
So why not spare yourself all that drama and learn what you’re doing before you try things in public? I offer a special 6-session package (55 minute sessions) purely for this kind of student. We’ll go over what to wear for a Vinyasa Yoga class, how the basic poses work, what to expect, and how to modify anything for your body. Note that if you want to add 1-3 friends for moral support, there’s an option for that on the scheduling page too.
Personal-ish story:
After I finally convinced my mom to try yoga, she looked at “basic” poses on the Internet to prepare herself. She immediately canceled her plans to attend a class because there was no way she could do the stuff she’d seen. She got scared, no matter how much I told her she didn’t have to put her leg there or practice balance poses in the center of a room. (Me: “Go to the wall, mom.” Mom: “That’s an option?”) So, no, she didn’t attend a class when she’d originally planned, but we got together and went through the basics one-on-one. Now she knows how to modify poses to work for her body, and she’s internalized the idea that you can get a lot out of yoga without doing the super- advanced stuff.
I believe you will pick up the basics of yoga poses, no problem. Then you’ll be free to choose private or public lessons based on enjoyment rather than fear. That independence is what I want for you.