Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

In 2012, I enrolled in a 200-hour yoga teacher training program. I completed the coursework and passed all the tests except one: the final test-out class, where I would demonstrate my ability to teach by leading a yoga class.

I talked myself out of it.

I told myself I didn’t have anything particularly special to offer. There were already so many newly certified yoga teachers. Did the world really need another one?

Besides, my son needed me. Between raising him and everything else in my life, I wasn’t sure where teaching would fit.

And so I stopped just short of finishing.

Some of those reasons were practical. Others, looking back, had more to do with my confidence. But my interest in teaching never really went away. In the meantime, I kept taking more and more trainings, primarily focused on the Ashtanga Yoga method.

Years later, immediately after completing my certification, I found myself unexpectedly called upon to teach a Vinyasa class when the scheduled teacher was stuck in traffic. I was nervous, but I agreed to step in. No time to prepare. No time to be nervous.

I made it through the class, although I spent plenty of time afterward thinking about everything I could have done differently. I wrote about that experience in 2019, calling the post When Called to Serve.

Now, seven years later, I find myself thinking about that experience again.

This year has brought several opportunities to step outside my comfort zone. Publishing Keeping Pace, a memoir about my personal grief journey, was a big one. Sharing something so personal with the world felt enormous. And apparently, that wasn’t enough. I went on to record the audiobook myself, too.

Both experiences required me to do things I hadn’t done before and to become comfortable with a certain amount of uncertainty.

And then came some unexpected teaching opportunities.

Most of my teaching has centered around Mysore-style Ashtanga yoga. It’s a practice I know well, and one where I feel comfortable working individually with students as they move through their own practice. I don’t have to stand at the front of the room and lead everyone through a sequence. Instead, I observe, offer guidance one on one, and respond to what each student needs.

Recently, though, Erica Valentine, one of my fellow teachers at Breathe Together Yoga, has asked me to cover some of her classes while she’s away pursuing her own opportunities.

First came Candlelight Sound Bath, Meditation & Gentle Movement. More recently, she asked me to teach her all-levels Vinyasa classes with optional strength work.

Neither is exactly in my wheelhouse.

Before teaching my first candlelight class, Erica generously spent part of a Saturday with me, showing me how she works with the different instruments and giving me a chance to try them myself. She also loaned me a collection of instruments, including crystal bowls, metal singing bowls, bells, ocean drums, a rain stick, and chimes.

The candlelight class has me guiding students through gentle movement and meditation before settling into a sound bath. I’m learning how to work with the instruments, how to pace the different portions of class, and how to create an experience that feels cohesive.

I’ve even been practicing my sound baths at home with my two Labrador retrievers, ages two and six. They’re usually wild and crazy, but apparently the sound bath works on them. They fall asleep! I’m not sure there’s a better endorsement.

I’ve also purchased my first sound bath instrument, a shaker made from kenari seed nutshells. I have only one more candlelight class scheduled, but apparently that hasn’t stopped me from starting my own collection. I’m looking forward to trying it out.

The Vinyasa classes challenge me in a different way. I’m creating sequences that flow, offering variations for different abilities, and incorporating optional strength work with light weights. Vinyasa is more familiar territory for me than sound baths, but every teacher brings something different to a class, and I’ve enjoyed exploring how to make these classes my own.

For the strength portion, I draw a little from my own experience training at the gym, both independently and with personal trainers. I try to focus on form and controlled movement so that even with lighter weights, students can experience the exercises and the muscles they’re working.

A few of the guys have commented on the light weight selection. I suppose when you’re accustomed to lifting heavier weights, two-, three-, and five-pound dumbbells might not seem like much. But there’s plenty to explore with lighter weights when you slow things down and pay attention to how you’re moving. And let’s not forget, you don’t need weights at all to work on strength. Sometimes, simply engaging your muscles more intentionally is enough to make a familiar movement feel entirely different.

It’s a very different experience from walking around the Mysore room, observing and assisting students. Both classes require more preparation than my usual teaching, and both push me outside my comfort zone.

But here’s the thing. I love teaching them.

I still get nervous. I still wonder whether I’ve planned enough, whether the transitions will work, and whether students will enjoy the experience. And afterward, I still find myself replaying parts of class, thinking about what worked and what I might change next time.

Apparently, some things haven’t changed much since that first unexpected Vinyasa class!

I don’t know whether these opportunities will lead to more teaching or whether I’ll simply return to my familiar Mysore room when the substitute dates are finished.

Either way, I’m glad I said yes.

When I think back to 2012, I remember the woman who convinced herself she didn’t have anything to offer. I don’t think I could have imagined then that I’d someday be teaching not only the practice I love, but also classes I never expected to teach. Or that I’d write and narrate a book about my life.

I have plenty to learn. And perhaps that’s what I’m enjoying most.

It’s funny how stepping outside your comfort zone works. The first step can feel enormous. And then, somehow, the next one becomes a little easier to take.

Being called to serve doesn’t necessarily mean feeling completely prepared or knowing exactly how things will turn out.

Sometimes it simply means being willing to show up, share what you know, and remain open to what you might learn along the way.

Check out the SCHEDULE page on my website, or the Breathe Together Yoga page, for a complete list of classes, dates, and times when I am teaching.