Can an Introvert be a Good Yoga Teacher?

Okay, so here it is. My big confession. I am an introvert. I love to be alone and enjoy activities that are peaceful and quiet. I imagine this is one of the reasons why I was so drawn to yoga in the first place; the practice being one of mindfulness and introspection. I try to fill my days with activities that promote the quiet and solitude that I enjoy. I love to read and usually spend an hour or two each morning reading articles and books. It’s probably no surprise, to anyone who knows me, that most of my reading is currently about yoga and philosophy; nature and its effects on our physical and mental well-being; and how to live a more joyful and fulfilling life. I also love to bake and cook, especially when the house is quiet and no one’s home: studying a recipe, quietly meditating while chopping carrots and celery and onion. Chop, chop, chop. Every morning, right after I take a shower and feed my dogs, I practice Yin Yoga while the house is peaceful and still, before everyone else begins to move about. And most afternoons, I take my dogs for a walk. Sometimes with my kids or husband, sometimes alone. And every evening, I meditate in a quiet room with only the sound of my breath to disturb me.

My days are fairly quiet, simple, orderly, and I like it that way.  

That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy going out and seeing people, talking to people. I get lonely, too. When I do see people, I tend to talk a lot. I’m so excited to be out. I’m like my dogs that way. Eager to see a friend and catch up, or to make a new friend.

I feel most comfortable with small groups of people. Put me in a large crowd where everyone is talking and bumping into me and I am not a happy camper. Seat me at a table in the middle of a loud and crowded restaurant, and I’ll spend the whole meal staring longingly at the lucky couple in the cozy booth across the room. 

I don’t like large spaces, crowds, long and meandering lines of people, crowded malls, bright fluorescent lights, quick decisions, loud noises, or constant talking. I wish 24-hour news, talk radio, and commercials had never been invented. I’m still trying to figure out why I should have to listen to news and commercials blaring from a video screen while I’m pumping gas, but perhaps I’m digressing a bit.

Most people love going to big parties and social events. Me? Not so much. The thought of large groups of people makes me feel squishy inside. When I do go to a larger get-together, I like to sit on the outskirts, with a smaller group of people. And when it’s time to go home, I’m ready. It’s not that I don’t enjoy myself while I’m there. It’s just that, after a while, I’m ready to be alone again. To recharge my battery. I’m imagining myself back at home, curled up in my comfy chair in the living room, before we even make it to the car.

A lot of people think that being an introvert means that you are shy, but being an introvert is very different from being shy. I love this definition I found from introvertdear.com:

“The definition of an introvert is someone who prefers calm, minimally stimulating environments. Introverts tend to feel drained after socializing and regain their energy by spending time alone. This is largely because introverts’ brains respond to dopamine differently than extroverts’ brains. In other words, if you’re an introvert, you were likely born that way.”

Yes, I was likely born an introvert. My mom is an introvert. All three of my kids are introverts. I’m pretty sure there’s an introvert gene in our family line somewhere.

I’ve thought a lot about why I wanted to become a yoga teacher, and if being an introvert would be an advantage or a hindrance when it came to teaching yoga. And I’ve decided that being an introverted yoga teacher is actually a pretty cool thing to be and has some really wonderful benefits as well.

For instance, while I was taking my Yoga Teacher Training, we went to several yoga classes at several different studios over the course of two days. I was both apprehensive and excited to go to all of them. I love yoga and I couldn’t wait to learn more about the different styles of yoga we would be trying. But I also knew that I was an introvert. A homebody. The opposite of a world traveler. And after two days of being away from my house, my bed, my family, my dogs; I was more than ready to come home. I can’t sleep in hotels, and my “rest and digest” is totally messed up when I travel. By the end of our yoga trip, I was exhausted. I had a terrible headache that had stayed with me throughout most of the two days I was away, and I was tired of being “on.” I had run out of things to say and ways to be cheery. I was way past the, “say stupid stuff just to keep the conversation moving” stage. I had gone on to the “analyzing of every stupid thing I had said” stage. My brain was on overload.

As tired as I was, I still couldn’t sleep when I got home that first night, and it took me the entire next day to ditch the headache.

I think my lesson from that yoga weekend was that even yoga, the de-stresser of all de-stressers, can wind up being a stressor if it’s over-scheduled. And this is something I’ll always keep in mind when scheduling my yoga classes. I can only teach so many classes and still be fresh and creative and interesting. I love yoga and I don’t want to let anything ruin that love for me. And I don’t want to let anything (under my control anyway) ruin that love for my students either. I want every class to be satisfying, relaxing, and special, and a key piece to that puzzle is not overscheduling myself.

Another key piece to the puzzle has to do with where I teach yoga. Since receiving my yoga teacher training certificate, I’ve been asked if I would be interested in teaching at various locations outside of my home. I thought about all of these invitations. I really did. But, part of the reason I wanted to become a yoga teacher was so that I could teach from my own home studio. A place where I knew I would be comfortable and could make sure the environment was calm, quiet, soothing, restful. All things an introvert values. I want that for me, and I want that for my students, too. I’m not sure I could provide that in the middle of a parking lot or surrounded by a bunch of goats… not that there’s anything wrong with practicing in those ways. Yoga can be done by anybody anywhere. That’s why it’s so awesome. But if I want to stay true to me, I’m going to have to stay in a smaller, more quiet space.

Which brings me to the next piece of the puzzle, by teaching in my own home studio, I can keep my class sizes small. The idea of teaching yoga to twenty, thirty, forty people… or more!… at a time scares the bajeebus out of me. My home studio is the perfect size for small groups of people to practice yoga together. I want everyone who comes to my studio to feel as comfortable as I do.

And, finally, as an introvert, my style of teaching tends towards being more peaceful, quiet, meditative. I personally believe slow, mindful yoga is more beneficial to the body, mind, and spirit since we’re taking the time to look inside and notice what’s going on in our body, mind, and spirit. I won’t be barking orders at you like a fitness instructor and I won’t be rushing anyone to move quickly from one pose to the next. I don’t like being rushed, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume you don’t either. What’s the point of practicing yoga if it’s just more of the same hectic day-to-day life we are trying to get away from in the first place? That’s not to say that I don’t occasionally like to practice or teach a slightly faster yoga flow now and then to some really cool music. I love sequencing yoga to all different styles of music from new age to pop to movie soundtracks and everything in between. It’s amazing how different a yoga flow can feel when paired with the Hamilton Soundtrack or Latin music like Santana’s “Smooth” or to a ukulele version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

It’s all about balance. For all of us, really. Yoga is about accepting yourself as you are right now. I have to honor what my body, mind, and spirit need. As an introvert, that means I have to pay attention to how much stimulation I receive, and I have to have the tools to recalibrate my system if I do get over-stimulated. The great thing about yoga is that it not only soothes and calms me down after I’ve become overstimulated, it also tends to help me to not get so stimulated in the first place. In other words, I am able to handle the crazy crowds and lines of people on move-in day at my daughter’s college more easily if I practice a little yoga before I go. And when I’ve spent the day running errands in crowded stores, waiting in long lines with impatient people, I can take deep breaths now and I’m not bothered (quite) so much. I can think about how I will soon be on my mat, folded over in child’s pose… big toes together, knees spread wide apart, forehead resting on the earth, arms reaching… as my breath flows in… and out… in… and out…

Ahhh. Peace.

How can I keep that to myself?

I can’t, really. I love yoga. I love people. I am an introvert. Can these things coexist? I think so.

I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but like everybody else, it must be in my own way.

– Jane Austin

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