I held my last Zoom yoga class of the year this morning and I decided to play my singing bowls at the end during Savasana just to add a little something extra. As with everything this year, offering sound in this way will be a learning curve as I found that some bowls “sing” better than others, in terms of how the sound/vibrations travel when offering through this medium, so hopefully I can establish which bowls and other instruments work better via Zoom than others and start to weave this into our classes a little more.
It’s been a funny year overall (understatement) and particularly from the viewpoint of my yoga teaching and my work life. From the initial devastation of everything turning upside down and coming to an end in March, to deciding to film yoga videos for YouTube and for my website in subsequent months, to finally jumping on the Zoom bandwagon in September and establishing a new “virtual” yoga group, it has been challenging but I am so grateful to have had this outlet to still connect with people and to offer my yoga teachings to those who wished to continue practising with me.
Teaching via Zoom really has been the upside of all of the enforced changes this year. When I realised I wasn’t able to return to teaching in-person classes at the end of the summer I thought for a while that would be the end of my yoga teaching career which was a devastating thought, so deciding to take the plunge and give Zoom a go was the best decision I could have made. Even though I am only offering two morning classes I think this has ended up being the best solution in terms of the availability of my existing students and a consistent yoga group has established itself over the last few months. Still welcoming new students of course, but there is a firm base of students attending regularly that means a sense of community has started to be established which is what I loved best, and missed, about teaching in person. Seeing the same friendly faces, having little catch ups with people each week; that made it an absolute joy to teach. I really genuinely miss those of you who had been attending my classes regularly and who I no longer see. I know this way of teaching won’t suit everyone and that the times/days likewise don’t fit everyone’s schedules, but I miss you all the same.
One bonus, however, from teaching in this way has been being able to reach students who had moved away and who were no longer able to attend my in-person classes but who can now attend my Zoom classes and I even had a friend from France join me in this morning’s class with her mum! So, while not the same as before, there are certainly benefits to Zoom teaching 🙂
In terms of my reflections on 2020 overall, and trying to focus on the positives, I have been grateful for being able to slow down. I had been feeling very overwhelmed for quite a long time with juggling my work life, home life and running around after my children with my partner working full time in London and not being around very much, so with my other half working at home since March, responsibilities have been shared again and obviously the general pace of life has slowed down too. As a self-confessed “home bird”, being at home itself hasn’t been so much of a problem but I do miss travelling abroad, discovering new places and connecting with family and friends. This “new normal” of avoiding other people in the streets, not liking crowded places, wearing masks and not having any physical contact with people outside of the home is such a sad development. Necessary of course under the given circumstances and for everyone to stay in good health, but such a shame for people to have to become so separate and disconnected.
For this reason again, I am grateful for my yoga teaching and that I get to see you guys each week. I truly appreciate everyone’s support throughout this year, whether you came to classes at the beginning of the year, whether you bought my videos during the first lockdown, used my YouTube videos or have been to my Zoom classes, I really am deeply grateful.
I know the start of 2021 will still bring challenges as we are not out of the woods yet, but I do hope – as I know we all do – that the situation will start to ease over the coming months. In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful time seeing in the New Year wherever you are and whoever you are with. You all deserve a happier, more positive year and I want to take this opportunity to send you all love and blessings for continued good health and happiness. ૐ