Reflections on a year of online yoga

Almost twelve months have passed since we in the UK experienced the first lockdown, and now, one year on, we are still in the third lockdown period. For many of us, life has changed, for some quite dramatically, for others less so, and I wanted to take a moment to share with you my experiences as a yoga teacher, and the transition to teaching online.

As some of you have no doubt heard me say, if it hadn’t have been for covid-19 and lockdown, I probably would not have thought about teaching online. I would have had too many reasons for why it wouldn’t work - too much hassle to set up, safety implications of not seeing people properly, the lack of energy created by a group of people practising together, too much time in front of a screen, additional cost - and yet, when push came to shove, I made the transition with relative ease, and here I am, one year on.

I say relative ease - of course there have been technical problems. During one class my Zoom just closed itself down halfway through a one-sided yin posture! I had to quickly set up a new meeting, email it out, and hope all the students had realised what had happened (which luckily they had, and responded to with good humour, even taking the posture on the other side whilst they waited for me to sort things out). Sometimes one person can’t hear you, which usually means the problem is their end, but it’s very difficult to actually help someone figure this out without being next to the computer with them, and sometimes you simply can’t see anyone even with their camera on.

Yes there was a little more expense in a monthly Zoom fee, but I quickly realised I was saving money on travel, as well as time. Whereas the journey to and from Bristol city centre was usually close to an hour, teaching online meant I just stepped into another room, and avoided all the temptations of Bristol’s many wonderful cafes! True, I am now more screen-bound than before, but yoga teachers don’t just spend all their time practicing yoga. There is a lot of admin going on in the background, so being on a screen a little bit more is not such a big deal (although there are times I get tired of seeing my own face on Zoom).

However, there are some additional challenges relating directly to teaching. It is really hard to teach when you can’t see what people are doing. Instructions become more generalised, whereas when you are in a room, watching people, you can offer specialised instructions based on what people are doing. There is no longer the same energy exchange. When I was first started teaching, I was blown away by the power of a room full of people “omming” in your direction - this used to feel like my real payment! Omming via Zoom and only really hearing myself doesn’t quite do the same thing. Of course many of my workshops and retreats were cancelled, unable to be replicated in the digital world, and this has had an impact on my income, and also my creativity. It becomes more challenging to keep thinking of new ideas that will work as well online as in real life.

If I am truthful, I have been teaching fairly intensively since 2014, and in some ways having a heavily reduced teaching schedule did my health and wellbeing a favour. I enjoyed slowing down, being able to process events, connect with my feelings, and to feel more integrated and whole. I have loved being able to welcome students from all over the world, including France, Canada and Belgium, as well as the more local and regular students in and around Bristol. I know many of my students are happy not to have to navigate traffic and parking in Bristol city centre, and have enjoyed the routine of regular classes to support them through this tumultuous year.

So what lies ahead? Those of you who have read my 2021 - what’s in store blog will know that we are in unpredictable times. Planning events and activities is less certain than before. But it is my hope to continue offering online classes and one-to-ones as well as reintroducing face-to-face retreats and teacher trainings as we come into the summer. Most definitely I see technology becoming a bigger part of the way we live our lives, and personally I know I will have to continue to challenge myself to adapt and change.

I would love to hear from you, fellow yoga teachers and yoga practitioners, about your experiences of online yoga, the good, bad and the ugly.