
Here's me. Smiling and present, but in the front of the room, on my mat, not walking around or adjusting anyone. I have those days. We all do. And learning to honor those days is a powerful step toward becoming an intuitive teacher who can also honor your own needs.
One of my teachers once said she has a rating system she keeps. It is based on a scale from 1-10 with 1 indicating she feels simply awful, negative, and icky and ten indicating she feels fabulous. She said she is careful who she "infects" whenever she is a 6 or below and sequesters herself whenever she is below a 4.
I use this rating for myself when I am teaching. When I am a 8+, I am all over the class, adjusting, assisting, being in my students space and guiding them. When I am a 6-7, I will walk around, but not adjust. When I am a 5, I keep my energy to myself on my mat so as not to "infect" the others. When I am a 4 or below, I send my husband to teach my class for me.
Now, understand, this is not a conscious rating. I don't think "Hmmm...where am I on the scale tonight? I think I will need to stay on my mat." It is all very unconscious, my intuition working to protect both my students and me. I will walk out of class realizing I didn't leave my mat and instantly know why.
So, why am I telling you? Well, first of all, in case you are like me and judge yourself when you have a class when you are not "perfect". In the past, I would have harangued myself for not adjusting students, feeling I had cheated them out of the assistance. Thankfully I don't dwell on that set of waste of time thoughts anymore. (After about 13,000 hours of teaching, one would hope not. BUT truth be told, those judgments lasted much longer than you would think.)
Second of all, if you have ever been told that a good yoga teacher has to walk around to adjust all the time OR a good teacher has to stay on your mat all the time demonstrating, I want you to know there is another view. If you feel you have to do one or the other all the time, at best you are doing a disservice to yourself and your students at worst you are violating our most sacred tenet: ahimsa (nonviolence). Somedays you won't feel up to walking around and to make yourself do so is to harm your students with your energy AND harm yourself! At the same time, if you never walk around when you are in a good space, you are cheating your students from sharing your lovely energy. (I am a firm believe in adjusting our students. You can read more here: Assisting Part I: What's the point?)
Honor where you are. Trust me, your students won't even notice!
You may also enjoy...
Assisting Part I: What's the point?
Assisting Part II: It's not all it's cracked up to be
Assisting Part III: The Conscoius Adjuster