Balancing Your Brain in Yoga Class

By Kimaya Singh, Sangeetha Saran, and Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, YACEP

Is balancing your brain with yoga possible? Are you feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or struggling to focus? It may be time to balance your brain. Your brain is divided into two hemispheres – left and right – responsible for different functions.

 

Our mental health and well-being can be affected when these hemispheres are imbalanced. However, don’t worry! The ancient practice of yoga offers a variety of techniques to help bring balance back to your brain. Let’s discover the benefits of balancing your brain with yoga and provide practical tips on how to get started.

 

What is Brain Balance?

Brain balance refers to the harmony between the two hemispheres of our brain. These hemispheres control different functions, and they work together seamlessly when they are in balance. The left hemisphere is responsible for logic, reasoning, and analytical thinking, while the right hemisphere controls creativity, intuition, and emotions.

When one hemisphere dominates the other, it can lead to an imbalance that affects our mental health and well-being. For example, if your left brain is dominant, you may struggle with anxiety or have difficulty accessing your emotions. Conversely, if you’re overly right-brain dominant, you might find yourself working with an organization or decision-making.

Balanced brains help us focus on tasks while allowing us to tap into creative insights from a more intuitive place within ourselves. Yoga provides unique practices that help us cultivate this harmony between both halves of our brains so we can function optimally in all areas of life.

 

The Benefits of Balancing Your Brain

Balancing your brain can lead to numerous benefits that improve overall well-being. One of the most significant advantages is increased focus and concentration. When your left and right hemispheres are balanced, you can better process information, make more efficient decisions, and stay on task.

Balancing your brain also improves emotional stability by reducing stress levels. It helps regulate hormones such as cortisol while promoting relaxation throughout the body. This balance leads to enhanced mood regulation, reduced anxiety, and an overall sense of calm.

Another benefit of balancing your brain is improved memory retention. Your hippocampus plays a crucial role in learning and memory consolidation; when both sides work together cohesively, it creates a more robust neural network for retaining new information.

Additionally, balancing your brain may help alleviate symptoms like ADHD or OCD. Individuals may notice improved attention span and impulse control by improving cognitive flexibility through integrated thinking between both brain hemispheres.

Achieving balance in the brain has numerous benefits that positively impact daily life experiences, from work performance to personal relationships to overall health and wellness.

 

Why Balance Your Brain?

Balancing your brain is vital to achieving overall well-being. When the left and right hemispheres of the brain are working together harmoniously, it allows for the optimal functioning of various bodily systems.

Without balance, one hemisphere may become dominant, leading to various issues such as anxiety, depression, lack of focus, or creativity. Balancing your brain through yoga practices has been shown to improve cognitive function and emotional stability.

Furthermore, balancing your brain helps to create better communication between both sides, leading to increased intuition and improved decision-making skills. By cultivating this balance through regular practice, you can experience greater mental clarity and an enhanced ability to learn new things.

It’s also worth noting that balancing your brain isn’t just beneficial for mental and physical health. It can help alleviate chronic pain by decreasing stress levels in the body, which often leads to muscle tension.

In short, balancing your brain through yoga is essential for achieving holistic wellness – physically, mentally, and emotionally.

 

How to Begin Balancing Your Brain

Balancing your brain may seem daunting, but it is easier than you think. The first step in balancing your brain is to become aware of the dominant side of your brain.

To begin, try taking a simple online test to reveal which side of your brain has more influence over you. Once you know which side of the brain dominates most, focus on activities that stimulate and activate the opposite hemisphere.

Another way to start balancing your brain is through mindfulness meditation. This practice involves focusing on the present moment and observing thoughts without judgment or attachment. Through this process, you can train yourself to be less reactive and more balanced in response to life’s challenges.

Yoga is also an effective method for balancing your brain hemispheres. Yoga postures such as forward bend and twists help calm left-brain dominance, while backbends and inversions activate right-brain functions.

Incorporate healthy habits into your daily routine by prioritizing sleep hygiene, regular exercise, stress management techniques like deep breathing exercises, spending time with loved ones or pets regularly, etc.; all these little steps can significantly contribute toward balancing both hemispheres of our brains.

Yoga Methods for Brain Balance

Yoga is an excellent way to balance your brain, combining physical movement with focused breathing and meditation. Several yoga methods can help to promote brain balance.

One method is Hatha Yoga, which focuses on postures, breathing techniques, and meditation practices. Practicing Hatha Yoga regularly can enhance coordination between your brain’s left and right hemispheres.

Another yoga method for balancing your brain is Kundalini Yoga, which emphasizes movement, mantra chanting, and breathwork. Combining these elements activates energy centers throughout the body while promoting mental clarity.

Yin Yoga is a slower-paced practice involving passive stretches for extended periods. This style helps release tension in the mind and body by targeting deep connective tissues like ligaments and fascia.

Practicing Vinyasa Flow sequences also supports balancing your brain by synchronizing breath with movement through dynamic postures. This flow practice improves focus while also strengthening muscles throughout the body.

Incorporating any yoga into your daily routine can have significant benefits for balancing your brain. Try different methods until you find what works best for you.

 

Understanding Left Brain Dominance

The brain’s left hemisphere is responsible for logical thinking, analytical skills, and language processing. If left-brained, you may excel in mathematics, science, or other technical fields requiring problem-solving abilities.

Left-brained individuals are often described as more organized and detail-oriented than their right-brained counterparts. They tend to be great at following through with tasks and working well under pressure.

However, relying solely on the left hemisphere can lead to limitations in creativity and intuition. Left brain dominance can also result in overthinking situations or emotions instead of trusting your gut instincts.

It’s important to recognize when your brain is leaning too heavily toward one side so that you can take steps to bring balance back into your life. This could include incorporating activities such as meditation or yoga that simultaneously engage both brain hemispheres.

Ultimately, understanding left brain dominance allows us to become aware of our tendencies and better equip ourselves for personal growth and development.

 

Understanding Right Brain Dominance

The right brain is responsible for creativity, intuition, and emotional processing. People who are right-brain dominant tend to be artistic and imaginative. They often excel in fields such as music, art, or writing.

Right-brained individuals may struggle with tasks that require logical thinking or attention to detail. They may have difficulty with time management and organization.

However, having a dominant right brain can also bring benefits. These individuals tend to be more intuitive and empathetic toward others. They are often able to think outside the box when problem-solving.

To balance your brain, it’s crucial to strengthen the left side and to give attention to the right side of your brain by engaging in creative activities like drawing or listening to relaxing music.

Yoga postures that focus on opening up the chest area can stimulate energy flow in the heart chakra, associated with love-related emotions, such as compassion, forgiveness, and empathy, leading you closer to balancing both hemispheres of your brain.

Is Integration of the Left and Right Brain Important?

Our brain’s left, and right hemispheres have different functions, with the left hemisphere responsible for logic, language, and analytical thinking. In contrast, the right hemisphere is associated with creativity, intuition, and emotions. It’s important to note that both sides work harmoniously to allow us to function optimally.

However, many people tend to favor one side over the other. This can cause an imbalance that may lead to various cognitive problems, such as anxiety or depression. Integrating these two hemispheres through practices such as yoga can help create a balance between them.

Integrating our left and right brains allows us to use both sides equally, leading to better problem-solving and decision-making skills. We become more creative because we can think outside the box by combining logic and intuition.

Furthermore, integrating both sides also improves our emotional regulation by allowing us greater control over how we react in certain situations. This reduces stress levels since we’re less likely to respond impulsively without considering all options.

Integrating your brain’s left and right hemispheres is crucial for optimal cognitive function. By practicing yoga regularly, you can achieve this balance, improving your mental health and overall quality of life.

 

Do Supplements for Brain Balance Work?

Supplements for brain balance have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many claiming to improve cognitive function and overall mental health. However, the effectiveness of these supplements is still up for debate.

While there are some natural supplements, such as fish oil and ginkgo biloba that may have positive effects on brain function, it’s important to note that not all products are created equal. Some may even be harmful if taken excessively or without proper research.

Additionally, simply taking a supplement alone is unlikely to drastically improve brain balance if other lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise aren’t also addressed. It’s essential to approach brain balancing from a holistic perspective rather than relying solely on supplements.

Before starting any supplement regimen, you must consult a healthcare professional who can guide you toward safe and effective options based on your needs and medical history. While some may succeed with certain brain-balancing supplements, they should always be used with healthy habits rather than as a replacement.

Nutrition for Brain Balance

Nutrition plays an essential role in balancing your brain. The food you eat can affect the neurotransmitters in your brain, which regulate mood, emotions, and behavior. Eating a balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats can promote a healthy balance of neurotransmitters.

Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish such as salmon or walnuts have been shown to improve mood and reduce depression symptoms. Additionally, complex carbohydrates found in foods like whole grain bread or quinoa help stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent sudden changes in energy levels that can disrupt focus.

Moreover, consuming sufficient vitamins and minerals is also significant for achieving balance within the brain. For instance,
vitamin B12 helps maintain nerve cells responsible for transmitting signals between neurons, while magnesium promotes calmness when responding to stressors.

Antioxidants such as vitamin C, E, and beta-carotene are also crucial for brain health as they protect against oxidative stress that can damage the neurons. Avoiding processed foods high in sugar or trans fats may also aid you in maintaining a healthy mind-body balance.

Choosing nutrient-dense foods instead of processed snacks high in sugar or unhealthy fats is important because they don’t provide adequate nutrition for promoting optimal brain function.

Alternate Nostril Breathing for Brain Balance

Alternate Nostril Breathing is a simple yet powerful breathing technique that can help balance your brain’s left and right hemispheres. It involves inhaling through one nostril while closing off the other with your finger, then exhaling through the opposite nostril while closing off the first. This cycle is repeated for several minutes.

The practice has increased alpha brain waves associated with relaxation and mental clarity. By balancing both hemispheres of the brain, alternate nostril breathing may also improve cognitive function and reduce stress.

To begin practicing alternate nostril breathing, find a comfortable seated position with your spine straight. Close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale deeply through your left nostril for a count of four. At the top of your inhalation, hold both nostrils closed for a count of two.

Next, release your thumb from your right nostril and exhale fully through this side for a count of four. At the bottom of this exhalation, hold both nostrils closed again for a count of two before repeating on the opposite side.

Repeat these cycles several times until you feel more centered and relaxed in both body and mind.

Whether done as part of a general yoga practice or on its own throughout the day when feeling stressed or overwhelmed, alternate nose breathing is an easy way to bring balance back into our lives by bringing balance back into our brains.

 

Yoga Nidra for Balancing Your Brain

Yoga Nidra is the unique state between sleep and meditation. It is also a powerful meditation technique to help you achieve deep relaxation. It involves lying comfortably and following guided instructions to focus your awareness on different body parts.

During Yoga Nidra practice, you enter a state of conscious sleep where your brain waves slow down and become more synchronized. This helps balance the activity between your brain’s left and right hemispheres.

Practicing Yoga Nidra regularly can reduce stress levels, improve emotional stability, enhance creativity, and improve concentration. Additionally, it promotes better sleep patterns which are crucial for overall health.

To begin practicing Yoga Nidra for brain balance:

1) Find a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed

2) Lie down comfortably on your back with your arms by your sides

3) Follow along with guided meditations or use a pre-recorded audio session

If possible, try incorporating Yoga Nidra in your daily routine as part of an overall effort to balance the mind-body connection through consistent mindfulness practices such as yoga postures or breathing exercises.

 

Can Sankalpa Improve Brain Balance?

Sankalpa is a Sanskrit term that means intention or resolves. It is a powerful tool in a yoga practice that can help you focus your mind and set clear preferences for your life. But can it improve brain balance?

Recent studies have shown that setting positive intentions through Sankalpa meditation can lead to changes in the structure and function of the brain. This type of meditation has been found to increase activity in areas of the brain associated with emotion regulation, attention, and self-awareness.

Moreover, practicing Sankalpa regularly may also help improve cognitive function by reducing stress levels and promoting relaxation responses in the body. By reducing stress, this practice helps calm the overactive parts of our brains responsible for anxious thoughts or negative emotions.

Incorporating Sankalpa into your daily yoga practice could be highly beneficial if you seek to achieve better brain balance. To do so, focus on an intention that aligns with your values and brings positivity. Repeat this intention silently during meditation or throughout your day as a reminder.

While more research is needed on how exactly Sankalpa affects brain balance at a physiological level, it’s clear that this ancient yogic technique holds great potential for improving overall mental health and well-being.

 

Mantras for Balancing Your Brain

Mantras are powerful tools for balancing your brain. These sacred words or phrases have been used for centuries to promote healing and well-being in the mind, body, and spirit. Mantras create a vibration that resonates throughout your entire being, helping to balance your energy and calm your mind.

When balancing your brain with mantras, there are many different options. Some people prefer traditional Sanskrit mantras such as “Om” or “Shanti,” while others may resonate more with modern affirmations like “I am balanced and centered.”

The key is to find a mantra that speaks directly to you and feels authentic in its resonance within yourself. Once you’ve found the right mantra, repeat it several times during meditation or whenever you need a moment of inner peace.

By focusing on these positive vibrations, we can create new neural pathways in our brains which help us function mentally and physically at optimal levels. Repeating mantras also helps reduce stress hormones like cortisol, which can negatively impact our health.

In addition to promoting brain balance through sound therapy, combining mantras with yoga postures further enhances their effects on our physicality and mental state. By chanting these healing syllables during certain poses or flows (such as Sun Salutations), we can amplify their power even more – experiencing benefits such as increased flexibility, focus, relaxation, improved mood, and emotional regulation, among other things.

Incorporating Mantra into one’s daily routine is an excellent way to strengthen brain-centering practices and cultivate other areas of life where self-growth is needed.

The Role of Movement in Balancing Your Brain

Movement is a crucial aspect of balancing your brain, as it helps to create new connections between the left and right hemispheres. When we engage in physical activity, both sides of our body are used, leading to better integration of the two hemispheres.

Incorporating movement into your daily routine can be as simple as walking or doing light stretching exercises. Even activities such as dancing or playing sports can benefit overall brain health.

Yoga is also an excellent way to incorporate movement while focusing on balance and symmetry. Practicing yoga postures that require equal engagement from both sides of the body, such as tree pose or warrior II, can help improve coordination and communication within the brain.

Additionally, practicing mindfulness during movement is vital for stimulating various brain parts responsible for attention and awareness. Focusing on breathwork during yoga practice or incorporating meditation techniques while walking can enhance cognitive function and promote relaxation.

Incorporating regular physical activity into your lifestyle benefits your physical health and significantly balances your brain function.

Balancing Your Brain with Flowing Yoga

Flowing yoga is a widespread practice that can help balance your brain. This type of yoga involves transitioning smoothly from one pose to another, creating a continuous flow of movement. The constant movement helps to calm the mind and reduce stress levels.

Flowing yoga also focuses on deep breathing techniques, which increase oxygen flow to the brain, improving cognitive function and overall mental clarity. As you move through each pose gracefully, you become more aware of your body’s sensations and movements.

The coordination required in flowing yoga stimulates both sides of the brain as you move between poses seamlessly. Additionally, practicing flowing yoga regularly can enhance neuroplasticity- the ability of our brains to adapt and change over time.

Some examples of flowing yoga sequences include sun salutations or vinyasa flows- which typically involve moving from downward dog into plank pose before lowering down into Chaturanga Dandasana then upward-facing dog or cobra pose.

Incorporating flowing yoga into your routine can help improve focus, attention span, and memory retention while reducing anxiety levels. It’s an excellent way to balance your brain while enjoying a full-body workout simultaneously.

 

Brain Balance with Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is a powerful tool that can help balance your brain. It involves focusing on the present moment and being aware of your thoughts and feelings without judgment or distraction. Regular mindfulness can improve brain function, reduce stress, and enhance emotional well-being.

Research has shown that mindfulness meditation can increase activity in the parts of the brain associated with focus, attention, and decision-making while decreasing activity in areas linked to anxiety and depression. This leads to a more balanced state of mind where you can better handle life’s challenges.

When practicing mindfulness meditation for brain balance, it’s essential to start small and gradually build up. Begin by sitting quietly for a few minutes each day, focusing on your breath or an object before you. As you become more comfortable with this practice, try extending the duration of each session.

Body scan meditation is one effective technique for balancing your brain with mindfulness meditation. This involves lying down comfortably and scanning through different body parts while maintaining awareness of any sensations you feel.

Incorporating other mindful practices into your daily routine, such as mindful eating or walking, is also helpful. By doing so consistently over time, you’ll develop greater self-awareness, inevitably leading to better mental equilibrium.

In conclusion, practicing mindfulness meditation is an excellent way to achieve more outstanding balance within yourself, both mentally and physically.

 

Workshops for Brain Balance

Attending workshops for brain balance can be a great way to deepen your understanding of the connection between yoga and balancing the brain. These workshops typically feature expert instructors who guide how to use different yoga postures, breathing techniques, and meditation practices to achieve more outstanding balance in your life.

One of the benefits of attending these workshops is that you’ll have the opportunity to learn from experienced teachers who can help you develop a more personalized approach based on your unique needs and goals. Whether you’re seeking stress relief, improved mental clarity, or want to feel better physically, many different approaches can help you find a better balance.

Another advantage of attending these workshops is that they provide community-building opportunities. You’ll meet other like-minded individuals who share similar interests and challenges when finding balance in their lives. By connecting with others in this way, you may find new friendships or support networks that will help sustain your practice over time.

If you’re interested in deepening your knowledge of yoga as a tool for achieving more outstanding brain balance, attending one or more workshops could be an excellent next step on your journey. With so many online and offline options available today, there’s never been a better time to explore what’s possible!

Teaching Yoga Workshops for Brain Balance

As a yoga teacher, you have the opportunity to help people achieve better brain balance through your workshops. By offering classes that focus on balancing both hemispheres of the brain, you can help your students experience greater clarity, improved memory, and increased creativity.

When designing your workshop, start with an introduction that explains what brain balance is and why it’s crucial. Use precise language and provide examples so that everyone understands the concept.

Next, walk your students through some simple exercises they can do at home to improve their brain balance. This might include techniques like alternate nostril breathing or specific postures for left or right brain dominance.

Throughout the workshop, encourage participants to ask questions and share their own experiences. Provide opportunities for group discussion or partner work so that everyone feels involved in the process.

End your workshop with a guided meditation explicitly focused on brain balance. Consider incorporating mantras or visualizations into this practice to enhance its effectiveness.

By teaching yoga workshops for brain balance, you can help others discover new mental clarity and creativity levels while deepening their understanding of how yoga impacts our brains.

 

Yoga Postures for Balancing Your Brain

Yoga postures or asanas are a great way to balance your brain. These poses can help improve blood flow and oxygenation, leading to increased focus, better memory retention, and reduced stress levels.

One of the best yoga poses for balancing your brain is the tree pose or Vrikshasana. This posture helps stimulate both brain hemispheres by challenging your balance and coordination while encouraging deep breathing, relaxation, and mental clarity.

Another excellent pose for balancing your brain is the eagle pose or Garudasana. This posture helps activate both sides of your body simultaneously, helping you develop greater awareness of left-right imbalances in your nervous system.

The cobra pose, or Bhujangasana, is another excellent posture for stimulating both brain hemispheres. In addition to improving spinal flexibility and strengthening core muscles, this pose also increases circulation to the head and neck area.

Other recommended yoga postures for balancing your brain include seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana, bridge pose (Setu Bandhasana), downward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), warrior II (Virabhadrasana II), fish Pose (Matsyasana) among others.

By regularly practicing these yoga postures along with mindful breathing exercises such as pranayama techniques like Nadi Shodhana, aka alternate nostril breathwork, any individual may achieve remarkable improvements in their overall well-being by positively impacting their emotional regulation abilities too.

Conclusion

Balancing your brain with yoga and other methods can significantly improve your overall well-being. By understanding the differences between left and right brain dominance, integrating both sides of the brain, practicing proper nutrition, and utilizing yoga postures, breathing techniques, meditation practices, mantras, and movement exercises, achieving a balanced state of mind.

Whether you attend workshops or practice at home, many options are available to help balance your brain. With patience and dedication toward these practices, focus levels and mental clarity improvements are sure to follow.

So start incorporating some of these methods into your daily routine today! Remember that each person’s journey toward balancing their unique brain will be different, but by taking small steps every day, you can achieve great results over time.

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Balancing Your Brain as a Yoga Teacher and Student

By Kathryn Boland

Are you curious about balancing your brain? Do you enjoy taking yoga classes when you’re not teaching? Do you find your instructor’s “brain” talking to you, even when you’re in a student role? Many sources I’ve encountered affirm that taking a class can significantly expand your skills as an instructor.

 

Journey of Balancing Your Brain

You can learn new ways to enter into postures, helpful accommodations for certain types of students, and more. On the other hand, not allowing yourself sometimes to be a student can limit your ability to understand your students’ experiences in class and to otherwise develop as a yoga practitioner. Like many aspects of becoming a yoga instructor, it’s a delicate balance that we learn to walk more skillfully with time, experience, and engaging with those in our yoga communities.

Learning and Practicing

This dynamic has been on my mind at different points ever since a few years ago when I took a class at a YMCA I was then teaching at. I truly enjoyed taking it every week, and I learned immense amounts as an instructor and practitioner.

The lines between those two roles began to blur for me, however, when the instructor (whom I looked up to highly) gave me a physical adjustment in a posture and added, “They’re watching you!” (Meaning my fellow students).

I briefly described the situation on social media that night and added, “So I’m teaching even when I’m not?” – halfway joking, halfway annoyed.

Understanding Your Role

Since then, I believe I have been more able to bounce back and forth between thinking as an instructor and as a student when I take classes.

Sometimes, the lines do blur in ways that we can’t control. Still, it is nevertheless useful – even necessary – to regard how we balance being ourselves as instructors and ourselves as students when we take a class. Balancing your brain tends to be more of a task as time passes.

 

Mental Dialogue

Enhancing our skills as instructors through taking other instructors’ classes does take – for most people – mindful observation and active mental dialogue. For instance, we can hear a specific cue and regard it as intelligent, funny, inspiring, et cetera.

Most of us need to make a mental note of the style of the cue to incorporate some version of it that is our own, as is appropriate in our classes. We, of course, want to avoid outright stealing other instructors’ intellectual property.

Suppose we do repeat something we learned from another instructor that is not sufficiently adapted as our own. In that case, we should credit the instructor (or at least acknowledge that we heard it elsewhere) to our students.

Active Observation

Or, more qualitative aspects can strike us as something to note and bring into our instruction. For instance, in one class that I took, the slow and mindful way that a certain instructor came into physical cueing truly caught my attention.

I made a challenge for myself to try to enter into physical cueing with more of that sustained and mindful approach. I believe that I have made some progress on that self-imposed challenge.

In any case, we have much to gain as instructors by taking other instructors’ classes – but achieving that most often requires active observation, listening, and internal dialogue.

 

Contributions to Growth

On the other hand, sometimes we can absorb things as students that contribute to our growth as instructors without meaning to. Overall, I’d say that my instruction has many elements of how my former teachers taught me and fellow students in my classes – much of that unintentional on my part.

In that way, we can learn as instructors by being students. We can allow ourselves sometimes to be students – not to have to be “working,” so to speak, as instructors.

Doing so can also help us to experience more often what it’s like to be a yoga student, similar to those in our classes. Furthermore, never sharing can distance us from our students – us as teachers and them as students.

Journey of Learning

We always have more to learn about the ancient science of holistic wellness: yoga. Keeping ourselves in a student’s receptive, humble posture can keep us open to learning from our students (which, I’m sure, most instructors would confirm does happen for them constantly).

All of this considered it seems clear that it does help us as instructors to sometimes turn on our instructor brains while we take yoga classes – but it’s also essential to sometimes just let ourselves be students.

Indeed we are and always will be. Moreover, we most likely became instructors partly because of our respect and love for yoga. We owe it to ourselves to stay connected to that joyful awe, of all that yoga is and it can offer, by returning to the context of being a student every so often.

That can offer very often needed and well-deserved self-care – as well as personal growth and fulfillment.

 

Balancing Teacher Skills

So, all that being said, how do we balance this tricky dynamic of being instructors and being students while we take classes? One strategy is to let our minds slip in and out of each mindset as they naturally might during any given class.

For example, you could be working on responding to an instructor’s verbal or physical cue (working on your growth as a practitioner). A few minutes later, you could take note of an image from the instructor that you would love to adapt for use in your classes (working on yourself as an instructor).

If you tend to be in the student or instructor’s brain more often than another, you could mindfully work toward bringing that into a more outstanding balance.

Expanding Your Skills

Another strategy for balancing your brain would be to use different classes for those separate purposes. Thereby developing your practice, keeping attuned to the student experience in one type of class, and intentionally expanding your skills as an instructor (through observation and listening) in another class.

Perhaps you notice that you gain more from one instructor as a student and more as an instructor yourself from a separate class/instructor. In any case, it behooves us as instructors and yoga practitioners to pay attention to this dynamic – and act upon what we observe for ourselves and our students.

Dearest readers, I’d love to hear your experiences relating to this topic and other views you might have while reading – so please comment below!

 

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