I regularly think about my early days as a yoga teacher. I was bright-eyed and so eager to teach any and every class I could. I’m glad I put myself out there. I had a lot of opportunities to teach in various spaces and connect with people from all over the Twin Cities. Not that I’d necessarily recommend it to everyone, but it was a bit of a baptism by fire scenario.

In my early days of teaching I had to be humble and open to feedback. For instance, I will never forget the day a student corrected me on my pronunciation of Adho Mukha Svanasana (Sanskrit for Downward Facing Dog). Turns out Svanasana and Savasana are pronounced very differently! I was green and it was clear to those in my classes that I was really only playing the part of the yoga teacher.

Although I stumbled a bit in my first few years of teaching, I’m grateful I didn’t settle for just playing the part of the yoga teacher. I started to take my practice and career more seriously. I traveled when I could to study with other teachers. In 2012 I participated in the Yoga Journal Conference in NYC and was introduced to the person who would eventually become my go-to teacher and mentor.

Change is hard and change is necessary.

Through my many years of teaching and studying yoga, I have learned a lot and, more importantly, have had my thoughts and beliefs challenged. It can be a hard pill to swallow when you learn that instructions you’ve been giving students for years aren’t biomechanically sound. And rather than getting defensive, I found myself being open minded and eager to just keep learning more.

So that’s where this blog series comes into play.

I’m a sucker for nostalgia and decided to use my past experience as a yoga teacher to highlight areas of the yoga practice where many yoga teachers (myself included) have been misguided or straight up incorrect.

I have zero intentions of shaming anyone. I’m choosing to share this information because change, evolution, and the drive to continue to learn is essential. And I’ll be sharing things that I once said and taught myself! Some of it I shared for over a decade!

Because research and data about the moving body is constantly changing, who knows. I just might find that things I share and teach currently are inaccurate. And that’s great! As an open minded student there’s value in acknowledging our errors and misunderstandings and then examining new information that is available.

I’d love for you to join me in this series and I hope you get some entertainment out of the things a slightly misguided Erin shared in her yoga classes.

If you’re on Instagram, be sure to give me a follow. I’ll be creating Reels that accompany my blog posts.