Maybe you are considering one day becoming an Acroyoga Teacher, or maybe you just want to share acro with your friends.
Either way, these advice and tips may be helpful for you whenever that desire arises.
I'm going to focus on what is unique about acro teaching.
Teaching in general has it's own nuances and best practices.
I'm sure you can find plenty of general advice on that from all different corners of the internet.
Acro teaching isn't so common though, so that's where we will focus.
Let me pre-face this with one thing though...
Teaching isn't for everyone and even more so, acro teaching really isn't for everyone!
I think it takes a certain person to become a good acro teacher.
Someone who:
Is passionate and obssessed about acro
Wants to share and help others in their practice
Can handle alot of interaction and energy in a classroom
Can work with others and form a teaching partnership
Has alot of awareness and concern for other peoples safety
These are just my opinions of course from my experiences.
Feel free to disagree or challenge me on this by replying and letting me know your thoughts.
So I guess the first thing I would pose to you if you are interested to teach acroyoga is...
do you identify with those above points?
Or lets also add...
if you don't identify with those points are you willing to work on and grow to develop those skills?
Because nobody starts out being an amazing acro teacher we all need to start somewhere, practice and learn.
The passion and obsession I can't really help you with...
That is something you have to find, or something you have, or don't have.
It has to come from within you.
It's a little similar with wanting to share and help others.
That can be cultivated and grown with positive experiences a little bit.
But ultimately it comes down to you as a person and if you enjoy that.
Handling alot of energy and interaction in a classroom is definitely something that can be developed.
I have seen shy people rise and grow more confident as teachers.
I believe exposure to the environment is the best thing here.
Being a regular student or asssistant in high energy classes can help too.
Also working with others and forming teaching partnerships is definitely a skill that can be nurtured and worked on.
Doing acro in general and with a variety of different people will already help build this skill.
Even more so, I think approaching with the mindset of:
How can I make this person enjoy doing acro with me and working together with me?
How can I bring out the best in them?
This focus on the other person rather than yourself is the building block of forming great teaching partnerships and working with others.
Having awareness and concern for other peoples safety is a mixed one. You can learn to be more aware, but you either are or aren't concerned about someones safety, that's just basic empathy and can't be taught.
Being safety aware is in my opinion one of the most important skills you can and should consciously develop!
If someone gets badly injured as a result of your poor teaching, that doesn't lead to a great experience for them or you...
(Sure accidents still happen sometimes, people can ignore what you say, do strange things etc. that can't 100% be avoided)
But doing as much as you can to ensure you aren't putting your students at any excessive risk should be your no.1 priority when teaching.
Learning more about safety comes with experience too, it takes time.
I've learnt through making mistakes sometimes, or witnessing other peoples mistakes too. (not the way I would recommend learning this)
I also learnt from other teachers in classes and workshops.
As you can see there are a few aspects to what I believe makes a good acro teacher.
There's plenty more things about teaching in general I haven't covered such as, knowledge, classroom management, delivery, connection and so on.
This was just a little thought prompt for those of you interested in teaching or sharing acro more.
If you are interested and found this useful, please let me know by replying directly and telling me.
Eventually I have a vision for AcroSpirit to run Acroyoga trainings and Teacher Trainings.
So I would love to hear from you about your opinions and aspirations from a teaching point of view.
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