What Makes a Yoga Class Challenging?

Apparently, I have a bit of a reputation on Bonaire for being a "hardcore" Yoga teacher, the kind of teacher you go to if you want to be challenged, sweat or spend some time upside down. While those comments were meant in a very positive way, they made me think about what we actually mean when we describe a Yoga class as challenging. Somewhere along the way, we've started using "physically difficult" and "challenging" as if they mean the same thing, when a challenge can actually look completely different from one person to another. In this episode, I explore what challenge can really mean in a Yoga practice, from strength, inversions & balance to fear, body awareness, confidence, breathwork, relaxation & nervous system regulation. We talk about why something that looks easy from the outside can be incredibly challenging from the inside, and why two people doing the exact same practice can experience completely different challenges. Highlights include: ● Why being known as a "hardcore" Yoga teacher made me question what we actually mean by a challenging Yoga class. ● Why physically demanding Yoga can be incredibly valuable, without physical difficulty being the only way we can challenge ourselves. ● What I actually want students to explore when I bring inversions like headstand into a class, and why getting your feet off the floor isn't really the goal. ● How physical challenges can build body awareness, trust & confidence that can reach much further than the Yoga mat. ● Why balance can challenge much more than our ability to stand on one leg, especially when frustration, comparison & expectations start showing up. ● How breathwork, stillness, relaxation & nervous system regulation can be incredibly challenging when we're used to always being on and doing more. ● Why there is an important difference between being challenged and being pushed, and why challenge doesn't have to mean succeeding or reaching the most difficult version of something. A challenging Yoga class isn't necessarily the class with the hardest poses, the most sweat or the practice that leaves you sore the next day. Challenge is much more personal than that, and there is a whole rainbow between what we tend to label as "easy" and "hard" Yoga. I am comfortable being a teacher who challenges her students. I just don't think we should assume that we already know what that challenge is going to look like. Join the Yoga Life Lab Membership Connect with Gwen on Instagram