Key in yoga: Find a good instructor

This past weekend, I got to teach yoga to four of my friends.

I was in Boston, finalizing details about my upcoming move to Tel Aviv at the Aliyah Center and applying for my visa at the Israeli Consulate. (FYI: If you think it's difficult to get on a plane because of security, try getting into the Israeli consulate. I practically had to submit a urine specimen.)

I stayed with my friend Melissa, who I've known for probably 14 years. She has done yoga on and off for a few years, and survived one of my classes when I was still teaching in a studio. So she was anxious to have me teach her again. She has some specific physical issues that have been bothering her, so we focused on those. We had fun.

Then, somehow, in the wine-induced haze of Sunday night, I ended up being recruited to teach her and three other girlfriends on the following night. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It even seemed like a good idea after the glasses of wine at a bar where some well-connected guy named Anthony kept referring to me as "Sooz, his Desert Fightah" (Massachusetts accent here).

When it did NOT seem like a good idea was the next morning when I woke up to go to the consulate and I felt like I had been hit by a bus. It was so cold there that I would have been miserable regardless of the condition of my head. I was near tears when the zipper of the jacket I borrowed from Melissa got stuck halfway up and I felt like I was trapped in a sleeping bag. I kept complaining that humans are clearly not meant to survive in that climate, and I will never understand why everyone doesn't just move away. I did.

But I digress, as usual.

That afternoon, I finally got time to have a little catnap. During my nap, my friends showed up and were talking while I tried desperately to make the stabbing pain behind my left eye go away. Melissa came in and gently reminded me that they were there for me, that they were dressed and ready for yoga. I think I swore at her. Curses on my yoga teaching experience! I needed sleep! But these were my friends, so I dragged myself up, changed my clothes and went out to be sociable.

Even though we were all a mess from the previous night, each of us having dealt with a hangover that would kill an ox, we switched into yoga mode. And we all had a great time. I was able to teach them easily because we already had a bond, having known each other and been friends for years. Each of them had different strengths and weaknesses, like any group of people, but they were able to listen to my instructions, and I was able to correct them in a way that was not painful or offensive, because we all like each other.

Which, in my signature way, brings me to my point.

The question I get asked most often by e-mail is: "What yoga studio or teacher should I go to?" And my answer is always vague, because yoga is such a personal experience, and you have to find a teacher you can connect with. Of course, Melissa, Karen, Jodi and Cathy were going to connect with me because we already have, off the yoga mat, for a long time. I knew what kind of teaching would suit them, and they knew how much laughing and complaining I can handle (I actually have no limits on those).

You will not always be lucky enough to have a close friend who happens to be a yoga teacher. But it is so important to find a person you can connect with. A person you would want to talk to, even outside a yoga studio. It won't necessarily happen the first time you go to a class. You might even have to try several before you find a teacher who makes you feel at ease and puts you into the head space to learn.

Just like trekking through downtown Boston on an icy winter's day to get to the Israeli Consulate, it can be work to find what you need in a yoga teacher or studio.

But in the end, you get an unlimited visa to learn.

Suzanne Gannon is a yoga instructor in the Charleston area. Reach her at suzygannonyoga@yahoo.com.