I love this thread! Especially as teachers in training, stay tuned to what you like/dislike to co-opt into your own someday-teachings. Be a student in class; don't judge or critique even in your head. But keep an antennae up. Our students often say Riverflow is unique in our caring, personalized attention. Students feel a warmth from our staff and other students. That warms my heart. Students going in and out of class? That would NEVER fly with The Big Guy. I also find it sad when students aren't soothed with stand-still Savasana between poses; they miss the 90-minute open-eyed meditation part.

My dear friend Jay was devoted to hot yoga studio in Manhattan until he also began to bristle at the unnerving chatter in the room before class, outside the class, in the hallways, etc. He asked me what to do and I suggested that he gently suggest to the teacher that perhaps the room be made a silent place. That worked for awhile but when it stopped, he switched studios. Sometimes it can be a practice to be in a loud place and maintain your balance...and always you just need to do what makes you feel good.

That "pushing" is a very Bikram thing to do, Mary-Rush. People who are Bikram (aka, Bikram) knows when to do this. The rest of us should probably adopt a no-push/pull/twist policy until we are enlightened. And yes, these moments help shape the teacher you are to be.

Kristina, I found that when studios offer but aren't dedicated to hot yoga, they often miss those finer points. Nothing wrong with vinyasa, kundalini, sivananda or other hatha yoga forms but hot 26 yoga goes deeper than just the poses and those invisible parts are
just as vital

Tough one Kat; you can mentally thank those distracting people for showing you what you DON'T want your hot yoga class to look like, and you can try gently asking the studio owner if she can suggest to her trachers that students stay focused and hold questions for after class but in the end you may need to accept that this is their way and it doesn't suit you- both fine- and find another studio.

You can also view this as the next challenge in your already strong practice: staying calmly focused no matter what. That lesson will serve you well as a teacher. However never let anything disturb your joy in your hot yoga practice; stay and work on this or leave for a more simpatico studio, whichever feels right for you.

Consider this: if everything in our lives is a mirror of something inside ourselves, how much larger the hot yoga mirror is for us! This is the very place where we intend to come and examine ourselves...so whatever shows up is really showing ou biggest point of focus: annoyed, accepting, too busy to stay around and chat (yes it thats in your life its a reflection of you, too), serious yogis, silly yogis, people who miss the point. On any given day, in any given studio anywhere in the world, the one constant is always....you. If you chose to be there, you're about to see whats going on inside yourself.