Yo(guy) Instructor: Sophomore Becomes Certified To Teach Kids’ Yoga Classes

In a room full of nurses, teachers and nannies, sophomore Sam Stedry was the youngest by almost a decade. But the downward dogs and warrior poses among people twice his age were a part of the necessary training to receive yoga teacher certification.

After hearing of Power Life Yoga in Corinth Square through his mom and close friends, Stedry attended his first class there in July 2018 — Power Sculpt. Even though Stedry now regularly attends and teaches yoga to the kids at Power Life, he started his journey like anyone else — taking some infrequent classes to test the waters.

“I started off taking fitness classes, like Power Sculpt, which are actually super challenging,” Stedry said. “I would kind of stop going, then I would go back. I would say it took at least ten or 15 classes before I really started to get into it and love it.”

He was hooked. Stedry started paying for his own membership at Power Life so he could begin weekly classes that channeled the post-class zen feeling within him.

“The staff and the people I meet have affected me the most,” Stedry said. “That’s half the reason I go. Always saying hi, checking me in and caring about me and my day because they are the most genuine people ever.”

Last April, Stedry saw a Power Life Yoga Instagram post about an opening for kids’ yoga class teachers. With the experience of being a babysitter on the weekends, Stedry started looking into the opportunity. 

After an all day Saturday and Sunday workshop, pages of notes, a reference packet and a detailed lesson plan, Stedry was ready, but terrified at the same time, for his first class.

What if the kids didn’t listen? What if I’m too nervous to teach them the lesson? What if I can’t figure out the lights or music in the room? These were all questions Stedry couldn’t help but wonder. But what he didn’t account for was no kids showing up at all.

“I woke up at seven a.m. that summer day, not sure if I was supposed to be nervous because it was just little kids,” Stedry said. “I walked into the studio, the on-call manager helped me set up my music and then I waited at the front desk for everyone to come. But my day had the saddest ending, no one came.”

But Stedry left the studio feeling more confident and prepared for his next class — he was able to check people in and adjust the music properly now. And he wasn’t worried about the no-shows because it happened the week before too. 

According to Stedry, kids are just unpredictable sometimes.

“I think he has become very driven since he began teaching classes,” sophomore and friend Estelle Gorden said. “Sam is so passionate about the things he loves and you can tell when he talks about teaching yoga that he loves it.”

Stedry is currently teaching every three Saturdays at Power Life in Town Center. The growing program gives him an average of about five kids a class, aged three to ten years old.

Unlike the sculpt, yoga and barre classes Stedry typically attended, his 45-minute kid classes included games that incorporate yoga poses and focused breathing.

According to Stedry, he makes his lessons the week leading to each class. Even though they can be time consuming, he loves the creativity that comes with making up themes for his classes — like circus, Disney, colors and travel — and creating games and simple yoga poses that correspond.

But since he’s only taught for a few months, Stedry is still working on the confidence that comes with managing classes and getting the kids to respect him. 

“While some of them see me as their older brother who they can joke around with, I have surprisingly never had any bad kids or issues in class,” Stedry said.

Stedry is as busy as ever with his sophomore year classes, babysitting and working as a host after school at Johnny’s Tavern in Corinth Square — but his dedication to his yoga keeps him taking a variety of classes at Power Life nearly four times a week.

Sometimes this means pushing himself out of bed at five in the morning before school to take a class because he knew there wouldn’t be time after homework and work.

“From the get go, Sam was committed to his classes and his practice right away,” manager of Power Life in Corinth Square Kelsey Bonwell said. “He was always making it to his mat, trying out different classes and instructors. We have always seen the passion within him.”

Stedry hopes to take a Power Workshop at Power Life next year, a 200 hour course that would certify him to be an official yoga teacher for adults. In the far future, Stedry’s dream is to own a yoga studio in downtown Chicago.