We teach astride the delicate teeter totter of confidence and humility. It’s a dance we must learn by doing, usually in front of a crowd. Some days I get it just right, and this is where God enters the room and uses my mouth to make words that I’ve certainly never considered stringing together, or …
As a new teacher, unskillfulness feels like it is everywhere. We make errors of omission, get our timing or rhythm off, or flustered by a rogue text read just before class. This is what makes us feel like imposters in the saddle, though we are not. Over time and with experience and practice, our unskillfulness …
This week has been chock full of the sorts of typical annoyances I’ve come to expect as a privileged white woman: a pricey and fruitless trip to the vet, an electrocuted boyfriend, a check engine light, and greeting neighbors and the local fire department while soapy, wet, and balancing precariously on a swiveling, leather stool …
Dear Yoga Teachers: It’s Not About You (unless it is) Read More »
“Trauma is all around me – I’d love to know how to better support my students, without taking on their grief.” I hear you. Maybe there is an increased awareness of trauma in the yoga world, or maybe there is more trauma, or maybe there is some expert marketing and advertising out there, but people …
How do you know you need to take a pause from teaching, and what do you call it? I call it a ‘yoga winter.’ Let me tell you why… There is an unhelpful idea I’ve heard: once you start teaching yoga, you’re a yoga teacher forever. I believe this is both true and false. It’s …
If you want your yoga students to return, it can be helpful to consider what you might be doing that is keeping them from coming back. There’s a lot of questionable marketing in my newsfeed these days with tips for yoga teachers about how to make their students commit, stay, and make them filthy rich. …
Yoga Teachers: How to Ensure Your Students Never Return Read More »
I am thrilled beyond measure to see the vast range of offerings in the world of yoga – I’m (personally) most excited when the offerings are backed by science, music, or help anyone be less of a wanker and more invested in the greater good. So trauma-informed trainings rank high on my list, as sometimes …
Is it Yogic to be angry? For the past month I’ve been diligently working away at curriculum for an advanced yoga teacher training, which has inspired me to read and re-read a dozen books, hundreds of blogs, and listen to TED and podcasts ad nauseam. Information overload. Simultaneously, I’ve had some teaching “firsts,” like a …
It’s Not Yogic to Be Angry (and other BS you may have heard) Read More »
I believe that “the goal” of a yoga teacher is not to offer transformation, acceptance, or a transcendent experience. The goal of YOGA TEACHERS as a collective, is to bring people back to the mat. To meet them where they are and provide a space where they can meet, acknowledge, love, slay (or whatever) their …
When does teaching yoga get easier? There’s a dirty promise lurking in the world of Instagram. It says if you practice yoga in your underwear in your kitchen, drink green smoothies from glass jars, and have a mala to match each phase of the moon, you will have “made it.” Your life will be perfect. …
Yoga Teachers: It Does Not Get Easier, You Just Get Better At It Read More »