The Mentor Sessions

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Anytime I connect with a new-ish yoga teacher I end up giving a lot of the same advice, so I collected all of it in one place, right here in today’s podcast episode! Whether you are a new teacher or an experienced one in a phase of rebuilding (haven’t we all been rebuilding lately??) this episode has all my best pearls of wisdom, hard won over the last twenty years of full-time yoga teaching!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

why you should start a business bank account
the most important thing you can do as a new teacher
the difference between teaching and creating content
how important (or not) a website and branding is
what kind of teaching gigs I recommend for new teachers
how to get your first teaching jobs

This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree! Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online. All of this can be set up in 10 minutes or less. OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up.

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You all know that I am only minimally interested in business-- I’d much rather talk about the actual craft of teaching yoga. But we do need to make money, and if we have chosen yoga teaching as our job, we need to be SMART about business because it is not the easiest way to make a living!

Having some smart foundational systems in place can make a huge difference in your yoga teaching career path, and today we have Lauren Schoenfeld (she/her) on the podcast to help us out!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

the foundational systems that all solopreneurs should have in place
what yoga teachers should look at if they want to cut unnecessary expenses
how to establish a cash flow plan for our businesses
Lauren’s suggestions for helping yoga teachers to increase revenue

Lauren Schoenfeld is the founder of Active Core Consulting, offering fractional CFO, bookkeeping, sales, and operations coaching for health and wellness entrepreneurs. A self-proclaimed numbers nerd and athlete, Lauren empowers CEOs and business owners to confidently manage their finances and prioritize profit. She has grown her business while healing her body through nontraditional modalities and is on a mission to end hustle culture for entrepreneurs!

Learn More From Lauren:

Active Consulting
Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn
Follow Lauren on Instagram
Learn more about Active Core Consulting, their free resources, programs, and learning opportunities

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More than ever our work as yoga teachers is challenging and important.

We don’t want to be like this lady, right? Trying to sell people something they don’t need while their house burns down? People need yoga, but they need the kind of yoga that supports awareness, connection and care (which could mean lots of different things for different students and teachers!). People do not need the kind of yoga that encourages disconnection and shutting down.

Over the last two months we’ve been exploring how to address current events in your yoga classes, first wth a solo episode: Should You Talk About Current Events In Yoga Classes?? ... and then I looped my friend Hari-Kirtana into the conversation and he shared How To Give a Dharma Talk When The World Is On Fire.

And today we are diving into Part 2, What The Teachings Say About Current Events with Hari-kirtana Das (PART 2)!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

how to make the connections between current events and yoga philosophy
what are "the teachings?" ...an observation of the range of yoga wisdom traditions to draw from
what does yoga epistemology (pramana) say
what do yoga's core principles / ethics / values say
advice for Red State yoga teachers
examples of on the spot created dharma talks based on actual current events

Hari-kirtana das (he/him) is a yoga teacher, spiritual mentor, and the author of two books on yoga philosophy: Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Exploring Timeless Principles of Transcendental Knowledge and Integrating Them Into Your Life and In Search of the Highest Truth: Adventures in Yoga Philosophy.

Hari has been practicing devotional and other yogic disciplines for over 40 years, has lived in yoga ashrams and intentional spiritual communities, worked for Fortune 500 companies and Silicon Valley start-ups, and brings a wide range of spiritual knowledge and life experience to his classes, workshops, and presentations.

Learn More From Hari-kirtana Das:

Hari-kirtana das’ website
Hari-kirtana das on Facebook and Instagram
Hari-kirtana das’ book Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita
Free Dharma Talk EBook
Free Community Conversations
On-Demand Workshops and Other Free Resources

OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate. Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up and I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

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You don’t me to tell you that the world as we know it is burning to the ground. This makes teaching yoga hard, important and strange. A few episodes back I answered the question, “Should we talk about current events in our yoga classes?” By essentially saying, “maybe… but most likely YES.” In that episode I talked about how important it was to have an understanding and point of view about what the yoga teachings would say about current events. I received a ton of great feedback about that episode, and also a lot of questions.

So we are diving deeper into those questions with my friend Hari-Kirtana Das.

He's on the faculty of numerous Yoga Teacher Training programs, offers live online workshops and courses throughout the year, and his mission is to illuminate the many ways in which the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningfully transformative spiritual experiences.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

why it makes sense for yoga teachers to talk about current events and politics in class
how teachers can start to make the connections between current events and yoga philosophy
Hari’s formula for delivering a great dharma talk
ideas to help teachers integrate philosophy into asana class

And stay tuned for Part 2 of this conversation coming soon!

Learn More From Hari-kirtana Das:

Hari-kirtana das’ website
Hari-kirtana das on Facebook and Instagram
Hari-kirtana das’ book Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita
Free Dharma Talk EBook
Free Community Conversations
On-Demand Workshops and Other Free Resources

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

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Solo or with guests, I explore the craft of teaching yoga, as its own practice. I’m seeking answers to the questions about why we teach something the way we do, how we could be more expansive and inclusive in our teaching, and how we can continue to grow and evolve in our teaching practice.

I would like to release episodes more frequently and your feedback will determine the kinds of episodes I record. I’d love to offer a bit more personal content including what I’m learning and the routines I use to keep everything running if that would be of interest. Please let me know!

Click here for the survey.

Thank you for your thoughts!

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Even if you first learned yoga from your parents and your grandparents, the path to truly embodying the philosophical yogic teachings can be long and winding. Today we have a beautiful conversation with Reema Datta to share with you that explores:

the path from a physical focus in teaching to a philosophical practice
how kleshas impact on our spiritual growth and physical well-being
how to work with the koshas in an asana practice
the three-step process the vedic tradition prescribes for receiving a spiritual teaching that is so relevant for teachers
the biggest differences in the way yoga is taught in the US and India
an intimate share from Reema about the way her Indian grandfather responded to her becoming a yoga teacher
the yogic perspective on how to create a more compassionate and conscious world

Reema Datta is the author of The Yogi’s Way: Transform Your Mind, Health, and Reality. Datta first learned yoga and Ayurveda from her mother and grandmothers as well as her grandfather, who wrote several books on Vedic philosophy. Since 2002, she has taught yoga and Ayurveda workshops, retreats, and trainings in twenty countries across ﬁve continents.

Learn More From Reema:

Reema’s website
Instagram
Facebook
X/Twitter
LinkedIn
12-Week Online Course Beginning September 21st
Her book

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. The best thing about OfferingTree is you can get up and running in 10 minutes with no tech skills needed. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

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You don’t need me to tell you what a wild and scary time we are living through. We know that the tools of yoga can be incredibly supportive in difficult times and also have things to say about the difficult times we are living in.

So are you talking about this in your classes? Should you?

I am, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions about it! So today’s episode is going to dive deep into this question: Should you talk about current events in your yoga classes?

In this episode you’ll hear:

some questions to ask yourself to help you decide how to navigate this
how your students and their needs should be taken into account
how I handle this in group classes
how I handle this in private lessons
an example of a physical theme /dharma teaching pairing that addresses current events

Resources:

My virtual yoga studio
My teacher’s community

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As I sit down to write these show notes, RFK Jr is currently in his senate confirmation hearing. By the time you read these words it is my assumption that he will be the new head of Health and Human Services for the United States, a job with incredible power. Anything is possible, so there could be a different outcome, but it seems unlikely.

You might ask, “what does that have to do with teaching yoga?”

And I would answer you by saying “quite a lot.”

Many yoga teachers are interested in the health and wellness industries in general and I think the yoga teachings have a LOT to say about public health.

As we gear up for another four years of a Trump administration I wanted to have a conversation that highlighted the ways that wellness-interested people were being fed harmful misinformation, so I am incredibly excited to introduce you to Dr. Jessica Knurick.

She is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in nutrition science and she focuses on evidence-based nutrition, public health and science communication. As a researcher, speaker, and mom of two, Jessica is passionate about reshaping conversations around health to make science accessible and actionable.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

how the MAHA movement started
the biggest factors that make Americans unhealthy
individual health vs public health
what the yoga teachings tell us about public health
the truth about seed oils
what to know about raw milk
what to keep in mind as you consume content about health and wellness

Learn More From Dr. Jessica:

Visit Dr. Jessica’s Website
Connect with Dr. Jessica on Instagram

Please note: This episode does not cover RFK Jr's problematic position on vaccines. This does not reflect a lack of concern from myself or my guest about his position on these life-saving measures. We are both firmly pro-vaccine and are VERY concerned about what will happen to public health with RFK Jr. in charge. The mainstream media has done a great job of covering the dangerous potential outcomes of vaccines being harder to access. I wanted to focus this conversation on some of the other health and particular nutrition-based ideas that the MAHA movement brings, because they are a wolf in sheep's clothing. They might seem like harmless or even good ideas, but the hyper fixation on individual ingredients takes the focus away from where it is most needed.

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Building a career as a yoga teacher is challenging because unlike many other kinds of jobs, you have to build out a career in one hour blocks, working to get and then manage each gig separately.

While the explosion of online offerings and social media as a marketing tool has changed much about the landscape, there is one thing it hasn’t changed. In my view, the best way to build a career as a yoga teacher is to teach private clients.

But what is the best way to find and connect with new potential students?? In 20 years I’ve had to rebuild my practice several times, and I have an old school strategy that I think works really well! We’re breaking it all down in this solo episode of the podcast!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

why teaching private clients is the best way to build a thriving yoga career
what people are getting wrong about digital products
my favorite old school way to connect with potential private clients
a step by step process for reaching out to your community
four core principles for helping students get really excited about their yoga practice

Resource Mentioned:

Email templates to send to potential students

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Octavia Raheem first wrote a book called Gather where she talked about gathering ancestors, gathering courage and gathering rest. Then she wrote a book, Pause Rest Be, about how rest has served as a tool for courage and resilience for her and the people she’s worked with.

And lucky for us, Octavia has written a new book called Rest Is Sacred, that takes these ideas and weaves them together, taking her readers into a deep place inside themselves

Octavia F. Raheem (she/her) is a wife, mother, three time author, rest coach, and restorative + Yoga Nidra Teacher. She is the founder of Devoted to Rest® a transformational rest focused immersion for visionary leaders. She is a true luminary in the areas of rest, restorative arts, wellness, and yoga. Octavia has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Yoga Journal, Well + Good, Tricycle, at Essence Festival and more.

You can listen to our previous conversations- 47: How To Hold Space and 107: The Power of Rest

In this episode, you’ll hear:

why rest is sacred for Octavia, and all of us
what rest can help us reclaim
why our culture makes rest so challenging for everyone
rest in the most practical terms
what Octavia does for her practice and how she makes time for it

Learn More Octavia:

Ocativa’s Book Rest is Sacred
Follow Octavia on Instagram
Octavia’s Website

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. The best thing about OfferingTree is you can get up and running in 10 minutes with no tech skills needed. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

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I have been an active participant in the yoga industry since the early 2000s, and I have never really understood how brick and mortar yoga studios, especially locally owned ones without corporate backing, made it work.

I’ve been curious about it, and I have seen a few studios run incredibly well and last a long time, but we all know those are the outliers. These spaces are so important for us as teachers and students, and for the wider community as well, but they so often struggle to survive the impact of late stage capitalism.

And that was true even BEFORE the pandemic, when so many of our favorite local businesses closed down. There are not that many yoga studios that have been around for a long time, but we are VERY lucky today to hear from one of my old friends, Deb Flashenberg who has had a thriving locally owned yoga studio in New York City since 2002. AMAZING.

(and if you want to listen to my previous episodes with Deb please check out 31: How To Work With Pregnant Yoga Students and 104: Postnatal Considerations in Asana with Deb Flashenberg)

In this episode you’ll hear:

what the vibes were like back in 2002
what changed in the landscape between 2002 and 2019
how and why Deb and the Prenatal Yoga Center survived COVID
what the “comeback” post-COVID been like
what thoughts and advice Deb has for people thinking about opening up a brick and mortar space now

Learn More From Deb:

Prenatal Yoga Center website
Prenatnal Yoga Center on Instagram
Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training

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If you are a yoga teacher trying to make anything close to a full time income with your work, then you are an entrepreneur. Many of us resist that truth, or we at least resist some of the work that is associated with being a small business owner.

That is why today I’m so excited to introduce you to Jackie Murphy. She is here to give us all a business strategy pep talk!

Jackie Murphy (she/her) is the host of the Studio CEO podcast and helps yoga teachers become profitable CEOs by offering them the most effective marketing, sales, and business foundation strategy in the industry. Using her 10 years of experience teaching, opening studios, and leading teacher trainings, Jackie is changing the $115B yoga industry by putting more money in the hands of the people who actually teach yoga.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

the differences between thinking like an employee and thinking like a CEO
how to change the way you are working to make a more sustainable living
what helps students show up to class consistently
integrating the philosophy of yoga into ethical and profitable business and what that looks like in action
how to understand the tension of teaching a spiritual and healing practice inside of late stage capitalism
the best way to think about selling
the importance of having a clear niche and how to do it effectively

Learn More From Jackie:

The Yoga Boss Group
Follow Jackie on Instagram
Like Jackie on Facebook

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The learning journey I’ve been on regarding hypermobility is incredibly personal. I was plagued with nearly constant minor and serious injuries most of my life. As a dancer that seemed normal, but it was very difficult and I was often injured more than anyone else I knew. I worked so hard to “build more stability” and “get out of my patterns of gripping” and some things did help quite a bit, most notably Feldenkrais.

But it was really only in the last ten years, as information about hypermobility started to spread first through the movement world, and then through into the mainstream culture, that I began to understand my body and how to work with it effectively.

I’m so happy to report that despite being about 7 years past due for when it was suspected I would need a full hip replacement (get the full backstory here) and having a toddler and very little time for self care, I have less pain now then I ever have in my whole life!

Learning about how to work with hypermobility in myself and my students has been nothing short of life changing for me.

And understanding how to work with hypermobility is particularly important for yoga teachers! That is why I’m so thrilled to finally have Libby Hinsley on the show today.

Libby Hinsley (she/her) is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, personal trainer, and Yoga Therapist specializing in the treatment of people with hypermobility syndromes and chronic pain As a person living with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, she is passionate about raising awareness about hypermobility syndromes in the yoga community and beyond.

In this episode you’ll hear:

a deep dive into different kinds of connective tissue and how they respond to load
what is different about the connective tissue of someone with HEDS symptoms
all about the EDS diagnosis
some common co-occurring conditions that are good to know about
the science behind the heightened interoception and decreased proprioception of someone with HEDS symptoms and how to work with that in a yoga class

Learn More From Libby:

Libby’s website
Libby on Instagram
Anatomy Bites: use coupon code MENTOR at checkout for 10% off
Anatomy Bites On Demand Courses: use coupon code MENTOR at checkout for 10% off
Hypermobility Hub

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Holding grounded space as a teacher is one of the most important and most hard to teach skills for new yoga teachers. How can you be confident doing something you are new at? Do you need to actually be confident? What do we do when challenging situations knock us off our center?

To answer these questions and more, I’m so honored to have my teacher and friend Ethan Nichtern with us today. Ethan Nichtern (he/him) is a renowned contemporary Buddhist teacher and the author of Confidence: Holding Your Seat through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds and several other titles, including the widely acclaimed The Road Home.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how we define confidence, and why as a teacher of buddhism, Ethan wanted to write a book about it
how a conversation about privilege and social location is necessary when talking about confidence
the myth that Buddhist teachings advocate for overcoming a sense of self and how fits into a Buddhist book about confidence
a overview of the 8 worldly winds and how they show up in our lives
US election thoughts and predictions! 😬

Learn More From Ethan via his socials below:

Instagram
Threads
YouTube

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I had a profound conversation with yoga teacher and writer Karin Lynn Carlson (she/her) and I can’t wait for you to listen. Karin is a thoughtful teacher and a beautiful writer and has so much to share on the intersection of ethics and yoga teaching. This episode is packed with both valuable insights and practical advice.

We talked about implementing a code of ethics akin to those in social work and discussed problematic behavior and abuse within the yoga world. Karin offered insights about how to support survivors, foster a healthier yoga community and move forward together. These are crucial topics as we envision a future where yoga communities are more accountable, supportive, and ethical.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

the importance of implementing a code of ethics in the yoga community
boundaries, teacher-student relationships and who is responsible for holding the container
the essential role of believing and supporting abuse survivors in the yoga community
advice for teachers who are struggling to move forward after their teachers have let them down

Learn More From Karin:

Return Yoga
Karin on Substack
Yoga Club community

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How to teach yoga in a trauma sensitive way is a conversation that floods mainstream yoga spaces these days. And with good reason. Every person has small t traumatic experiences, and most people have also experienced Big T Trauma as well.

It is very easy for yoga and asana to be taught in ways that are not trauma sensitive. Being aware of teacher-student power dynamics and how they impact students with trauma is paramount to skillful teaching.

That is why I am so happy to introduce you to Jenn Turner (she/her). She is a trauma-informed therapist and yoga teacher, and has been at the forefront of combining those two modalities since the early 2000s.

She has also been involved in two different spiritual and healing communities that experienced abuse of power by the leader, as so many of us have. She has advice and a way forward for communities that have experienced this kind of harm.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what has changed the most in the landscape of trauma sensitive yoga since 2008
what is most important for yoga teachers to know about when it comes to trauma informed practice
how power, self reflection and holding containers are all things we need to be thinking about as yoga teachers
what communities and individuals can do when they recover from abuse inside places that are supposed to be healing spaces

Learn More From Jenn:

Center for Trauma and Embodiment
Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga
Jenn on Instagram

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This episode is one of the most important interviews I’ve ever recorded. Our guest, Katie Blecker (she/her) is here to talk about two of my favorite things, accessible yoga and teaching yoga. And even better, we are going to talk about the intersection of those two things in a conversation that is LONG overdue on this podcast: Making the vocation of teaching yoga accessible to all yoga teachers.

Katie Blecker (she/her) is a yoga teacher, disability advocate, and visual artist. Her work as a trauma-informed, adaptive yoga facilitator centers supporting folks of all ages who live with chronic illness and pain, disability, and chronic stress using tools such as therapeutic asana, pranayama, and meditation. She believes deeply in the power of restorative yoga practices to support our self- and community-care. Katie is also a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Her lived experience with multiple complex chronic illnesses informs her worldview and inspires her passion for disability advocacy and accessibility in yoga.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what it is like for Katie to live and teach yoga with chronic fatigue syndrome
a message for new yoga teachers, especially ones that may not fit the dominant culture yoga teacher mold
some of the accommodations Katie has to make personally to make the practice of yoga teaching accessible for her
what yoga studios can do to make teaching more accessible
a deep dive into healthism and how it shows up in western yoga culture

Learn More From Katie:

Katie’s Website
Connect with Katie on Instagram

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The yoga world has changed so much in the last 5 years, and more and more yoga teachers are finding they need to build and create their own opportunities to teach. Even before the pandemic it was nearly impossible to build a full time career teaching group classes at studios. The pay is too low, the opportunities too rare and the workload is way too high to exclusively teach at a yoga studio.

But paving your own path can be challenging, especially if you don’t see anyone like you doing it. That is why I’m so excited to introduce you to Emily Anderson. No one is paving their own path better than she is.

Emily Anderson (she/her) is a self employed yoga therapist in training. She shares yoga as a way to reconnect with the body and mind, process trauma or pain, and to build resiliency in a fatphobic, ableist world. Her virtual studio All Bodies Welcome Yoga centers folks who are fat, chronically ill, disabled, and/or looking for an accessible yoga class outside of diet culture and fitness spaces. Emily invites students to explore with gentleness, empathy, fun, and patience, and to shed body shame and comparisons.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what led Emily to want to be a teacher and her journey from student to teacher
what it is like to train to be a yoga therapist and Emily’s teaching schedule
how Emily got established in her local community and created her own teaching opportunities
the kind of business education that is missing from foundational teacher training
how Emily supplemented the missing business education with her own research

Learn More From Emily + Resources Mentioned:

Emily’s website
Emily on Instagram
Small Business Development Centers
SCORE Mentors
Emily’s Marketing Coach
Inner Peace Yoga Therapy
A video of Emily’s first yoga teacher, Arthur, and his journey to regain mobility (tw: some weight loss talk)
Joseph Le’s Yoga Toolbox

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Today on the podcast I am introducing you to someone very special to me: one of my most important teachers, Sara Avant Stover. I started studying with Sara privately in the fall of 2012 and what I learned from her radically altered my life path. I went on several deep, immersive retreats with her, the last one in 2016.

Since the last time we saw each other Sara has suffered several very intense heartbreaks and gone deeper into her practice than ever before. Surviving these challenging times and coming out more whole and happy than ever before has expanded her teaching immensely and I’m so honored to share her deep wisdom with you today.

Sara Avant Stover (she/her) is a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner and teacher and mentor of women's spirituality, empowerment, and entrepreneurship. She's also the author of The Way of the Happy Woman , The Book of SHE , and Handbook for the Heartbroken.

In this episode you’ll hear:

about the heartbreak journeys that led Sara to write this book
the the aspects of Sara’s heartbreak journey that she struggled with the most
a deep dive into Internal Family Systems and how it helped both Sara and I heal from trauma
what Sara has seen change in the landscape of online yoga and meditation and teacher trainings since she started offering them in the early 2000s
advice from Sara about building a career as a yoga teacher right now

Learn More From Sara:

her Self podcast
Handbook for the Heartbroken
Sara’s LinkedIn
Sara’s Instagram
Sara’s YouTube

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I believe the invitation of life is to become ourselves, live fully and freely, and then, if you are a student of yoga, to extend that full, free, safe living out to all beings everywhere. But how often do we get to see someone really do that?

Today I have a treat for you: a person who is doing just that. Becoming. My friend Miles Borrero (he/him) has survived fronting a Latin rock band, riding horses competitively, acting on various stages across the US, and nannying a six-year-old. He has been Catholic, Jewish, and a frequent guest at Krishna’s house, and has lived life as a boy, a girl, a woman, a man, and something in between. Now a senior yoga teacher who leads retreats and trainings all over the world, Miles is passionate about dismantling the systems within ourselves that keep us small. And he has written a beautiful book called Beautiful Monster: A Becoming. The book reads like one long dharma talk, full of creative writing and yogic wisdom.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how Miles was Rodney Yee’s best student even though they never met
why was it yoga teaching that really stuck for Miles, despite having so many jobs and creative endeavors
what it was like for Miles to teach in his native language after learning to teach yoga in English first
all about Miles’ teacher Raghunath and what Miles learned from him
what changed in Miles’ asana practice after his top surgery and taking testosterone

Learn More From Miles:

Website
Chant Your Way to Freedom (Course)
100 YTT with Miles
Miles Book, “Beautiful Monster: A Becoming”

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In case you don’t know, Jivana is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings and supporting yoga teachers. He’s the author of the books: Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body; Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion; and a new book, The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body. His books, classes, and trainings offer support to yoga teachers and yoga therapists in finding ways to bring creativity and collaboration into their teaching while still respecting the ancient yoga tradition.

Check out the other two episodes with Jivana:

70: Yoga, Human Rights, and Accessibility with Jivana Heyman
105: Yoga And Social Justice with Jivana Heyman

In this episode you’ll hear:

how Jivana recommends we balance tradition and innovation in asana
how teachers can innovate in a way that honors the roots of yoga
some thoughts on the abuse present in so many lineages and why ethics creates accessibility
the specific skills that yoga teachers can learn to make their offerings accessible to everyone
the inherent power imbalance between student and teacher
how we can use language to make the practice invitational AND clear
the kinds of support Jivana recommend yoga teachers find
the recurring teaching nightmare that both Jivana and I have!!

Learn More From Jivana:

Instagram
Facebook
Accessible Yoga School
The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga Book

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The brain and the nervous system play a HUGE role in how we integrate sensory information, experience pain and create movement patterns but this topic is not often covered in foundational yoga teacher trainings. That is why I’m so excited to introduce you to Missy Bunch (she/her), a multi-certified movement therapist who has been educating and coaching for over 14 years.

As a young professional dancer, she battled many injuries over her career and one day she found someone who studied neurology (the study of the brain and nervous system). After one session with this person, her 4-year knee pain was completely gone. She knew she wanted to teach this approach to the world.

The importance of brain function and using the nervous system to rapidly “debug” movement patterns, decrease pain and increase performance, has led her to teach and create lightning-fast improvements with people from all walks of life. Her specialties include injury prevention, injury rehabilitation, joint mobility and decreasing pain, holistically.

In this episode you’ll hear:

a deep dive into assessments including how to cue them and what are we looking for when we reassess
what it mean to move into a shape “reflexively”
how can we work with the brain to decrease pain
the role of the nervous system in integrating inputs and creating motor output
all about the opposing joint theory and how to use it with 1x1 students
an overview of cranial nerves and how and why to stimulate them

Resources Mentioned:

Missy’s website
Missy on Instagram
The Science of the Private Lesson
The Mentor Sessions Sangha

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Today I will answer a bunch of questions that you all have sent in about teaching private lessons!

In this episode you’ll hear:

suggestions for helping a student establish a neutral pelvis in daily life
advice and guidance for hands-on work in private lessons
tips for finding private clients outside of the studio
tips for when you need to make some money fast
support in lightening up a teaching schedule
how (and why!) to raise your rates
help for a private student who wants to learn to meditate, but always seems agitated when practicing

Resources Mentioned:

37: Q + A About Private Lessons with Francesca
62: Q + A About Private Lessons with Francesca #2
92: Planning And Progress In Private Lessons (Q+A!)
Teachprivateyoga.com
The Mentor Sessions Sangha

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Well, this is an unusual episode!! Since I released a podcast episode last year about my group class planning process I’ve been getting more and more questions about my unique teaching style. It’s been described as Buddha Dharma Meets Corrective Exercise With A Little Vinyasa In The Middle For Some Fun. It’s a specific style that has been cultivated over almost 20 years of very full time teaching, and I especially love the way it lands online and in an audio format.

So this episode is a short explanation, and then a full length practice! You might find it interesting to listen to even if you can’t or don’t want to do the physical part of the practice.

Resources Mentioned:

The Mentor Sessions Sangha
The Science of The Private Lesson Training
115: The Case For Teaching Leveled Classes
116: Integrating Buddha Dharma and Asana with Meredith Witte – Live Mentoring Session
118: My Group Class Planning Process

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I’m sure you’ve noticed that many stock images and illustrations of yoga practitioners show a very narrow representation of bodies and abilities.

Harmony Willow Hansen is a freelance illustrator, graphic designer and yoga practitioner who creates beautiful images that represent the true diversity in the student body of yoga practitioners worldwide. She created a beautiful book called You Are Strong And Worthy that showcases these images. Willow also has lots of resources available for yoga teachers and studios who want their images and branding to reflect the beautiful multifariousness of their students.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what Willow saw in the bodies around her in class that inspired her to start making art
what she hopes people take away from seeing the images she created
all about the custom art and images she has created for yoga studios and teachers

Learn More From Harmony:

Website
Instagram
You Are Strong and Worthy (Book)

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Teaching teachers how to teach yoga is a massive responsibility. (How many times am I going to write the word “teach” in this intro???)

Many people who listen to this podcast either already are, or are hoping to be a teacher of teachers. I get asked all the time for advice on creating and leading a teacher training. I have created a very successful speciality training, The Science of the Private Lesson, and a big part of my business is mentoring yoga teachers. I have supported teachers in writing their own 200 hour teacher training, but I have never actually created or led my own foundational 200 hour teacher training. So to have this conversation I asked my Yoga Mama, and the ultimate Teacher of Teachers Cyndi Lee, to join me and walk us through how to create and lead a teacher training.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how to decide what to cover in a teacher training since yoga is so vast and expansive
what is most important to consider when you first start to write the manual or syllabus for your teacher training
how to teach sequencing and class planning to future yoga teachers
what Cyndi thinks about marketing a teacher training as a way to "deepen your practice" without an intention to teach
how teacher trainers can stimulate creativity and confidence in their learners

Learn More From Cyndi:

Website
SUBSTACK: Drip, Drip, Drip
Instagram
Facebook

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In today's episode, we have a very special guest, Anjali Rao (she/her). Anjali is a yoga teacher, writer, and podcast host who offers profound insights into the often obscured stories and histories of yoga. An Indian American immigrant and cancer survivor, Anjali beautifully integrates yoga philosophy and history with storytelling, imagery, and poetry.

Anjali and I had a thought-provoking conversation about the sociopolitical context of yoga and its historical beginnings. We delve into topics such as the caste system, the intersections of power and access to knowledge, and the erasure of South Asian teachers in modern yoga spaces.

In this episode you’ll hear:

all about Yoga's relationship with the caste system
a deep dive into Yoga's relationship with hinduism and other religions
how Anjali recommends we can teach and practice yoga with integrity
about the political nature of yoga and the connection between spiritual teachings and the pursuit of social change
a conversation on ahimsa and its active role in disrupting harm (rather than passive inaction)
the importance of self-reflection and understanding one's positionality as a yoga practitioner and teacher

Learn More From Anjali:

On Instagram
At her website
On her podcast “The Love of Yoga”

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I have wanted to have a teacher on the podcast to talk to us about The Yoga Sutras for years, and I finally found the teacher we needed! Vikram Jeet Singh is here today to share an exploration of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras that is both accessible and deep.

Vikram is a certified yoga teacher with over twelve years and 11,000 plus hours of teaching experience. Besides asana, Vikram also teaches courses and workshops on classical yogic texts such as Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. Additionally, he runs mentorship courses and workshops for teachers and practitioners to help bring yoga in every aspect of their lives. A strong advocate of diversity & inclusion, Vikram consults yoga teachers and studios on cultural appropriation, decolonization and inclusion in yoga and related spaces. Having moved from Toronto three years ago, Vikram and his family live in Goa.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what has shifted in Vikram’s teaching as a result of his study of the Sutras
the main differences between some of the popular commentaries and the ones he recommends
what is most important for yoga teachers to know about Sutra 1.2
how the Sutras define practice
the main differences between the first and second books
a deep dive into the Kleshas
how free will plays out in terms of Kleshas and Karma

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Back in February of 2018 I shared an intimate view of a full week in my teaching and work life. I shared my daily habits and routines, the things I was working on in my group classes, and how I met each of my private clients. (Listen to that episode here!)

Well, the world at large, and my little world too, has changed drastically since then, so I wanted to share an updated version!

In this episode you’ll hear:

how I’m managing parenthood while keeping my business afloat
what has shifted in my mindset around business growth since having a kid
how I make time for my own practice in the morning
what’s been working well in my group classes lately
specific things I do with private clients who work with chronic pain

Resources Mentioned:

15: A Week In the Life (A Peek Inside My Daily Schedule and Rituals)
The Mentor Sessions Sangha
Ethan Nichtern (my teacher)

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Today I’m here to share a vulnerable update of my life lately, and some tools I’m using to teach great yoga classes even though I’m in a very challenging season. I’ll be honest, there almost wasn’t a podcast episode this month. This has been one of the hardest summers of my life and I’ve been feeling totally under water. I realized the middle of the month had already passed and I had no interviews scheduled and no ideas for a podcast episode.

But then I remembered... I’ve been teaching through it all! And I’ve actually felt great about what and how I’ve been teaching.

So today I am sharing a few ideas that I hope support you if you’re struggling to find inspiration for your teaching.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how to identify why you are not feeling inspired
the difference between private clients and group classes when you’re lacking inspiration
why being gentle with yourself is always the first instruction
how to come up with dharma teachings when you’re struggling
how to freshen up stale sequences
why taking a class without the intention of actually taking it is a good idea!

Resources Mentioned:

115: The Case For Teaching Leveled Classes
116: Integrating Buddha Dharma and Asana with Meredith Witte – Live Mentoring Session
118: My Group Class Planning Process
119: All About My Morning Routine (And Suggestions For Yours!)

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Are there poses you used to love and teach, but have recently stopped teaching for some reason?? It turns out we all have a long list of poses that we find ourselves leaving out of our classes for a multitude of reasons. We recently had a super interesting conversation inside The Mentor Sessions Sangha all about this! And on the podcast today I’m sharing an edited sneak peak of that discussion to get your creative juices flowing!

In this episode we discussed:

our priorities and choices in teaching
the importance of getting clear on the intended benefits of poses
varying perspectives on poses like headstand, arm balances, and lotus pose
why personal preference is a great reason to avoid certain poses AND why it’s so important to understand the reason behind those preferences

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I feel a little shy sharing this intimate view of my morning practice, but when I asked y’all if this topic was of interest I heard a resounding YES. As yoga teachers I think it is important that we make time to engage with our practice and take good care of ourselves so we can be of service to our students and communities.

But like, WHEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MAKE TIME FOR THAT?

Life is so full for many of us. We have work and caretaking responsibilities that fill every waking hour (and some of the sleeping ones...). Before the birth of my son I had a two hour morning routine that I did every work day, even though most days I started teaching at 7am. After the arrival of my son in spring of 2022, the availability of that morning time totally disappeared.

But after more than a year in this new life, and after lots of trial and error, I have found a way to have a morning routine that sets me up to be the best teacher and parent I can be. It took me a while to figure out how to manage it, but I feel really good about where I’ve landed and I’m excited to share it with all of you!

In this episode you’ll hear:

some questions to ask yourself when thinking about your own morning routine
the purpose of my morning routine
all seven things I’d like to do every day
how I manage the morning routine even with unpredictable baby sleep schedules
what time I get up and how long I spend with each part of my practice
how I prioritize to scale down my morning practice
how to manage if you have inconsistent time available in the morning

Resources Mentioned:

Stillness + Movement Studio
The Mentor Sessions Sangha

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In January I started sharing my group class planning process in short videos on Instagram and y’all had questions! The more I shared, the more questions I got! So today we’ve got a solo episode on the podcast where I am answering all your questions about my group class planning process.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how I try to bring recognizable sun salutation templates AND sequences that vary into each class
why a thread of physical and emotional consistency woven throughout class makes it memorable to students
a deep dive into the template I use in every class I teach
what I recommend for teachers who often run out of time in class
different ways to get inspiration for a theme
a discussion on whether to create new sequences for every class or recycle old class plans
what to do when the class you planned won’t work for the students who showed up

*After I recorded this episode, I taught four classes that are perfect examples of the things I discussed in the episode. Click here to buy this bundle of four classes at a discount.

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Many yoga teachers in our community either already specialize in teaching seniors, or would like to. Yoga can be a wonderful practice for older people and it is important that yoga teachers consider what is most helpful when working with this population.

We are so lucky today to have Yoga for Seniors expert, Chintamani Kansas, walking us through this conversation. Chintamani has been teaching Yoga for over 20 years and has studied Meditation, Embodied Anatomy, Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy, Thai Massage.

In 2020, Chintamani launched a series of daily therapeutic yoga classes via Zoom for a community of committed Yoga Lovers, many of whom are active older adults. Yoga for Strong Bones and Core Yoga for Strong Bones classes are designed to stimulate bone density in key areas of vulnerability and eliminate movements that are potentially injurious to people with Osteopenia, Osteoporosis, Arthritis, and back pain. People of all ages attend the classes for joint mobilization, stretching, energizing yoga, strength, balance, and relaxation.

In this episode you’ll hear:

common injuries and conditions our students might have
three rules to keep in mind when teaching people with osteoporosis
some thoughts about twists in a Yoga for Seniors class
how to make a “flowy” sequence without the forward bends of a classical sun salutation
step by step cueing for Downward Dog and why it’s so helpful for seniors
the kyphosis controversy around bridge pose and how to work with that
working with hip replacements and how it shows up in Garuda
the controversy around Side Plank and who it might be good for
a deep dive into the biomechanics of Child’s Pose and how to make it accessible
how using empowering language makes you a better teacher for all populations

Learn More From Chintamani:

Website: yogawithc.com
Instagram: @yogawithc
Private Yoga Info: yogawithc.com/private-yoga

Other Episodes and Resources Mentioned:

98: Trauma-Conscious Yoga Is A Philosophy, Not A Specialty Class with Hannah Davis
85: The Trans* Yoga Project with M Camellia + River Redwood
Bone Health And Osteoporosis Foundation
Yoga-Grip Wrist Alignment props
Wrist Buddy Yoga Blocks

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Many of the yoga teachers I’ve worked with feel more comfortable and confident teaching asana than they do teaching the other seven limbs of yoga. This was true of me as a new teacher also! Questions about how to skillfully interweave dharma and asana come up frequently with the teachers in our community.

I’m so happy to share with you this Live Mentoring Session with longtime listener of the show and wonderful yoga teacher Meredith Witte, of The Playground App. Meredith brought excellent, thoughtful questions that inspired an in-depth conversation about finding my voice and integrating dharma and asana.

Show Notes: https://www.francescacervero.com/category/podcast/

Meredith on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theplayground.app/

Meredith's website: http://www.theplaygroundapp.com

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The thinking behind this episode has been a long time in the making. I haven't talked about this much publicly, but If you've done 1x1 mentoring with me, if you’ve taken my group classes, if you're in The Mentor Session Sangha, or if you’ve taken a teacher training with me, then you’ve heard me talk about it....

...and today I’m publicly making The Case for Teaching Leveled Classes.

I haven't talked about it publicly because it's nuanced and complex and challenging to present in a one-sided conversation. So what I hope to share today are some questions to help you reflect on your teaching as an individual, some questions to help you reflect on the institutions you are teaching at, and some some questions for us as a wider yoga community.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why I think leveled classes can be helpful for both teachers and students
how to create leveled classes and still dismantle the notion of hierarchical progress in yoga
the different language we use to talk about “Open Level” classes, and what actually happens most often
what I think belongs in an “advanced” yoga class
how leveled classes have the opportunity to be more accessible, not less
why a beginner’s class is not the same things as a gentle class
how to support a student who has been in a Level 1 class for many years
the difference between something being taught or “offered”
where to take this conversation deeper!

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Our students' movement patterns directly impact their pelvic health, and their pelvic floor impacts their movement patterns! With those two aspects of our students’ health so intertwined, it’s really important that yoga teachers understand the nuances of that relationship. We are so lucky to have longtime yoga teacher, teacher’s mentor, and yoga for pelvic health expert Shannon Crow on the show with us today!

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Ariele Foster is a doctor of physical therapy and the founder of Yoga Anatomy Academy, a no-nonsense, evidence-based resource for learning yoga anatomy and movement science. She runs an integrative physical therapy clinic in Washington DC (and via telehealth). In addition to teaching online courses and an anatomy mentorship through Yoga Anatomy Academy, she has also taught online courses for and written for Yoga Journal on hip stability and fascia release. Ariele began teaching yoga in 2001 and her grandmother was also a yoga teacher.

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Mary Reddinger is joining us on the show today to share how she built her full-time private yoga practice just recently! Mary and her family moved in the middle of the pandemic, and with her husband in school, her yoga teaching is their sole source of income. Mary worked incredibly hard to build a private practice and she did it quite quickly! She has a full roster of dedicated students who are engaged in their practice and appreciate her work immensely.

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Over the last few years more and more yoga teachers have worked to create their own teaching offerings outside of a studio setting, and I think this is a great thing! While I absolutely value the community space a yoga studio can create, I also think creating learning opportunities for students (especially new students) outside of a typical yoga studio can be wonderful. And it can be great for us as teachers to begin to build our own teaching opportunities and small businesses.

A longtime member of my community, Dara Madigan, created and ran her first Beginner’s Series on her own this fall, and it was such a smashing success I asked her to come on the podcast and share all the details with y’all so you could model your own Beginner's Series after hers! And I’m intentionally releasing this in October, because I think mid-January next year would be a great time to run in, which means you need to start planning it now!

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I’ve been collecting your questions over the last few weeks, and I’m so happy to share this Q+A episode with you today! (It’s an off the cuff, casual vibe. I think you’ll like it!)

In this episode I’ll answer questions like:

How do you work with plantar fasciitis?
How do we work with our students’ injuries when we think some movement might be helpful, but a doctor has told our student to stay away from movement?
What happens to our classes and our students when we take an extended period of time off?
How did you plan for and manage your maternity leave?
What is the best way to recover from a hamstring injury?
How are you balancing your teaching/work schedule with being a new parent?
How do you make time for/organize continued education and study in relation to your teaching?

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Hello! After a long maternity leave I’m back in front of the podcasting mic and so excited to be here. This episode is quite a departure from our usual conversations about the craft of teaching yoga. Since I’ve been out for so long I wanted to connect with all of you in a more intimate way, so this episode is more personal than usual!

I’m going to share the Ten Things Saving My Life Right Now to give a little inside peek into my season of life, my plans for teaching and how I’m calling in support.

In this episode you’ll hear:

all the places I’m getting support as I make this big transition
what I replaced social media scrolling with
all about the best food delivery service I’ve ever used!
the online communities where I love to hang out
my favorite places for online asana classes
how I slowly started teaching again this summer
where I keep all my to do’s organized
a breakdown of my entire fall weekly schedule!

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Avita Bansee (she/they) is here today to talk to us about what Anti Capitalist, Anti Racist Yoga looks like. Avita is a graduate of Yogaworks 200 hour RYTT and their life experiences and continuous study of yoga philosophy, anatomy, pranayama and biomechanics inform their teaching and self-practice.

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One of the most downloaded episodes of this podcast is Episode 59: ROM, Neuroscience + Yoga with Garrett Neill. In that episode we talked about the difference between Active Range of Motion and Passive Range of Motion, the three main barriers to range of motion that show up in our joints, some of the reasons the body might “tighten” and limit our range of motion, what we should we be thinking about in terms of how we teach movement when it comes to creating stability and how mobility and flexibility are different from one another.

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Much of a yoga practice can, from the outside, look like very little is happening. In a meditation practice it might look like we are just sitting there, but as we all know, that “just sitting there” can be a wild experience and a potent place to make friends with ourselves.

Pausing in an asana practice to rest in Child’s Pose can look like a lull in the action, even though we know the space between is sometimes the most powerful.

Resting in a restorative yoga pose can look like an extra cozy nap... And while it can be that, Octavia Raheem (she/her) is here today to tell us why deep rest can serve as a tool for courage and resilience!

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The historical teachings of yoga have incredible lessons for our modern world. Understanding and unpacking the ancient teachings is a lifelong process, and those of us lucky enough to practice, study and teach yoga must investigate how these teachings can shape our worldview. The bottom line is that the teachings of yoga point towards care of the collective as a path to enlightenment. The liberation of all beings (including ourselves) is where my personal study has led me over and over again. In our world today, that often looks like what we call social justice.

Jivana Heyman, is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings.

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Deb Flashenberg (she/her) is the founder and director of the Prenatal Yoga Center which she founded in NYC in 2002. Along with being a prenatal yoga teacher, she is also a labor support doula, Lamaze childbirth educator, mother of two and self proclaimed "birth and anatomy geek”. After the challenging birth of her first child, Deb became incredibly interested in pelvic health and has since earned her Pelvic Floor Yoga Certification with Leslie Howard. Deb is currently knee deep in an intensive program with Dr. Sarah Duvall to earn her Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist certification.

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I know that questioning whether the practices of yoga have a political aspect to them is a popular conversation, even controversy. But from my reading and study of the yogic and Buddhist teachings, there is no way to see dharma as separate from the world we live in, and with the world we live in being so full of injustice, that makes the teachings inherently political.

If the intention of the teachings is to help us be stronger, more self aware, more compassionate and more awake to the nature of our world, in my view that is a strong and specific viewpoint. If in our practice we intend to send care and safety to all beings, and all beings are not well or safe because of the structures of oppression that are woven through our culture, that sets our work on a clear path to make the world a safer and more just place.

And for this reason I am so incredibly excited to introduce you to my friend Jacoby Ballard. Jacoby Ballard (he/they) is a social justice educator and yoga teacher who leads workshops and trainings around the country on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a yoga teacher with 20 years of experience, he leads workshops, retreats, teacher trainings and teaches at conferences. Since 2006, Jacoby has taught Queer and Trans Yoga, a space for queer folks to unfurl and cultivate resilience and received Yoga Journal's Game Changer Award in 2014 and Good Karma Award in 2016.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why Jacoby experiences both his identity and teaching as political
the relationship between the Brahma Viharas and social justice, and how to make it actionable
a new insight into the First Noble Truth of Buddhism and why it was so powerful for me personally
how we as practitioners and teachers can reconcile the idea of contentment with our desire to make the world a better place
the effect that late stage capitalism has on the way the yoga teachings are shared in the US today
how the teachings of yoga and Buddishm can play a part in the necessary reallocation of resources and power
all about the Trans and Queer yoga classes Jacoby teaches!

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I imagine by now you’ve probably heard that over 65% of COVID misinformation is spread by just 12 people, and those 12 people are almost all from the wellness community. As yoga teachers we may loosely (or closely) identify with the wider wellness community and so addressing these issues is important! What you may not know is that several of those people also have the same publisher-- Hay House Publishing.

Our amazing guest today, Rebekah Borucki, is a very popular meditation guide and author who publicly left Hay House Publishing last year. She left because of their refusal to address the rampant misinformation some of their authors were spreading about COVID and their unwillingness to address the lack of diversity in the authors they publish as well.

Speaking of... did you know that publishing is 79% white, 89% straight, 96% non-disabled and 99% Cisgender? With stats like that, just imagine all the stories that aren’t being told! I am so excited to tell you about the brand new wellness publishing house that our guest has founded! It is called Row House Publishing and they are “Raising the Volume on Voices That Matter™” and publishing books at the intersection of personal development and social justice. Their work is actively decolonizing the wellness community!

Rebekah “Bex” Borucki (she/they) is a mother-to-five, self-help and children’s author, and the Founder and President of Row House, Wheat Penny Press (Row House’s children’s imprint), and the WPP Little Readers Big Change Initiative. Rebekah is driven by a commitment to make wellness tools available to all and to help others recover the liberation stolen from them by White Supremacy. She lives with her family in New Jersey.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how Rebekah began studying and then teaching yoga and meditation
how Rebekah got her first book deal with Hay House Publishing
why Rebekah publicly left Hay House and how it felt to do that
why the idea that you can offer some silent solidarity is a myth
why Rebekah founded this new publishing house
all about the inequitable and unfair aquisionton practices that make it difficult for emerging voices to get heard
a little bit about the amazing authors already in contract with Row House

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In teaching yoga and asana we end up working with bodies quite a lot. Many, if not most, of our students will likely be dealing with some kind of discomfort, whether it be the aches and pains of modern living, or full-blown, diagnosed injuries.

As yoga teachers it is entirely out of our scope to diagnose or treat pain or injuries. Full stop. I do, however, think we should be educated and thoughtful about working with bodies in a way that allows our students’ yoga practice to be supportive, sometimes even in highly specific, physical ways.

I have studied massive amounts about anatomy, biomechanics, injuries and therapeutics, and have also worked through many very serious injuries in my own body. Because of this history I love helping fellow yoga teachers brainstorm ways to best support their students who have pain or injuries and this episode is dedicated entirely to your questions!

In this episode, you’ll hear questions and discussions about:

adductor and pelvic pain
SI joint pain
nerve pain in the glutes
elbow pain
discomfort in the QL
burning hip discomfort in hip flexion
shoulder pain in overhead flexion
imposter syndrome when talking to healthcare providers

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I'm excited to share this quick bonus + important announcement episode with you. In the episode, I share the updated description of the podcast, why I'm releasing one episode per month starting now, and how important reviews are. (And did I mention a really important announcement?!)

Each & every review counts! Thank you so much!

If you'd like to submit a review on your computer from a web browser:

Visit The Mentor Sessions | Support + Strategy for Yoga Teachers in your web browser
Click “Listen on Apple Podcasts” to the right of the logo; then accept the pop-up asking if you want to launch iTunes
In iTunes, click “Ratings & Reviews” under the main title
To rate the show, select a number of stars between 1 and 5 next to the words “Click to rate” under the Customer Ratings headline
To write a review, click “Write a Review” under the Customer Reviews heading

If you'd like to submit a review using your iPhone or iPad:

Open your Podcast app
Search for The Mentor Sessions | Support + Strategy for Yoga Teachers
Tap on the SHOW image (not the Episodes)
Scroll down to Ratings & Reviews
Click on 'Write a review'

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Today is our 100th episode and to celebrate we have two very special guests! Joining us on the podcast are two nationally renowned professors who are experts in online learning and teacher education, and... they also happen to be my parents!

As I hope comes through on The Mentor Sessions podcast, I am very interested in studying the craft of teaching yoga, as its own practice. I love asking questions about why we teach something the way we do, how we could be more expansive and inclusive in our teaching, and how we can continue to grow and evolve in our teaching practice.

When you meet my parents today, you won’t be at all surprised that these are the kinds of questions I find inspiring. In my family's case, the apple appears to have fallen directly underneath the tree 😂 It’s funny though, because I don’t remember long conversations about quality teacher education around the dinner table or anything... I was a dancer pursuing a professional career, and very much felt that I was on my own path. But as my focus shifted away from the dance world, and towards the yoga world, I quickly became very interested in unpacking what good quality teaching looks like (it looks like 1 million things, of course!) and making space for conversations around that.

Today I’m so excited to introduce you to Janna and Ron, my parents, so we can hear from an academic view what good quality teaching looks like and how we might bring these inquiries into the yoga world.

In this episode you’ll hear:

an explanation of the basic idea of pedagogy
what we have we learned from recent studies in neuroscience about how people learn
what good quality teacher education look like and how we might evaluate that
how my Dad brought online learning to the University of Georgia way back in 2001
how online learning has changed in the last 20 years
the joke my Mom told at my wedding that had everyone cry-laughing

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In The Mentor Sessions Sangha we have been having a robust conversation about online yoga class library memberships. These are very popular now, and can be a great way to diversify your teaching income and support your students. They also require a decent amount of work to set up, there are an endless number of ways to organize the process and the pricing for these offerings are all over the map.

If you have thought about creating an online class library, or a membership model for your live classes, I think today’s podcast episode with Catherine la O’ will be inspiring for you! Catherine is a long time yoga teacher, who despite not feeling very tech savvy, decided to set up a membership and online class library for her students in the summer of 2020.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why Catherine felt this was the best way to continue teaching through the pandemic
how much it cost to set up
a deep dive into all the platforms and software she uses to film her classes and host the online library
a specific breakdown of her teaching, filming, editing and uploading process
the pricing structure of her membership
how many members she has currently
why her unique collaborative approach with other teacher colleagues is serving both her and her students so well
how she recommends teachers get started if they are interested in creating something similar

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When you think of teaching a trauma-informed yoga class, what comes to mind? Do you think of teaching a special class for a specific population, like veterans recovering from PTSD or survivors of abuse in a shelter? Those are populations that certainly benefit from a very well trained and thoughtfully trauma-conscious teacher (and specialty class!), but the truth is every single human has experienced some kind of trauma, and that is important to keep in mind in every yoga class we teach.

I’m thrilled today to introduce you to yoga teacher, social worker and trauma-informed yoga expert Hannah Davis! Hannah Davis (she/her) is a body-focused clinician and yoga teacher specializing in mind-body healing. She has training in somatic healing, Ayurveda, mindful vinyasa, and various trauma-sensitive approaches. She leads several trauma-informed community-based yoga classes through Vikara Village and is a Licensed Social Worker in Maryland and DC.

In this episode you’ll hear:

an important, foundational definition of trauma
why yoga is such a powerful modality for people living with and healing from trauma
why trauma-informed yoga is an entire philosophy not only a specialty class
an explanation of the universal precautions as a core trauma-informed concept
the important skills of a Safe Space facilitator
whether or not it is possible to have a truly trauma-informed approach to hands-on adjustments
the place philosophy and subtle body teachings have in a trauma-conscious philosophy

Learn More From Hannah:

At her website
Learn more about Vikara Village here
Follow Hannah on Instagram here
Follow Hannah on Facebook here
Download this Trauma-Informed Checklist!
Take class with Hannah at Stillness + Movement here (use code NEWSTUDENT for your first class free!)

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As you are well aware, we are living through a devastating public health crisis and masks and vaccines are our most important wellness tools right now (BY FAR). We know from our spiritual study that we are all interconnected, and none of us are truly well unless we are all well.

I know this is a divisive topic in the yoga world and that makes it even more important that we talk about it. My guest today is Wolf Terry (she/her), a retired e-ryt and a contributing writer for Yoga Journal. Before walking away from the seat of the teacher, Wolf had taught over 2000 hours of classes, teacher trainings, and workshops, while answering letters for her former Yoga Journal advice column, Wolf Wisdom. Wolf is now a full-time writer, writing coach, social justice, mental health, and public health activist. She is originally from Maine, but now resides in Colorado with her husband and son.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why it was so important for Wolf to write the essay for Yoga Journal entitled, Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa
the response Wolf received from the yoga community after that essay was published
why it is more important that ever that we mask up (yes, even if you’re vaxxed)
why the yoga world is polarized on these topics (hint: white supremacist capitalism is a big part of the problem!)
the most common misinformation spreading about the vaccines
the responsibility we have to each other as a community of yoga teachers and practitioners
the response from my students at my last in-person class in 2020 (I cry every time I tell this story!)
how to talk to those in our communities who are vaccine hesitant

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The "BEST" way to teach twisting movements!

What kind of rules have you been taught about the safest way to twist? What do you teach your students about the best way to rotate through the spine? Today we are taking a deep dive into these questions and I couldn’t be more excited!

Your fellow teacher and podcast listener Madison Houck joins us today to unpack this conversation, as it was inspired by a really interesting private lesson Madison and I had.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how the spinal vertebrae relate and react to each other
the single good reason to focus twisting movements in the thoracic spine
several specific twisting movements to try with your students
some ideas for cueing in a specific, but expansive way
why brining nuance into movement teaching is so challenging, and so important

Resources:

The Science of the Private Lesson
The Mentor Sessions Sangha
Madison on Instagram
Madison’s website

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Kearsten Lyon (she/her) is the founder and owner of an extended health care clinic called Total Movement Therapy based in Toronto, ON and sees clients virtually all over the world. Kearsten has been working and teaching within the Pilates and Rehabilitation Therapy industry since 2011. She utilizes a unique blend of Pilates, The Oov, Franklin Method, Movement for Trauma, traditional strength and conditioning exercises, client education and client–directed tissue release work in each session with her clients.

In working with her I have learned so much about the human body, my own movement patterns and most especially I’ve had my eyes opened to some of my movement blindspots and biases. It’s been incredible, for me personally and for my teaching!

In this episode you’ll hear:

what is important for teachers to think about when they’re integrating ideas from different movement frameworks
all about Whole Body Cueing and how can yoga teachers incorporate that into their teaching
a deep dive into fascial slings and why they are important to think about when cueing movement
a conversation about uncovering some of my own unconscious movement biases
a little bit about the biopsychosocial model and how can we incorporate that into our yoga teaching

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I often feel like marketing is hard, and the things the “experts” tell us to do are slimy and also don’t work. You feel me?

That’s why I’m so excited to have Mado Hesselink (she/they) on the show today!

After teaching yoga for ten years, Mado met their fairy godmother business coach. She appeared in their life just long enough to plant the seeds that good business and good yoga can co-exist.

Mado nurtured those seeds by studying all things business, marketing, and productivity and to her surprise found a new passion: finding the places where business principles and yoga principles overlap in order to help yoga teachers make a bigger impact with their teaching.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the most important steps a new yoga teacher needs to take to get themselves set up
why marketing is so hard
what compelling marketing looks and sounds like
the difference between a target market and a niche
what good market research looks like
the best way for new teachers to find students

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Teaching yoga to kids has the potential to be incredibly impactful for kids and their communities, but there are many challenges that arise when we try to take the deep and meaningful teachings of yoga and make them developmentally appropriate without losing the heart of the teachings!

Lucky for us, today we have Crystal McCreary on the podcast to talk about how to model and teach yogic practices that are empowering and transformative for kids, ourselves, and our world.

And even if you don’t teach kids yoga, I think you will get SO MUCH out of listening to this conversation. It turns out that learning to teach children well holds many lessons for teaching adults skillfully also.

Crystal McCreary (she/her) is a yoga, mindfulness, and health educator, actor, speaker, and writer. Crystal’s programs emphasize self-care as the gateway to social justice and community healing and she works full-time as a health educator at an independent K-12 school in New York City.

In this episode we’ll answer questions like:

What are the biggest differences between kids facilitation and adult facilitation?
How do you bring in the philosophy and dharma elements of the practice in a way that is developmentally appropriate?
How do you teach yoga to kids in a way that helps them cultivate empathy, curiosity, kindness, emotional balance, and compassionate action?
Where do you stand on whether or not yoga can be considered secular?
Does kids yoga belong in schools?

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Teaching yoga in 1x1 settings is such a wonderful way to inspire and support meaningful change in our student’s lives. But the possibilities for what and how you could teach a private lesson are endless and as a teacher that can feel overwhelming! How do you decide what to focus on??

Teaching yoga one-on-one requires a different skill set than teaching group classes, and these unique skills are left out of most teacher trainings. In this podcast episode I’ll share the simple framework I use to teach private lessons in a way that is balancing and helpful for my students without being draining for me and I answer questions like:

What is your class format for a private session? How do you make it special?
Many folks don’t have a clear objective in mind. How do you help people figure out what they want to work on?
Are your zoom privates cheaper than your in person privates?
How are you gauging private client progress within a session or group of sessions? What metrics do you use to measure goals and how do you monitor achievable outcomes for physical, mental and emotional progress?
How do you stay on time, particularly when wrapping up to leave?
Plus, I answer a bonus question about bakasana!

Resources Mentioned In The Episode:

The Support/ Challenge Matrix of Private Lessons (podcast episode)
The Science of the Private Lesson (online training)
The Mentor Sessions Sangha (online community)

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As yoga teachers most of us are legally and financially out on our own; we are small business owners and independent contractors cobbling together enough work to make a living. There is much that needs to change about our systems, but today I want to start small and offer this free training on legal protections for yoga teachers and I’m so happy to introduce you to Cory Sterling (he/him)!

Cory is a lawyer, small business owner, group fitness instructor and yoga teacher. He wrote The Yoga Law Book and has served hundreds of clients in the yoga, health and fitness space all across the world, the majority of whom own or operate a fitness/health studio.

I brought Cory on the podcast to answer all the questions you send me about legal protections!

He answered questions like:

What is a waiver and what needs to be included in a waiver?
Do waivers even count/hold up in any way if someone wanted to sue?
Do electronic waivers count or do we need printed signatures?
Has there ever been a lawsuit where a student sued a yoga teacher for injuring them in a situation where this teacher only taught using verbal cues?
Can teachers legally require covid vaccines of participants prior to traveling on a retreat?
What specific covid-related release of liability should we have in our retreat waivers?
What is the difference between a trademark, patent and copyright and when should teachers use these tools to protect their work?
And so much more!

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

Yoga Legal Checklist
Cory on Instagram
Cory on Facebook
Cory's Website

The Yoga Law Book: Legal Essentials For Yoga Professionals

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The yoga world has changed so much since I started teaching 16 years ago. Back then I didn’t have a website, use social media or have any fancy tech equipment, and I didn’t know many (any?) yoga teachers who did!

The need to be able to understand and use technology has changed a lot since 2005, and even more so in this last year...obviously. I’m so happy to have an episode for you today that has super practical answers to all your yoga-tech questions!

My guest today is Alex Haley (he/him) and in addition to being a long time meditation teacher, he is one of the co-founders of the public benefit corporation OfferingTree, which provides an all-in-one platform for yoga teachers and studios to build a website, manage scheduling, take payments and coordinate communication. Alex has also worked for start-ups, mid-sized companies and large multinationals in business roles, so he has tons of practical experience to share with us!

Alex is on the pod today to answer all your tech questions like:

What is the best webcam?
What is the best microphone?
What is the best lighting setup?
What are your thoughts about playing music through Zoom?
What do you think yoga and meditation teachers most need in their website?
What is the best way to seamlessly connect class registration to zoom links, billing and email reminders?
How do you recommend yoga teachers effectively use SEO?
What is the best way to collect payment for online and in-person classes?

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

webinars from OfferingTree, especially Meg Casebolt and Danait Berhe
Logitech C920 ( ~$79)\
DSLR camera - Panasonic GH4 ( ~$650)
Blue Yeti (podcast / video recording)
Rode Wireless Go ( live teaching / movement / video recording )
Audio Technica AT2020 ( guided meditation / podcast / video recording )
Jabra Elite - many different models ( guided meditation / video recording )
AirPods Pro (live teaching / movement) <-- if you have a Mac
Free Music Archive - Creative Commons
Best Practices For Teaching Online
Acuity is another great platform that syncs payments, registrations and Zoom links and my own right hand project manager Jess is an expert in it!

Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920, Widescreen Video Calling and Recording, 1080p Camera, Desktop or Laptop Webcam (Discontinued by manufacturer)

Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ Cardioid Condenser USB Microphone, With Built-In Headphone Jack & Volume Control, Perfect for Content Creators (Black)

Panasonic LUMIX GH4 Body 4K Mirrorless Camera, 16 Megapixels, 3 Inch Touch LCD, DMC-GH4KBODY (USA Black)

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It has been just over one year since I shifted from teaching yoga full time in-person, to teaching full time online. It has been a huge change (obviously) in my approach to teaching and my day to day schedule. In this episode I share some updates with you about how it’s going in general (well!) how my students are doing (so much beautiful growth and adaptation) and what my teaching plans look like for the future (I don’t know!).

I also wanted to expand on a foundational part of my teaching philosophy: the importance of being able to teach without demonstrating, and investigate how that impacts online teaching. I address some of the questions that come up inside the camera on/ camera off debate AND make an announcement about some very fun things happening in our community soon!

In this episode you’ll hear:

an update on online teaching and my plans for the future
why it is both important and challenging to teach without demonstrating
why students benefit from our attention more than they do from our demonstrations
some suggestions for helping our students feel more comfortable being on video
how to support students who are visual learners
advice I would give my March 2020 self!

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

Stillness + Movement Virtual Yoga Studio: Use the coupon code MENTOR at checkout to take your first class free.
The Mentor Sessions Sangha: Registration will open for the first time on June 1st 2021
Toronto Movement Therapy
The Science of the Private Lesson online training

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Do you know Tori Lunden (she/her)? She is known as Bad At Yoga on social media and if you haven’t come across her work yet I’m SO excited I get to introduce you to her today. If you do know Tori’s work, you won’t be surprised at all to know that I jumped at the chance to connect with her, (and we had a blast!) because there are many similarities in our work!

After two and half decades of spiritual searching, Tori’s outlook on life can be summed up simply as, "Just be kind and maybe try therapy." A teacher since 2008, Tori's approach to yoga is a balance of pragmatism and irreverence.

Tori has a degree in Social Work through the University of Calgary. Though no longer practicing social work in a formal setting, she remains committed to social justice and building healthier communities. Her current yoga teaching practice is guided by the three pillars of her social work practice; person centered, anti oppressive, and strengths based.

Tori self published her first book, "How not to Teach Yoga: Lessons on Boundaries, Accountability, and Vulnerability - Learnt the Hard Way" in February of 2021 and I got to talk to her all about the hard lessons she’s learned as a yoga teacher, and some wisdom and advice she has for the rest of us.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why more information isn’t helpful if we haven’t done the work of learning how to apply it
what Tori suggests we do to integrate the yoga teachings into the way we show up as teachers
the reasons there is so much doubt along a yoga teaching path and how we can work with that
why manipulation, spiritual bypassing and authoritarian teaching styles are common and how we can work with them when they show up in our own lives
the difference between “big hands teaching” and “small hands teaching”
what it takes to cultivate professional self trust as a yoga teacher

Learn More From Tori:

At her website
buy her book
Follow her on Instagram

This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree! Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online. All of this can be set up in 30 minutes or less. This is a great product that I highly recommend!

How Not To Teach Yoga: Lessons on Boundaries, Accountability, and Vulnerability - Learnt the Hard Way

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Trauma-informed practice is a popular topic in the yoga world, and with good reason. Most people have experienced some kind of trauma and if yoga is to be a healing practice, as teachers and practitioners we must take into account what could make a practice unsafe or triggering for folks, including ourselves.

But like so much of yoga in the west, trauma-informed conversations can often veer into the dogmatic, as if there was only one way to to make a student feel unsafe, or as if there were set, universal, right and wrong ways of teaching trauma-informed practice. There are certainly some best practices that many experts agree on, but there is also quite a bit of nuance, as there always will be when we’re talking about the human experience.

And this is why I’m so excited to introduce you to Sangeeta Vallabhan. Sangeeta is a long-time yoga teacher; she has been teaching yoga in NYC since 2003. She began studying trauma-informed yoga with many different teachers in 2013 and pursuing these studies enabled her to better face her own experiences with trauma. Her recovery has inspired her to help others and in 2019, Sangeeta started training teachers in trauma-informed yoga with her own training, solemarch. She just started The Practice Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to providing trauma-informed yoga and to taking care of the teachers who offer it.

In this episode you’ll hear:

about Sangeeta’s foundational view of trauma informed practice
what Sangeeta feels is most important to offer teachers in trauma-informed training
how colonialism shows up in the yoga world and specifically in trauma-informed teaching
boundaries that are especially important in trauma informed teaching
all about The Practice Coalition and what makes this new organization so special!

Learn More From Sangeeta:

at her website
The Practice Coalition
an important article Sangeeta wrote about her experience with trauma
Sangeeta on Health.Com !
Are You Traveling to India for the Right Reasons?- article by Sangeeta
What It’s Like Being an Indian-American Yoga Teacher- article by Sangeeta
solemarch - a trauma informed yoga training (Swiss)
solemarch at yogavida in november 2021 (link is not updated yet, but will be soon!)
take an asana class with Sangeeta at The Connective!

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There are two things I’m really passionate about in my teaching: One is dismantling the notion of linear, hierarchical, universal progress, especially when it comes to movement. The other is teaching in a way that students feel 100% agency to make autonomous, empowered, educated decisions about their own movement practice.

These two concepts come together really beautifully when we unpack regressions and progressions in movement because for every modification that could be considered a regression there is an example of the kind of body or situation in which that version is actually a progression and vice versa.

For this reason, I am STOKED to have my friend Trina Altman back on the podcast to dive DEEP into these concepts.

Trina Altman is the creator of Yoga Deconstructed® and Pilates Deconstructed®, which helps movement teachers foster an embodied understanding of their teaching and create a more sustainable practice through an interdisciplinary approach based on current movement science.

Her work has been published in Yoga Journal, Yoga International and Pilates Style. Her book, Yoga Deconstructed®: Movement Science Principles For Teaching was published by Handspring Publishing in December 2020.

Check out our previous conversations in Episode #3 (about her Yoga Deconstructed approach) and Episode #34 (all about a creative use of props in asana class).

In this episode you’ll hear:

what the research shows about why yoga-related injuries are quite common
the difference between internal and external cueing and when you might use one rather than the other
the nine different factors to consider when regressing or progressing a movement
various movement adaptations based on these nine factors and when they would likely be regression and when they are more likely to be a progression
what yoga teachers listening can do to integrate these ideas into their teaching

Learn More From Trina:

on her website
buy her book!
on Instagram

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The Trans* Yoga Project is doing incredibly important work in the yoga and wellness spaces and I’m honored to introduce you to two of the founding members, River Redwood (they/them) and M Camellia (they/them).

The Trans Yoga Project creates and holds space for Trans people to live wholly and thrive loudly by dismantling barriers to access in yoga and wellness spaces and by offering classes and wellness services as affirming, Trans-centered containers where their siblings can explore their own inner landscapes, tap into their various innate wisdoms, and co-create healing environments that serve their deepest needs. They further support the Trans community by (re)educating allied yoga teachers and wellness professionals through trainings and resources that honor the expansive nature of Trans experience and the practices of yoga and liberation.

River Redwood (they/them) River is a non-binary trans being and they’ve been transitioning since 2006. Their passions are spirituality, tarot, yoga, astrology, Trans history, and traveling. Their favorite places are lush forests, rugged coastlines and painted deserts. River is inspired by their cat Henry and their dog Hank, who drop everything and stretch their spines whenever their bodies ask. They currently live in Los Angeles, California and their purpose in life is to boldly and unapologetically be themself.

M Camellia (they/them) is a fat, queer, non-binary, neuro-emergent yoga teacher and advocate, called to create profoundly accessible spaces for self-inquiry by integrating mindfulness and adaptive movement practices with the spirit of social justice. They believe that the goal of yoga, as of life, is collective liberation and in turn challenge contemporary yoga practitioners to dismantle the systems and beliefs that hold us all back.

M teaches classes and workshops in the Washington DC Metro Area and online, and trains teachers in trauma-informed teaching practices, consent, and accessibility. They are a founding collaborator with the Trans Yoga Project and serve on the staff of Accessible Yoga. They’ve been called a “tour-de-force of encouraging radical self-love” (DC Refined) and listed among the “top thinkers and activists in the field of body positivity” (OmStars).

In this episode you’ll hear:

about the urgent need to educate allied yoga teachers and wellness professionals so the expansive nature of Trans* experience is honored and yoga is truly a practice of liberation
what can cis-studio owners and yoga teachers listening can do to create inclusive and affirming environments for all queer and trans* people
ways to alter and adapt cueing so it is not gendered
and so much more!

Learn More About The Trans* Yoga Project:

Check out M’s website here
Follow M on Instagram here
The Trans* Yoga Project website
Follow the Trans* Yoga Project on Instagram
Support the Trans* Yoga Project on Patreon here
Follow River on Instagram
Upcoming offerings at TYP will be the 3rd and 4th episodes of their Transitions series

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Pranayama is incredibly rich practice because breath is a powerful vehicle to explore our most intimate relationship, the one we have with ourselves. I’m really excited to introduce you to my friend Mirabelle, because studying and teaching the intricacies of pranayama is a great passion and expertise of hers! I was lucky enough to have a private pranayama lesson with her in the fall and it was a beautiful experience.

Mirabelle D'cunha (she/her) supports committed yoga lovers to savour the luxury of inner experience and find purpose, pleasure and joy in life through breath. She provides a loving space for them to unplug from urgency, into deep trust and allowing. Her signature offerings are Sadhana Club - an online sanctuary that brings grace, clarity, and community to yoga teachers and practitioners - as well as her Radiant You private mentoring program for healing through breath.

Mirabelle is in an intimate relationship with yoga as a breath-ing experience and has been on the path of living yoga for 19 years, studying with swamis and teachers from the Sivananda Saraswati lineage and at Mumbai University. Mirabelle has taught at yoga ashrams and studios in India, the USA, Canada, Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands and is a guest teacher in yoga teacher trainings on pranayama, bhakti yoga, and the deeper nuances of yoga as a living practice. She has also been a speaker and panelist for Yoga Alliance.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how much of Mirabelle’s teaching came to focuses on pranayama practice
why Mirabelle works with the nuances of anuloma viloma only and doesn’t teach other pranayama practices
the effects Mirabelle has seen in students who dive deep into their pranayama study and practice
the difference in the attention on pranayama in the west and in India
what Mirabelle sees as the burial of this limb of yoga and the repercussions this has on the practice of meditation
how Mirabelle recommends pranayama teaching could be more comprehensive

Learn More From Mirabelle:

On Instagram
On her website

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The Connective is a virtual movement studio that is cooperatively owned and powered by teachers. They provide a sustainable livelihood for yoga and movement professionals and raise industry standards for quality, diversity, anti-racism, and accessibility. They offer students an online space to explore movement, build community, and discover new potential.

I am so excited to have two of the teacher-owners on the podcast today to tell us all about this new organization!

Shamina Rao (she/her) Shamina’s passion for yoga spans over 25 years. She was born in Mumbai, India, and spent her childhood traveling throughout India, the Far East and parts of Africa, all the while soaking in the teachings of these different cultures. She brings what she absorbed over the years to her classes believing in the benefits of yoga for ALL people. She has created and led yoga workshops for teens, young adults and also teaches prenatal yoga.

Her classes are all-levels, breath-centered vinyasa with a focus on the subtle and energetic body through the chakras. She teaches through the lens of observing the physical, emotional, and spiritual body’s interconnectedness and response to the world around us. Off the mat, her yoga practice grounds her work as a birth doula as she encourages birthing people to connect to their bodies through mindfulness, movement and breath as they bring their babies into this world.

Elizabeth Barnett (they/them) teaches poetic, thematic classes with chanting, philosophy, and music that moves. Options for meeting yourself in the moment are always offered and self-determination is encouraged to lead the way.

They’ve been teaching yoga for 12 years and in the last few years have been deeply shaped by trauma-informed teachings. Elizabeth continues to learn and unlearn, working to unsettle their practices, queer their world, and cultivate care and creativity in pursuit of collective liberation.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how the idea for a teacher-owned co-op came about and how the teachers feel about it
what is special about the specific legal structure of a cooperative
about the livestream, pre-recorded and workshops The Connective offers
how Elizabeth and Shamina are feeling about virtual teaching almost 1 year in
why The Connective is calling attention to the worker exploitation that is common in yoga studio culture here in the States and what they are doing to try to change the culture
the agreements in place at The Connective so they can be part of deeply necessary change on the issues of racism and cultural appropriation in the yoga world
how Elizabeth and Shamina suggest yoga teachers who are interested in forming their own co-op get started!

Learn more about The Connective:

On their website here
Follow The Connective on Instagram here

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You don’t need me to tell you that The Year of Our Lord 2020 was (and this is the official designation, I’m pretty sure) A Hot Steaming Pile of Garbage. So much of what made last year difficult is unchanged at the moment and so I wanted to record an episode that is a little different from what we usually do here at The Mentor Sessions.

Most of the episodes on this show are interviews with visionaries, experts and thought leaders in the yoga education space. Sometimes I hop on the mic solo to share my thoughts about online yoga or teaching without demonstrating. Even more rarely I share an intimate view of my own life and teaching and one of the most downloaded episodes to date is Episode 56: Avoiding Burnout: Self Care, Boundaries + Daily Routines, recorded in August of 2019.

In the spirit of offering myself (and you) tender and compassionate care, today I’m going to share the twelve basic, surface-level routines I incorporated last year that really saved me.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why the way self-care is talked about in the wellness world is problematic
how learning about other people’s self care routines is helpful for me, even when they aren’t habits I would ever incorporate myself
the daily practices that help me make transitions (since I never go anywhere anymore!)
my favorite podcasts to listen to on my daily walks
the technology self-care habits that took zero extra time, but did wonders for my mental health
time management strategies that helped me continue to get quite a lot accomplished without working nights or weekends
what I recommend to yoga teachers to make new offerings successful without too much stress

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The differences between the way yoga is taught and practiced in India and the West are significant, and important for western yoga teachers to be aware of! Lucky for us, today on the podcast we have my friend Arundhati Baitmangalkar to break it down for us!

Arundhati (she/her) is an Indian immigrant yoga teacher, studio business owner, podcaster and Bollywood choreographer. Now living in Seattle, Arundhati has been teaching for 14 years and owns 2 studios businesses. She was named as one of the top 20 POC yoga teachers to watch out for by Yogawalla in 2020 and she focuses on merging the eastern and western worlds of yoga authentically through her teacher trainings, her weekly ‘Let’s Talk Yoga’ podcast and other offerings. Her mission is to empower other yoga teachers like her to not only live their yoga but also thrive by building a successful career around it.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the biggest differences between the way yoga is taught in India and in the West
why western yoga teachers should reconsider referring to themselves as yogis
something very important to understand about cultural appropriation from a yoga teacher who grew up in India
a candid conversation about the use of Namaste to open and close yoga classes
valuable ideas for yoga teachers leading trainings

Learn More From Arundhati:

On her website
On her podcast
On Instagram

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The human body is a beautiful and complex system, and people who teach movement always have more to learn! When the scientific concepts of motor control, proprioception and the science of learning itself are integrated into the way we teach movement, they can have significant impacts on mental health, chronic pain and the processing of trauma.

Learning about these topics can be overwhelming though, so we are lucky to have Jenn Pilotti with us because she is an expert in an evidence-based approach to mindful movement. Jenn has been teaching movement to people of all ages and abilities since 2003. She is passionate about helping people feel comfortable, strong, mobile and capable in their bodies using concepts rooted in science and she has a special interest in the effect of movement on mental health: specifically on anxiety, chronic pain and trauma. She implements techniques from a variety of disciplines, including yoga, strength and conditioning, Feldenkrais, dance, gymnastics and Natural Movement.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset and how a fixed mindset might show up in our yoga teaching
all about body maps and how they might impact our student’s movement habits
the difference between proprioception and kinesthetic awareness and what yoga teachers can do to increase both in our students
a deep dive into motor learning and the three phases that take place as a new movement or skill is practiced
a conversation about the power of language and how to incorporate more inquiry-based cueing into our group classes
about some fun ways to use Jenga blocks in our teaching!

Learn More From Jenn:

On Instagram
At her website
Buy her book, BodyMindMovement here
Play with some Jenga blocks in your teaching

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My friend Susanna Barkataki has written a book called Embrace Yoga’s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice and it is excellent. It is inspiring, galvanizing, a rallying cry. In this episode we talk all about what it really means to embrace yoga’s roots and how to integrate our values into our teaching and respect the tradition and culture that yoga comes from.

If you don’t already know Susanna and her work, you must! We did a deep dive into cultural appropriation in this earlier podcast episode: 54: Unpacking Cultural Appropriation with Susanna Barkataki. An Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki is the founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs Ignite Be Well 200/500 Yoga Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why understanding yoga philosophy as an agent for social change matters now more than ever
a deep dive into appropriation including specific examples like:
- the double-sided coin of glamorization and sterilization
- how to stay away from both white centering and tokenization
how to process feelings of discomfort when doing anti-racism work
the ways that yogic teachings can be used to suppress civic engagement and how to avoid that
what happens when yoga philosophy is weaponized
how the studentship of yoga is a wonderful support in the path of anti-racism and decolonization
how we can create conditions for true liberation

Resources Mentioned in the episode:

Buy Susanna’s book
Follow Susanna on Instagram
Susanna's Website
Study with Susanna
Namaste: How to End Your Yoga Class Confidently and Embrace Yoga’s Roots

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If you’re a yoga teacher who’s had to teach while working with an injury, this podcast episode is for you! Or if you see the same injuries over and over again in your students, there are tons of nuggets of wisdom here for you too. Monica Bright is a master yoga teacher in the areas of anatomy, self massage, injuries and recovery strategies. She is also currently teaching full time while recovering from her own shoulder injury. She has a wealth of knowledge to share based on both study and personal experience and I can’t wait for y’all to learn from her!

In this episode you’ll hear:

all about the shoulder injury Monica is working with, including the diagnosis, therapy and interventions she’s had and how her recovery is going
how her current shoulder injury has impacted her teaching
the injuries Monica most commonly sees in her students and how she works with those injuries in class
the injuries that are more prevalent in people who’s only form of exercise is asana and the kinds of modalities she recommends they add into their movement practice
advice for yoga teachers who are currently working with an injury
why it is so important to let our students have their own experience and a framework to do that consistently

Learn More From Monica:

At her website
On Instagram

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I think many of us would agree that a strict, dogmatic focus on alignment in asana doesn’t really serve our students, but the question you may be asking next is... what do I teach then? If I’m not telling students the right or wrong way to move their body, what am I teaching them? How do I communicate information about movement without taking away my students' agency?

My friend Derek Cook is here to take us on a deep dive into anatomy, biomechanics, and pedagogy as we attempt to answer some of these questions!

In this episode you’ll hear:

overarching themes we see in lineages that have an emphasis on alignment
how bodies grow and change, the role trauma plays, and why that matters to yoga teachers
what changes when we look at how a body is ORGANIZED as opposed to how it is aligned
a breakdown of many of the most commonly used aesthetic cues and when they make sense to use and when they don’t
how Derek decides what to teach!

Learn More From Derek:

At his online class library, The Single Point Yoga
On Instagram here and here

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I am so excited to announce that my virtual yoga studio Stillness + Movement is officially open! This episode will take a deep dive into how I ended up creating a virtual yoga studio (it was kind of accidental!), what is so different about the way we teach, and how I recommend teachers listening set up something similar much more cheaply than the custom registration platform I had built!

In this episode you’ll hear:

why I wanted the studio to have an “old school” structure
the distinctive way we are teaching virtual yoga (hint: we do it sitting at a desk! No fancy camera, mic or lighting required)
who our classes are for and what students can expect
how I connected with the teachers who are teaching at the studio and what makes them each so special
what I recommend if you want to host your own virtual yoga classes, but don’t want to build a custom registration platform!

Resources Mentioned:

Stillness + Movement (come take a class!!)
Acuity Scheduling (this is what I most recommend for teachers organizing their own virtual classes)
Vagaro (also good!)
Tara Lemerise Yoga (check her out, she has live virtual classes and a class library she built herself!)
Monica Bright's website (check her out, she has live virtual classes and a class library she built herself!)
Memberpress and Envira Gallery (these are the plugins Tara is using for her class library)

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Creating and connecting with community has been one of my most important practices this year. I have a weekly Sunday night Zoom hang out with my best friends from college. I’m in a quarantine pod with my parents and have dinner with them most weeks. I have regular Slack and text chats with the Stillness + Movement teaching team. Checking in, venting, processing, uplifting, fantasizing and being together keeps me awake, grounded and grateful.

The Where Do We Go From Here? series here on The Mentor Sessions has been such a great excuse to get some of my favorite yoga teacher colleagues on Zoom to process together, and out loud, where you can all listen in!!

This is the fifth and final episode in the series, for now, and I can’t wait for you to hear it! Susanna Barkataki and Amber Karnes are some of my most treasured yoga friends, and just talking to them lifted my spirits. The work they are both doing in the world is vitally important and they do it with such clarity and compassion. They inspire me and I know you’ll feel the same way!

In this episode you’ll hear:

What has been hard for Amber and Susanna this year, and what they have lost
An important conversation about who is missing from our spaces and why
Why online teaching is working well for the three of us and some things listeners can do to make their online teaching feel more sustainable
The ways in which teaching online has made things more accessible
When we each think we might teach in-person again

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

State of Union (Yoga)
My virtual yoga studio, Stillness + Movement
I’m writing letters to help Get Out The Vote with Vote Forward

Learn More From Susanna:

In her new book!
On Instagram
On her website
At her training school, Ignite Be Well
Namaste Master Class

Learn More From Amber:

On her website, Body Positive Yoga
At the Accessible Yoga Training School

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This is the fourth episode in the Where Do We Go From Here? series here on the podcast and in this episode my guests and I acknowledge some of the particular challenges American yoga teachers are facing in the midst of COVID-19 and our country’s semi-shutdown. We talk about the future of brick and mortar yoga studios, the challenges of teaching online, the difference between performing and teaching and creative ways YTT’s are pivoting and the new accessibility that offers.

Learn More From Matthew:

On his website
On Facebook
In his book: Practice and All is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond
On his podcast: Conspirituality Podcast
On his blog

Learn More From Theo:

On her website
On Facebook
At Alt-AC (a home for the work of non-established, independent and early career researchers)
On Crowdcast
Through her research

Other important resources:

And a handy glossary of conspirituality-to-QAnon keywords
And a handy summary of cult dynamics, plus resources

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It is now September of this unprecedented year, and there is so much that is unknown about our future and our world. When I asked my friends Jules Mitchell and Arundhati Baitmangalkar to join me for this conversation about what happens next, particularly in the yoga world, they both cautioned me that they didn’t really have many answers to my questions. “That’s okay!” I said. “It’s not important to give people sure and concrete answers, those don’t really exist in the best of times anyway. It’s just important to have conversations about what comes next out in public!”

So I’m very excited to bring you the third episode in the Where Do We Go From Here? series here on The Mentor Sessions. In this episode you’ll hear Jules, Aru and I get really honest about what these last six months have been like for us, and our best guess about what our work might look like a year from now.

In this episode you’ll hear:

a honest conversation about the joys and challenges of teaching online
how the events of this year might change the yoga world permanently
what our work might look like a year from now
what makes us feel hopeful about the future
some suggestions for yoga teachers and studio owners as we continue to move through this challenging season

Arundhati Baitmangalkar (she/her) is an Indian immigrant yoga teacher, studio business owner, podcaster and Bollywood choreographer. Based in Seattle, Arundhati has been teaching for 14 years, owns 2 studios businesses. Named as one of the top 20 POC yoga teachers to watch out for by Yogawalla in 2020…Arundhati focuses on merging the eastern and western worlds of yoga authentically through her teacher trainings, her weekly ‘Let’s Talk Yoga’ podcast and other offerings. Her mission is to empower other yoga teachers like her to not only live their yoga but also thrive by building successful career around it.

Jules Mitchell (she/her) MS, CMT, RYT is a Las Vegas based yoga teacher, educator and massage therapist. She blends the tradition of yoga with her extensive study in biomechanics to help teachers develop their craft and empower them with education. She regularly contributes to yoga teacher training programs and leads workshops worldwide, balancing the somatic aspects of yoga with the most current exercise science. Bringing the most useful and applicable pieces of that science into the yoga community is her passion, even when it invokes a discerning analysis of tradition. Her book, Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, is now available through Handspring Publishing.

Learn More From Arundhati Baitmangalkar:

On Instagram
On her podcast, Let’s Talk Yoga
On her website

Learn More From Jules Mitchell:

On Instagram
On Twitter
On Facebook
On her website
In her online 300 Hour Teacher Training
In her Livestream Courses

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So much has changed in our world in the last several months, and the questions I keep asking myself are:

If everything is going to change, what matters most?

If we are never going back to the old way of doing things, what do I want to create in the new world?

I’m so excited to host a series here on The Mentor Sessions called, Where Do We Go From Here? where I get to ask leaders in our yoga world these exact questions. The feedback about the first episode has been great. Someone said this,

"I think that the format of the three of you having a convo is really beautiful and effective. There was a casualness which actually made the conversation go deeper I think than if it had just been one persons’ thoughts."

Today my guests are Crystal McCreary and Monica Bright and I can’t wait for you to absorb their wisdom and insight!

Crystal McCreary (she/her/hers) is a Lead Yoga, Mindfulness and Health Educator & Teacher Trainer with 13+ years of experience in instructing yoga and mindfulness to people of all ages. She has a passion for implementing comprehensive wellness programs within schools and organizations to foster compassionate and equitable communities and sustainable work environments. Crystal’s expertise is derived from a lifetime of harnessing powerful embodied, contemplative tools necessary to navigate the unique challenges of living as a Black cis-woman in an inequitable world. She has facilitated trainings for many organizations that aim to support the social and emotional wellbeing of youth and adults including and she currently works full-time in the Health Department at The Dalton School in New York. Crystal is excited to soon release a yoga and mindfulness resource for children with the support of Bala Kids

Monica Bright (she/her/hers) is a master yoga teacher in the areas of anatomy, self massage, injuries and recovery strategies. With over 2000 hours of training in yoga & human movement, she continues to cultivate a deep love for the human body. Monica has co-led multiple Yoga Teacher Trainings, facilitates workshops on movement and injuries prevalent in yoga, leads anatomy trainings and hosts yearly international Yoga Retreats. She created and manages an online yoga membership with access to her video class library, instructional videos, audio classes, and playlists and keeps in touch with students all over the world.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how Monica and Crystal made quick pivots in their teaching practice this spring
the big changes they both think we will see in the yoga world next year
what they think their work might look like a year from now
some changes they both hope we are going to see in the next several years
recommendations for listeners to consider as our world continues to change

Learn More From Crystal:

On her Website
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube

Learn More From Monica:

On her website
On Instagram
On YouTube

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So much has changed in our world in the last several months, and the yoga world has been forced to pull in and take a pause. While many brick and mortar studios are closing and there are other related sad endings, I think we are also in a time ripe for positive and much needed change.

If everything is going to change, what matters most?If we are never going back to the old way of doing things, what do we want to create in the new world?

These are questions I have been asking myself, and I’m so excited to introduce this new series here on The Mentor Sessions called, Where Do We Go From Here? In this series I have paired up teachers and thought leaders in the yoga world so I can ask them these exact questions. My first two guests are Jesal Parikh and Bryn Chrisman.

Jesal Parikh (she/her/hers) is a yoga teacher, movement educator, podcaster, author, and disrupter working on creative solutions for equity in yoga. She is one of the co-hosts of the Yoga is Dead podcast and is the Co-Director of Yoga Teachers of Color. Jesal's mission is to uplift those of us who are feeling isolated and marginalized by the yoga industry.

Bryn Chrisman (she/her/hers) is a student, teacher and educator of yoga & body-mind practices and the founder and operator of Yogamaya Yoga Studio in New York City which opened in 2010. As a teacher, Bryn offers creative movement explorations guiding students to witness wonder, feel empowered and be more aware of themselves. As a studio operator, Bryn always wants to “do better” and provide education where students learn and teachers teach in an uplifting and fun atmosphere.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what has changed for Jesal and Bryn since March of 2020
what predictions we have for the yoga world in the next six months
what is lost when teaching yoga virtually
what is gained when teaching yoga virtually
what is most important about brick and mortar spaces and when we think we’ll be gathering in them again
what changes we are hopeful about in the next several years

Mentioned in this episode:

Yoga Teachers of Color
Yogamaya Yoga Studio
The Connective Studio
The Connective’s Anti-Racism Community Agreement
Yogamaya’s Teacher Training

Learn More From Jesal:

On her website
On Instagram
On her podcast Yoga Is Dead
Yoga Teachers of Color on Instagram

Learn More From Bryn:

At her studio
On Instagram

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I’m really grateful to bring you this interview with Jivana Heyman, the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, because his voice and leadership is SO needed right now. Jivana has specialized in teaching yoga to people with disabilities with an emphasis on community building and social engagement. Out of this work, the Accessible Yoga organization was created to support education, training and advocacy with the mission of shifting the public perception of yoga.

Over the past 25 years, Jivana has led countless yoga teacher training programs around the world, and dedicates his time to supporting yoga teachers who are working to serve communities that are under-represented in traditional yoga spaces.

In this episode we cover:

how Jivana’s early experience as an AIDS activist informs his teaching today
the relationship between Accessible yoga and human rights
what practice looks like when it expands beyond the physical
creative ways to adapt postures so they work for many different bodies
accessible versions of sun salutations
positive changes happening in the yoga world

Learn More From Jivana:

On his website
About his Accessible Yoga Training
On Instagram
About his book: Accessible Yoga: Poses & Practices for Every Body

Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body

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These are intense, unprecedented times. I know so much about your day to day life has changed in the last few weeks. As yoga teachers, our work has become quite challenging. But if you (and your students) have a computer and an internet connection, it is possible to stay connected with your students, continue to teach and continue to make money if your family depends on your yoga teaching income like mine does.

This episode was pulled from a video training I shared, along with many other resources, on my blog. You can find all the videos and other resources I mention there.

In this episode you’ll hear:

all the different ways you can teach online and the ONE way I most recommend
how to support our students in taking the plunge to practicing yoga online and how to onboard a new student
what to keep in mind while you're teaching, and why I recommend using almost exclusively verbal cues
the equipment I recommend using for teaching yoga online
and more!

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NOTE: We recorded this podcast episode months ago, and life was different back then. I decided to release this episode for y’all now anyway for three reasons: 1. I thought it might get your creative juices flowing if you find yourself teaching non-traditional yoga classes...2. Sam is being treated as an employee by some of the companies where she teaches and will still be paid, even if the company is closed, so corporate gigs can provide some good stability.... And 3. I thought you might be interested in listening to some yoga-related content that isn’t about the virus or teaching online, just as a change of pace.

Teaching yoga classes in workplaces can be a great way to bring yoga to a population who otherwise might not have access to it, AND an awesome way to create well-paying teaching opportunities for ourselves.

BUT...these teaching gigs can feel elusive and hard to find! Plus the logistics of managing these contracts can feel tricky even when you do make a potential connection! Teachers ask me for advice about this topic all the time, and honestly, it’s just not my specialty.

Luckily I know an AMAZING yoga teacher who is an expert in finding and teaching corporate yoga clients. Samantha Harrison teaches alignment-based vinyasa and gentle yoga in Greenville, North Carolina, and has been able to fully support her whole family (kids too!) teaching corporate and private yoga clients.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how Samantha landed her first corporate client
all the different Class Format Options and the pros and cons of each
who to contact at a company and what to say in the initial reach out
how to write a proposal and a contract and what to include in those documents
who should pay for the class and how to accept payment

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Today you’re going to hear a live, unedited 1x1 mentoring session!

I love connecting with teachers in 1x1 mentoring sessions because I get to listen deeply to the challenges they are facing and together we troubleshoot solutions to their biggest teaching conundrums. While the questions we ponder might seem small, I have seen, again and again, how holding space for teachers to think critically about their teaching can have a significant impact. Supporting teachers in being in compassionate inquiry about their teaching practice transforms not just their teaching, but their careers and their lives.

I invited Mary Reddinger to join me on the show today because she is super smart and asks great questions! She has been a part of my teacher’s community for a long time, and took The Science of the Private Lesson™ with me last year. She has been teaching since 2018, but she teaches seven group classes and four private clients each week and she speaks about teaching like someone who has been teaching much longer!

In this episode you’ll hear:

what I recommend teachers do to help connect with private students when we don’t see them consistently
the best way to work with students who have particular pose goals in mind, especially if that goal pose doesn’t seem appropriate
If we should communicate changes in our teaching priorities to our students, and if so, how and when
some advice about “finding a niche” in your teaching (and why my recommendation is a little different from most!)

I think this conversation will be super useful for all you teachers who are wondering how you can grow and evolve in your teaching even more skillfully!

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Back pain is complex and many students end up in yoga classes because they heard it would be good for their "bad back" so I’m super excited to share the wisdom of my friend Jesal Parikh with you today.

Jesal has been teaching yoga since 2010, is the co-creator of the Yoga is Dead podcast and serves as a volunteer for World Spine Care Yoga Project. She has a strong background in anatomy, kinesiology and biomechanics for yoga teachers and teaches these topics in several yoga teacher trainings.

In this episode you’ll hear:

a basic overview of the anatomy of the spine and related structures
the most important role a yoga teacher can play in supporting someone working with low back pain
specific guidelines for teaching students with lower back pain
the most skillful and least skillful cues yoga teachers use when it comes to addressing low back pain in group classes
and so much more!

Learn More From Jesal:

On her website
By following her on Instagram
By following World Spine Care Yoga Project on Instagram

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What do you think of when you hear the word “marketing”? Does it make you think of sleazy sales tactics? Or does it remind you of all the things you think you are supposed to be doing, like social media and email lists, and make you feel immediately overwhelmed??

Whichever camp you fall into, this episode has something for you! Y'all have been asking me to talk about marketing for yoga teachers for YEARS, and I have resisted until now. I met someone who I am TOTALLY in agreement with when it comes to marketing and I’m so excited for you guys to learn from her.

Nikki Naab-Levy is a Pilates teacher, licensed massage therapist, and certified functional strength coach with over a decade of experience helping clients build strength and overcome injury. She holds B.S. in Exercise Science and B.S. in Magazine Journalism from Ohio University and when she's not teaching a sneaky hard Pilates class, you can find her using her journalism experience to help yoga and Pilates teachers find creative and effective ways to market their workshops, classes, and online programs.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what marketing actually is and why it is important
the several phases of a yoga teaching career and the different kinds of marketing that is appropriate for each one
the main obstacles yoga teachers run into when they market their offerings
three simple things you can do right now to make your marketing more effective
some specific homework from Nikki and I to help you get started with some marketing basics if you’re not doing anything right now!

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Did you know that arthritis is not one single disease, but a category of over 100 medical conditions that is actually the leading cause of disability in the US?? Before talking to Dr. Steffany Moonaz (and reading her book) I didn’t either!

Dr. Steffany Moonaz founded Yoga for Arthritis after 8 years at Johns Hopkins University where she studied the effects of yoga for people living with arthritis. She now serves as the Director of Clinical and Academic Research at the Maryland University of Integrative Health, which offers the nation's only Masters of Science in Yoga Therapy.

She continues to conduct research on the effects of yoga for chronic pain and joint conditions, and is joining us on The Mentor Sessions today to talk about making yoga practices safe, welcoming, and appropriate for people with arthritis.

In this episode you’ll hear:

some of the biggest myths about arthritis
why the multifaceted practices of yoga are so supportive for people living with arthritis
what is lost when yoga teachers and researchers focus only on asana
the difference between chronic pain and acute pain as it relates to the brain
how chronic pain impacts the anatomy and function of the brain circuitry and what yoga teachers can do about it
how to teach yoga classes that are safe, welcoming and inclusive for people living with arthritis

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The term self care is ubiquitous in our world today and since yoga practice is an important part of self care for some people the topic comes up for us yoga teachers quite often! Also, it can be difficult to practice good self care as a yoga teacher running all over town trying to make ends meet, so I am really excited to introduce you to my friend Gracy today!

Gracy Obuchowicz is a Washington, DC-based group facilitator, retreat leader and self-care coach and a very good, real life friend of mine! She is also a certified Integral Facilitator, a 500-hour registered yoga teacher, and a continuing scholar of Ayurveda.

She has written a book about self-care called selfcarefully that covers a wide range of topics and the relationship they have to self care including self-care & setting boundaries, self-care & soaking grains, self-care & the patriarchy, self-care & the moon, self-care & consumerism and self-care & perfectionism, just to name a few!

In this episode you’ll hear:

how the phrase self care originated and became part of our everyday language
some thoughts about the criticism that self-care is consumerism thinly cloaked as wellness and that self-care individualizes systemic problems
some of Gracy’s foundational self care practices
a self care growth edge for Gracy
and the one self care practice she recommends to the yoga teachers all the time!

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Teaching yoga one-on-one requires a totally different skill set than teaching group classes and these unique skills are left out of most teacher trainings so if you have lots of questions about teaching 1x1 lessons that makes sense. I’ve been a full time yoga teacher since 2005, teaching 15-25 private clients a week for most of the last 14+ years so I’ve got plenty of experience in this realm and am so happy to answer your questions!

In this episode I do a Quickfire Q + A and answer these questions:

Is it rude if I bring a swiffer and clean my student’s practice space?
What should my cancellation policy be? And does it have to work both ways?
Do you have an initial assessment/interview session to get to know your client and their needs?
How do you best serve a client that you feel would benefit from a slower paced practice that always asks for a more challenging, faster pace class with difficult poses?
What is the protocol for raising rates on existing private clients?
What does it mean to meet students where they are?
And more!

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I’m honored to call Cecily Milne a friend. She is thoughtful, smart and an amazing force for change in the yoga world. As the creator of Yoga Detour, she is seen as a yoga “integrator”, helping people bridge the gap between the yoga they already love and the other things, like strength and mobility, they're becoming increasingly curious about. You can find Cecily teaching digitally through Detour Method Online and traveling around the world introducing people to the transformative power of intentional, inquiry-based learning and movement.

To hear more about Cecily and her approach to incorporating “non-yoga” movements into asana classes listen to our previous interview on Episode # 32!

In this episode you’ll hear:

a conversation about yoga teacher education and critical thinking
what might be missing from many yoga teacher training programs and how we can add it back in
the hallmarks of high quality teaching in yoga and movement spaces
the most important skills a yoga teacher needs to develop and the best ways to do that

Learn More From Cecily:

On her website
On Instagram
Read this blog post Cecily wrote about creating high quality teacher training programs

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A large group of yoga teachers at YogaWorks in New York City is working together to create a labor union that would be the first of its kind. (!) This is what they have to say about it,

“We are Yoga and Mindful Fitness Educators. We’re coming together to have a voice in our industry, raise industry standards and create a more equitable and sustainable profession for all. Our goal is for employees, students, and businesses to thrive.”

I’m excited to share their work, stories, hopes, and goals with you all. This is a big deal. In Episode #56 (Avoiding Burnout: Self Care, Boundaries + Daily Routines) one of the first things I said was that as a culture we don’t really value care work and making a living as a yoga teacher (and staying healthy and sane yourself) can be really tough. That episode focused on the daily rhythms of life and what yoga teachers can do to keep their wells full. I’m excited in this episode to talk about the wider world we inhabit and how we can work to create a new culture, one that values the kind of work yoga teachers do.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Markella Los, Toya Williford, and Julie Dohrman and we’ll talk all about:

the inception of the Unionize Yoga campaign
when it became clear that a union was what was needed
how unionizing will help all the teachers at YogaWorks (and beyond)
how unionizing helps the studio and the industry as a whole
some of the biggest union myths out there (and we’ll correct the record)

Learn More From Unionize Yoga:

On Instagram
Check out some of their press
Subscribe to their newsletter for updates

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Dr. Garrett Neill, or Dr. Yogi Gare as he’s known online, is a Chiropractor and a yoga teacher and I LOVE following his work on social media. He shares tons of helpful information for yoga teachers and holds the space for really interesting conversations for our community.

In his work with patients Dr. Garrett employs Chiropractic Manual Therapies, Soft Tissue Techniques and Corrective Exercises that emphasize stability, strength, and efficiency to ensure his patients are capable of moving in the best way possible. He writes and lectures about anatomy, biomechanics, & neuroscience and how they relate to yoga and he teaches weekly yoga classes.

In this episode you’ll hear:

all about the difference between Active Range of Motion and Passive Range of Motion why it is important for yoga teacher to understand the difference between the two
a discussion of the three main barriers to range of motion that show up in our joints
some of the reasons the body might “tighten” and limit our range of motion
what we should we be thinking about in terms of how we teach movement when it comes to creating stability
how mobility and flexibility are different from one another

Learn More From Garrett:

On Instagram
On Facebook
On Shut Up And Yoga (this is the article our conversation was based so, so read it to dive even deeper!)

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The shoulder is a notoriously complex and even injury prone joint, but we don’t have to be afraid of it! Today we have Diana Zotos, our resident Physical Therapist, joining us on The Mentor Sessions to dive into everything yoga teachers need to know about the shoulder!

Diana is the co-founder and co-director of Threes Physiyoga Method™ which is dedicated to teaching yoga teachers applied anatomy and kinesiology, and bridging the gap through advanced teacher training between yoga teachers and the healthcare industry.

In this episode you’ll hear:

an overview of all the bones that make up the shoulder, including a deep dive into the scapula
a description of the many joints that actually make up the whole shoulder complex
the over AND underuse issues that come up in yoga practitioners
some things that yoga teachers can do in class to encourage healthy and full use of the shoulders
a quickfire Q+A about rotator cuffs, thoracic outlet syndrome, frozen shoulder, sore serratus anterior and overused trapezius muscles

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I absolutely love Kathryn Bruni-Young’s smart approach to movement and well-rounded strength and I’m so excited to have her back on The Mentor Sessions to share her wisdom with us!

Kathryn Bruni-Young is an international teacher, a strength training enthusiast, teacher trainer and the host of the Mindful Strength Podcast. She produces an online studio from her country home in eastern Ontario, and she educates folks on how they can build their strength and add more strengthening to their yoga, pilates and functional movement classes.

You can listen to my first interview with Kathyrn and hear more of an overview of her philosophy on Mindful Strength in Episode #5!

In this episode you’ll hear:

why strength training might be more accessible to many people than body weight exercises like postural yoga
how strength training can be used as a way to build up to body weight movement
how can weight training help yoga teachers avoid injury
easy ways to increase load as strength progresses or decrease load if a regression is needed
what yoga teachers can do at home to incorporate strength training into their routine if they don’t have access to a gym

Learn More From Kathryn:

At her website
At her Mindful Strength Virtual Studio
On her Mindful Strength Podcast
On Instagram

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I hear frequently from yoga teachers who feel burned out and are trying to figure out how to dig themselves out of that hole. I know it can be so tough! We become yoga teachers because we love the practice and are initially so excited to share it with others, but the realities of making a living as a yoga teacher can be very challenging. We find ourselves working constantly without making much money or the practice that once was a private spiritual life raft has become a public performance and sometimes that makes it lose some of it’s special-ness.

In today’s podcast episode we are going to talk all about:

Why yoga teachers get burned out
Why the structure of our society sometimes makes it difficult to take care of ourselves and our families while teaching yoga
What we can do with our teaching schedule to avoid burnout
How to know if we should be hustling for more clients and classes OR NOT
Why having clear boundaries about time and money go a long way in helping us avoid burnout
How to manage Student/Teacher relationships to protect our energy reserves
Two different kinds of Self Care and how to know which one you need more of right now
Why you need a Sustainable and Sustaining Morning Routine and how to create one

After you listen to the episode I’d love to hear how this episode landed for you! Do you have other Self Care practices that help you avoid or heal from burn out? Tell me in the comments below!

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The yoga world is a subculture of our society; it mirrors both the beauty and the problems of the wider culture it inhabits. As a group we tend to spend more time teaching and talking about the things we deem “positive” about ourselves and our world, but in the long run this does everyone a disservice, both us and our yoga students.

If we want our world to be different and better it is up to create that change. And that means we have to talk about the underbelly of the yoga industry. We have to shine a light on the dark, dusty corners and start cleaning up.

For that reason I am SO honored and excited to introduce you to the Yoga Is Dead podcast. My friends Jesal Parikh and Tejal Patel created this podcast as a way to jumpstart critical conversations, elevate oppressed voices and expose the problems felt by anyone who isn’t in the “in” crowd of the yoga industry.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why they decided to call their podcast Yoga is Dead and the reactions they’ve received so far
Why they felt it was necessary for their first episode to cover the racism and cultural appropriation they’ve experienced
All about “Karma Capitalism” and why it is a problem
How power hoarding shows up in the yoga world and what can be done about it
Suggestions for being a good ally
And so much more!

Listen here and please share any thoughts or questions below! Myself, Jesal and Tejal will be happy to answer any questions that come up!

Learn More From Jesal + Tejal:

On the podcast’s website
Resources to learn more about racism, cultural appropriation, privilege and being a good ally
Resources to learn more about Karma Capitalism
Follow them on Instagram
Join the Yoga is Dead Facebook group

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My spiritual practice is one that asks me to wake up to the world as it is.

My spiritual practice asks me to be strong enough to see the truth about our society and understand my place in it. My spiritual practice values equity for all people and has a deep reverence for our inherent interdependence as a species.

My spiritual practice has always understood that I am not free until all people are free.

The evolution of this path led me to anti-racism work. As I began to see how living in a White Supremacist culture has infected everything I understand about myself and our world I was led to the work of dismantling the White Supremacy that is inside me, as the very important first step in dismantling White Supremacy out in the world.

As I continued to walk down this path I ran face first into a wall. As a white woman teaching yoga is there any way to do that without appropriating and stealing from a culture that is not my own?

I don’t have an answer for that question. From my perspective, as a person committed to creating and supporting a better world for all people, it seems important that I get used to the discomfort that comes from living in the questions.

Many of you are sitting with these questions as well, and I appreciate you reaching out to me to ask for support on this path. In my role as a mentor I am committed to holding space for difficult conversations and asking (hopefully) thoughtful questions.

We are so so lucky to have Susanna Barkataki joining us on The Mentor Sessions today to bring her lived experience, wisdom and expertise to these questions.

Susanna Barkataki helps yoga teachers, studios, nonprofits and businesses become leaders in equity, diversity and yogic values so they can embody thriving yoga leadership with integrity and she has worked in teaching and social justice for two decades.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why the yoga world so badly need to hear Susanna’s message of diversity and inclusion
A breakdown of the language often used in conversations like this. We’ll define:
- Decolonization
- Cultural appropriation
- Diversity
- Inclusion
- Dominant Culture
- And accessibility specifically as it relates to yoga spaces
The main difference between honoring yoga and appropriating yoga
A conversation about how to update the movement practice and include learnings from modern movement science while still honoring the original teachings
What members of the dominant culture can do to transform our society

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Ann Swanson is a certified yoga therapist, mind-body science educator, and author of the beautiful new book, Science of Yoga. She is part heart-based healer and part science nerd. With a Master of Science in yoga therapy and roots studying yoga in India and tai chi/qi gong China, Ann uniquely applies cutting-edge research to mind-body practices while maintaining the heart of the traditions. She joins us on the podcast today to talk about the intersection of yoga and science.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what the yoga world has to gain from diving deeper into the study of science
all about the enteric nervous system and how yoga practice might affect it
some of the Yoga Myths that were Ann’s favorite to bust ;-)
how Ann recommends we teach shapes and movement given that most yoga alignment cues are aesthetic
what the research shows about yoga, meditation and chronic pain

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Matthew Remski is a yoga teacher and author. As the survivor of two cults, his work has been pivotal in illuminating the shadows of globalized yoga and Buddhism, and showing that disillusionment and critical inquiry can be gateways to mature spirituality. Matthew has written a new and very important book called Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond and it should be required reading for all yoga teachers. The book explores abuse that took place in Mysore (as well as around the wider yoga world) AND offers us a path forward through the healing that happens in community.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the important difference between intention and impact in the world of oppression and healing
the importance of listening to and uplifting survivors stories
complex ideas about cult dynamics explained in an easy to understand way and how this conversation might impact all of our teaching
why seeing physical opening as a sign of spiritual advancement is a dangerous idea and what can yoga teachers do to dismantle that way of thinking in their own practice and teaching

Learn More From Matthew:

On Facebook
On his website
Buy the book here

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Erin Jade has been working in massage therapy and yoga/movement instruction since 2004. In 2014 she began to pivot away from traditional asana into varietal movement drawing from the influences of Katy Bowman, Erwan Le Corre, Ido Portal, Igor Burdenko, Moshe Feldenkrais, FRC, Laban Bartenieff, contemporary dance and more. The search led her to movement education and rehab through the lens of applied neuroscience when she discovered education systems Z Health and Applied Movement Neurology Academy. Erin has begun to introduce these concepts to yoga and movement teachers and we are so lucky to have her on the podcast today teaching us the basics about applied neuroscience in yoga and movement classes.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why it is important to assess how our nervous system functions and how we might do that
how much of our movement ability is driven by our vision and what should yoga teachers should do with that information
why what we do in class should translate to functional skills applicable to everyday life and what that might look like in an asana class
and much more!

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This is a VERY special podcast episode! To celebrate Episode #50 I decided to turn the microphone around and let someone interview ME. And it’s not just any “someone”. Almost by coincidence two of my very best friends from college, Alece Demeray and Nikki Hay, became yoga teachers many years after I did. We are Yoga Friends now but we still are Regular (Best) Friends first. I knew if I asked them to interview me you folks would get a glimpse at the real, unfiltered version of Francesca!

In this episode you’ll hear:

about the most influential trainings and teachers in my life
my current teaching schedule
dream trainings I would love to take
how I maintain the initial spark of being a student, even though I’ve been a teacher for a long time
the systems I’ve built to make sure I maintain my self care practices
the parts of my teaching I am most proud of
what the next phase of my career might look like
some of my worst qualities (!)
my favorite TV shows, podcasts and apps

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It is common for yoga students to come into class, tell us they have an injury and expect us to be able to modify for them or at least give them ideas as to what they should avoid. If those moments before class make you nervous then today’s podcast episode is for you! Gabby DeLorenze has her Bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training, a Master’s degree in Biomechanics, a certification from NASM as a Certified Exercise Specialist and is also a yoga teacher and today we’re going to talk all about how to offer modifications in a group yoga class.

In this episode you’ll hear us talk about a few of the common injuries that people bring into a yoga class and what teachers might suggest for those students including,

Plantar fasciitis
Pain in knee, both in flexion or weight bearing
Pain in shoulder, especially in overhead movements
Pain in shoulder due to rotator cuff injury
Pain in lower back

Learn More From Gabby:

On her website
On Instagram
On Facebook

Get 20% off her e-book using the code FCPodcast here

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The path of a career yoga teacher can be a circuitous one. I find it so helpful to hear how different teachers navigate that terrain, and today we get to hear from Caitlin Casella, who has been teaching yoga and leading teacher trainings for a decade! Since adding strength training and other functional movement modalities to her repertoire, her practice and priorities have shifted. Now, as she pursues her Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy, Caitlin’s aim is to make movement more accessible to the general population and demystify the science of the human body.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why Caitlin stopped referring to the movement practice that she teaches as Yoga and what sparked that shift.
The emotional process Caitlin navigated as she made this change in her teaching.
The yoga poses that Caitlin finds irrelevant, and how she suggests shifting them to make them more useful.
Some of the roadblocks we see other teachers run into as they try to make their teaching safer or more thoughtful when it comes to optimal musculoskeletal function... and...
The advice we can offer them from our experience!

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Today I am THRILLED to introduce you to yoga teacher, writer, mama and studio owner, Octavia Raheem. This episode stands out as an all time favorite; the deep wisdom and beautiful words that Octavia shared felt like a salve for a wound I’d hardly even noticed was there.

This path of teaching yoga asks us to constantly look at ourselves in deeper and more curious ways, and to process that intense work with a fellow sister on the path offered a joyful relief. Listen in and enjoy our conversation!

Octavia Raheem leads a yoga and meditation teacher training called Be Still, Then Move at her home studio, Sacred Chill {West} in Atlanta, GA and offers ongoing continuing education and mentorship to yoga teachers.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Octavia’s advice for new teachers just starting on their path
A conversation about what it means to “hold space”
How Octavia recommends teachers deepen their ability to hold space for their students
How to create community with your fellow yoga teachers
What happens when yoga teachers are in purposeful, empowering inquiry together
And more!

Learn More From Octavia and Resources mentioned on the episode:

Octavia on Insta
Octavia’s Website
Sacred Chill {West} Octavia’s Yoga studio
Tracee Stanley
Dr. Gail Parker

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More and more yoga teachers are incorporating resistance bands into their teaching because they can be a wonderful complement to the movements found in a traditional asana practice! We are super lucky to have TWO amazing teachers who are EXPERTS at this joining us on the podcast today for a roundtable discussion on incorporating resistance bands into asana classes.

Giulia Pline is a Threes Physiyoga Method teacher and she combines corrective exercise, functional mobility work, and knowledge from the physical therapy world with yoga. Giulia has developed a series of resistance band and yoga workshops that integrate resistance and mobility work for greater proprioception, strength, awareness, and spaciousness in the yoga practice.

Laurel Beversdorf is the creator of Yoga with Resistance Bands Classes and Trainings and Body of Knowledge™ Anatomy and Biomechanics workshops. A Yoga Tune Up® trainer and senior teacher and teacher trainer for YogaWorks, Laurel is an interdisciplinary movement educator specializing in anatomy, biomechanics and yoga teaching pedagogy.

In this episode you’ll hear:

why Giulia and Laurel started incorporating resistance bands into their movement practice in the first place
some examples of the ways YOU might like to bring resistance bands into asana classes
the most interesting benefit resistance bands can offer a yoga practitioner
the most challenging part of incorporating resistance band work into your asana classes
the kinds of band brands that Laurel and Giulia love!

Learn More From Giulia:

Giulia's Website
Threes Physiyoga Method
Giulia on Instagram

Learn More From Laurel:

Laurel’s Yoga with Resistance Bands online classes
upcoming events
Yoga Tune Up®️ and Roll Model®️

Giulia and Laurel’s favorite Brands of Bands!:

Theraband
Spri
Therapists Choice (latex free)
Synergee
Perform Better

Perform Better Mini Band Resistance Loop - Exercise Bands

Synergee Exercise Fitness Resistance Band Mini Loop Bands That Perform Better When Working Out at Home or The Gym

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Have you been hearing yoga teacher friends talk about PAILs and RAILs and CARs and 90/90 and you’re feeling a little left out because you have no idea what they’re talking about? No worries... we’re going to fix that today! Clayton Weakly is a friend of mine and while he started his teaching career as a Yoga Tune Up teacher he now works as a Functional Range Conditioning movement coach. We’ve got him on the podcast sharing tons of great ideas for incorporating FRC into yoga classes!

In this episode you’ll hear:

what Functional Range Conditioning, or FRC®, is and how it is different from other mobility systems
an explanation of the basic principles of FRC like:
- CARs-- Controlled Articular Rotations
- PAILs -- progressive angular isometric loading
- RAILs -- regressive angular isometric loading
how FRC is different from PNF Stretching
why mobility training, body control and joint strength are ideas yoga teachers should be thinking about
some simple ways that yoga teachers could start to incorporate these principles into their teaching

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Tax time is coming up here in the States and I know how stressful the process of filing and paying our taxes can be for yoga teachers! Did you know that every year yoga teachers around the U.S. overpay in taxes due to a lack of knowledge around beneficial tax deductions they can take as independent contractors? To helps us all understand everything we need to know to prepare and file our taxes we have Michelle Linane joining us on the podcast today.

Michelle is the host of the Love Teaching Yoga Podcast and the creator of the Love Teaching Yoga website, a growing library of online resources to help yoga teachers refine their skills and build their careers. She’s written an e-book called THE YOGA TEACHERS’ GUIDEBOOK TO INCOME TAXES.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the differences between being an independent contractor and employee when it comes to filing our taxes
an explanation of basic tax forms that need to be filled out like 1040, SE, and Schedule C
advice about record keeping and saving to pay our taxes
an explanation of self employment taxes and 1099s
some of the expenses we are able to deduct as yoga teachers

There’s some false and inaccurate tax advice circulating the teaching community, but you can trust this guidebook, THE YOGA TEACHERS’ GUIDEBOOK TO INCOME TAXES. Written by a yoga teacher and based on years of experience, this guidebook combines expert advice from a licensed EA tax professional with proof directly from the IRS. Nowhere else will you find such a comprehensive and reliable source of tax advice specifically for yoga teachers. This is truly a one-of-a-kind resource.

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Many yoga teachers want to have a meditation practice, or feel like they should have a meditation practice but don’t for some reason. Other yoga teachers practice meditation but feel shy or uncertain about how to incorporate meditation into their teaching. We are very lucky to have Cyndi Lee (!) on the podcast today, talking us through everything that is important about practicing and teaching meditation in her Classic Cyndi Way: clear, steady, gentle and warm.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the benefits of a meditation practice and why all yoga teachers should have a meditation practice
how to go about building a home meditation practice
Cyndi’s advice for teachers who want to commit to their meditation practice, but struggle to show up regularly for it
guidelines for sharing meditation in an asana class
advice for teachers who want to incorporate dharma teachings into their yoga classes

You can also check out our previous interview to get to know more about Cyndi and her incredible contribution to the yoga world in Episode #13: Obstacle As Path.

Check out all of Cyndi’s offerings:

Meditation Teacher Trainings (online and in-person)
Very Special Yoga Teacher’s Retreat
Traveling Workshop Schedule
Website
Instagram

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Janie Ganga Fronek is a teacher of the Integrated Amrit Method of Yoga. Janie Ganga began practicing Amrit yoga in 2002 as a weekly student – until shifts in her life led her to Amrit Level I (RYT 200) certification in 2013. She believes in Health at Every Size - the simple premise that the best way to improve health is to honor your body – and offers Size-Affirming yoga workshops and Chair Yoga. Janie Ganga teaches private yoga & weekly group classes in Providence Rhode Island and she loves helping to make the ancient teachings of yoga accessible to ALL.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how a side gig at Whole Foods has helped grow her yoga business
stories of some of the most meaningful transformations Janie has been able to support in her students
how finding a deep trust in herself changed Janie’s teaching more than anything
why she was reluctant to take the online version of The Science of the Private Lesson™, and why she is so happy she did
how to best build community in a small town

Learn More From Janie, and other resources mentioned in the episode:

Her website
Janie Ganga
Santosha Yoga Studio
Swansea Yoga
Amrit Yoga Institute
Curvy Yoga
Let Your Yoga Dance

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Over the next few weeks we’re doing something new here on The Mentor Sessions. I’m going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active teaching practices in different parts of the country, and world! These five teachers also happen to be alumni from my teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™, and you’ll get to hear directly from them what has happened in their teaching and business since our time together. Today you get to meet Karen!

As a driven and overworked business owner, Karen began her yoga practice to help relieve stress and regain strength and flexibility. She eventually sold her language travel agency so she could dedicate her career to inspiring others to prioritize their health, wellbeing and stress relief through yoga. She lives in Luzerne, Switzerland and completed her yoga teacher training in Thailand in 2014. She specializes in teaching private clients and continues to work closely with a private yoga teacher mentor.

In this episode you’ll hear:

an offer that Karen came up with for brand new students that I now give as homework to everyone who takes The Science of the Private Lesson™!
the kind of shift that is necessary when our personal practice isn’t reflected in our teaching
the small shift Karen made in her language that made all the difference for her students
how Karen developed a Deep Dive 8 week program that offers her group class and private students a more in-depth yoga (not just asana) experience

Learn More From Karen and other links mentioned in the episode:

Karen’s Website
Karen’s Facebook page
Karen on Instagram
Samahita Retreat
Practical Anatomy Advanced Training
Pranayama & Your Yoga Practice
Manorama

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Over the next few weeks we’re doing something new here on The Mentor Sessions. I’m going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active and full teaching practices in very different parts of the world! These five teachers also happen to be alumni from my teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™, and you’ll get to hear directly from them what has happened in their teaching and business since our time together. Today you get to meet Samantha!

Samantha Harrison teaches alignment-based vinyasa and gentle yoga in Greenville, North Carolina, where she also is the manager of YogiVibes Studio. She teaches students in a variety of settings including health centers, corporate settings and private and group yoga classes at YogiVibes Studio. Samantha has been practicing yoga since 2008 and teaching full- time since 2014. She received her initial 200-hour training from the Wilmington Yoga Center and completed her 500-hour RYT training with yoga teacher Cyndi Lee.

In this episode you’ll hear:

what is takes to be a successful full time yoga teacher in a small town
a story of how it is possible to be a yoga teacher AND the main breadwinner in the family
how working at Starbucks helped get her yoga teaching career off the ground
some of the funny places Samantha met potential students (like at the grocery store and the bank!)
lots of practical ideas for creating corporate relationships and bringing yoga into offices
best practices for teaching corporate yoga (including how to set up a contract and how to adjust your teaching to be appropriate for an office setting)

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Megan Spears is a yoga teacher based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Megan teaches publicly, privately, and is also a lead teacher for EveryOne Yoga School 200 hour yoga teacher training. Megan has been practicing yoga since 2005 and teaching professionally since 2014. Megan has passionately pursued additional education with many teachers and mentors in areas of Trauma-Informed Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Functional Anatomy and Sequencing, Private Yoga Teaching, and Mediation. She is a candidate for the Bachelor’s degree of Science in Health Education and Promotion with an emphasis on Exercise Science from Oklahoma State University. Her personal practice, experience, and education informs her ability to effectively meet and teach each student based on where they are on their path.

In this episode you’ll hear:

how defining and working within her scope of practice helped her teaching feel MORE expansive, not less
why Megan writes proposals for the studio owners she works with when she wants to change something about her classes
what helped Megan understand how to “read between the lines” with her private clients
how a deep study into self-inquiry was the most surprising and special part of SPL

Learn More From Megan:

Instagram
Facebook

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Over the next few weeks we’re doing something really special here on The Mentor Sessions. I’m going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active and full teaching practices in very different parts of the world! These five teachers also happen to be alumni from my teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™, and you’ll get to hear directly from them what has happened in their teaching and business since our time together. First up is Raquel!

Raquel Scalon is a full-time private yoga teacher in San Francisco. She specializes in delivering therapeutic and goal-oriented private yoga lessons to busy professionals, people healing from injuries, athletes and working mamas. She’s been teaching since 2010 and has an extensive background in therapeutics, functional movement and fascial release. Raquel’s teaching style is straightforward, lighthearted and informative.

A great place to find Raquel online is on her YouTube channel Raquel SF Yoga, which focuses on developing a strong yoga foundation peppered with alignment and practices anyone can follow.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the complete breakdown of Raquel’s teaching schedule
how Raquel defines “floating clients” and how she makes them work in her schedule
why she decided to create a YouTube channel
how Raquel decides and stays focused on and themes for each month, PLUS what she is teaching right now!
why Raquel has taken The Science of the Private lesson twice

Learn More From Raquel:

Website
YouTube channel
Instagram
Yelp Page
Facebook

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We are doing something new today on The Mentor Sessions! I’m reading some of the Most Frequently Asked questions I get about teaching private lessons and offering you my quick and dirty answers. Some of these topics very well may need their own episode, so please reach out and let me know what follow up questions you have.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How to structure a private lesson so that it doesn’t feel the same as a group class.
How to deal with the boundaries of showing up for our clients through our own illness and hard times.
How to set a timeline with privates clients that relates to their goals.
My perspective on asking current clients for referrals and a tiny shift you can make in your relationship with your current students that could help you get more referrals!
What I think about scheduling software, including the only one I recommend.

Resources mentioned on this episode:

A blog about the boundaries of chatting in a private lesson.
Some ideas to help you find your first private client.
The scheduling software I recommend.

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Have you ever had a private client bring their partner or friend to a private lesson and wondered exactly what you should be doing? Have you ever struggled to teach private lessons to a couple who had wildly different physical and emotional needs? In today’s episode we are going to cover all that and more!

In this episode you’ll hear:

how to meet the needs of two individuals who have completely different needs
how to do an intake with two people
what to charge for a 2 person private lesson
how to manage the dynamics of a couple in an appropriate way
how you might break them up if that is best for everyone

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In the conversations I have with colleagues about yoga teacher trainings the focus is almost always centered on the idea that 200 hours is not enough time to produce high quality baseline yoga teachers. I brought this question to my friend and teacher Jules Mitchell to get her opinion and very quickly our conversation veered from the serious but simple question, “How many hours of training should foundational YTTs have?” to the much more complex questions of, “Who gets to have the power to decide what makes a good yoga teacher?” and “If we raise the standards to make ‘better’ yoga teachers what communities get left further behind with less access to yoga than they already have?”

Spoiler alert: We came up with almost no clear answers to these questions, but I think it is important for us to have these conversations publicly and often.

If you don’t already know Jules, she is a San Francisco based yoga teacher, educator and massage therapist. She blends the tradition of yoga with her extensive study in biomechanics to help teachers develop their craft and empower them with education. She regularly contributes to yoga teacher training programs and leads workshops worldwide, balancing the somatic aspects of yoga with the most current exercise science.

Check out our previous interview to get to know more about Jules and the way she incorporates her knowledge of biomechanics into her teaching in Episode #9, right here!

In this episode you’ll hear:

What Jules thinks is working well in the yoga teacher training culture.
A conversation about the current standards yoga trainings follow and how they are (or are not) are serving teachers and their students well.
Some thoughts about Yoga Alliance and whether or not yoga might be served by having an actual regulating body.
Jules and I go down the rabbit hole of “Who gets to decide what ‘good’ yoga teaching looks like...and is that something we think should be defined at all??”

Learn More From Jules:

On her website
On Instagram
On Twitter
On Facebook
On YouTube

Also! Yoga Detour Online Training is now open...

It’s been a long time coming but my friends over at Yoga Detour are finally releasing their online course which is only open for registration until November 2! Detour Method Online bridges the gap between the yoga you know and love with all the other stuff you know the body needs in addition to yoga like strength work, mobility training and overall feel good movement. It includes live calls with Detour founder Cecily Milne (you can check out her interview on The Mentor Sessions right here if you don’t already know her!) plus a bunch of amazing bonuses like audio classes and downloadable resources. You can find out more about the course by checking out their website here and use the code “mentor” at checkout to get $50 off your registration!

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Trina Altman is the creator of Yoga Deconstructed® and Pilates Deconstructed®, which take an interdisciplinary approach to foster an embodied understanding of yoga and Pilates and their relationship to modern movement science. Her book, Yoga Deconstructed®: Transitioning From Rehabilitation Back Into The Yoga Studio is slated to be published by Handspring Publishing in December 2019. Check out our previous interview to get to know more about Trina and her Yoga Deconstructed approach in Episode #3.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why it can be helpful to add more stability, strength and motor control into our asana classes.
The difference between local stabiliser muscles, global stabiliser muscles and global mobilizing muscles.
Some of Trina’s favorite props to bring into a yoga class in a non-traditional way.
Some cues that help students to support themselves in the poses rather than sinking in their joints.

Here’s some examples of exercises for the local stabilizers:

Scapula circles
Pelvic Sobriety Test

Here’s some examples of exercises for the global stabilizers:

Crawling

Here’s some examples of exercises for the global mobilizers:

Open Chain Bird of Paradise
Hand Jumps

Here's the link for the Adductor Slides video and here's the link for Trina’s Pilates Style magazine article with 8 blanket slide exercises.

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Dianne Bondy is a celebrated yoga teacher, social justice activist and leading voice of the Yoga For All movement. Her inclusive view of yoga asana and philosophy inspires and empowers thousands of followers around the world – regardless of their shape, size, ethnicity, or level of ability and we are so lucky to have her offering her wisdom and inspiration on The Mentor Sessions podcast today!

In this episode you’ll hear:

How to make yoga spaces that are supportive of marginalized populations that have been traditionally left out of the modern western yoga world.
What changes we hope come to the yoga world over the next several years.
Some of Dianne’s favorite ways to create inclusive and innovative warm-ups.
How to teach hands free vinyasa flows.
What we teachers can do to help students to trust their experience and take full agency over their bodies all the time, but especially in their yoga practice.
About Dianne’s upcoming book, Yoga is For Everyone: 50 Poses for Every Type of Body, including why this book needed to be written and what she hopes it brings to the yoga world.

Learn More From Dianne:

Find her on Facebook and Instagram.

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It is becoming increasingly common for yoga teachers to bring movements and practices from outside the traditional yoga practice into their teaching. Are you one of these teachers? Do you want to be, but feel unsure about the most skillful way to bring non-yoga movements into the practices you teach?

At the forefront of this cultural shift we find Cecily Milne of Yoga Detour and I am so excited to have her on the podcast today sharing her wisdom with us.

An avid Ashtanga practitioner from 2003-2013, Cecily practiced under the guidance of senior teachers before becoming injured. This then led her to train with multiple movement enthusiasts including the Ido Portal team, Agatsu Inc and Dr. Andreo Spina, receiving her certification as both a Functional Range Conditioning Movement Specialist (FRCms) and a Functional Range Assessment practitioner.

Cecily is known for seamlessly integrating the knowledge gained from her strength and movement coaches into a yoga practice that is informed, accessible and above all feels good! She works as yoga “integrator”, leading her signature Move Well classes at Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto and traveling around the world introducing people to the Detour method.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why Cecily thinks it is important to integrate movements from outside of the traditional asana practices into yoga classes.
Some examples of the kinds of non-yoga movements she likes to integrate into asana classes.
A discussion about why many teachers have some trepidation about doing this and some supportive suggestions for them.
A discussion about whether or not it makes sense to keep calling our classes “yoga” when we start to bring in non-yoga movements.
And so much more!

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Have you ever had a pregnant yoga student walk into your group yoga class and immediately think, “Oh crap. I don’t know how to modify the practice for her or keep her safe without changing my whole plan!” ?

Today’s podcast episode with prenatal yoga expert (and my old friend!) Deb Flashenberg will cover everything you need to know on this subject! Deb is the founder and director of the Prenatal Yoga Center in NYC and host of the podcast, Yoga | Birth | Babies. She is also a certified prenatal yoga teacher, labor support doula, childbirth educator, and mother of two. Deb is passionate about establishing safe, effective, and empowering yoga classes for pregnancy and beyond and she is full of wisdom for all yoga teachers.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Some of the most important things teachers can keep in mind when trying to accommodate a pregnant student in an open level asana class.
What can happen when a pregnant student doesn't modify her practice and how might it affect her birth.
How we feel about the saying- "if you did it before you were pregnant you can continue to do it pregnant".

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Crystal McCreary has a true teacher’s heart and if you aren’t already familiar with her work I am so excited to introduce you to her on today’s episode! Crystal has taught yoga and mindfulness since 2007. She is committed to creating and holding safe spaces for people to connect, heal, learn, and build resilience in a world that often takes relentless hold of our bodies, minds, and hearts.

Crystal leads 100-hour kids yoga and mindfulness teacher trainings for Little Flower Yoga and Bent On Learning, and facilitates trauma-informed yoga for court-involved youth in juvenile detention centers with Lineage Project. Crystal implements yoga programs in New York City Schools, youth development organizations, and in corporations committed to cultivating sustainable and compassionate work environments.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How Crystral came to her teaching path a bit reluctantly.
About the work Crystal has done with with teachers and professionals who support communities who suffer from trauma.
Some examples of things yoga teachers might do that either create obstacles or foster a loving connection with diverse student populations.
Us talk about the major barriers to people of color (or differently abled or LGBTQ or, or) becoming yoga teachers and opening yoga studios.

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Have you ever taken (or taught!) a yoga class that was simple in sequencing but deeply powerful in its effect on you? Maybe you love teaching and practicing yoga in a simple way but you feel like you are the only one? Do you think that all your students want fancier, faster and more exciting asana classes?

Whether this describes you or not, I am so honored to introduce you to my old NYC buddy Sarah Capua.

Sarah is a yoga therapist and meditation teacher, a student of Buddhism and classical yogic practice, and a caregiver. The heart of her practice is rooted in the tradition of T Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar, who emphasized individualized practice and believed that yoga should be adapted to foster self inquiry and personal transformation. She also studied meditation and Buddhist teachings with Michael Stone, as well as contemplative caregiving at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, where she trained as an end-of-life doula. She lives in Beacon, NY and is currently in post-graduate training in chaplaincy under the supervision of Zen Buddhist Reverend Trudi Hirsch.

In this episode you’ll hear:

What it means to embody our practice in our lives.
How we can let our practice and our values guide our decisions in how we structure our classes.
Specific examples of the ways we can use our personal spiritual practice to guide what we teach.
The deep power in simple teaching and how to offer simple classes confidently.

Learn More From Sarah:

Check out her website here.

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Do you have hip pain? Today’s episode is all about the hip joint and hip injuries that are common in yoga practitioners. Many of you may already know this story, but I tore my hip labrum when I was 23 years old and I spent the first two years of my yoga teaching career walking with a cane and was in incredible pain.

I had a slow, but amazing recovery from that injury, and now almost 12 years later I am stronger, healthier and more pain free than I have ever been in my life! If you are in pain, or have students who are struggling with hip problems, this episode is for you!

I invited my friend Ariele Foster to join me in this conversation because in addition to being a doctor of physical therapy, yoga teacher since 2001 and an anatomy teacher for yoga teacher trainings, she also had a hip injury.

In this episode you’ll hear:

The stories about our own hip injuries and subsequent healing. (There is hope if you have a hip injury!)
The anatomy and structure of the hip joint.
Specific poses and movements that increases the chances of a hip labral tears.
Some warning signs and sensations that a person might not recognize as a problem until after damage it done.
The relationship between “hip opening” poses, hypermobility of the hips and injuries.

Learn More From Ariele:

Check out our previous interview on The Mentor Sessions to get to know more about Ariele and her Anatomy Informed Yoga approach in Episode 7.
A sequence for cranky hips.
A sequence for posterior chain awakening.
Facebook Group for Hypermobility and Yoga.
Ariele’s website’s here and here.

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Today on the podcast we get to learn from the wisdom of Lara Benusis, a pioneer in translating yoga into hospital environments. She was the first full time yoga instructor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she developed their in-hospital and outpatient wellness offerings. A certified yoga instructor since 1996, Lara is currently an advanced masters student in Applied Physiology at Columbia University and is focused on exploring the efficacy and mechanisms of exercise and yoga on the survivorship of cancer.

On this episode you’ll hear about the research she has been doing on yoga within the cancer community including how are those studies designed, how they implemented and what are they are finding out.

You also hear:

Some of the most surprising research Lara has come across so far.
Some things to keep in mind when teaching yoga in a clinical setting.
How yoga teachers can take care of themselves to ensure a long career.

Listen in to hear all about Lara is bringing yoga into a clinical, medical setting!

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I heard my friend Anna say, “telling students to love their body is not enough....” and I responded with, “please be a guest on the podcast so we can talk about this!” I wanted to ask her, “How can yoga teachers better support their students to be in a loving relationship with their body?”

Anna Guest-Jelley is the founder of Curvy Yoga, an online yoga studio and teacher training center that helps people of all sizes find true acceptance and freedom, both on and off the mat. Anna is the author of Curvy Yoga: Love Yourself & Your Body a Little More Each Day and the co-editor of Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories About Beauty, Bravery & Loving Your Body.

In today’s podcast episode Anna and I talk about:

What Real Body Love looks like for her right now.
Anna’s favorite practical ways to take care of herself.
How Anna’s yoga practice changed her relationship with her body.
How teaching yoga changed her relationship with her body in a different way.
The kind of language that’s important to keep in mind to make sure group yoga classes are inclusive for people in all bodies.

Find out more about Anna at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram!

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If you don’t already know my good friend Diana Zotos I am so excited for you to meet her! Diana is a physical therapist and yoga teacher. In 2006 Diana began her 7 year career at Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC, spending those years treating anyone from inpatient joint replacement patients to professional marathon runners. She completed her yoga teacher training at OM Yoga in 2010.

Diana is also co-founder and co-director of Threes Physiyoga Method™ (TPM). TPM is dedicated to teaching yoga teachers applied anatomy and kinesiology, and bridging the gap through advanced teacher training between yoga teachers and the healthcare industry. TPM also educates physical therapists and other medical professionals on the benefits and integration of yoga practices into traditional western medicine.

In today’s episode we decided to focus on the basics of women’s pelvic floor health and how that relates to yoga practice and yoga teaching. You’ll hear:

How the alignment of the feet and legs affect the pelvic floor.
What teachers and students can do if they think they might have issues with their pelvic floor musculature.
When, how and why hip pain or lower back pain originate with issues in the pelvic floor.
Some things pregnant women and postpartum mamas can do to keep their pelvic floor healthy.
And so much more!

Learn more about Diana and Threes Physiyoga at their website, check out all their upcoming workshops, events, and advanced teacher training on their events page and follow them on social media on facebook and instagram.

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I’ve got another solo episode for you today and we are going to talk about what I call, The Myth of the Ideal Private Yoga Client...

I’ll tell you all about this phenomenon, where it came from, the good intentions of the online marketing coaches who teach it, and the negative affect I see it having on the yoga world.

Part of the reason people who teach online marketing are so heavily invested in this idea is because the better you know who you’re selling to, the more specific your marketing can be-- so the thinking goes.

While this holds some truth, i think the usefulness of this thinking is quite limited and in this episode I’ll tell you why. I’ll also give you some really good news...you don’t have to wait for Perfect for You Clients to finally show up. I’ll show you how you can love the clients you already have. :)

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
My training, The Science of the Private Lesson™ Online

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It’s just you and I again on the podcast today! We are going to dive deeper into a topic I have mentioned several times on this podcast: The Support/Challenge Matrix of Private Yoga Lessons.

I hear all the time from teachers who are overwhelmed with all the possibility that comes with teaching private yoga. There are so many things to think about! I want to help you drop into your intuition in a grounded way so I created a framework to use as you assess your students and figure out what they need.

These are not diagnostics tools, because as yoga teachers it is outside of our scope of practice to diagnose or treat our students. That said, it most certainly is within the scope of our practice to teach a individualized practice that helps our students come into balance and that is what I’ll teach you how to do in today’s episode.

In today’s episode we will talk about the four elements that might be included in every private yoga lesson:

physical support
physical challenge
emotional support
and emotional challenge

I’ll share:

why I think these elements are all important to address
how to assess what is going on with your student on physical and emotional levels
specific examples of all these elements, and ideas for ways to bring them into the practice
why I take a hard stance against a lot of chatting in a private yoga lesson
what to do if a practice is challenging for physical AND emotional reasons
what is possible for both you and your students when you are able to support meaningful change in their lives

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I am so excited about today’s topic! We are going to talk about confidence and what you can do to become a more confident yoga teacher. I wanted to talk about this because several months ago I asked my community what they were struggling with and overwhelmingly people answered that lacking confidence was their biggest struggle as a teacher.

And of course, that’s not a yoga teacher thing. That’s a human thing. It makes sense to me, also, that those feelings are amplified when we take on a role as a teacher. As a yoga teacher you stand at the front of a room full of people who are looking to you for guidance with their yoga practice and it is SO MUCH to take on, right??

In today’s episode are going to unpack why we all struggle with a lack of confidence AND I’ve got some specific advice to share including seven different ways to be a more confident yoga teacher!

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On today’s newest podcast episode it is just you and I! I am excited to connect with you 1x1 and answer a question I get asked all the time!

“What is the best way to teach someone who is skeptical or unsure about yoga?”

I get asked this question frequently because this is something I have done quite a bit of! In my private practice in New York City I ended up with a schedule full of clients who were interested in the benefits they felt were possible with a yoga practice, but felt uncomfortable going to a yoga studio.

There are many different reasons that people could feel uncomfortable going to a yoga studio. The students I worked with most often were people who thought they would find weird new age stuff or a conflicting religious practice in a yoga studio, so that kept them away from yoga until they met with me for private yoga lessons.

In brief: We need to be able to Meet Our Students Where They Are and offer them practices that are immediately useful in ways that are totally accessible to them. Today’s episode will offer some ideas about how to integrate these ideas into your teaching right away. I’ll give you an example, step by step, of what a session with a Yoga Skeptic might look like. You’ll also hear a detailed story about a Yoga Skeptic I taught who’s practice changed dramatically in the years I taught him!

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Today you’re going to hear a live, unedited 1x1 mentoring session! I have been planning to do an episode like this since I started producing this show and this is the first opportunity I ‘ve had to finally record one!

I love connecting with teachers in 1x1 mentor sessions because I get to listen deeply and troubleshoot solutions to their biggest challenges. I wanted to record a 1x1 mentoring session (like the ones I have with people in my online training and in my Virtual Mentoring Program) with someone that I hadn’t worked with previously. I’m so excited to invite onto the show today Sarah Kowalski, a yoga teacher from Philadelphia.

Sarah has been teaching since 2014 and each week she teaches five group classes and two private clients. Sarah loves teaching private lessons because she is able to tailor the practice directly to her students needs. She’s starting to wonder how she could better help the students in her group classes in a more specific way without throwing out her carefully crafted plan every week. In today’s session we talked:

about how to teach better open level group classes
how to know what to teach and when to teach it
how to create a framework for your classes when the studio you teach at doesn’t specify the curriculum that should be taught
how to really teach within the context of a vinyasa flow class

I think this conversation will be sooo useful for all you teachers who teach open level group classes and are wondering how you could do that more skillfully.

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This is a favorite, and quite personal episode for me. Today we are talking about integrating spiritual teachings into asana classes. This is a personal favorite because this is one of the parts of my teaching that has changed most dramatically since I began teaching in 2005.

When I was a new teacher most of my yoga practice focused on movement and asana, and I didn’t have much experience in a mature spiritual practice. As a new teacher at OM Yoga Center I began to study buddhism and while the teachings resonated very deeply with me, I wasn’t ready to share them from the teacher’s seat for a long time. I think this is common!

I know that many new teachers are moved and inspired by the spiritual teachings of yoga but are unsure how to interweave those teachings in a movement based practice. Today we’ll talk about my journey on my spiritual path, and when and how I integrate my secular buddhist studies into my asana classes. I’ll share some guides to help you find and settle into a spiritual practice that will come through in your asana teaching in a natural and authentic way.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

My teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™
How To Choose a Guru with JP Sears
Serena’s studio in Chicago, Room to Breathe
My teacher, Ethan Nichtern
My teacher, Sara Avant Stover
My teacher, Tara Brach

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I have such a treat for you!! On today’s episode I have the honor of interviewing my main teacher from my very first teacher training back in 2005, Jennifer Brilliant! Since 1989 Jennifer has taught all levels of group and private yoga classes and lead countless special workshops. Jennifer was the Director of OM Yoga Center’s Teacher Training programs and under her eye, dozens of graduates became OM-certified yoga teachers, including me! She has recently completed her IAYT certification, and she is here to share her vast wisdom with us all.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How Jennifer differentiates between a private yoga teacher and a yoga therapist.
Examples and stories from the wide range of different conditions Jennifer has worked with and the kinds of evolution she has seen in those students.
What she recommends for teachers if you have a student that has a challenging issue to work with.
How she keeps herself inspired in her teaching, even after all these years.

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Today you get to meet my friend Ariana Rabinovitch. She is the host of he Yoga & Beyond Podcast, co-authored the Exposing Yoga Myths book series and founded the Yoga Research and Beyond membership site. This membership site offers yoga teachers easy access to published research on yoga and movement. They explain the research in plain English and show us how to translate that research into our teaching practice. It’s an amazing resource for teachers and I can’t wait for you to hear all about it!

In today’s episode you’ll hear:

Why Ariana feels passionate about yoga and movement based research.
All about the research studies and the super smart team of people translating the studies into actionable teaching ideas.
Why should research matter to yoga teachers?
How diving into the research has changed Ariana’s teaching.
The most surprising research they have some across so far!

Check out The Yoga Research and Beyond membership site right here!

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I am so excited to share this powerful conversation with you. While many yoga studios proclaim that “Everyone is Welcome!” in their classes, in today’s episode we ask, “ Are we actually teaching our classes in a way that supports that message?”. My friend Amber Karnes is whip smart, a powerful advocate and a seasoned yoga teacher. We didn’t hold back on any difficult or taboo topics in this episode on Creating Truly Inclusive Yoga Spaces.

In this episode:

The difference between saying "everyone is welcome" and actually creating an accommodating space.
How to modify foundational poses to make them more accessible.
Examples of specific language Amber recommends teachers avoid in their group classes and what you can say instead.
What to expect when teaching larger bodies.
The best ways to level and name classes and the problem we see with All Levels classes.
How we can disrupt the cycle of a non-diverse pool teachers.
How I realized I could be contributing more to the diverse yoga culture I want to support.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Amber’s Website
Pose breakdowns and modifications
Yoga For All training For Teachers
Body Positive Clubhouse - yoga & self-acceptance membership site
Body Positive Rebellion - free 7-day crash course in kicking diet culture to the curb and embracing your body
Amber on Facebook
Amber on Instagram
Amber on YouTube
Amber on Yoga International

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This is a very special, unusual episode! While most of the episodes you’ll find here at The Mentor Sessions are either interviews with friends and teachers of mine, or short teachings that I offer myself, today we’re doing something different. I’m going to take you on a trip with me for an intimate, inside view of my life and teaching for an entire week!

It certainly feels vulnerable to share myself in this way, but I’ve learned so much from the mentors that I’ve been able to observe up close, both in their teaching and personal lives, and I want to pay that kind of offering forward.

So while you can’t be in the room with me while I teach {although this limited time video series is pretty darn close} in this episode I’ll give you all the intimate details of my teaching life, and you’ll hear...

all about my daily habits and routines that help me keep up my energy AND stay grounded with a busy teaching schedule
what I’m excited to teach in my group classes right now
the parts of my life and schedule I struggle with the most
all about how I met each of my private clients and a bit about what I do with each of them

Come on over to my Facebook group, let me know how this episode landed with you and what questions it brings up!

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Today I am going to answer one of the questions other teachers ask me most frequently: How do you encourage your students to commit to a home yoga practice?

I have tried almost every option out there, and I’ve landed on a way that I think works best. It must be working because every single one of my private clients has a home yoga practice they do most days AND (huge bonus) it requires ZERO extra work on my part!

In today’s episode my co-host Serena and I will share some success stories and talk about all the ways we like support and inspire a student’s home practice without making it feeling like one more thing on their to do list.

Also in this episode:

why I let the student guide me to the point where I offer support in their home practice
the ways I personally enjoy practicing at home
our best guided relaxation tips
why presenting these practices as soft place to land is what makes the biggest difference

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I am so excited about today’s episode because I get to bring you the wisdom of the founder of my own teaching lineage (OM Yoga) , Cyndi Lee! Cyndi is the first female Western yoga teacher to fully integrate yoga asana and Tibetan Buddhism in her practice and teaching. In 1998, she founded OM Yoga Center in NYC, and that is where I took my first YTT in 2005.

In this interview we talk about what makes a good teacher, how to continue to evolve as teachers and what we can learn from the Buddhist principle of Threefold Logic: working with the ground, the path and the fruition.

Cyndi recently became a formally trained Buddhist Chaplain under the guidance of Roshi Joan Halifax and much of her work there centers around using yoga and meditation as resiliency practices. We talked about what it’s like to find refuge in our bodies, no matter the circumstances, and how we can offer that kind of teaching to our students.

In this episode we also talked about:

how some teaching principles are universal, no matter what you are teaching
Cyndi gives some advice for teachers who want to deepen their teaching skills
what it takes to have confidence in your teaching
having a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset
taking refuge in a body that has a lot of pain

Trainings, Retreats and Online Workshops with Cyndi:

Cyndi’s Website
Very Special Teachers Retreat in New Mexico
Online Restorative Teacher Training
Meditation Teacher Training coming summer 2018

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If you don’t already know her, I am so excited to introduce you to my friend Brea Johnson from Heart + Bones Yoga. Brea has been a yoga teacher for over 15 years and is also a certified Restorative Exercise teacher. She has the wisdom of someone who has been teaching for many many years and a friendliness that makes her teachings super accessible. :)

Brea feels that integrating functional movement is essential for a life long yoga practice for both you and your students and in this episode we’ll give you lots of ways to make your movement practice sustainable for the long term.

The Mentor Sessions: Recent Episodes

Francesca Cervero