6 Tips for New YogaTeachers: Yoga Teaching Tips with Rachel

Transcript

[Music] tips for new teachers new teachers 
tips for you so I got a great question from   our community um what are your tips for new 
teachers who are just starting out wow what   a great question and so excited to answer 
it so in this video we're going to look at   that just some of my top suggestions 
for things to think about if you are   a new teacher just graduated and getting 
on your way in your yoga teaching career the first thing first most important thing 
is practice my new teachers it becomes so   tempting once you become a teacher to teach and 
not practice your practice is the foundation   of your teaching what you learn and do in your 
practice is what you will bring to your students   it's the gold so word to the wise for all of us 
because life gets busy and we get hectic make   your practice a priority that is what is going 
to feed you and also keep you from burning out tip number two go slow let your yoga uh teaching 
career evolve organically now you might have an   idea starting out like you know what I just want 
to teach two classes a week at my local Studio or   I want to teach just a friends and family or five 
classes is my Max that's what I'm Into You might   have a sense of what those boundaries are but if 
you're someone who's thinking I want to quit my   day job I want to change my life I want to move 
to Bali and be the in-house Retreat instructor   and change everything and teach 20 classes a 
week I would say awesome and let's just take   that one step at a time so if you're starting to 
bring your yoga teaching more into your life or   you're looking to transition take your time 
it's easy in in yoga teaching and other kind   of caretaking Industries to burn out right to 
give all of that precious Juju that you have   out there into the world because we're so excited 
and we tend to work for less than what we should   sometimes because we want to give our yoga out 
into the world um and sidebar new teachers you   should probably be working for less money because 
you're new and you got to kind of like get your   experience in there but that shouldn't continue 
forever so just a little sidebar on that so   what I mean to say is take it slow right like 
incorporate start off with a couple of classes   a couple of classes a week something that's 
manageable that fits into your life so you're   not chucking everything else out the window I 
mean hey if that opportunity Rolls by you to   take on 10 classes or 15 classes I mean great by 
all means jump on the bandwagon but you can also   let things happen and see how it feels because 
again we want your yoga teaching to serve your   life not become your life so your practice and 
your teaching should both be things that support   you and if it starts to become a drain rather than 
a support and an inspirational part of your life   then it's it's good to question those things and 
have the flexibility to make adjustments as you go okay number three get your community on get 
a mentor keep learning you guys a 200 hour   is so short I know it's like you just did this 
massive thing it's a massive undertaking it's a   ton of money it's a ton of time and yet it is just 
we're just scratching the surface with a 200 hour   right if you look at yoga the yoga tradition and 
everything that it includes it's like wow it is   ginormous so your next step is to keep learning 
I suggest finding a mentor and you might find   um also a mentorship-like group with a bunch of 
your peers from your yoga teacher training school   that's awesome get together have meetings 
every two weeks and be like okay where are   you working what's it like there what's the 
management like what do you earn oh my gosh   what did you do when that student farted how 
did that go you know you can hash things out   but it's also great to find a mentor Mentor 
there are plenty of yoga teachers out there   in the world who would be delighted either for 
a cost or because they'd like to just do it for   you to give you feedback or to sit down and 
have a coffee with you or to answer a couple   of questions right you want to be respectful of 
their boundaries if you're going to take up a   lot of someone's time then you definitely want 
to offer some sort of compensation or exchange   but there might be people out there also 
willing to volunteer just because they love   it and they want to pay it forward to the next 
generation of teachers so find a mentor somebody   that you want to teach like so choose a mentor 
who is someone that you admire who walks their   talk who cues and teaches in a way that 
you find inspirational and Illuminating   um and just see you know maybe it's just a coffee 
maybe it's a six-month mentorship program I don't   know uh maybe something you pay for maybe it's 
not I don't know but find somebody that you can   go to who's been there before you that you can 
bring your questions to now you can bring your   questions to your gaggle of ytt friends yes and 
you can also ask a mentor it's really wonderful   to be a continual student I'm a continual 
student I have my teachers that I go to um   it never it never ends right okay so find somebody 
who can help you out and support you as you grow the next tip follow your Fascinations okay yoga 
is Broad and deep and big and wide it is a big   river to drink out of right there's so much to 
it so how do we know first of all what we want   our voice to be as a teacher and how we want to 
grow here's a place where I also advise patients   sometimes we get out of our 200 hour or 500 
hour and you think wow what's my voice as a   teacher like I need a brand right I will say 
let that evolve that is a question to ask in   two or three years for now and in fact I think 
this is good advice for everybody follow your   Fascinations there are going to be things about 
the yoga tradition that you're like I want to   know that I want to know why that alignment I want 
to know why that subtle body reference I want to   know what Tantra is follow your Fascinations find 
a teacher a reputable teacher for that subject   and keep digging and there's tons of free stuff 
out there too it's not like you necessarily have   have to pay a lot to invest in your education 
but find someone who is reputable and that you   resonate with or books keep reading keep doing 
your YouTubes keep doing your practice as we   talked about follow your Fascinations and see 
where that leads you because that is one going   to keep you inspired it's going to give you so 
much to talk about when you teach it's going   to enrich your own practice and that is going 
to what Lee that's going to what that is going   to be what leads you to finding your teaching 
voice because your voice is comes from what   resonates like like if we're gonna like ding 
The Tuning Fork what in the tradition Rings   your bell and what do you love to exude and 
when you do that with passion people are going   to love that they love being carried with you 
so follow your Fascinations and keep learning okay this is a this is for 
my perfectionist out there   you're not going to be perfect yoga teacher 
training and yoga teaching is the perfect   opportunity to work on our perfectionism if you 
are a perfectionist this will kick you in the   butt and be an opportunity for spiritual growth 
because I'm going to encourage you one to teach   do not hide after your teacher training get 
out there and teach even if it's teaching   two of your friends 20 minutes a week on Zoom 
teach the farther we move away from our teacher   training the more distant it seems it's really 
important to keep your wheels going immediately   and just teach your friends you're just trying 
to get words out of your mouth and share some   of what you know and love and how this goes with 
perfectionism guys you're gonna have to get out   there and fail and try things and have it not 
go so well and go hmm I could have gone better   and one thing I really suggest that you do as a 
teacher is especially when you're starting off   is to focus on for a class kind of one thing you 
want to work on one skill you want to polish right   you don't want to obsess about it because you need 
to be there with your students but one thing you   might say in this class I'm going to focus on not 
saying um all the time in this practice I'm going   to work on not demonstrating the whole time I want 
to get up and walk around and look at my students   in this practice I'm going to work on giving 
my students verbal assist I'm going to say   something specific to three of my students 
at some point in class right there's a whole   Myriad of things but choose just one thing if you 
try to do everything right or everything well you   will do nothing it becomes like this huge muddy 
campus so when you're skill building and working   on new skills that you will also accumulate 
throughout your years as a yoga teacher   start like choose one thing and then at the end 
of class you can have just a little moment with   yourself where you go hey how did that go how 
did I do self-assessment is key to growth because   honestly folks we don't get a lot of feedback you 
know um the the teachers the studio managers the   owners don't often come to our classes so 
it's really important that we become Adept   at setting our own standards and rising to meet 
them and that said you can probably get by also   not polishing your tools you could probably get 
by for years teaching an okay yoga class but if   you want to become a better teacher then we need 
to polish those tools up right so choose one thing   to focus on work on it in a class and then go how 
did it go and again not to the point of obsession   you don't want to forget about everything 
else you're doing where you're just kind   of highlighting one skill at a time so that you 
can really work on it and move that skill forward finally last bit of advice everybody take the 
pressure off a little bit and enjoy the process   as I've said before your yoga practice and yoga 
teaching should serve your life not be your life   it needs to be something that lights you up gives 
you pleasure gives you an opportunity to connect   with other people in a meaningful and authentic 
way so enjoy the process your yoga practice and   your yoga teaching are like a companion with you 
throughout life where you get to also see how   you're growing through the lens of that teaching 
as you teach you might notice like wow I'm really   I really want to teach to this kind of you know 
philosophical Point you'll start to Dive Into the   Depths and through the process of teaching 
you'll learn so much more about yourself it   can be if you wanted to a companion for your 
whole life and a really really Soulful way   so there you have it guys there are some tips for 
those of you who are starting off after your 200   or 500 hour training I hope they were helpful 
to you more tips if you have ideas please put   them in the comments below you know I love to hear 
from you guys for more tips and all of   that if you have things you'd like to hear me talk 
about please hit me up I'm always looking for new   ideas and I'm very curious to know what you are 
curious about so that's it guys see you on the mat [Music]