Category Archives: For Yoga Teachers

2 Types of skills you need as a yoga teacher

Yoga Business Mentor, Yoga Business Coach, Trauma-informed Yoga

Two Types of skills you need to learn as a yoga teacher

There are two types of skills you need to learn if you work as a yoga teacher/therapist, bodyworker or an embodiment practitioner/coach:

  1. your teaching/trade skills
  2. and your business skills

With both of them there is no shortcut or overnight success – do not believe the hype. Those who become an overnight success often have been mastering their skills for 5, 10, 20 or even more years. They showed up day after day and at some point they reached a tipping point – that place where others recognise the depth of their mastery and skill, and they feel confident with sharing their expertise.

One set of those two types of skills cannot be a substitute for the other. You can be an insightful, compassionate and experienced practitioner but not be good with business stuff and struggling to support yourself and your family from your work.

And the opposite can also be true – you can be great at marketing and promoting your work but not so great at getting results for your students and clients, and having to work twice as hard because your students don’t stay.

Both types of skills require you to first learn the knowledge, then work on your deeper understanding, and then practice, practice and practice. Day after day.

The knowledge and understanding on its own is not enough – you have to work with your students and clients for some time to turn that understanding and knowledge into good practical applications.

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For example – you can read many books and watch many trainings on trauma-informed yoga but unless you work with this approach with your students and clients for some time and learn from each experience – you will not truly understand what this approach is and how powerfully healing it can be. The same goes for practicing and teaching Yoga, Mindfulness or Embodiment.

And when we talk about your business skills – it takes time to master them too. It’s like learning a new language and a new way of perceiving things and then trying it out to work out what works for you.

But the biggest thing about business skills is that it’s an inside job. Strategy, marketing skills and techniques are not enough. Your business decisions and your path need to be aligned with your soul and your wholehearted purpose. And guided by your inner wisdom and intuition. It is an ongoing work with your beliefs about who you are and what you can do.

In a nutshell – you have to create and build your own Embodied Wisdom Path – meaning – you have to carve out and follow your own path. This is the road less travelled. And there is no cookie cutter approach for that.

It requires you to become a person who can show up for yourself, your students/clients and your business – day after day.

It will ask you to trust the process and your own inner guidance, and believe that you can create a business that you love – even beofre you see the results of your hard work.

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So today be kind with yourself and remember it’s all about learning and mastering your skills. Nobody was born with an ability to teach yoga or mindfulness, give a healing massage or build a sustainable and thriving business. We all have to learn those skills – one day at a time.

And I also want to encourage you to reflect which one of those skills you need to develop and nurture more right now.

From my experience of mentoring and coaching many yoga teachers/therapists, bodyworkers and somatic coaches I often witness practitioners spending a lot of time and money to learn more modalities in hope that that will resolve their feast and famine issues, instead of giving enough time to learn how to make those trainings pay for themselves.

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What do you think? What’s your experience? I’d love to know!

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And if you’d like to more support in both of those skills – with training as Trauma-informed Yoga Teacher or building your wholehearted yoga and wellness business – reach out and I’ll be happy to talk with you. Book your free call with me let’s talk.

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yoga teacher training Ramsgate, yoga teacher training Kent, TREY, trauma-informed yoga.

Choose commitment over enthusiasm

Let’s talk about why you need to choose commitment over enthusiasm in your yoga and wellness business and trauma-informed work. If you find that you cannot stay consistent in your yoga business or keep hitting burnout cycles – then this training is for you.

For more FREE support and trainings join the Trauma-informed Yoga and Embodied Resilience for Social Impact Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/traumainformedyogaandembodiedresilience

For more information about 80-Hr Trauma-informed Yoga & Embodied Resilience Teacher Training & Mentoring, and Yoga Business Mentoring go >HERE<

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5 tips for dealing with the current lockdown

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5 tips for dealing with the current lockdown – especially if you’re getting triggered by the current situation

We all know how important it is to connect with your body and it’s wisdom, and how compassion helps us to be kinder to ourselves and others.

But in my experience we often struggle with how to do it in practical terms. This is why even though we know it is good for us but we don’t do it.

This is why somatic practice is everything. Otherwise it’s just a lovely sounding theory.

So here are 5 steps for managing current situation.

They can be life changing – I know because they keep me sane and safe on a daily basis. But don’t take my word for it – try them out for yourself and see how you feel after practicing them.

And remember – it’s a practice.

If you are new to this kind of practices it will feel strange. Be curious about it.

If it becomes too intense – stop and come back to it later.

Over time these practices will become more familiar and a place of inner refuge.

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Slow down and reconnect within your body 

Take time to slow down a little.
Take a pause to notice your body and breath.
Relax your belly and take a few slower breaths into your belly.
Or if this is difficult then move your body – in any way that feels right for you right now.
You can even make some noise out loud as you move.
Sit down or lie down and allow your body to relax into the support underneath you.
Allow the weight of your body to be physically supported feeling the stability of the ground underneath you.
Move your shoulders and neck around allowing yourself to experience all different sensations within your body.
Or roll around on the floor opening and curling your body.
Explore what your body needs right now – what is your body story in this moment?

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Acknowledge your feelings and inner experience with curiosity

Ask yourself – what am I feeling right now?
Scan your torso from your neck to your pelvis and notice any feelings.
Acknowledge all your feelings by saying: ‘something in me is feeling … (angry, sad, worried, anxious, exhausted, etc) – instead of I’m angry, I’m sad.
Notice how feelings often come with sensations in your body. There might be tightness in your stomach – and also fear gripping your stomach. Or choking sensation in your throat and anger being present there.

Be open to what is present within your inner experience without having to change it, fix it or deny it.

Allow those feelings and sensations to be here and give them some space to tell you what is going on from their perspective. Can you listen without doing anything with them? Can you let them be here without jumping into fixing?
Notice what thoughts are present in your mind. What story is your mind telling you? Is it a familiar story? Can you observe it with curiosity?

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Be kind and compassionate towards yourself and your inner experience 

Can you shift into holding the whole of your experience – body sensations, feelings and thoughts – within your compassionate embodied self?
Can you hold all different parts of your experience within a safe container?
What do you need right now in order to be able to do it?

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Connect with others for co-regulation

Reach out to somebody who you feel safe with and you know that can hold a safe and compassionate space for you.
And from your compassionate embodied self offer this safe and compassionate space to others.

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And if you are a yoga teacher and want to learn about trauma-informed yoga with focus on resilience and embodiment check out the available CPD and 50-hour accredited trainings at YOGA SCHOOL page.

yoga teacher training Ramsgate, yoga teacher training Kent, TREY, trauma-informed yoga.

Understanding how to work with trauma in yoga

CPD yoga teacher training, trauma awareness yoga, Kent, Thanet, trauma informed yoga

FOR YOGA TEACHERS – Understanding how to work with trauma is more important then ever.

But understanding trauma – what it is, signs and symptoms, and theories – is only a first step.

What’s key here is to know HOW IT TRANSLATES INTO OUR WORK WITH STUDENTS AS YOGA TEACHERS.

Because let’s be honest – yoga and mindfulness are sold these days as practices that are good for many things – physical health and fitness, stress reduction, mental health and wellbeing, embodiment, spiritual transformation. That’s a lot of high expectations.

 

These days people coming to our sessions can present with many different needs, and these can include trauma symptoms. How do you recognise when somebody gets triggered? And how do you support, guide and create safety for them in your sessions?

How all this knowledge and understanding of trauma translates in practical ways into working with YOUR client group?

Because teaching yoga to a group of teenagers, fit adults, older ladies or prison inmates will require you to approach it in different ways.

Join me for:

TRAUMA AND BEING SAFELY EMBODIED
4-hour CPD workshop: Practical ways to teach yoga with trauma awareness

Friday 5th June 2020 – 1pm to 5pm UK

Online via Zoom – This workshop is limited to 25 participants only to allow for interactive and safe learning.

Info and booking details are here: http://www.anetai.co.uk/cpd-yoga-teachers-training-trauma-…/

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For Yoga Teachers – the real value of your practice

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yoga teacher training in Kent, yoga teacher training

FOR YOGA TEACHERS – Do you ever get up in the morning and open your emails, see all those amazing things others are doing and feel your energy crash?

That’s what happened to me this morning. I woke up feeling slightly tired. Didn’t have a good night. My mind wouldn’t switch off and I was restless. I did too much yesterday and didn’t wind down in the evening.

And when I got up I made a mistake of checking my emails instead of doing my practice first. This rarely happens but when it does it usually has unpleasant consequences for me.

I saw all these wonderful people doing amazing work that I also long to do and my energy crashed. I heard a quiet voice within me: ‘Ohhhh I’ll never be able to do it’ and I felt my whole body loose vitality. It felt as if a plug was pulled out in a bathtub and all the water poured out into the ground.

If you are anything like me you want to show up for your community and clients and do your best work. You want to support others the best you can. You are willing to do the work and learn and grow for the benefit of all.

But here is the crunch – in order to be able to do it you have to take time to nourish YOU first.

Your morning yoga, meditation and pranayama practice that you know you should be doing daily is not just for you so you stay healthy, fit and grounded – it’s also to create a strong container within you so you can support others from this grounded and embodied space.

Your reflective practice of journalling or Focusing is not just for you to reconnect within and build inner self-trust – it’s also to be able to hold a safe space for your clients when they’re struggling or processing something.

Your time out to rest is important so you can nourish your energy and integrate in an embodied way all the learning and progress you’ve made.

This time for your own practices is the foundation of who you are as a yoga teacher.

Why??

Because…

It’s about your own deeper connection, integration and wholeness.
It’s about you walking your talk in an embodied way.
It’s about you teaching from a space of understanding, embodied experience and compassion for yourself and others.

Otherwise something within you will feel like a ‘fraud’, scared that it will be found out. It will remind you again and again that you are not walking your talk and it will sabotage your efforts of showing up fully. It will bring up doubts about your abilities to achieve your dreams.

So today just reflect on your ‘I don’t have time for my practice’ story. Your practice doesn’t have to be long – but it has to be consistent. Because showing up for yourself is the foundation of showing up for others.

I’d love to hear what you think.

And if you’d like to connect with me and other yoga teachers check out current further yoga teacher trainings with mentoring on trauma-informed yoga at YOGA SCHOOL page.

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