Word for the weekend: Passion
When you teach what you are passionate about, you can’t even help but be good at what you do and attract more students! Seriously, you can’t even help it!
I witnessed someone who was passionate about mudras, someone else who was passionate about a specific meditation, another person who is passionate about providing safe and helpful adjustments and someone, another who is passionate about children’s yoga, and someone who is passionate about Hip Hop Yoga all in one weekend. And you know what, if one of these modules was taught by someone else that didn’t have the passion, I bet it wouldn’t have been as good. Just sayin’.
So teach what you are passionate about! If you aren’t sure what that is, please check out my free guide on this. #SorryNotSorry about the business plug here but it’s just that important.
Children’s Yoga
It was so different! There were completely different pose names which makes sense but I had never thought about it before. We learned by pretending we were 7 years old and experiencing her class. She actually taught that class and acted as though we were 7 years old. We played games and had to respond how we thought we would actually react. It was funny to watch how everyone was so different, people really got into it.
Mudras
Our practices this weekend had mudras weaved in and I just loved that! I’m fascinated with them and can’t wait to dig in and learn more. I’m such a nerd! We practiced some specific mudras and learned more about them. I just loved how we would place our hands in the mudra and then the teacher would read about what it represents. Oh, all the feels!!! It was great! Needless to say, I will be using mudras for sure.
Moving Meditation
My eyes were opened to a different way of meditating. The teacher said that when she was starting to learn about meditation she actually cried in frustration after trying because she felt like she was doing it wrong and really struggled. But then she found a specific moving meditation that worked for her. She said every class was the same, she knew what to expect and it was good for her and allowed her to truly enjoy a meditation practice.
Mantra chanted 3 times
Several Mudras done in silence
Music starts and you go through Sun Salutation A very slowly (counts of 8) with your eyes closed. You move at your own pace completely. You do this for 10 minutes or so and then you sit in silence for another 5 minutes.
Hands On Assisting and Adjustments
We went pose by pose for this learning and I learned a ton. We learned how to approach someone and touch their body. I was amazed at how much there was to learn on this subject and how much of an impact it could have. There was one time when we were in triangle pose and learning how to adjust the hips and it was incredible how that felt! I guess I’ve never been adjusted in that pose but man did it feel really great and supported. I can’t really explain it well in words but my partner and I both said the same thing. It just felt good! So that is a good sign of a good adjustment!
This is the one module that I think would be really hard to learn online. I’m a big fan of online learning but this is the one time I think you need to actually be in person.
Gentle Sequencing
We first went through the difference between gentle flow and restorative yoga classes. The difference was explained that restorative is 4 to 5 poses in a class and little movement but with gentle yoga there are many more poses and there is movement. You move through the sequence with the help of props. The idea is that anyone could walk into the class and feel like they were successful.
Another thing that was mentioned was that once you graduate from YTT you are likely to get on the sub list at yoga studios and it’s even more likely that you will get the phone call of “hey Amanda, can you sub this gentle class in an hour?”. In that moment I would need to have a sequence created quickly and this is not something that many new yoga teachers feel equipped to do. So our awesome training included us writing a sequence in 20 minutes (this was incredible difficult for me) and now we have at least one written. During this 20 minutes I felt frustrated. But it was an eye opening experience for me because if someone called me and asked if I could teach on marketing in an hour, I could and I would be confident. I wouldn’t have a pretty hand out but I would still have create content to share. And this is what it must feel like to be a confident yoga teacher. You could easily create a sequence on a whim like that and all it takes is education, practice and then you will have the confidence.
This comes easier to some people. For example, my friends who were next to me that day. Both of them wrote a sequence so fast!
So I looked over and asked for help, for sure! Thanks friends =)
Hip Hop Yoga!!!!!
It’s fantastic! If you have never experienced this, please find a studio to do this ASAP. This was such a way to let go of stress. And the teacher was so passionate about what she was teaching which really came through. Every time I experience this I’m more on-fire about my message of teaching what you are passionate about and niching down in the yoga world.
Mirroring
This is so dang hard but it’s important! I could go on and on about this but I think that really does sum it up. As teachers, we need to be good at this because it can make or break an experience for a student, especially a new one. If you don’t believe that, have someone do the opposite of what they are saying and see how confused it feels. We practice both ways and it was remarkable the difference. But I will say it again…it’s hard!
Teach what you love my friend and it will come through to your students. If you are starting the yoga teacher journey you still need to figure out what you love and that’s okay but once you find it, go after that specific thing. Then share that passion! It matters.
Until next time,
