Three Must-Follow Rules For Marketing a Workshop or Teacher Training

Wouldn’t you love to know the magic formula for advertising?

I’d love someone to take me aside and say, “Psssst….put in $500 worth of Facebook Ads, three blogs posts, eight Instagram stories and you’re golden!” Yay! Mystery solved!

No such luck. Marketing is a fickle beast and every campaign is different. But while there may not be definitive recipe for maxing out attendance in your programs, these three must-follow rules will set a solid foundation to help you on your way. They seem simple, but you’d be amazed at how easy it is to miss these three basic principles!

Check it out.

Rule #1: go to where your people are.

Find out where you connect with your community and go find them there. By “your people,” I mean your ideal student. Not everyone. Your very specific, quirky, and unique ideal student.

In the virtual world, check out:

  • Where they hang on social media: Facebook? Instagram? Snapchat? Pinterest?
  • Do they hang out in online forums or Facebook Pages?
  • Are they reading blogs or online periodicals?
  • Are they participating in conversations in sister industries like naturopathy?
  • (Also find out where your competitors are making an online splash; chances are, there’s a strong community of students there!)

IRL:

  • Which studios are they at?
  • Where do they live?
  • Are they at neighborhood coffee shops, restaurant, juiceries?
  • Are they reading periodicals, listings?
  • Are they working with other service providers (chiros, naturopaths, retail vendors)?

And once you know where the majority of your people are: go there. Presto, this is where you should focus your energy.

Rule #2: build community before sales.

In social media, the number one mistake that people make is advertising to a cold audience. Social media is not a sales platform; it is a community platform. As my Instagram mentor said, “Compel, connect, convert.” This means that you put your party online, invite people to your party, and then you eventually tell them that – hey! – you’ve got something for sale that they might like.

Like Captain Picard says, “Engage!”

To create community on social media, it has to be a two-way street.  If you’re just posting your own stuff without connecting to what’s going on with other people, they are going to feel the lack of love. Engage with your community through discussions, commenting, and showing that you care about their lives and their photo of that really cute kitten.

Rule #3: Tell people what you’re doing.

Sometimes half the battle with marketing is just opening your mouth!

People won’t know about your offerings unless you tell them. It can be super uncomfortable at first to tell people what you’re doing if it feels like you’re just making a sales pitch. Reconnect to your greater purpose for creating your course (for a free course that helps you with this, check this out), and your mission as a yoga teacher. Feel the power of your mission in your bones. Think about your experiences as a student and how transformational it has been for you to work with your favorite teacher! Now, imagine that you are providing that same amazing experience for your students.

When you remember why your work is so darn important, you’ll realize that sharing it is just another way to deepen your connection with your peeps, and help make the world a better place.

Now go be successful!

For more how to’s on marketing, check out “Market For Success.”

Three Steps To Register for Yoga Alliance

Registering for Yoga Alliance is a pain in the ass.

And the bottom line: registration does not mean that a program is any good. Yoga Alliance lacks the manpower to enforce or monitor the standards of its schools, so being approved is unfortunately not an indicator of quality. However, if you’re running a teacher training, I usually suggest that you pay up and register. (If you’re registering as a teacher, however, it’s a toss up whether or not it’s worth it.)

Here’s why:

  • most students recognize and look for the affiliation
  • it’s currently the most widely recognized affiliation, at least in North America
  • it forces you to do some legwork that can be darn useful

If you’re new to creating education, the registration process can seem overwhelming. Here’s how to keep it simple and make the process work for you.

1. Brainstorm Your What

Step one: do a giant brainstorm. Think about your ideal student and what they will be able to DO and KNOW at the end of your training. Imagine your perfect graduate: how are they showing you that they understand your material? (Bonus: How to Avoid The Great Mistake.) Think about their actual teaching performance (cuing, voice, teaching skills) as well as what they need to be able to draw up on in knowledge (anatomy, philosophy, ethics, business, sequencing).

Then, group your brainstorm content into the Yoga Alliance buckets:

  • Techniques, Training & Practice – this includes all asana work, cuing, teaching skills, in class practice and asana labs
  • Teaching Methodology – this is a smaller bucket and includes “how to teach,” sequencing, and the business of yoga
  • Anatomy/ Physiology – includes both physical and subtle body
  • Philosophy – includes philosophy and ethics
  • Practicum – includes practice teaching, evaluation, class observation and class assisting time

I highly recommend that you use a spreadsheet for this (excel, Google Sheets, Numbers) and use one line for each primary learning requirement. We’ll call each of these a “topic.”

2. Brainstorm Your How

For each learning requirement, write a brief description of how the students will learn. Examples:

  • “Though discussion and lecture, students will learn to apply Ayurvedic principles to their class plan and create a targeted sequence for each dosha”
  • “Through discussion and practice teaching, students will learn strategies for teaching a multi-level class in a group class setting.”

Your “how” might include activities like lecture, group discussion, practice teaching, partner work, practice, powerpoint, or worksheets.

3. Estimate The Time

For each topic, take a guess at how many class hours you will allocate to this topic. You may have several lessons that fall under one topic, so you may allocate five hours to learning about Ayurveda, even if it’s broken up in your course into five one-hour sessions. You can designated these hours as “contact hours” with your Lead Trainer (registered with Yoga Alliance), contact hours with a non-lead Trainer (doesn’t have to be registered with Yoga Alliance) and non-contact hours (time they spend on the topic in the form of homework or outside the classroom).

Register!

Your sweet little spreadsheet now includes – in a wonderfully organized way – all the information that you need to get registered for Yoga Alliance. And you’ve also managed to take a good first draft at organizing all your course material.

Expert Tip: Register early

Don’t wait to complete writing your course before your register. Register early in your creation process so that you can start marketing your course as “Yoga Alliance Registered”as soon as possible! You’ll want to market your course at least six months in advance, so get registered first, start your marketing, then take your sweet time to build your awesome program while the buzz increases.

For more information on how to register for Yoga Alliance, check out this course that takes you step by step through the whole process (and includes sweet templates to make life easy! Yay!).

Stop Procrastinating And Make Your Dreams 80% Come True

We all procrastinate for different reasons. And usually they’re really GOOD reasons. (Gotta take care of the kids, gotta get to the doctors, need to clean the house, or I need ME time, dammit!)

Have you ever taken an online course? Students finish three weeks of the course and then disappear. Course progress remains half done. Attrition in the big massive online courses (MOOC) is about 95%. (95%!) The passion that drove us to sign up in the first place begins to wan in the mundane work that it actually takes to cross the finish line. We start thinking, “it’s not really that important, is it?”

Here are three tips to getting past procrastination so that you can do the stuff you say you want to do. For real.

1. Kill your children

Not literally.

But we all have those things in our lives that we love to do (your yoga class, your morning walk, your tea date with your friend). Here’s the thing: your life is already full of stuff that you do (and like to do). And you’re going to have to sacrifice something nice in order to get your new goal accomplished. It will not just “fit in.” And thinking that we’re going to get it all done at 10 PM after the kids are in bed is not realistic. We lose discipline during the day, and by 10 PM at night, you’re likely going to want to nothing more than to drink a glass of wine and watch Rupaul’s Drag Race.

So you’re going to have to kill your children.

Last year, I published “Head Over Heels: A Yogi’s Guide To Dating,” and I also finished my Masters in Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies. What I gave up? My two hour morning ashtanga practice. I simply didn’t have the time to do it all and work a full time job.

Accept that you need to kill your children. You can always resurrect them on the other side.

2. Stop striving for perfection

Here’s another reason that I procrastinate: I want it to be perfect.

I think I have to have to have it all figured out before I start creating. I just don’t want to screw it up, or have to redo work. When I created my online course, I agonized over the course structure. I was afraid to start because I didn’t want to do it wrong.

Accept right now that you’re only going to get it 80% right. It will not be perfect. And there are things that you will learn that you can only learn through the creative process, by jumping in and getting your hands dirty. I already know a million things that I want to tweak in my online course. But now at least I’m 75% there. And 75% is a heck of a lot better than 0%.

Shoot for a solid 80%. As one of my mentors said, “Done is better than perfect.”

3. Work when you’re uninspired

We often wait to feel inspired to do the work. This is backwards. Sitting down to DO the work will lead to inspiration. If you wait to “feel like it,” you will consistently fail to do anything. It’s by actually sitting in front of the blank page, logging into your online course, or starting your market research that you being to feel inspired to be there. Do the work and get inspired. Not the other way around. There will probably be a good five minutes of grouchiness when you sit down to dig in. It will pass. And if it doesn’t, then you’re still five minutes closer to your goal than you were before. And that should give you a tiny warm fuzzy.

Finally, give yourself some appreciation. It’s freakin’ hard to change your life. We think it will be magical unicorns and flowing bliss, but in reality it’s elbow grease, stop-starts, and grouchiness. So when you put in the time on your project, take a moment and give yourself a huge pat on the back in appreciation. Even five minutes makes you a warrior.

Check out this procrastination e-book from my fabulous friend and coach Christine Young for more inspiration.

Here’s the thing.

Making your dreams come true  – even if you get to 95% – will probably never match your image of what you thought it was going to be. You may always have that restless feeling of dissatisfaction and longing. There may always be “the next thing.” But the process of digging in is enormously rewarding in and of itself. Every creative act is an affirmation of your self-creation. And that’s a great reason to start now.

Safety Is At The Edge: Why Vulnerability Is Safer Then Hiding

We often think that safety is in the absolute center. I’ll stay away from the edges, I’ll blandify my personality, I won’t rock the boat. In Canada, we’ve elevated politeness to near lethal levels, hiding opinions or feedback that may offend.

I love the sensitivities of my compassionate Canadian brethren, but politely quieting ourselves on occasion can lead to a habit of peremptorily quieting ourselves without even realizing it. Of course, not just Canadians are engaging in the art of self-restraint; most of us train ourselves into a voluntary domesticity. While I’m a fan of civility, sometimes these unspoken social contracts can bleed into other areas of our lives where self-expression is essential for health, understanding, and happiness.

In our intimate relationships, most of us are told to compromise, compromise, compromise. While empathy is important, we go too far when we let our compassionate natures cover up truths that – while they may not be pleasant – certainly would let some fresh air and honesty into our dynamics. Bluntly put, it’s a problem when we lie to spare someone’s feelings.

In our relationship with ourself, we undermine our nature when we talk ourselves out of the risks that are whispering in our souls.

We think that safety lies in pulling in our edges. This is a misunderstanding: true safety arises when when we have nothing left to lose. Pulling into the center and turtling is usually a sign that we are protecting our egos from failure. We forget that our ego is a construct for working in the world; it is not our core nature. When we take failure personally, we are reinforcing the idea that our ego is real and should be protected. With every “safe” act, we put more swaddling clothes around our fragile ego, protecting it from harm. The problem is that swaddling clothes start to limit that way that we can act and feel.

But there is an antidote. When we practice embracing failure, and when we embracing radical honesty, we affirm our intrinsic safety and goodness. By standing on the edge, arms wide, completely vulnerable, we realize (experientially, not in our heads) that we are already whole, safe, and free. However, we cannot think our way into this understanding; it is a visceral understanding that comes from the act of standing with our hearts open and exposed.

You have a choice today: trust the story of the ego, or trust the wholeness of the heart.

Take one step closer to the edge. How does it feel?

For more juicy wisdom, check out Head Over Heels: A Yogi’s Guide to Dating.

Why You Should Embrace Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple choice questions get a bad rap! They’re usually seen as simplistic questions that only test very basic knowledge. And for must of us, they bring back memories of stultifying standardized tests.

But I want to bring back multiple choice! Multiple choice questions – when created properly – can be excellent at assessing knowledge. And assessment – both at the end of your training as well as throughout your training – is absolutely essential for you to ensure that your students are truly learning.

Multiple choice questions can be the trainer’s friend. Here’s why:

  • multiple choice quizzes are quick and easy ways to create review opportunities throughout a training
  • using multiple choice questions can save you time, effort, and money – because they can be graded quickly by the teacher – or automatically by software online

While you may want to asses your students more formally, you may not want to grade twenty quizzes after teaching a nine hour day. And while you can grade your quizzes as a group in class (which is a nice way to do a review the next day), you may need to use your class time another way.

In our online age, you can now easily assign students an online quiz to take as homework that is graded automatically by  software. And the software can show you trends in understanding, which is helpful for you to direct your training and in-class time. Yay! But software can usually only grade automatically when you are using true false, multiple choice, and multiple answer style questions.

So let’s take advantage of multiple choice, but let’s do it right.

Here are five tips for creating multiple choice questions that don’t suck.

1. Don’t use “all of the above” or “none of the above.”

When you use “all of the above,” students only have to recognize two of the answers are right to click that box. Usually none of the above questions are too obvious. Make ’em work harder than that.

2. Make your answers the same length

It’s sometimes tempting to make the right answer a lot longer or shorter, check this out.

Example:

Why are the yoga sutra important?

  1. They explain the secrets of yoga
  2. They itemize key yoga poses
  3. They articulate the key principles of mindfulness by proposing that we are not the thoughts in our heads.

When one answer is a lot shorter or longer than another, it’s a tip off that it’s the right answer.

3. Use plausible answers

Example:

Who wrote the yoga sutra?

  1. Patanjali
  2. The Queen of England
  3. Oprah
  4. Swami Bhajan

If you add in silly answers (or really obviously wrong choices), students can use the process of elimination to find the right one. You want them to answer from knowledge, not because they realize “Queen of England” isn’t a good choice.

4. Use consistent grammar

Use good grammar. Be consistent. Be clear.  You don’t want crappy grammar to get in the way of a student understanding the question.

Example:

What is something the teacher should consider before giving a hands on assist?

  1. Time of day
  2. Ask the student if they are receptive
  3. Is the room crowded?

5. Ask higher level questions

Most importantly, ask higher level questions. With multiple choice, it’s easy to default into asking questions that test memorization.

Let’s look at an example.

What’s a risk factor for warrior two?

  1. the knee caving inwardly
  2. pressure on the glenohumeral joint
  3. cervical compression

That’s a simple question, testing memorization. Add the application of knowledge to turn the question into something more interesting. Something like…

Which of the following cues would be most effective for addressing a common risk factor in warrior 2?

  1. press your knee wide until it aligns over the ankle joint
  2. hug your shoulder blades onto your back
  3. lift your chin slightly as you lengthen the back of your neck

In this second option, the student needs to think beyond the first layer of the question. It will take more work for you to create higher level multiple choice questions, but once you have them locked and loaded, they are yours to use forever!

Happy assessing!

For more info on astute assessment, check out my “Assess for Success” mini course.

Where Most Yoga Trainings Fail: Creating Great Assessments

How do you know if your training is actually working?

I’ve been to so many yoga trainings that are enlivening, exciting, entertaining, and emotionally elevating…but absolute failures when it comes to teaching yoga skills.

While an inspirational experience can certainly be a powerful component of your student’s learning (yes, yes!), too often I have seen emotional juice replace efficacy. This happens when the teacher doesn’t create enough opportunity for something called assessment.

Assessment is a way to check in whether the student is really learning.

There are two kinds of assessment: summative assessment (at the end of the course, like practicums and exams) and formative assessment (the less formal check ins that you can do during the course to see if people are picking up what you’re throwing down as you go along).

While most training programs have a summative assessment like a practicum or exam, many of them don’t quantify performance. In other words, there’s little objective standard! Sure, students may get subjective feedback, but they’re not being evaluated against a standard that is clear and measurable.

Consider the difference between these two standards:

  • “Students will cue effectively.”
  • “Students will cue the pose by using direct language, cuing the correct foundation, addressing one common misalignment, and including a root rebound cue.”

Which one is more measurable and clear?

Here’s the thing: unless you tell the students exactly what they need to be able to do to pass successfully, they’re not going to actually know what to do.

The trick? You have to know exactly what constitutes a meaningfully successful performance for your training, and put it in writing. What an amazing opportunity to get clear about your training priorities!

Sure, you could continue on with wishy-washy assessments; but if you’re running a training program, your training program should be a calling card for your brand out there in the world. Implementing specific assessments is an effective way to elevate the professional standard of your program quickly.

By creating measurable standards, you will help your graduates succeed – and be amazing ambassadors for your program – by giving them the measurable tools that they need to hit your mark.

For more information on assessment, check out “Assess For Success.” 

Yoga Teachers! Three Things To Consider If You Want To Create An Online Course

So you want to create an online course, but aren’t sure where to start?

Okay! First of all, take a deep breath! Creating an online course is an exciting way to expand your reach by connecting to people who are geographically distant or unable to meet you in the real world. Here are the first three things you need to think about.

1. What do you want to share?

Be specific. Be real. Be you.

How can you use this course to help improve the lives of your students? What sweet, juicy kernel of information do you want to share? Start small. You do no need to create a twelve-course opus when you start out! How about a mentorship course? A favorite technique for practice? Make your first course something short and sweet so that you can get your feet wet with a smaller offering. You can always build from there!

My advice:

  • Choose something specific and targeted
  • Be simple
  • Get very clear on what you want your students to be able to DO as a result of your teaching. (More on why that’s important here.)

2. How Can You Share It

Teaching in person is not the same thing as teaching online. When you’re sharing online you need to get very clear about the structure of your course and how you are going to lead your students from point A to point B (another reason to start with something simple!). Then, consider the tools that you can use to share your information one step at at time. And with every step, consider, “what do I want my students to be able to do as a result of this information?”

Most people immediately default to video and pdf. While these are good tools, also think outside the box! How do you want your course to feel? Think of other tools could help students learn:

  • audio recordings
  • online classes
  • journal entries
  • worksheets
  • online articles
  • personal practice
  • etc.

Remember, your guiding star as you create your course is not, “what can I tell my students,” but rather, “how can I move my students from point A to point B?”

3. Platform

Your platform is how you host your course. If you’re tech savvy (or have tech savvy friends), you may host it on your own site. Frankly, I do not recommend this. More likely, you’ll want to use an online platform that already has some of the bugs worked out and makes it easy on you. I use Thinkific for my courses and like them so much that I’ve become an affiliate for them. They have a great platform that’s easy to use, they’re super responsive, and they put learners at the center. Other top contenders you can research: Teachable, Kajabi, or Udemy. You can play on many of them for free, then see what you like the most.

Here are some things to think about as you get started!

Want more help? Book a free consult with me. Creating great education is my jam, and my mission is to elevate yoga education in the world!

Happy creating!

 

Doing it alone: sperm donor counselling

“He’s a donor. Not a Dad.” Sarah was emphatic. “It’s genetic material. Now, if you get married, and there’s adoption, then your partner may become your child’s father. That would be his or her dad. But a donor is a donor. You want to use clear language with your child.”

I’m nodding.

“And when you’re looking for a donor, you want to look for someone who fits in with your own family.”

“Like height…my Dad’s tall….”

“Race.”

“Ah.”

I’m in my second counselling session with Sarah, the therapist I’ve been assigned to visit to discuss the implications for attempting to be a single mom through a sperm donation procedure. Really you only have to go once, but my first visit to her had been consumed with so much angst about my situation that we hadn’t even gotten to the implications of getting pregnant.

But now I was back.

I had been considering having a mixed race baby, but Sarah’s advice seems to be that I should keep it simple. And by simple, I mean white. My parents live in Texas (a great state, to be sure), but maybe a baby who looked like everyone else would have an easier time. It’s something to think about.

“There are books that you can use that help explain your choice. To your child.”

I’m nodding.

“They will likely come home with questions. And you can say, ‘I wanted you so much that I chose to have you!’ What a wonderful story! Are you doing an open donor?”

An open donor leaves open a possibility that the child can contact him after the kid reaches 18. “I’d like to,” I say.

“Great,” she say, “But if you find the perfect donor and he’s not an open donor, then that’s great too. Don’t let that stop you if you find the one you like.”

The session flies by. It feel surreal to talk about how I’m going to speak to my kid in six years. That is, if I even manage to get pregnant.

“Donor, not Dad. Got it.”

Sarah beams at me, “You’re going to be a great mom.”

Next step: finding the donor.

Are You Ready To Run A Yoga Teacher Training?

So how much do you need to really know to offer a teacher training?

This is a great question – and one that is not to be taken lightly, especially when teacher trainings seem to be cropping up almost everywhere!

Here are five questions you should take to heart before you jump in.

What’s my intention?

Why do you want to create a teacher training?

Which of the following resonate:

  • It’s my dream to share my passion for yoga with everyone
  • I love teaching teachers
  • It’s a great additional stream of revenue
  • My students are asking for it
  • I want to be on a beautiful retreat island for a month
  • Everyone else is doing it, so shouldn’t I be, too?

While it’s not a problem if the idea of revenue or having a destination program is part of your “why,” unless teacher training and education is a core value in your heart, you won’t have enough gas in the tank to make it through. Have a heart to heart with yourself to get to the root of your intention. If you feel it in your heart that creating a teacher training is part of your mission as a teacher, then that’s a sign you’re headed in the right direction. (To go in-depth through this process, take my free online course, which includes everything you need to think about before you decide to create a training.)

How’s my energy?

Creating a teacher training – if you want to do it well – will take a lot of time, effort, and love. Is your “why” strong enough to see you through the the hard parts? Can you commit to taking the time that will be necessary to create a quality training (about 8-10 hours a week for four months to create a 200-hour). Do you have the bandwidth to commit, and are you willing to create space in your life to make this happen?

Is there a need?

Is there a need in your community for a teacher training?

Are students asking you, “when are you going to do this program?” Before you commit to creating a program, find out if it will serve your community. There may be other offerings (retreats, workshops, immersions) that are a better fit. Ask your students, put out a poll on social media, and get some feedback. Do some research in advance to see if there will be an audience. Now, we can never know for sure, a bit of due diligence can save your a lot of time and effort.

Am I ready?

Being a trainer doesn’t only require that you have expertise to share; trainers must also be role models for their students emotionally and professionally. Stepping into the seat of the teacher trainer requires that we look at our own habits (being late, procrastination, emotional reactivity), and be willing to do the work to elevate ourselves. While this is an enormously exciting opportunity for personal growth, it is not for the faint of heart. Said frankly, your own crap is going to come up. Are you ready to do the self-work to be a leader?

What’s in my way?

One of my teachers said, “if you’re asked to teach, then teach.”

We often don’t feel ready to take the leap to leadership. However, feeling ready and being ready are two different things. Fear is often a sign that we’re engaging in a process of self-discovery and growth. Drill down.

What’s really in your way to making the leap? If it’s fear and self-doubt, then it’s time to cast those aside and take a  jump forward. We never “feel ready.” Leap and you will create your own net. After all, you’re here on the planet to grow, not just be comfortable!

Happy creating!

You can also check out my companion article, “What you need to think about before you create a teacher training.”

Is Your Yoga Practice Working?

It’s not what happens during your practice that matters. It’s how it impacts your life that counts.

~ Gloria Latham

We sometimes have this idea that yoga should feel good.

I remember a few years ago, I was chatting with someone who found out I was a yoga teacher. She sighed wistfully, “Oh that’s so lucky! You must practice every day. That’s so nice.”

I looked at her askance. “My practice is not at all relaxing,” I said. I was practicing ashtanga at the time, making my way through the second series. “It’s not fun. I don’t really enjoy it.”

And I didn’t. Practicing ashtanga was incredibly uncomfortable and tested all my physical and mental reserves. I stood at the front of the mat before practice and felt creeping dread. My brain wanted to be anywhere else. But the practice shifted the rest of my day, and my life.

When we ask ourselves if our practice is working, we may first think about our mastery of the physical poses. Or about how strong and light we feel when we practice. But ultimately the practice isn’t about getting our heels to the floor in downward facing dog or doing a press handstand.

Instead, we should ask:

  • am I centered?
  • am I kinder?
  • am I focused?
  • am I more present?

If so, you’re on the right track.

Yoga is not to be performed. Yoga is to be lived.

~ Aadil Palkhivala

Do your practice. Just show up. In whatever you find. Some days, practicing asana will feel light and free; some days you will feel as if your insides have been replaced with lead. Your practice will not develop in a linear pattern; you will circle back, fail, spiral, start again. No matter. Just show up. For five minutes or two hours. Success of failure. Just show up.

Because the quality of your practice isn’t determined by the “success” of your asana, but by your evolving connection to your heart.

 

 

How to be a great yoga teacher trainer: the activation principle

Want to be a great yoga teacher trainer?

Here’s one of those sneaky skills that you can use in the classroom to help elevate the quality of your students’ learning. It may seem obvious, but unless you’re thinking about it, you may miss doing it.

It’s called the Activation Principle.

Learning is promoted when learners activate relevant cognitive structures by being directed to recall, describe, or demonstrate relevant prior knowledge or experience.

So what does this mean?

It means that learners learn best when the content is related to something they already know. It tells their brain how to plug the new knowledge into what’s already in their heads. (Sort of like it’s easier to remember a name when the person in front of you reminds you of Uncle Jimmy, and J is next to K in the alphabet, so surely it’s obvious that this guy’s name is Kevin.) Making links with prior knowledge helps us to remember new stuff.

Some ways you can easily do this:

  • relate the topic at hand to their experience as a yoga practitioner (“have you ever been to a class where…”, “how does it feel when…”)
  • relate information to stuff you’ve already studied
  • ask them to think about examples from their own lives (“has this ever happened to you…”, “think of a time when…”)
  • ask them for personal examples
  • have them do a journal reflection
  • organize the knowledge clearly, so they know how to connect the dots

Learning is personal, and each person will relate to the new information in a different way.

Part of your job as a yoga teacher trainer is help each student create a mental breadcrumb trail between what they already know – and the new information you want them to learn.

 

Please Stop Dumping Your Brain On Me: How Not To Teach

Have you ever been subjected to a lecture-vomit?

In the “sage on a stage” model, the learned expert shares their knowledge through a presentation while the students act as passive recipients. Though used in many classrooms, the lecture-vomit can fall woefully short where learning is concerned.

And the problem? Well, sometimes yoga trainers act like sages on stages. In subjects such as anatomy and philosophy, it’s fairly typical to have the ol’ “let me tell you what I know” expert come in and hold court.

“It’s a point of discipline,” said one (well-respected) teacher than I know, regarding her habit of lecturing students for a couple of hours. “Can they have studentship? Can they maintain focus and receive knowledge?”

It’s true that there is a historical precedent for the “student as vessel” model of learning. In the Upanishads, yoga students have had to prove their merit, often undergoing great tasks to show their teacher that they were ready to learn. However, while a student’s willingness to sit and listen may show discipline, it does not correlate that learning will result.

The sage on the stage model of teaching is an example of what I call “The Great Mistake,” where the emphasis is mistakenly put on the teacher’s performance rather than the student’s learning.

David Merrill, a well-known educational researcher, proposes several “First Principles of Instruction.” One of these principles is called the “application principle” and states that “learning is promoted when learners engage in the application of their newly acquired knowledge or skill [and] application is effective only when learners receive intrinsic or corrective feedback” (Merrill, Prescriptive Principles for Instructional Design).  In other words, students don’t learn when they’re bystanders.  Students learn by doing. Then getting feedback. And then doing again. Without the application of knowledge, sitting through a lecture is like watching TV. Sure it could be entertaining, but that doesn’t mean anyone is learning.

Fortunately, the solution is easy!

Application.

If you’ve got a lecture or Powerpoint in your hot little paws, consider what you need the students to be able to do as a result of your lecture. What task can you create that have them demonstrate their new knowledge, attitude or skill? Can you incorporate this demonstration of new learning into your lesson plan, and include the necessary time to give the learners feedback?

Presto: the one way lecture street has become a learning superhighway!

If you find yourself with a lecture or Powerpoint on your hot little hands, think to yourself, “How will the students demonstrate their learning to me? And how will I give them feedback?” By focusing on your student’s performance, you will ensure that your educational objectives are hitting their mark.

 

Join the Instagram Party!

While I love my site as a place for heart blogs, depthy resources and videos archives, I want to meet with you in the day to day. So I’m moving the everyday party on over to Instagram!

Join me there for:

  • real time updates
  • quick tips and skills
  • live videos and the immediate heart connect
  • chats and conversations

Love seeing you here. Now….

 

How To Choose The Right Teacher Training Format

You may think that the make or break it factor in your teacher training is the excellence of your course content and the charisma of your lead faculty.

Wrong.

One of most important factors in the enrolment success of your program is your course schedule. While you will have some students who will make the leap for a particular faculty member, most students have to fit teacher training into their lives.

If they’re doing a retreat training (heading to Bali for example), chances are they have to fit it into the vacation days and around family obligations. If they’re doing a local training, they’re working around their work schedule and holidays.

By scheduling smart, you’ll put your training on the map and and make it more likely that students will enroll.

Here is a snapshot of three things to help you make a good choice:

1. Look Around

What are other successful studios in your area doing? Not to be a copy cat, but it’s a good idea to do some solid market research before you commit to your format. If another studio is doing well,  take note of how they’ve locked it down. By researching your competitors, you’ll see how you can either tow the standard line, or offer a different schedule that may be a unique selling feature.

2. Know Your Students

Who is your ideal student? Planning a training to appeal to 9-5er’s is going to look a lot different than a training designed to appeal to stay-at-home parents or vacationing college students. Who is in your community? What kind of schedule would they prefer? When in doubt, do a poll! Easy enough to get some feedback by either asking your students directly, or throwing up a Facebook poll. Don’t guess; get information.

3. Go Short

As much as it pains my nerdy, educational side to say so, shorter course programs are often more accessible and more appealing to students. People are busy and they want a good bang for their buck. Shorter programs cut down your program costs (and cut down your faculty hours, if you are hiring faculty). Balance the logistical appeal of running a shorter program with a keen eye towards your learning objectives to find your happy place.

Want more? For an in-depth look at choosing your ideal course format, check out the online course. 

The Spiritual Path of Depression and Anxiety: Looking at Suicide

Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides rates have increased by more than 25% over the last two decades.

Like many of us, I believe the whispers of Mr. Success Demon, who promises, “if you just get this impossible thing, you will be happy.” So when someone famous and accomplished kills themselves, I am shocked. Hadn’t they gotten the stuff that we all crave, like fame, money, and acclaim? Didn’t these people have everything?

Celebrity suicides remind us of the dark truth: success does not make you happy.

I know that’s not a newsflash, but some part of me still wants to believe the myth. Our minds (sweet little comparison machines that they are) orient our self-esteem based on how we stack up against everyone else. And with social media, we now get to compare ourselves with Dwayne Johnson, Will Smith and Pink. With all those superstars on display, who can blame the average Jane for feeling like she’s not measuring up?

But when the people who “have it all” are desperately unhappy, it’s a wake up call that there is a terrible flaw in how we work.

Happiness Ain’t Inside Either

Most of us understand that the external world isn’t ultimately fulfilling.

But here’s the newsflash: your internal world isn’t going to make you happy either. I’m sorry folks, but if you go inside your own head and all you find are crocodiles, you’re certainly not going to want to stay there. It’s not just going inside, it’s how you go inside that counts.

The Truth

In my darkest moments, the thoughts in my head have been so utterly cruel and outrageous that another part of my mind perked up. “Wow, sister,” the voice said, “THIS is how you’re thinking about yourself right now? Holy crap.”

And when that voice spoke, a space opened. A space where maybe my mind was lying to me.

I’m betting that Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain didn’t have that little voice. I’m guessing that at their worst moments, all they heard was the noise.

The Key: You must stop believing everything you think.

When the bad thoughts come, watch your mind. See the glitch in the matrix. Yoga says: you are not your thoughts; make friends with your mind, recognize its limitations, and notice – with compassion – its confusion.

And I’m going to suggest something else.

Tell those voices to fuck off.

You cannot negotiate with terrorists. You cannot bargain, compromise, wheedle or justify yourselves to them. If bargaining were an option, our successful cultural icons would have had plenty of ammunition to talk those voices down.

Our only option when the dark voices come is to create presence and space. Listen to the voices with a different part of yourself, until they start to reveal themselves as the petulant, whiny cunts that they are.

And get outside.

If the noise in your head is relentless, leave. Not by offing yourself, but by embracing all that is materialistic. Put your attention back into that glorious, seething world full of stuff and people. Talk to trees, run on a beach, feel your body, see a movie, hug your dear ones.

I’ll meet you in the sunshine.

Three tips to empower your yoga teacher training students

There is an old school idea of education that involves rapping kids on the knuckles (I keep imagining nuns), motivating students through “tough love,” and generally being a jerk to inspire learning. While this idea has generally fallen by the wayside, but there are still echos of righteous ferocity in yoga trainings. Think of Iyengar, rapping students on the legs and yelling to get them into the pose.

We could debate the merits of emotional intensity and wholesome discipline (we won’t, here), but I think most of us can agree that it’s better to empower our students than to undermine their confidence, especially in a teacher training. Students learn and perform better when they feel successful.

Unfortunately, it can be easy to accidentally demoralize your trainees. I’ve seen situations where skillful trainers – even with the best of intentions – have reduced their students to puddles of anxiety. And once students get scared of looking stupid or being wrong, it’s hard to recover the sense of safety that helps learning flourish.

Here are some quick tips to help you improve your students’ confidence, and their learning.

1. Don’t pick on your introverts

It’s great to be an extrovert in a teacher training. You naturally speak up and it’s easy for the teacher to see that you’re engaged. While introverts may be less likely to talk right away in a training (especially when it’s a large group discussion), they are still participating with their attention. Trainers are often tempted to “call out” quiet students. While there is merit to getting your quieter students to speak (after all, if they’re going to be teaching yoga, it’s good practice to share their voices), it can feel very daunting to be singled out. Give introverts the space and time to be heard through incorporating partner discussions and journal work.

My fave tactic:

At the beginning of the training, ask everyone to pay attention to how they participate. Do they immediately jump in? Do they always hold back? Create a deliberate opportunity for extroverts to practice holding silence, which may give your introverts more opportunity to offer a thoughtful opinion.

2. Affirm your students’ answers, even when they’re wrong.

Sometimes students say the wrong thing. They’re not always right. But it’s important to give them kudos, even when they’re wrong. Creating an environment of enthusiastic failure will help students take risks, get feedback and learn faster. They will do this more happily when they feel like it’s okay to be wrong.

My fave tactic:

When a student gives a wrong answer, I always look to see where where they’re coming from. Usually I’ll say something like, “Oh, I see why you might think that….because… (blah blah blah), but what about considering this?…”

3. Relate what they’re learning to stuff they already know

Your students already know a ton of stuff! Their time as a human and a yoga practitioner has given them lots of experience to pull from. As much as possible, relate new information to stuff that they have already encountered. This will help empower them to pull on their personal experience, and create a bridge from the old knowledge to the new.

My fave tactic:

When there’s a new subject, I’ll find a hook that links it to their practice, or to content we’ve already studied. “You guys, have you ever….?” or, “You know when you….”

Be aware of your own agenda. Often, trainers accidentally undermine students when they are afraid of failing as a teacher or looking foolish themselves. Notice your own state, and stay in a generous spirit.

Empower your students to fail fast, fail hard, and fail with enthusiasm.

The learning space will thrive!

For more learning tips, check out the education blog.

I’ve Known Yogis Who Are Assholes

I’ve worked in the yoga “business” for about fifteen years. In addition to being a teacher, I’ve managed teachers, administrated studios, and run teacher trainings. So I’ve seen a lot of personalities.

And some yogis are assholes.

Sweet as pie at the front of the classroom, dark as an eastern storm behind the scenes. And not just young yogis, but veteran yogis who you’d think would have reached enlightenment if their scorpion pose were any indication. To the point where I’d look at them and think, “hey, isn’t this stuff working on you?”

Here’s the deal.

Yogis are human. Now some of you are going, yes, duh, we knew that, but I think that there is still a bit of mystical reverence for yoga, as if the practice can’t help but make you more spiritually awakened. Surely these yogis who have been refining their practice for twenty years must know something a bit more than Joe, who just showed up in the class wearing socks. And yoga is better spiritually than jogging or doing Crossfit, right?

No, people, no.

It’s not just doing yoga that is important. It’s how you do it that counts.

Yoga is different from jogging and Crossfit in that self-reflection is built into the practice (that said, I think it’s perfectly valid to “jog as a yogi” and practice mindfulness in any manner of other disciplines). But as I have learned on the farm, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Just because self-reflection is built into the yoga practice doesn’t mean that everyone who does yoga – including these teachers – is self-reflective.

Are you doing yoga so that you can arrive in the moment, soften your heart, quiet your mind, and feel your feelings? Awesome. Afterwards, you will probably feel squishy inside and you might stop to help the little old lady cross the street. Are you doing yoga so that you can instagram your handstand? Well, you might be in so much of a hurry to put that puppy online that don’t see the old lady in the first place.

Let’s talk about fancy poses. Fancy poses are awesome. You try them, they kick your ass, and your consistent efforts eventually lead you to an achievement. You feel good and proud and you are a living demonstration of human potential. Awesome, I love you, I want to give you kisses and high fives. Yes, my darling, Instagram that shit and share your light.

But where I see the fruits of your practice is really with that little ol’ lady.

How are you in the world after you practice? How do you feel in yourself after you practice?

This is an internal reality check, my dear, that only you can do. To truly know if your practice is working, look to how you act in the world. As one of my dear (non-Instagram famous) yoga teachers said, “What’s the point of yoga if it doesn’t make you a kinder person?”

What A Feral Cat Can Teach Us About Love

His name is Chad. He’s a lanky black cat with bright green eyes and he came into my parents’ lives about three years ago. My parents have a farm in Boerne, Texas, and after my mom got her chickens, well, it seemed natural enough that a farm cat should complete the scene.

It was a long process.

Rather than getting a domesticated cat, my parents chose to adopt two feral cats, Chad and Copernicus. When the ferals arrived at the farm, they had to acclimatize to the place and get used to making it their home. So they stayed inside a cage inside the barn for a week. Then they were allowed out of the cage for a week. Then they were allowed out of the barn. My dad sighed, “We’ll see, maybe they’ll stick around.” Copernicus ran off (making his home at a neighbouring farm, we later found out).

Chad stayed.

At first he wouldn’t let anyone near him; he ran off and observed my parents from a distance. For about six months, the only way they knew he was around was that his food would disappear. But my Dad fed him every morning and night and the food kept disappearing.

“Sometimes, when I would go to the barn he would be under the tractor or someplace, but every time I would approach he would take off. Then I started walking as close as I could without him leaving and put down little treats on the ground and walk away back to whatever I was doing. “

Dad made Chad a special cat entrance to the garage and a special cat house to live in. And over time, Chad started coming a little closer.

After two years of consistent, dedicated, unconditional care taking, Chad felt safe enough to walk up to my Dad in the back yard and let him touch him.  He let himself be pet. And he started to purr.

Nowadays, my Dad can’t go anywhere without Chad coming over and rubbing up against him, or head butting him for a scratch. (“That darned cat won’t leave me alone!” Dad says exasperatedly, but secretly happy.) Chad’s become a big ol’ cat softie. At first, Chad got so excited about being pet that he would nip everyone’s hands a little (who doesn’t get a little scrappy when they’re testing a relationship out?), but now he’s relaxed enough to accept affection without much cat drama.

Here’s what I’ve learned from Chad:

  • Deep down, everyone wants love.

  • It’s only when we’ve been hurt and alone for awhile that we’re scared of connection.

  • Trust takes time and consistency. Sometimes two years of being there every day.

  • Being fed is nice. But being pet is important, too.

  • When love feels new to us, we may get scared and scratchy, but underneath the biting, we really want it.

I’ve been watching over the farm and making friends with Chad. He’s still a bit wary of me, but last night he came on over and head butted me for awhile so that I got to pet him.

As I scratched his ears, I whispered down to him, “Chad, look at you! You found your family now.”

Chad the cat.

 

 

 

 

Use Transitions To Transform Your Practice

I stick my butt out.

I don’t mean to, but somewhere along the way in high school, I learned to stand up straight by lifting my ribcage up and forward rather than actually find axial extension. (You rib poppers know you who you are, my brethren).) My lumbar curve became more pronounced, my sitting bones flared back, and presto chango, thirty years later and I have tight hip flexors and a tight lower back.

I believe that yoga practice is not about fancy poses (no matter how much we like to drool on the insta-web), and a consistent practice gives us a foundation the chance to see our patterns in action. Not only do we see our physical patterns (oh! I’m popping my ribs again!), we see our mental patterns as well (oh! I’m dwelling on my ex again!).

Usually we get into a pose before we notice that something isn’t quite right.

I get into warrior two and then I “fix” it by lengthening my sitting bones. But this is a little like constantly training our bodies to do the sub-optimal action, then impose a layer of tension over it to “fix it.”

Here’s what I’m playing with:

Integrate your new body pattern before you transition.

Transitions are typically when we mentally check out. After all, we’re moving, we’re supposed to get all the way over to triangle pose, thank you very much, can’t you see we have stuff going on here?

But when we integrate before the pose, our body gets to set a new habit pattern in advance. Rather than “fixing it,” we arrive in it. And what this might do is change how you do the pose completely. Instead of doing it the old way and adding something on top of it, you’re arriving in a new way.

Here’s how you give it a try:

Choose a thing that you do habitually that you’re curious to change.

If you’re not sure what it is, consider some of the following possibilities. Do you:

  • flare your ribs (like me!)
  • overextend your lumbar (me again!)
  • over tuck your sitting bones
  • collapse your inner arches of your feet (a classic)
  • elevate your shoulders (I think this is all of us)
  • habitually tighten your jaw (I do this, too).

Maybe one of these rings a bell for you.

If you’re not sure, consider if there are any cues that your yoga teacher always gives to you. “Brenda, relax your forehead!” or something like that.

Now here’s the thing: just choose this one thing. You’re not going to pay attention to a lot of other stuff in your practice, and you may lose sight of some other alignment/breathwork temporarily in order to bring this one thing to focus.

As you practice, make this one habit change your focus. Find it in the transitions; incorporate it before you move.

All this may mean working more slowly through your asana. Enjoy the time 🙂

Off that mat: see if you can notice the habit pattern throughout your day. Before you go and “fix yourself” take a breath and see if you can relax into the more open and aligned position.

Curious about how to teach transitions? See here.