Top 10 Modules Of Yoga Mentorship
Yoga is an incredibly powerful way to connect with the inner self; enriching the body, spirit, and mind, allowing us to explore a deeper connection with ourselves and our community. As professional yoga teachers, we are given the opportunity to help newcomers and experienced students alike discover the transformative powers of yoga.
Below are 10 short videos (and their transcripts) which talk to the top yoga teaching mentorship modules we cover at The Yoga Transition.
Prefer to read? Jump here.
Teach without demonstrating
Cueing
Teaching holistic yoga, not just stretching
Physiology of breathing - a must know
The science and art of sequencing
Incorporating meditation into classes and into asana
Starting a yoga studio
Creating, workshops, immersions, retreats
Your personal practice
From the superficial to the subtle
All good teachers have at the heart of their craft their relationship with their students. This relationship is impossible to develop without the teacher being actively involved in the class. For this reason it is imperative that the teacher is actively looking, and perceptive of what is going on within the class. This is impossible to do if the teacher or instructor is doing the Asana sequence as they are teaching it.
Of course there will always be postures or transitions that require demonstrating for clarity but apart from that a good teacher will be constantly looking at the students in the class and based on what she says giving appropriate instructions. If a teacher is doing the postures, for example downward dog, how on earth are they going to be able to see and thereby give appropriate instruction to the students in the class.
So when we can learn to teach without demonstrating, the class suddenly becomes a real-time relationship, not just written instructions. Students are receiving the precise cues they need to improve and develop their own practice; the teacher is freed up to move around the room and give assists if they wish.
When students receive the relevant cues that this teaching method delivers students progress significantly faster. The teacher develops their skills of observation thereby continuing to refine their cueing and thereby their craft. The teacher-student relationship becomes more intimate, students receive the care and attention that they deserve when they walk into your class.
And from a teaching perspective, the difference when delivering a class walking around the room and looking as opposed to demonstrating, the difference is huge. So calm, so present, so much easier!
The primary skill that teachers need to develop to be able to teach without demonstrating is being able to give clear and precise cues. Cues that are so precise that students will be able to close their eyes if they wish and be guided towards a more internal experience of the practice. A practice that is about them, not about craning their head to see a teacher moving this way and that at the front of the class. Precise cues that are so easy to follow that they enable the practitioner to move their attention from the more external superficial to the more internal and subtle aspects of the practice.
Cueing a yoga class is about making words count. Where there are no throw-away comments, no fillers, no unnecessary noise. Where all cues and instructions help move your students towards the intention you have decided upon for the class.
At The Yoga Transition we will help you refine your skills of observation so that every cue you give will have a specific impact and help achieve the intention of the sequence you have designed.
Well considered cues easily distinguish a beginner teacher from an advanced teacher. Have you ever been to a class where every cue that the teacher delivers seems well considered, succinct and really hits the mark? This instils confidence in the teacher; the student knows that they are being led on a journey that has clear signposts and an intelligently thought out path.
We will teach you a structural framework to deliver your cues.
From priming instructions – priming your students on what they are about to do helps them prepare and often relax knowing what is coming, to primary cues – which often refer to superficial, larger movements, to secondary cues – which often entail more subtle readjustments or refinements of breath or attention.
Cues that carry the ‘why we are doing what we’re doing’ and the ‘how instruction’ are important to get in balance. So the practice is educational for a student, not just experiential. And of course for our cues to make their mark we must know how to balance the cues with silences, with pauses. When a class is delivered in this way it is easily digestible, it takes no effort for one to follow.
At The Yoga Transition we teach a holistic practice not just a physical one. For this reason in our cueing module we have a framework that categorises cues for the physical body, cues for the energetic body (breath/NS), and cues for the mental and emotional body. If yoga serves an integrated, whole experience, then a teacher’s cues, throughout the class, must also reference these different physical, energetic and mental aspects of ourselves.
A balanced, complete practice.
As yoga teachers, we are teaching yoga because of how it has changed our lives. For most of us it has changed our lives not just in terms of our physical health but also in terms of how it has touched us in a deeper emotional or spiritual way. For each of us this is a very personal journey.
Over the past years whenever I interviewed a teacher I was looking to employ I would always ask them why they are teaching yoga. Why is yoga so meaningful to them? It was my experience that many teachers found this difficult to put into words.
They had indeed been deeply touched by the practice and it was certainly something more than just stretching to them, but they didn’t have the skills of observation in their own practice, and the skilfulness to put that into words for their students.
We all know the theory of how asana is one of the 8 limbs of yoga. If we are truly teaching this transformative practice that is yoga, we cannot restrict ourselves to just asana alignment instructions, to just the physical aspect of the practice.
I believe that in order to convey this very intimate experience of yoga that we, as experienced practitioners, have tasted, we need to have a skilfulness of awareness around how the breath aspect, the energetic aspect and the mind aspect of the practice is helping to create this yoga magic. And then of course the ability to put that learning into words in our classes.
So the practice is well rounded.
Students that are mostly interested in the physical aspect of the practice will get all the instruction they need, and the practitioners who are ready for something deeper will get that also. Then as teachers out the front, we are really walking the talk, sharing a truly transformative gift that can change the world.
Breathing is at the very foundation of life. It is also of course one of the 8 limbs of yoga and one of the central components to a yoga practice and yoga class.
Despite this there is only a small percentage of yoga teachers who understand the physiology of breathing and who understand how the breathing instructions we give in a class can have a significant impact on students’ breathing health and overall health.
Many yoga teachers in their teacher training learn different techniques of pranayama, variations on the full yogic breath and perhaps if they’re lucky an understanding of the diaphragm and the secondary respiratory muscles. However, a very important learning seems to be left out, that being – what does a normal healthy day to day breathing pattern look like and how can I educate my students to breathe during asana in a way that will cultivate physiological health.
Because of our stressed, busy lifestyles, 80% of people have poor breathing patterns, they hyperventilate which means breathing too much for the body’s needs. Many yoga teachers think that to breathe more and to breathe deeply is good, but this is not correct. It is called hyperventilation and is very harmful for our health.
At The Yoga Transition we unpack this in detail – how fast breathing, which is often done with fast vinyasa – encourages hyperventilation. It causes a stress response in the nervous system, increases anxiety, reduces sleep quality.
At The Yoga Transition we educate teachers how to recognise which of your students are hyperventilating (which most of the time is most of them!), and teach you how to adapt your breathing cues to train a more functional, healthy breathing pattern. This helps shift the physiology from fight or flight dominance into the parasympathetic, the calm phase of the nervous system. A great service we can do for our clients!
Another module we cover in some depth is the relationship between the primary and secondary breathing muscles and how they create stability of the asana form and how they can be used to cultivate mobility as well. Rather than limiting your breathing cues to ‘inhale and exhale’ we will teach you a detailed understanding of how the respiratory muscles biomechanics actually create the posture.
This leads us to a subtle and powerful understanding of how the energetic lines in the posture get created and channelled, moving our experience from the physical body into the energy body. The breath being the link, the access route.
This breathing module is one of my favourites. Everyone can interact with their breath. Developing your understanding of the breath is a tried and tested pathway to taking your asana practice to a more intimate and refined level.
In the Krishnamacharya lineage, the Sanskrit word Vinyasa does not mean flow, it is defined as ”a structured sequence that moves the body, breath and mind in a particular direction.” – this definition has a lot packed into it.
When we present a sequence for our students we want the class to have a clearly defined intention. When a class has a specific intention and we have the skills to design a sequence to achieve that intention then the practice is going to be useful, it’s going to be effective and it’s going to be a learning experience.
The sequence will have carefully selected postures, breathing instructions and awareness instructions to create a specific effect on the body, breath or mind. An intention for a yoga class could be to mobilise the shoulders, or to use the breath to calm the nervous system, or to refine attention as a prelude to meditation.
As yoga is a holistic practice which affects the body, breath, nervous system and mental and emotional state – we could have an intention that creates a specific effect on one or several of these systems.
An intelligent sequence to manifest a chosen intention will have only the postures, breathing instructions and awareness instructions required, nothing superfluous, nothing random.
At The Yoga Transition we will teach you how to build Vinyasa sequences in this way, where every posture, every cue is targeted and therefore effective.
In regards to asana sequencing, this is both a science and an art.
A science where we must respect the biomechanical principles of the body and in particular how the spine moves. It is not good enough to choose your favourite 20 postures and lump them together in an order and hope that the spine and body feels good afterwards. This way of practising will not best serve your students or your progression as a teacher.
Some of the topics we cover in this sequencing module are – the role of forward bends to neutralise the spine, the use of counter-postures to bring the spine back to neutral, how to warm up particular parts of the body for peak poses, how to use physical adaptations in common poses to create unique effects, how to modify the breath to fulfil different intentions,
understanding the difference between moving in and out of a posture as opposed to staying in a posture, and understanding how to build therapeutic sequences as well as developmental and maintenance sequences.
To build sequences in this way is a science – which is the technical side of the learning, and it is also an art where we can bring our own authenticity and creativity to what we present and share with our students.
With science as our foundation, from that safe and effective base we can then creatively add our own flavour and style that students will recognise as our own. Teaching from this intelligent and authentic place is a pleasure, one that will inspire trust in yourself as a teacher, and trust in yourself from your clients.
Many teachers understand and know on a personal level that yoga is more than just a physical practice. While many students come to a yoga class assuming they are going to be engaging mostly in the physical practice of asana, we, as teachers, need to have a teaching strategy that gives them also the greater holistic aspect of yoga – that is yoga that is for the mind and spirit not just for the body.
If we look at the 8 limbs of yoga we have asana as the third limb and then the more refined, subtle limbs of dharana and dhyana as the 6th and 7th limb, the meditation practices. All of these limbs are connected, they are not to be practised separately, in isolation.
I strongly believe and encourage all teachers to teach beyond just the physical level. Development of our mental state, development of our consciousness has always been the traditional goal of yoga.
‘Yogash chitta vritti nirodhah’ – the second of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is translated as ‘Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.’
Incorporating meditation principles within the asana practice and incorporating a formal meditation practice as well in our classes – this is a practical strategy to manifest this goal.
Many of our students, and teachers for that matter, suffer from mental afflictions like stress, anxiety and habitual negative thought patterns. Meditation offers a tangible and practical way we can move beyond those habits of mind. This is a great and very important promise the practice offers and we as teachers have the opportunity to show our students that path.
Even more important than using meditation as a therapy, we can use meditation as a way to refine our consciousness; to move beyond a self centred construction of mind to a more connected, less conditioned, more open state of awareness.
This is the greatest gift of yoga.
Given the state of the world at the moment, all the difficulties we, as the human race, are facing, when we develop our consciousness we have the opportunity to really be the change we want to see in the world. Incorporating the principles and practice of meditation into our classes is a practical and structured way we can do this.
At The Yoga Transition we will teach you how to be varied in your cueing. Some cues will be for the Annamayakosha – the physical form, some for the pranayama kosher – the energy body and breath, and some for the Manomayakosha – the mind. This way, throughout your class there are cues that stimulate and refine the quality of your attention and the development of awareness.
This brings a sophisticated and comprehensive feel to the experience and to the learning. Cues offered in every pose to serve the development of the mind side of the practice. When practised in this way, the asana practice serves the meditation practice to come.
If you are new or fairly new to meditation then we offer an online structured meditation course so you can upskill. This course has all you need to develop your own practice and for teaching others.
If owning and creating a yoga studio is a dream you have then at The Yoga Transition we can give you the strategies and help you build the confidence you need to make this a reality.
After my first training in 2002 in Rishikesh, India I started like most yoga teachers teaching from my local community hall, the local school and whatever private gigs I could find mostly in people’s living rooms. After 4 years teaching in this way the prospect of starting my own studio was a big draw.
No longer having to drag my yoga mats and props from hall to hall, no longer having to sweep up the crumbs from the kids group that used the hall before me, no longer having to compromise with places with poor heating, too much noise, or too much bright lighting.
But most of all the dream of being able to create a dedicated practice space that I could set up as my own, as the sanctuary practice space that I dreamed of, and most of all the opportunity to teach full time and earn enough income from teaching yoga as a career.
Starting a studio makes this all possible.
And it is entirely possible. Starting a yoga studio takes confidence. When we have the skills and information on how to best do this, then this dream can become a reality.
At The Yoga Transition we can walk you through the steps you’ll want to have covered when setting up your studio. From choosing a premises, signing a lease, fitting out the studio and working out your start up costs, employing other teachers, working out a timetable and class pricing options, deciding on what workshops to offer, targeting different demographics of students, advice on marketing and networking and setting up websites, setting up insurances and databases and payment platforms.
All of this we can help you de-mystify and confidently work through, making sure nothing is left out.
Owning and running a studio is one way that yoga teachers can significantly increase their income from teaching. It’s an incredibly rewarding and creative experience, one that I hope you get the opportunity to do.
Teaching workshops, immersions and retreats enable us to grow significantly in our teaching capabilities. The one-off studio classes most yoga teachers teach are self-contained and because of their short timeframe eg. 1 hour class, they are limited in the information they can impart.
When we have a larger teaching window, for example a day of yoga, or a weekend, or multi-day retreat then of course we have the opportunity to deliver a much more developed and in-depth message.
Many yoga teachers who for some time have been teaching just short studio classes or the like are ready to progress to offering workshops and retreats. At The Yoga Transition we can guide you to put these together.
The primary skill needed is to construct a logical, structured plan of what will be presented. The first step is choosing a topic or theme that is representative of your skills and interests and then learning how to put this into a logical progression of practices and deliverance of information.
Workshops, immersions and retreats are super rewarding to teach as they enable you to take your students much deeper into the practice than you can with one-off studio classes.
We will show you logical steps for building the information delivered in each of the sessions of your workshop.
Providing these more in-depth offerings to your students is always very appreciated, especially by those dedicated students who are looking for something more.
I remember once teaching a workshop to students who had been practising yoga for many years and was totally shocked to find that only one of the group had heard of the eight limbs of yoga. On reflection I realised this was because they had only ever attended studio classes and had never had the opportunity to learn any more than those short snippets.
And then of course from a teacher’s perspective when we put together a retreat or longer workshop we are able to showcase the depth of our own learning. We are able to offer practices that don’t fit into the short studio class such as developing the asana practice in an educational way not just as a one-off experience, more detailed pranayama, more explanation around meditation, longer relaxation practices as well as discussions around the philosophy of yoga. And one of the most enjoyable aspects is the time to talk to your students, to have discussions around how their practice is going, this often we have in only a very limited form at the studio one-off classes.
Workshops, immersions, and retreats can take many shapes and forms.
At The Yoga Transition we will help you decide on the format for your event, suitable themes and intentions, and of course the teaching structure and content, we will help you put this together in a creative manner that can be deeply satisfying. If you have been teaching only studio classes for some time we would love to encourage you to take your teaching to this next level.
The practice of yoga is one of refinement. Refinement at many levels. Yoga and its varied array of practices is an opportunity to live more fully, with a greater awareness and a greater connection to the world around us.
This practice of refinement, of moving from the surface of things to the more hidden mysteries and subtleties of life is very compelling. People that choose yoga as a path often have this curiosity about what is this life experience, what are the secrets of the body, what is this life force of the breath, what is this commonly experienced yet mysterious thing we call mind.
At The Yoga Transition we understand that the progression on the yogic path is one of slowly and consciously moving along this path of exploration. From the obvious and superficial, to the less obvious and more subtle.
In our physical practice as beginners we might start out – for example in downward dog feeling mainly the stretch of our hamstrings. As we progress in our yoga journey we might move beyond that obvious noticing, to notice perhaps in downward dog how when our femurs rotate inwardly we get more anterior tilt of the pelvis which gives us more access to the energy channel that creates the extension of the spine. And then as we progress a little more in the cultivation of our awareness we might notice that if we in the same pose add a little less anterior tilt of the pelvis then our front midline is more contained and this leads to a softening of the breath and a calming of the nervous system. And the progression of the practice continues.
For most yogis we come to yoga originally seeking something for the physical body, perhaps mobility or postural organisation. Then as we continue working with the practices we become more interested in what the practice offers for the more subtle aspects of ourselves – the breath, the nervous system, the mind, the spirit.
The starting point is cultivating a sensitivity with our bodies through an intelligent and thoughtful asana practice. This then enables a sensitivity and perceptiveness around our breath and how the breath affects all aspects of our body and mind. And then a further refinement of the practice leads us towards samadhi, where we cultivate a quiet, alert, knowing awareness that then becomes the heart of the practice.
At The Yoga Transition we work with teachers and students to develop a framework for progressing their practice and their teaching skills around this transitioning from the obvious to a more intimate, subtle level practice.
When we approach the practice in this way the practice remains always fresh; it keeps us captivated. We see and experience the yoga practice for the adventure it promises. And of course then we are able to pass on this learning and this enthusiasm to our students.
We can only teach what we know.
A meaningful gift of the practice of yoga can only stem from a teacher’s personal, intimate experience of the practice. For this reason the quality of our individual personal practice will always be at the heart of our teaching.
In a yoga class there is a world of difference between when a teacher is giving written-instructions as opposed to an instruction that comes from their personal, unique experience. The tone, the atmosphere, the weight those authentic instructions carry is a world apart.
If we are to continue to develop as yoga teachers then we need to have a plan of some sort to grow as yoga practitioners; to have a path of development in our own personal practice.
If you feel your practice could do with more structure and direction then at The Yoga Transition we can help you develop this. Working with a mentor you will have the opportunity to get more clear on what your own interests are within the practice. What areas of learning do you want to delve into, or perhaps there are some topics from your original teacher training that you would like to review or refine?
One of the great gifts The Yoga Transition can provide you with is a refreshed and new vision around your own practice. One where your awareness around the practice is more subtle and your wisdom around the practice is more refined.
If you are doing primarily a physical practice then we can show you how to incorporate more of the other limbs of yoga, such as pranayama and meditation.
In all of the 8 limbs the movement is from the superficial and gross, to the more subtle and refined. We can offer suggestions around how to make this transition within your physical practice and within the breath, energetic and mind aspect of the practice. And then of course this newly learnt information you can then creatively weave into your classes.
A moment ago I was mentioning the difference between just giving written instructions that you might have learnt at your training or from a handbook as opposed to giving instructions that come from your own personal practice experience.
When we have a developed personal practice, we are able to draw on the uniqueness of this experience and bring that alive in our teaching cues; this is how we develop our own personal teaching style, one that stands us out from the crowd.
At The Yoga Transition we understand and will share with you how the quality and shape of your personal practice will be the main driver in your career and passion as a teacher.
