April 12, 2024 • 25 mins
RSVP for FREE to Deepen Your Practice: 3 Steps to Deepen Your Yoga & Ayurveda Practices
This Q&A question comes from listener Heidi L who asks "What advice would you give to some who has finished their YTT and is finding themselves with resistance to teaching due to feelings of imposter syndrome/lack of confidence after the 200hr"
I'll share some of the most important things to consider based on what i've seen after teaching over 7000 hours of classes since taking my first YTT in 2011.
------------
- If you enjoy this podcast leave a review and share with a friend
- Practice with me at http://www.quietmind.yoga
- Follow me on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/quietmind.yoga
- Learn Vedic Astrology, the sister science of yoga, with me at http://www.quietmindastrology.com
Keywords: yoga teacher training, ytt, marketing, business, spirituality, yoga philosophy, asana practice, meditation techniques, anatomy and physiology, pranayama (breathing techniques), teaching methodology, yoga history, adjustments and modifications, Sanskrit, chakras and energy centers, Ayurveda and yoga, ethics and professionalism, sequencing and class planning, business of yoga, and self-care and self-study, equity, yoga therapy, community
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
My name is Jeremy Devins and welcome back to the Yoga Teacher
Training Podcast. Today we'll talk about a
question that came in from HeidiElla, listener about Imposter
syndrome and what to do after your YTT.
And I'm hosting a free live workshop called Deep in Your
Practice. You can go to Quiet mind dot
(00:21):
yoga Slash Deep in your practice.
All one word and sign up for free to this workshop where I'll
be talking about the three-step path to deepening your own yoga
and Ayurveda practice. Very excited about this.
I'm actually sharing one of the most profound life changing
exercises that I've done for my own personal growth and I
(00:41):
attribute a lot of my own personal happiness and
fulfillment to this exercise, but I haven't shared it many
places before. But I will share it at the
workshop and how you can use it to your own benefit and your own
growth. So very excited about this And
it's free. I like to do something for free
like this regularly and it has been a while since I've done the
Deep in Your Practice workshop. So looking forward to it.
(01:03):
We've already got lots of peoplesigned up from around the world
will be really fun. Quiet mind at yoga slash deep in
your practice. So this question about imposter
syndrome comes up all the time for yoga teachers.
It's so common because I I thinkwhy and I've talked about this
in other episodes, but it still keeps coming up.
(01:24):
Why does it come up? I think it's because yoga is
this tradition that has so much respect around it.
And I know for me when I first went to yoga classes, I had so
much respect for my teachers andjust felt really inspired by
them and thought to do that mustbe a very high level skill.
They must know a lot of stuff and it is a high level skill and
(01:49):
they do know a lot of stuff. And if you've taken a YTT, you
know that there is a lot to learn.
So how do you go from student totrainee to teacher and bridge
that space from you finish the training to now you're on the
other side of the room. Now you're in the front of the
class and people are looking to you for the answers in the same
(02:13):
way that you look to your teacher looking for guidance.
So one thing to think about, I'mgoing to share several things to
think about today and consider. But one thing to start is that
idea of when you're looking at ateacher, when you go to a class,
what are your expectations? Are you expecting them to know
everything and be perfect and have no flaws?
(02:36):
Probably not. You're probably expecting them
to be humans that just have thisreally good skill and they're
really good at teaching and really dedicated to the
practice. So that's one thing is knowing
that your expectations of othersis probably realistic, but your
expectations of yourself might be unrealistic and you might not
hold a teacher. You go to their class.
You might not hold them to the standard of being perfect, but
(02:58):
you might hold yourself to that standard.
And obviously, nobody's perfect.We all have flaws, we all have
insecurities and doubts and makemistakes and so on.
So if you wouldn't hold a teacher to that standard, why
would you hold yourself to that standard?
And I would argue if you do holda teacher to that standard, that
will likely lead to disappointment or
(03:20):
disillusionment in the long run.We've seen so many cases now at
this point in yoga history of gurus being false or taken off
of their pedestal and and so on.So at this point, I think it's
fair to say we can all know thatyoga teachers are fallible and
human, and there's no need to put them on a pedestal as
(03:41):
infallible or superhuman. There's just people who like
taking care of their health and spiritual practices and
connected to this lineage that they're part of.
But it doesn't need to be anything more than that for us
as students and also for us as teachers.
So the next thing I want to consider is just reflecting on
the progress that you've made. So think about how much you've
(04:02):
achieved since starting your YTTand the investment that you've
made and your time, your energy financially to invest in your
practice. That's worth something, right?
And if you've learned something in your own practice, if you got
a moment of being in a class andfeeling inspired and learning
something, you can very likely transmit that to someone else.
(04:25):
As my teacher would say, yoga iscaught, not taught.
So if you've never taken a yoga class, you're probably not going
to be a good yoga teacher. If you've taken even one class,
you probably learned something you could teach.
But if you're listening to this,you've probably taken dozens,
hundreds, maybe even thousands of classes.
(04:46):
And at this point, you've probably had some epiphanies and
experiences that really resonated with you or stood out
to you. Learn some things that you could
probably teach someone else. So if you've had this feeling of
noticing what your shoulders aredoing in Warrior 2, noticing
you're hunching up your shoulders, you can transmit that
(05:06):
and help someone else notice if they're hunching their shoulders
up in a Warrior 2. If you've had this feeling of
coming into class feeling tight and tense and like you're
inflexible and then you just do your best and you end up feeling
good after class, you can help someone else have that
experience. This is the most common
question. Most common concern that
students have is, oh, I'm not flexible.
(05:27):
I don't know if I can do this. Do you think I could do yoga?
And you've probably at this point experienced what it's like
to feel inflexible, to feel tense and still practice anyway
and feel great. And if you experience that, you
could help someone else experience that.
It doesn't need to be the most life changing, profound class
they've ever taken. It doesn't need to heal all
(05:49):
their injuries and make everything better.
And they found enlightenment. But could you help someone feel
a little better today? Could you help someone feel a
little less tense in their legs and their back and their hips or
whatever? Next thing to consider is your
own emotional state. It's normal to feel uncertain or
to lack confidence. It's normal to go into a new
(06:12):
field and and see how much everyone else knows and have
that help. You know how much you don't know
and be aware of that and that can have you feel insecure or
afraid or doubtful. These are normal feelings and
energy in motion is what createsemotion.
So emotions are energy and emotion.
(06:34):
And when that emotion moves and expresses and you feel afraid
and you just say like, I'm feeling nervous about teaching
in this class. Don't know if people are going
to like it, you know, just express that maybe to a friend
or a teacher. The energy is moved and it no
longer is stuck and no longer makes you feel stuck.
(06:54):
I often think back to the first yoga retreat that I LED in 2016,
First time doing my own thing. I've been part of lots of
things. My first time teaching, everyone
signed up because of me and they're there for me.
Felt like a lot of pressure at the time.
And I reached out to my mentor and I was freaking out a bit.
Like, am I ready for this? Am I doing the right thing?
(07:16):
Should I cancel it? Oh my gosh, what are people are
going to think like? Do they are they going to like
this? And at that point, I've been
teaching for five years. And she said they're there
because of you. They they like your class.
You know, they come to your class.
Just teach your class. You don't have to reinvent the
wheel and you can just teach what you know.
(07:38):
You don't have to try to teach something you don't know or
you're not ready for. Just teach what you know.
So that dovetails into some other topics.
But the main reason I shared that is because my emotional
state completely changed when I just talked to my mentor about
it and then voiced those feelings.
I could have just kind of bottled it up or tried to
withhold it or no. I'm super confident I got this.
(08:00):
I know what I'm doing, blah blahblah.
But being vulnerable, really opening up and just saying I
felt doubtful and insecure. I didn't know if I was ready.
I wasn't sure if I could do this.
I lacked confidence even after five years of teaching, even
after all of the students who signed up have told me many
times they loved my classes. But now it's it was something
new. All right then if you're coming
(08:21):
out of a YTT and you're going into just teaching that
something new, and it's normal to feel insecure and not fully
confident when you do something new.
So noticing those emotions, and there's also maybe some emotions
of excitement, sometimes excitement and fear kind of feel
like the same thing. Maybe you're actually just
really excited about this, but it's like a nervous energy.
(08:45):
Feels like it might be nervous, but it's a feeling to be
expressed. So let it express.
Share with a friend. Journal about it.
Go to your own, practice with it.
Meditate with it. Let it move through your body.
Don't ignore it. Don't deny it, but acknowledge
it. And then maybe there's within
that there's some lesson too. Maybe you feel insecure because
you've been asked to teach an arm balance workshop, but you
(09:07):
don't practice arm balances, so you are an imposter.
You are the wrong person to teach that and you're not being
authentic to yourself. So that may be the time to say,
actually, I'm not going to teachthis.
I'm going to find a colleague who's who loves teaching arm
balances and have them do it andask them to teach it.
So the emotions have a lot of information for us.
(09:27):
We have an emotional guidance system.
I love the Abraham works. Abraham Hicks work on this
emotional guidance system. It's telling you when you're on
path or off path, when you're inalignment or out of alignment in
the same way tension in your body does.
But it's emotional attention. So the next thing to consider is
just starting small, right? Little by little, my Ayurveda
(09:49):
would teacher would say if you're going to make changes in
your life, don't have to make massive sweeping changes
overnight. You can do little things little
by little, and those will lead to big things in the long run.
Drop by drop. The pot is filled with water,
right? That's how we have big things.
We start with small things. So you might start by teaching
(10:10):
your spouse who hopefully is notgoing to ridicule you and judge
you ideally, and they likely won't.
And maybe your family and friends, and they might tease
you a little bit. They might be awkward and giggle
at certain things, but it's breaking the ice.
Somebody you know, they're not going to disown you because you
taught a weird yoga class and did your best and you forgot
(10:33):
which side you were on or whatever.
And then maybe you branch out tofriends and they bring their
friends. Oh, it's a stranger now.
It's a little bit different. Maybe you reach out to your yoga
teacher colleagues that you did the training with, ask the
practice teaching each other, goback and forth.
And then you branch out to Maybeyou do a donation class at the
(10:53):
rec center in your town, or at alocal event, or just set up shop
at like a farmers market or ecstatic dance and just invite
people to come practice some stretches with.
You start small. You don't need to be this big
overnight sensation and probablywon't.
But if you start small, you eventually could.
(11:14):
Whatever your dreams or aspirations are, they have to
start with small steps and it's good to have those big visions
and and dream big and all this. But every big vision starts with
a small next step. Next thing to consider is just
keep learning. So a lot of people say this like
you think YTT is the end. You do your yoga teacher
(11:34):
training and now you're ready toteach.
But a lot of ways it's the beginning.
This is kind of the phrase you'll hear a lot.
It's actually just the beginning, and it really is.
It's like, OK, now you know whatyou don't know.
You know some things that you needed to know, but you know a
lot that you don't know. And it's just infinite.
And even the best teacher trainings are great, but the
knowledge is infinite. It's a lifelong study, like all
(11:57):
Vedic teachings, many lifetimes even.
So keep learning, keep growing, take more trainings.
Keeping a student as much as you're a teacher.
It creates this nice reciprocityand flow of inputs to outputs,
insights from your teacher to guidance to your students, and
they have their own insights. And then there's a huge
(12:17):
beautiful ripple effect. It's a big part of why I think
teaching is so powerful. But keep learning, keep growing
and you'll have more to teach. The best teacher is the best
student. Next thing to consider is
practicing compassion for yourself.
Self love, self-care. How would you talk to your best
friend who just started a new job and is feeling insecure?
(12:40):
Probably tell them that's normal.
You're going to learn. You're going to make mistakes.
Have a growth mindset. Growth mindset is how.
What can I learn from this? Try something.
See what happens. A fixed mindset.
The opposite of that would be you fail, you're you're just a
failure. You're going to keep failing.
You failed. Once you're in the wrong path,
(13:02):
just give it up. That's a fixed mindset.
It sees obstacles as roadblocks and you just stop.
But a growth mindset is a very healthy thing to have
psychologically in all areas of life, but particularly with
something as big and bold as stepping out in front of a room
and then telling them what to dofor the entire hour and nobody
(13:24):
talks back. This is what yoga teachers are
doing. It's a vulnerable position for
your students to be in, but it'seven more vulnerable to be in as
a teacher, where every word you say is being deeply, intently
listened to and affecting somebody's body and their
movements and their awareness and their breath.
So be compassionate to yourself.Be aware of what you're doing in
(13:46):
the space you're holding and theweight of that, but also know
that it will take time and you will get better over time.
Next thing to consider is just visualizing your success.
So what do you want to be in thelong run?
Where do you visualize yourself in a year, five years?
10 years? As a teacher, do you want to be
(14:06):
teaching one-on-one privates, groups, corporate online
courses? Memberships, mentorships.
What is the next right step to move in that direction?
So if you start from the vision of maybe you're a teacher who
leads retreats around the world and you lead teacher trainings
and you feel in flow with your life, you feel aligned, you feel
(14:29):
empowered, you're empowering others.
People have amazing feedback foryour classes.
So when you see all that, when you envision that, that becomes
very obvious where you're not those things yet.
Oh, you want to leave retreats, but you've never let it retreat.
You never even been to a retreat.
You don't even know where the nearest retreat is.
(14:50):
So that becomes very obvious of well, maybe you should go to a
retreat yourself first if you want to leave retreats.
Or maybe you've been to retreatsbut you've never LED one.
Maybe you should go with a friend.
Who? A colleague or you reach out to
somebody. Would you like an assistant
teacher at your retreat? I'll pay half, you know.
I'll pay for my room and board or something, and then I'll
teach for free. Any opportunity you can to move
(15:13):
in progress towards your success, towards your vision is
worth it. And I I taught so much for free.
Anything I could do when I was starting out, I didn't care.
I wanted the experience because I had a vision of where I was
going as a teacher and I knew that experience would get me
closer to it. Next thing to consider is
seeking support. As I mentioned before, mentors
(15:34):
are incredibly helpful. They save you so much time and
strife and confusion, and they will steer you clear of a lot of
obstacles and mistakes that they've made and just accelerate
your path dramatically. So surround yourself with
supportive community, fellow teachers, mentors, guides, join
online forums, Go to yoga events, do things to be around
(15:56):
people who have the results thatyou have and who are on the path
that you're on. And when you're walking next to
somebody who is maybe also at the same level of experience as
you, and you see what they're doing and you can bounce ideas
off each other and you can collaborate.
It's so fun. It's the best.
I've collaborated so much with teachers.
We like do a workshop together. Oh, she's really good at sound
(16:20):
healing. I'm really good at this.
Let's do a workshop together. You know, I did worked with an
acupuncturist. I do this like I I'm actually
very into sound healing. I did the sound healing, she did
the acupuncture in the class. So it's really beautiful
combination of things that it's kind of rare to find that and if
you can find opportunities to connect with others, peers,
mentors, guides that will make your path so much smoother and
(16:44):
clearer and so much so in this yoga tradition it is so much a
teacher to student relationship,a practice based path where the
more you practice, the more you're in sangha and community,
the more you have guidance from others, the more you have to
share with others. And then the last idea is just
being authentic, being true to yourself.
(17:06):
So your way of teaching is not my way or another's way or
anyone else's way. You might be really inspired by
some teachers and want to teach like them, but your way is going
to be unearthed by you. It's like this archaeological
dig that will take a few years. So when you finish your YTT,
you're going to just be repeating stuff you've heard for
a while and then some. Suddenly you're going to say
(17:29):
something that you haven't heardbefore and you'll be like, wait
a minute, no one else has said that.
I just said that. I just.
I just came up with a new way ofthinking about that.
I just did something just spontaneous and authentic.
I feel like I'm finding my style.
I'm finding my voice. And you'll, you'll keep doing
that. You'll do it again in the
future. And eventually you.
(17:50):
You develop this sort of repertoire of things you've
heard from others, things that you've uncovered from yourself,
things you learned in your own practice, things that you found
inspiring, quotes that resonate with you.
But it's your own way. No one else can do it.
And when you let yourself come through, when you're teaching
what you're practicing, what you're learning, challenges that
(18:10):
you've overcome, now you're being really authentic and true
to yourself. You're being the author of your
life. And I think that is one of the
beautiful gifts about being in the role of a teacher is that
you're in this constant demand really to be authentic, to be
true, because the students are in this completely receptive,
(18:30):
vulnerable state in the way of just trusting what you say.
Whatever you say to do, they're probably going to do it in the
class. So they're trusting that you are
speaking with authority, from experience, from authenticity,
and there's a sense of trust there that is a major
responsibility to hold as a teacher.
(18:51):
And in that trust, you've got tobe true to yourself.
They can't trust you if you're not true to yourself, if you're
being inauthentic, if you're just saying things that you
think you should say. Anatomy cues that you don't know
why you're saying it, but you just heard it before.
You haven't embodied it. You haven't lived it.
You don't know why this thing istaught, but you just teach it.
People are not going to be able to resonate with you.
(19:11):
They're not going to be able to trust you because you're not
being true to yourself. And the true thing may be that
you're just don't know anatomy yet and you don't need to teach
it. You just focus on the things
that you do, practice that you do, teach that you have embodied
and teach that. But you you, maybe you do love
(19:32):
restorative yoga, and you've hadprofound, deep healing
experiences in in restorative yoga.
So teach that even though you you really like Mignasa, you
wish you could teach Mignasa. You want to teach Mignasa, but
when you do it, you mix up your sides.
You try to throw in stuff you, your students, get out of
breath, whatever, You you're just not there yet.
(19:52):
So keep practicing. Keep learning, keep growing.
Eventually, teach it if you wantto.
But right now, in this moment, this week, as listening to this
episode with the next thing you teach, teach the thing that you
practice, that you love, that nourishes you and that will feel
more authentic to yourself. You will put your students more
at ease. They'll feel safer in your
(20:13):
class, able to trust you, able to relax, able to get the
benefits of yoga that you got from your teacher because they
were being authentic. And that is what we're passing
down. Because yoga is caught, not
taught, we're passing down this authentic experience of
embodiment, of presence, of mind, body and spirit.
You can't fake that. You can't just read that in a
(20:34):
book and then repeat it. You have to embody it and
experience it. And if you've done that even for
a second, even in just one pose,you could likely help someone
else have a little bit of that same experience.
And you've probably had a lot more than that experience, so
you can probably help people a lot more than you realize.
(20:54):
And so much of this, too, is just the mindset you know.
So this is all just mindset stuff today, just how you're
thinking about what you're doingwhen you when you go to teach.
And ultimately, you're going to get better.
Like you're going to become lessof an impostor and more of just
somebody who has done this many times.
And when you've done it many times, that's the surest way to
(21:16):
build confidence. Like Michael Jordan would say,
he's ready for anything on the basketball court because he's
tried everything, every possiblescenario, every possible drill,
every possible angle and shot. He's already done it before he
gets on the court to play the game.
So the more you've got this experience, and this is my
(21:36):
attitude coming into learning yoga and after my YTT, the more
experience I have, the more I'vebeen to every possible class and
teacher and style and and taughteverything from three-year olds
to 80 year olds and everything in between which I literally
have And I sought out those opportunities.
You have this wealth of knowledge of like when you go to
teach and you're in front of anygroup of people, there's no
(21:59):
insecurity because you've already done it before.
You've already taught them before this group of people or
this possible scenario. And if you don't, and there's
always going to be curve balls, and if you don't know something
you have the confidence to say, I don't know what to do.
I can't help you there. Maybe my physical therapist
friend can help you. Maybe this other teacher could
help you. Maybe Google could help us.
(22:20):
But I'm going to focus on what Ican help you with, which is what
I've practiced and embodied, andI'll do my best there.
And when you're starting out, it's not as much as somebody's
been doing it for 10 years. That's the cold, hard reality of
it. And there's no way to skip that.
There's no way to Fast forward that.
You just have to experience it, but it doesn't make what you
have to offer any less importantor valid or life changing for
(22:41):
the person who needs it. So somebody's coming to your
class and you've only been teaching 3 * 5 classes, whatever
they are there to receive, whatever you have to offer.
So share what you have to offer with all of your heart as best
you can and then keep practicing.
Keep learning, keep growing, andyou'll have more to offer every
(23:02):
time you do it. So if you want more practice,
more embodiment, more to learn in your own practice, check out
the Deepen your Practice workshop.
Go to Quietmind at yoga, slash, deepen your practice, the whole
thing. What I'm offering, I'm going to
be offering this new mentorship program I've never offered
before. It's all about experiencing
practice, experience and embodiment, Giving you practice
(23:24):
with mantras, mudras, meditations, asana, anatomy,
Ayurveda, all of it. So you've embodied it, so you've
practiced it, right? This is what I'm sharing based
on my experience of OK, I want to try this.
I want to learn that I want to know as much as possible so I'm
ready for as much as possible asa teacher.
And I've just experienced a lot.I've experienced a lot of parts
(23:45):
of myself and my practice and mypsyche and my own life through
the asana and meditation and mudras and everything else.
So this is what I'll be sharing in the upcoming mentorship
program. But if you want to learn about
that, if you want to start working with me and see what I
have to offer and see if it's the right fit, check out the
Deep in your practice workshop, Quiet Mind at Yoga Slash, Deep
in your practice. And then if you want to sign up,
(24:07):
you'll have an opportunity to dothat there.
And go deeper with me in the mentorship program, which I'm
very excited about and is the best place, I think the best
offer that I've seen. And I've looked at everything
out there. I'm a big nerd of the research
is like, is anyone doing something like this?
And they're not. So I want to create something
like this, where it's all about immersing in practice and giving
(24:29):
you a wide range of experiences so you feel well versed in the
whole world of yoga that's available to us and knowing of
course, it's infinite, it's lifelong, there's always new
layers and new levels, but this is what I think one of the best
ways to immerse in practice. So quiet minded yoga sash deep
in your practice. If you want to check out more if
(24:50):
you enjoyed this podcast, leave a review, share with a friend
and I hope you feel a little bitless like an impostor today and
I look forward to sharing more with you next time on the Quiet
Mind Yoga Teacher Training Podcast.
My name is Jeremy Devins and welcome back to the Yoga Teacher
Training Podcast. Today we'll talk about a
question that came in from HeidiElla, listener about Imposter
syndrome and what to do after your YTT.
And I'm hosting a free live workshop called Deep in Your
Practice. You can go to Quiet mind dot
(00:21):
yoga Slash Deep in your practice.
All one word and sign up for free to this workshop where I'll
be talking about the three-step path to deepening your own yoga
and Ayurveda practice. Very excited about this.
I'm actually sharing one of the most profound life changing
exercises that I've done for my own personal growth and I
(00:41):
attribute a lot of my own personal happiness and
fulfillment to this exercise, but I haven't shared it many
places before. But I will share it at the
workshop and how you can use it to your own benefit and your own
growth. So very excited about this And
it's free. I like to do something for free
like this regularly and it has been a while since I've done the
Deep in Your Practice workshop. So looking forward to it.
(01:03):
We've already got lots of peoplesigned up from around the world
will be really fun. Quiet mind at yoga slash deep in
your practice. So this question about imposter
syndrome comes up all the time for yoga teachers.
It's so common because I I thinkwhy and I've talked about this
in other episodes, but it still keeps coming up.
(01:24):
Why does it come up? I think it's because yoga is
this tradition that has so much respect around it.
And I know for me when I first went to yoga classes, I had so
much respect for my teachers andjust felt really inspired by
them and thought to do that mustbe a very high level skill.
They must know a lot of stuff and it is a high level skill and
(01:49):
they do know a lot of stuff. And if you've taken a YTT, you
know that there is a lot to learn.
So how do you go from student totrainee to teacher and bridge
that space from you finish the training to now you're on the
other side of the room. Now you're in the front of the
class and people are looking to you for the answers in the same
(02:13):
way that you look to your teacher looking for guidance.
So one thing to think about, I'mgoing to share several things to
think about today and consider. But one thing to start is that
idea of when you're looking at ateacher, when you go to a class,
what are your expectations? Are you expecting them to know
everything and be perfect and have no flaws?
(02:36):
Probably not. You're probably expecting them
to be humans that just have thisreally good skill and they're
really good at teaching and really dedicated to the
practice. So that's one thing is knowing
that your expectations of othersis probably realistic, but your
expectations of yourself might be unrealistic and you might not
hold a teacher. You go to their class.
You might not hold them to the standard of being perfect, but
(02:58):
you might hold yourself to that standard.
And obviously, nobody's perfect.We all have flaws, we all have
insecurities and doubts and makemistakes and so on.
So if you wouldn't hold a teacher to that standard, why
would you hold yourself to that standard?
And I would argue if you do holda teacher to that standard, that
will likely lead to disappointment or
(03:20):
disillusionment in the long run.We've seen so many cases now at
this point in yoga history of gurus being false or taken off
of their pedestal and and so on.So at this point, I think it's
fair to say we can all know thatyoga teachers are fallible and
human, and there's no need to put them on a pedestal as
(03:41):
infallible or superhuman. There's just people who like
taking care of their health and spiritual practices and
connected to this lineage that they're part of.
But it doesn't need to be anything more than that for us
as students and also for us as teachers.
So the next thing I want to consider is just reflecting on
the progress that you've made. So think about how much you've
(04:02):
achieved since starting your YTTand the investment that you've
made and your time, your energy financially to invest in your
practice. That's worth something, right?
And if you've learned something in your own practice, if you got
a moment of being in a class andfeeling inspired and learning
something, you can very likely transmit that to someone else.
(04:25):
As my teacher would say, yoga iscaught, not taught.
So if you've never taken a yoga class, you're probably not going
to be a good yoga teacher. If you've taken even one class,
you probably learned something you could teach.
But if you're listening to this,you've probably taken dozens,
hundreds, maybe even thousands of classes.
(04:46):
And at this point, you've probably had some epiphanies and
experiences that really resonated with you or stood out
to you. Learn some things that you could
probably teach someone else. So if you've had this feeling of
noticing what your shoulders aredoing in Warrior 2, noticing
you're hunching up your shoulders, you can transmit that
(05:06):
and help someone else notice if they're hunching their shoulders
up in a Warrior 2. If you've had this feeling of
coming into class feeling tight and tense and like you're
inflexible and then you just do your best and you end up feeling
good after class, you can help someone else have that
experience. This is the most common
question. Most common concern that
students have is, oh, I'm not flexible.
(05:27):
I don't know if I can do this. Do you think I could do yoga?
And you've probably at this point experienced what it's like
to feel inflexible, to feel tense and still practice anyway
and feel great. And if you experience that, you
could help someone else experience that.
It doesn't need to be the most life changing, profound class
they've ever taken. It doesn't need to heal all
(05:49):
their injuries and make everything better.
And they found enlightenment. But could you help someone feel
a little better today? Could you help someone feel a
little less tense in their legs and their back and their hips or
whatever? Next thing to consider is your
own emotional state. It's normal to feel uncertain or
to lack confidence. It's normal to go into a new
(06:12):
field and and see how much everyone else knows and have
that help. You know how much you don't know
and be aware of that and that can have you feel insecure or
afraid or doubtful. These are normal feelings and
energy in motion is what createsemotion.
So emotions are energy and emotion.
(06:34):
And when that emotion moves and expresses and you feel afraid
and you just say like, I'm feeling nervous about teaching
in this class. Don't know if people are going
to like it, you know, just express that maybe to a friend
or a teacher. The energy is moved and it no
longer is stuck and no longer makes you feel stuck.
(06:54):
I often think back to the first yoga retreat that I LED in 2016,
First time doing my own thing. I've been part of lots of
things. My first time teaching, everyone
signed up because of me and they're there for me.
Felt like a lot of pressure at the time.
And I reached out to my mentor and I was freaking out a bit.
Like, am I ready for this? Am I doing the right thing?
(07:16):
Should I cancel it? Oh my gosh, what are people are
going to think like? Do they are they going to like
this? And at that point, I've been
teaching for five years. And she said they're there
because of you. They they like your class.
You know, they come to your class.
Just teach your class. You don't have to reinvent the
wheel and you can just teach what you know.
(07:38):
You don't have to try to teach something you don't know or
you're not ready for. Just teach what you know.
So that dovetails into some other topics.
But the main reason I shared that is because my emotional
state completely changed when I just talked to my mentor about
it and then voiced those feelings.
I could have just kind of bottled it up or tried to
withhold it or no. I'm super confident I got this.
(08:00):
I know what I'm doing, blah blahblah.
But being vulnerable, really opening up and just saying I
felt doubtful and insecure. I didn't know if I was ready.
I wasn't sure if I could do this.
I lacked confidence even after five years of teaching, even
after all of the students who signed up have told me many
times they loved my classes. But now it's it was something
new. All right then if you're coming
(08:21):
out of a YTT and you're going into just teaching that
something new, and it's normal to feel insecure and not fully
confident when you do something new.
So noticing those emotions, and there's also maybe some emotions
of excitement, sometimes excitement and fear kind of feel
like the same thing. Maybe you're actually just
really excited about this, but it's like a nervous energy.
(08:45):
Feels like it might be nervous, but it's a feeling to be
expressed. So let it express.
Share with a friend. Journal about it.
Go to your own, practice with it.
Meditate with it. Let it move through your body.
Don't ignore it. Don't deny it, but acknowledge
it. And then maybe there's within
that there's some lesson too. Maybe you feel insecure because
you've been asked to teach an arm balance workshop, but you
(09:07):
don't practice arm balances, so you are an imposter.
You are the wrong person to teach that and you're not being
authentic to yourself. So that may be the time to say,
actually, I'm not going to teachthis.
I'm going to find a colleague who's who loves teaching arm
balances and have them do it andask them to teach it.
So the emotions have a lot of information for us.
(09:27):
We have an emotional guidance system.
I love the Abraham works. Abraham Hicks work on this
emotional guidance system. It's telling you when you're on
path or off path, when you're inalignment or out of alignment in
the same way tension in your body does.
But it's emotional attention. So the next thing to consider is
just starting small, right? Little by little, my Ayurveda
(09:49):
would teacher would say if you're going to make changes in
your life, don't have to make massive sweeping changes
overnight. You can do little things little
by little, and those will lead to big things in the long run.
Drop by drop. The pot is filled with water,
right? That's how we have big things.
We start with small things. So you might start by teaching
(10:10):
your spouse who hopefully is notgoing to ridicule you and judge
you ideally, and they likely won't.
And maybe your family and friends, and they might tease
you a little bit. They might be awkward and giggle
at certain things, but it's breaking the ice.
Somebody you know, they're not going to disown you because you
taught a weird yoga class and did your best and you forgot
(10:33):
which side you were on or whatever.
And then maybe you branch out tofriends and they bring their
friends. Oh, it's a stranger now.
It's a little bit different. Maybe you reach out to your yoga
teacher colleagues that you did the training with, ask the
practice teaching each other, goback and forth.
And then you branch out to Maybeyou do a donation class at the
(10:53):
rec center in your town, or at alocal event, or just set up shop
at like a farmers market or ecstatic dance and just invite
people to come practice some stretches with.
You start small. You don't need to be this big
overnight sensation and probablywon't.
But if you start small, you eventually could.
(11:14):
Whatever your dreams or aspirations are, they have to
start with small steps and it's good to have those big visions
and and dream big and all this. But every big vision starts with
a small next step. Next thing to consider is just
keep learning. So a lot of people say this like
you think YTT is the end. You do your yoga teacher
(11:34):
training and now you're ready toteach.
But a lot of ways it's the beginning.
This is kind of the phrase you'll hear a lot.
It's actually just the beginning, and it really is.
It's like, OK, now you know whatyou don't know.
You know some things that you needed to know, but you know a
lot that you don't know. And it's just infinite.
And even the best teacher trainings are great, but the
knowledge is infinite. It's a lifelong study, like all
(11:57):
Vedic teachings, many lifetimes even.
So keep learning, keep growing, take more trainings.
Keeping a student as much as you're a teacher.
It creates this nice reciprocityand flow of inputs to outputs,
insights from your teacher to guidance to your students, and
they have their own insights. And then there's a huge
(12:17):
beautiful ripple effect. It's a big part of why I think
teaching is so powerful. But keep learning, keep growing
and you'll have more to teach. The best teacher is the best
student. Next thing to consider is
practicing compassion for yourself.
Self love, self-care. How would you talk to your best
friend who just started a new job and is feeling insecure?
(12:40):
Probably tell them that's normal.
You're going to learn. You're going to make mistakes.
Have a growth mindset. Growth mindset is how.
What can I learn from this? Try something.
See what happens. A fixed mindset.
The opposite of that would be you fail, you're you're just a
failure. You're going to keep failing.
You failed. Once you're in the wrong path,
(13:02):
just give it up. That's a fixed mindset.
It sees obstacles as roadblocks and you just stop.
But a growth mindset is a very healthy thing to have
psychologically in all areas of life, but particularly with
something as big and bold as stepping out in front of a room
and then telling them what to dofor the entire hour and nobody
(13:24):
talks back. This is what yoga teachers are
doing. It's a vulnerable position for
your students to be in, but it'seven more vulnerable to be in as
a teacher, where every word you say is being deeply, intently
listened to and affecting somebody's body and their
movements and their awareness and their breath.
So be compassionate to yourself.Be aware of what you're doing in
(13:46):
the space you're holding and theweight of that, but also know
that it will take time and you will get better over time.
Next thing to consider is just visualizing your success.
So what do you want to be in thelong run?
Where do you visualize yourself in a year, five years?
10 years? As a teacher, do you want to be
(14:06):
teaching one-on-one privates, groups, corporate online
courses? Memberships, mentorships.
What is the next right step to move in that direction?
So if you start from the vision of maybe you're a teacher who
leads retreats around the world and you lead teacher trainings
and you feel in flow with your life, you feel aligned, you feel
(14:29):
empowered, you're empowering others.
People have amazing feedback foryour classes.
So when you see all that, when you envision that, that becomes
very obvious where you're not those things yet.
Oh, you want to leave retreats, but you've never let it retreat.
You never even been to a retreat.
You don't even know where the nearest retreat is.
(14:50):
So that becomes very obvious of well, maybe you should go to a
retreat yourself first if you want to leave retreats.
Or maybe you've been to retreatsbut you've never LED one.
Maybe you should go with a friend.
Who? A colleague or you reach out to
somebody. Would you like an assistant
teacher at your retreat? I'll pay half, you know.
I'll pay for my room and board or something, and then I'll
teach for free. Any opportunity you can to move
(15:13):
in progress towards your success, towards your vision is
worth it. And I I taught so much for free.
Anything I could do when I was starting out, I didn't care.
I wanted the experience because I had a vision of where I was
going as a teacher and I knew that experience would get me
closer to it. Next thing to consider is
seeking support. As I mentioned before, mentors
(15:34):
are incredibly helpful. They save you so much time and
strife and confusion, and they will steer you clear of a lot of
obstacles and mistakes that they've made and just accelerate
your path dramatically. So surround yourself with
supportive community, fellow teachers, mentors, guides, join
online forums, Go to yoga events, do things to be around
(15:56):
people who have the results thatyou have and who are on the path
that you're on. And when you're walking next to
somebody who is maybe also at the same level of experience as
you, and you see what they're doing and you can bounce ideas
off each other and you can collaborate.
It's so fun. It's the best.
I've collaborated so much with teachers.
We like do a workshop together. Oh, she's really good at sound
(16:20):
healing. I'm really good at this.
Let's do a workshop together. You know, I did worked with an
acupuncturist. I do this like I I'm actually
very into sound healing. I did the sound healing, she did
the acupuncture in the class. So it's really beautiful
combination of things that it's kind of rare to find that and if
you can find opportunities to connect with others, peers,
mentors, guides that will make your path so much smoother and
(16:44):
clearer and so much so in this yoga tradition it is so much a
teacher to student relationship,a practice based path where the
more you practice, the more you're in sangha and community,
the more you have guidance from others, the more you have to
share with others. And then the last idea is just
being authentic, being true to yourself.
(17:06):
So your way of teaching is not my way or another's way or
anyone else's way. You might be really inspired by
some teachers and want to teach like them, but your way is going
to be unearthed by you. It's like this archaeological
dig that will take a few years. So when you finish your YTT,
you're going to just be repeating stuff you've heard for
a while and then some. Suddenly you're going to say
(17:29):
something that you haven't heardbefore and you'll be like, wait
a minute, no one else has said that.
I just said that. I just.
I just came up with a new way ofthinking about that.
I just did something just spontaneous and authentic.
I feel like I'm finding my style.
I'm finding my voice. And you'll, you'll keep doing
that. You'll do it again in the
future. And eventually you.
(17:50):
You develop this sort of repertoire of things you've
heard from others, things that you've uncovered from yourself,
things you learned in your own practice, things that you found
inspiring, quotes that resonate with you.
But it's your own way. No one else can do it.
And when you let yourself come through, when you're teaching
what you're practicing, what you're learning, challenges that
(18:10):
you've overcome, now you're being really authentic and true
to yourself. You're being the author of your
life. And I think that is one of the
beautiful gifts about being in the role of a teacher is that
you're in this constant demand really to be authentic, to be
true, because the students are in this completely receptive,
(18:30):
vulnerable state in the way of just trusting what you say.
Whatever you say to do, they're probably going to do it in the
class. So they're trusting that you are
speaking with authority, from experience, from authenticity,
and there's a sense of trust there that is a major
responsibility to hold as a teacher.
(18:51):
And in that trust, you've got tobe true to yourself.
They can't trust you if you're not true to yourself, if you're
being inauthentic, if you're just saying things that you
think you should say. Anatomy cues that you don't know
why you're saying it, but you just heard it before.
You haven't embodied it. You haven't lived it.
You don't know why this thing istaught, but you just teach it.
People are not going to be able to resonate with you.
(19:11):
They're not going to be able to trust you because you're not
being true to yourself. And the true thing may be that
you're just don't know anatomy yet and you don't need to teach
it. You just focus on the things
that you do, practice that you do, teach that you have embodied
and teach that. But you you, maybe you do love
(19:32):
restorative yoga, and you've hadprofound, deep healing
experiences in in restorative yoga.
So teach that even though you you really like Mignasa, you
wish you could teach Mignasa. You want to teach Mignasa, but
when you do it, you mix up your sides.
You try to throw in stuff you, your students, get out of
breath, whatever, You you're just not there yet.
(19:52):
So keep practicing. Keep learning, keep growing.
Eventually, teach it if you wantto.
But right now, in this moment, this week, as listening to this
episode with the next thing you teach, teach the thing that you
practice, that you love, that nourishes you and that will feel
more authentic to yourself. You will put your students more
at ease. They'll feel safer in your
(20:13):
class, able to trust you, able to relax, able to get the
benefits of yoga that you got from your teacher because they
were being authentic. And that is what we're passing
down. Because yoga is caught, not
taught, we're passing down this authentic experience of
embodiment, of presence, of mind, body and spirit.
You can't fake that. You can't just read that in a
(20:34):
book and then repeat it. You have to embody it and
experience it. And if you've done that even for
a second, even in just one pose,you could likely help someone
else have a little bit of that same experience.
And you've probably had a lot more than that experience, so
you can probably help people a lot more than you realize.
(20:54):
And so much of this, too, is just the mindset you know.
So this is all just mindset stuff today, just how you're
thinking about what you're doingwhen you when you go to teach.
And ultimately, you're going to get better.
Like you're going to become lessof an impostor and more of just
somebody who has done this many times.
And when you've done it many times, that's the surest way to
(21:16):
build confidence. Like Michael Jordan would say,
he's ready for anything on the basketball court because he's
tried everything, every possiblescenario, every possible drill,
every possible angle and shot. He's already done it before he
gets on the court to play the game.
So the more you've got this experience, and this is my
(21:36):
attitude coming into learning yoga and after my YTT, the more
experience I have, the more I'vebeen to every possible class and
teacher and style and and taughteverything from three-year olds
to 80 year olds and everything in between which I literally
have And I sought out those opportunities.
You have this wealth of knowledge of like when you go to
teach and you're in front of anygroup of people, there's no
(21:59):
insecurity because you've already done it before.
You've already taught them before this group of people or
this possible scenario. And if you don't, and there's
always going to be curve balls, and if you don't know something
you have the confidence to say, I don't know what to do.
I can't help you there. Maybe my physical therapist
friend can help you. Maybe this other teacher could
help you. Maybe Google could help us.
(22:20):
But I'm going to focus on what Ican help you with, which is what
I've practiced and embodied, andI'll do my best there.
And when you're starting out, it's not as much as somebody's
been doing it for 10 years. That's the cold, hard reality of
it. And there's no way to skip that.
There's no way to Fast forward that.
You just have to experience it, but it doesn't make what you
have to offer any less importantor valid or life changing for
(22:41):
the person who needs it. So somebody's coming to your
class and you've only been teaching 3 * 5 classes, whatever
they are there to receive, whatever you have to offer.
So share what you have to offer with all of your heart as best
you can and then keep practicing.
Keep learning, keep growing, andyou'll have more to offer every
(23:02):
time you do it. So if you want more practice,
more embodiment, more to learn in your own practice, check out
the Deepen your Practice workshop.
Go to Quietmind at yoga, slash, deepen your practice, the whole
thing. What I'm offering, I'm going to
be offering this new mentorship program I've never offered
before. It's all about experiencing
practice, experience and embodiment, Giving you practice
(23:24):
with mantras, mudras, meditations, asana, anatomy,
Ayurveda, all of it. So you've embodied it, so you've
practiced it, right? This is what I'm sharing based
on my experience of OK, I want to try this.
I want to learn that I want to know as much as possible so I'm
ready for as much as possible asa teacher.
And I've just experienced a lot.I've experienced a lot of parts
(23:45):
of myself and my practice and mypsyche and my own life through
the asana and meditation and mudras and everything else.
So this is what I'll be sharing in the upcoming mentorship
program. But if you want to learn about
that, if you want to start working with me and see what I
have to offer and see if it's the right fit, check out the
Deep in your practice workshop, Quiet Mind at Yoga Slash, Deep
in your practice. And then if you want to sign up,
(24:07):
you'll have an opportunity to dothat there.
And go deeper with me in the mentorship program, which I'm
very excited about and is the best place, I think the best
offer that I've seen. And I've looked at everything
out there. I'm a big nerd of the research
is like, is anyone doing something like this?
And they're not. So I want to create something
like this, where it's all about immersing in practice and giving
(24:29):
you a wide range of experiences so you feel well versed in the
whole world of yoga that's available to us and knowing of
course, it's infinite, it's lifelong, there's always new
layers and new levels, but this is what I think one of the best
ways to immerse in practice. So quiet minded yoga sash deep
in your practice. If you want to check out more if
(24:50):
you enjoyed this podcast, leave a review, share with a friend
and I hope you feel a little bitless like an impostor today and
I look forward to sharing more with you next time on the Quiet
Mind Yoga Teacher Training Podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.