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The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

Helping yoga teachers to stay connected to information, entrepreneur advice and a community of supportive yoga teachers and professionals.
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Now displaying: August, 2019
Aug 26, 2019

 

This episode is all about something Shannon often gets asked - the nitty-gritty details of how to teach private yoga. It can feel intimidating, and you may not know where to start or how to structure a private yoga session with a student. Shannon dives into exactly how she handles her yoga sessions, from scheduling the 1:1 class to after the session ends.

Shannon covers a lot of ground. Starting off with scheduling, pricing, policies around booking, cancellation, payment, and rent, she also touches on waivers, health information and questions to ask to get to know your student better. Find out how Shannon creates a yoga flow on the fly for the person she is teaching, how she approaches space to do yoga, and makes sure to fit in the actual yoga (including Savasana!) within the session. 1:1 yoga is different from group classes, and Shannon explains how to be in discussion with your client while working with them, homework she assigns, and how she manages accountability and follow up.

This episode is jam-packed with lots of information and actionable tips - it was designed to help you dive right into teaching private yoga, if you have been thinking about it and just weren’t sure about the in’s and out’s.

 

Key Takeaways:

[6:38] This episode is all about the nitty-gritty details of teaching private yoga.

[7:35] When and how can someone schedule a session with you?

[9:40] What is your price? Shannon highlights some elements to consider when setting your price.

[15:12] How does Shannon approach providing mats and props, and the amount of time she allows between appointments.

[19:12] Setting policies and rules is an important part of teaching private yoga. Shannon shares some of her tips around booking, cancellation and payment policies.

[20:48] Rent - how much are you able to pay for rent?

[22:19] The next step is doing the intake after someone books with you. Shannon dives into waivers and health information.

[24:54] A lot of yoga teachers get stuck when it comes to asking their students questions. What are some questions you can ask to find out more about your student?

[29:16] If you are helping a student with a specific symptom or problem, what and how much information do you require ahead of time to help you prepare?

[32:06] Shannon creates the yoga flow for her private students on the fly. She explains how she goes about doing this with some real-life examples.

[35:36] Shannon shares what it means to hold space to do yoga.

[38:31] How can you be in discussion with your student during a 1:1 yoga session?

[40:19] Shannon gives her students homework!

[42:07] The last aspect of teaching private yoga is accountability and follow up.

 

Links:

 

Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity and Pelvic Health Professionals

 

Quotes from this episode:

 

"Imagine your ideal week. When would you ideally teach 1:1 yoga?"

 

"I don’t want you to negotiate and earn less than your set hourly rate."

 

"You are ready to teach 1:1 yoga as soon as you graduate from yoga teacher training.”

 

“Set your price and your policies first. Then set up how people book with you.”

Aug 19, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

130: Make a Profit Teaching Private Yoga with Emily Sussell

 

Description:

Can you make a good living teaching yoga? A lot of us yoga teachers struggle with money mindset - we don’t like to talk about making profits, or think about sharing yoga as a business. However, that’s an important part of being able to bring yoga to others. You need to be able to sustain yourself first, before you can serve others. On this episode, Emily Sussell reveals how she makes $100,000 a year with her yoga business, and how you can too.

Emily is a successful yoga teacher, business coach, and entrepreneur. She became a certified yoga instructor in 2013, and founded Private Yoga Brooklyn, a premium private yoga service in NYC. As other yoga teachers noticed her success and reached out to her for help in creating their own private yoga businesses, Emily was inspired to start Abundant Yogi Coaching, a business coaching institute for yoga teachers worldwide. In addition to coaching and mentorship services, she offers educational resources and coaching retreats to empower yoga teachers with tools to thrive financially and become more impactful as healers.

Finding your niche is a common theme on the podcast. Emily explains how teaching private yoga can be a niche on it own, and how to make the leap from teaching group classes to private yoga. She explains how she found her ideal client avatar, set her prices and marketed herself using branding on her website and SEO. Her biggest piece of advice? Motion over meditation.

 

If teaching private yoga is something you’ve given even a little bit of thought to, or if you just want to be able to make a decent income as a yoga teacher, this episode is for you.

 

Key Takeaways:

[6:35] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Emily Sussell.
[8:30] Where did Emily's yoga journey begin and how did she get to where she is today?
[13:56] What was the biggest thing for Emily that allowed her to shift from teaching group yoga to specializing in private yoga?
[15:38] What are some of Emily's tips around starting to specialize in teaching private yoga?
[18:22] Emily shares some advice around just taking the leap and going for it.
[20:42] How does Emily decide on the pricing for her yoga classes? She has a special equation!
[23:10] Emily believes it's possible to make a good income teaching yoga and teaching private yoga. She shares her insights into what that might look like.
[25:29] What are Emily's suggestions for attracting the right kinds of clients who can afford your fees?
[27:47] Shannon and Emily discuss niching down and specializing.
[30:36] How do packages and discounted pricing play into Emily's offerings?
[35:50] At what point did Emily transition from group to private classes?
[38:01] What is the most effective channel for Emily to get in front of her potential clients in terms of marketing and visibility?
[41:33] What does a 1:1 yoga session look like?
[45:38] What's the first step to take if you're looking to move in the direction of teaching private yoga classes?
[48:30] Check out the links for more information on insurance and waiver forms.
[49:18] Find out more about Emily's work via her Facebook group and her coaching website, Abundant Yogi.
[50:29] Shannon shares some of her key takeaways - she'd love to hear yours too!

Links:

Gratitude to our Sponsors Schedulicity and Pelvic Health Professionals



Quotes from this episode:

"I fell in love with everything about working 1:1 with somebody in their home."

"One of the things that helped me make that transition [to specializing in private yoga] was honestly, deciding to."

"I realized that if I didn't choose something and commit to it, then I was just going to stay in this space of vagueness."

"When you're building a business and you're trying to move forward with growing something, don't get stuck in that place of constantly meditating what's the best way to do this."

"When we're creating marketing, we're not trying to appeal to everyone." 



Aug 12, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

Ep 129: Pelvic Floor 101 with Marie-Josée Forget

 

Description:

This episode is on one of Shannon’s favorite topics - pelvic health. It is one of the crucial parts of our body that plays many functions in our daily lives, but gets very little attention, until something goes wrong. Marie-Josée Forget, a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, is here to give us the basics on everything pelvic floor.

 

Marie-Josée Forget is a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist with 18 years of clinical experience. She currently teaches courses related to pelvic anatomy and health at Pelvic Health Solutions, and has developed a hand-drawn female and male pelvic floor model that is used as a teaching tool. Apart from her work as an instructor and public speaker on the topic of pelvic health, MJ runs a private physiotherapy practice where she treats men, women and children who have pelvic floor dysfunction.

 

The pelvic floor is a bit of a mystery to most of us. MJ helps us to understand a bit more about the anatomy of the pelvic floor and crucial role that it plays in various daily functions. Despite the common perception that the pelvic floor is weak and needs to be strengthened, MJ reveals that many people actually suffer from the effects of pelvic floor tension, rather than weakness. She also busts some common misconceptions and myths surrounding the pelvic floor

 

MJ also has some great suggestions on how yoga instructors and pelvic health physiotherapists can work together to better serve your students. Tune in to learn more about this remarkable part of our body, and how this information can help you and your yoga students. 

 

P.S. MJ Forget is the October guest expert in the Pelvic Health Professionals membership site!

 

Key Takeaways:

[7:24] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Marie-Josée Forget.

[9:26] What does MJ do and who does she do it for?

[10:14] MJ explains how she created her pelvic floor models.

[13:50] What is the pelvic floor, where is it, and what does it do?

[19:13] Do we guard with the pelvic floor under stress?

[20:16] Despite the importance and role of the pelvic floor in many of our daily activities, it is not a subject area that is often taught or discussed.

[21:30] There may be a perception in society that the pelvic floor is weak, and weakens over time. MJ explains more about the muscle and how weakness or tension may exhibit the same symptoms.

[24:56] MJ shares how yoga instructors can work together with pelvic health physiotherapists.

[28:08] What is it like to have a pelvic health physiotherapist do an internal exam?

[32:30] Shannon shares her experience of her first visit with her pelvic health physiotherapist.

[33:31] Shannon and MJ discuss how times are changing and people are recognizing the importance of pelvic health.

[37:01] What is the anatomy of the pelvic floor?

[43:30] MJ shares an anecdote of a study she was part of that revealed that women presenting with back and hip pain were predominantly tight, rather than weak in their pelvic floor muscles.

[46:03] One of the advantages of a practice like yoga is that it helps increase body awareness.

[49:40] The words and language we use as yoga teachers and pelvic health professionals is so important. There is a need for communication and education.

[51:07] What is the main thing that MJ wants listeners to understand and take away about pelvic health? She also busts some prevalent myths on the topic.

[57:22] Check out the links for ways to connect with MJ.

[58:03] What do you call the pelvic floor if it is holding tension or if it is weak?

[59:47] Shannon shares her biggest takeaway from this interview with MJ, and a little bit about the Pelvic Health Professionals membership site.



Links:

Gratitude to our Sponsors Schedulicity and Pelvic Health Professionals

 

Quotes from this episode:

"People can really appreciate 'Oh, I have a whole bunch of muscles down there, I had no idea, and they're actually a lot more significant than I thought them to be.'"

"[The pelvic floor] still a part of the body we kind of ignore, and it's not until you start actually taking courses in pelvic health or doing yoga courses that we start to talk about it because of its importance."

"A muscle that's too weak can cause incontinence, but a muscle that's too tight also can cause incontinence."

"How great is it that we are getting now to the point where women are recognizing the importance of having a good evaluation and are seeking the care themselves!"

"We don't connect with our body very much. We disconnect, if anything."



Aug 5, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

Ep 128: Ayurveda, Doshas & Yoga with Angela Glaz

 

Description:

This episode is all about reconnecting the sister sciences, yoga and Ayurveda. We all learn about Ayurveda in out Yoga Teacher Trainings at some level, but a lot of us don’t know how to incorporate it into our classes, or even really how our doshas affect us in our lives and in our business. Angela Glaz has adoped a unique approach in building her yoga business with Ayurveda at its core, and she shares more about how you can bring Ayurveda into your classes too.

 

Angela is a 500 E-RYT, Ayurvedic Counselor and the Founder of Eka Yoga. She came to yoga in 2002 and since then, she has traveled to India twice to deepen her own practice and to study Yoga and Ayurveda. Most recently, she completed the Ayurvedic Counseling Program at the Kerala Ayurveda Academy. Today, Angela offers Ayurvedic consultations, Yoga and Ayurveda Immersive Courses, online wellness courses and an online holistic membership site, as well as group and private yoga classes.

 

What are the different doshas, and how do they influence us? Angela dives into the three doshas and their defining characteristics, and explains how we might see them reflected in our yoga practice, our lives and even in our role as business owners. She also reveals how she organizes her classes to go in line with Ayurveda, the technical aspects of offering people classes based on their doshas, and how her online membership site ties into her business.

 

Tune in to this fascinating episode to learn more about your own doshas, and how you might use this information to thrive in teaching, being a business owner and also living your life.

 

Key Takeaways:

[5:30] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Angela Glaz.

[6:59] Where did Angela's yoga journey begin?

[8:14] What has led Angela to the work that she does now? What does she do and who does she do it for?

[10:33] Is there a difference between yoga and Ayurveda or is it the same thing?

[11:52] What are the doshas?

[19:38] How do you know what dosha you are? How do you avoid seeing everything through that lens?

[23:48] What is something Angela has learned about the doshas that has really helped her as a yoga teacher?

[25:05] How can yoga teachers bring the doshas and Ayurveda into their classes?

[28:26] Angela shares some words of wisdom around attaching yourself or other people to a dosha.

[30:00] In Angela's yoga studio, people take classes according to their doshas. She explains how this works from a technical and organizational standpoint.

[32:12] When it comes to running a business, what are some things that would help the different doshas?

[37:18] People carry all doshas within them, but usually one is dominant.

[38:34] What is Angela's membership site about and what motivated her to start it?

[41:45] Angela shares a little about the videos she puts up online for her membership site.

[44:57] Who is Angela's target audience for her membership site?

[46:35] Angela shares some final thoughts and resources.

[48:19] Shannon leaves you with two final questions to think about.

 

Links:

 

Gratitude to our Sponsors Schedulicity and Pelvic Health Professionals

 

Quotes from this episode:

 

"The concept behind the studio is to reconnect yoga and Ayurveda, because this gives practitioners a better idea of how to practice for their unique body type."

 

"Yoga is actually a tool to help us heal our body. It's part of Ayurveda."

 

"More people could benefit from understanding their unique body type and adjusting their diet, routine, exercise to find optimal health and happiness."

 

"The biggest thing that I'd like them to take away in their classes is really encouraging people to listen to their body."



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