by J. Brown, Originally published on J. Brown Yoga. There is a performative aspect to teaching and promoting group yoga classes that sometimes leads to a denial of the teacher’s actual state. The conventional dynamics at play between teachers and students, both interpersonal and economic, are presenting obstacles to the kinds of exchange that encourage effective yoga transmission. Maintaining integrity often means having the courage to buck trends in order to reconcile our intentions with … [Read more...]
Here you'll find the collected wisdom of a wide range of yoga teachers, who have been generous enough to share the many things they have learned from teaching yoga.
Can Yoga Teacher Scandals and Transgressions be an Opportunity for Growth?
by Kara-Leah Grant The guru model is dead in modern Western Yoga. And the list of scandals involving gurus, or teachers, or swamis just seems to be growing longer. Where the hell are all the enlightened and perfect teachers? They don't exist. Our teachers - known and unknown, big and small, experienced and fresh, revered and loved, skilled and talented, wise and powerful - they are also human. Which means that our teachers, like us, have unconscious shit that can get in the way of their … [Read more...]
The Key Elements to A Successful Yoga Teaching Career
by Kara-Leah Grant It's been more than a decade since I started teaching yoga, and so embarked on a yoga teaching career. That career has included teaching group classes, workshops, retreats, presenting at festivals, writing yoga books, delivering corporate seminars, and publishing this online yoga magazine. I began as a sole trader and taught yoga on the side while working other jobs. In April 2011, after becoming a single parent, I started my own company and doubled-down on my desire to … [Read more...]
How Teaching Yoga on a Remote Island Helped Me Cope with Grief
by Julie Stansfield, Ebb and Flow Yoga As I travel along the road that connects the south with the north of the island to teach my weekly yoga class in Port Fitzroy, I reflect on how my life has changed since I first moved to Great Barrier Island thirteen years ago. I certainly wouldn’t have thought I’d be travelling fifty minutes to share my love of yoga with a group of enthusiastic women. Driving on a winding, gravel road which takes me from my home on the western side of the island, I … [Read more...]
Leslie Kaminoff on Why Asanas Don’t Exist
by Lucinda Staniland Meet Leslie Kaminoff, a Yoga educator with forty years experience in the study of Yoga and the breath. Leslie studied with T.K.V Desikachar, a teacher renowned for his emphasis on the therapeutic aspects of yoga, and he is the co-author of the bestselling book Yoga Anatomy. In Leslie's conversation with Kara-Leah Grant, I was struck by his particular brand of what I would call respectful realism. This is a man with a deep belief in the power of the work that he … [Read more...]
9 Questions To Ask Before You Host a Travelling Yoga Teacher
by Kara-Leah Grant Hosting a travelling yoga teacher can be a successful and profitable venture for a yoga studio - if done right! It can use up "dead time" in the studio. It opens up an additional income stream. It can bring in students that don't usually come to the studio, some of whom may come back. It can increase the exposure and awareness of the host studio in the marketplace. It can educate and inspire the studio's student base. And it can be the beginning of an … [Read more...]
Cathy Gamba on Mindfulness, Deep Rest & Teaching Yoga in New Caledonia
by Lucinda Staniland Every yoga teacher brings a unique constellation of skills, interest and life history to their teaching practice, and Wellington yoga teacher Cathy Gamba is no exception. Cathy's on her way to becoming a clinical psychologist, has deep roots in the practice of mindfulness and is acutely aware of the connection between physical health and mental health. She's also French, and is stoked to be teaching an upcoming yoga retreat in New Caledonia, a French-speaking Pacific … [Read more...]
Hybrid Yoga Styles: Do They Enrich Yoga or Dilute It?
by Jo Stewart, Garden of Yoga A quick google search will turn up all kinds of yoga hybrids—think Bungee Yoga, Antigravity Aerial Yoga, HIIT Yoga, Beer Yoga, Vinyasa + Vino, Doga, Meowga, and Goat Yoga—and these are just a small sample of the pun-tastic world of hybridised yoga. While I might wonder how yogic some of these combinations actually are, my own classes could be on that list. I’ve also been to, and thoroughly enjoyed, hula hoop yoga and SUP yoga workshops at festivals. I’ve … [Read more...]
The Community Speaks: Who Has Had The Greatest Influence On Your Yoga Practice?
by Lucinda Staniland This week we started a conversation that explores the very foundations of a yoga practice. We selected a handful of influential people in the New Zealand and Australian yoga community and asked them, Who has had the greatest influence on your yoga practice? Their answers are as varied and vibrant as the yogis themselves, and they showcase both the diversity and the surprising unity of the yoga community. Enjoy! Persephone Singfield I am the one who has the … [Read more...]
The Unexpected Discoveries I Made on Yoga Teacher Training
by Bhavani Davies, Sivananda Yoga Centre and one of our Best Up-and-Coming Yoga Teachers for 2016 I enrolled to take my first yoga teacher training in 2008, in an ashram situated in the lush greenery of Val Morin, Canada. The ashram was founded in 1962 and is located on 350 acres in the beautiful Laurentian Mountains. In the first couple of days I struggled not only with the early starts and lack of communication with the outside world, but also with myself. On more than one occasion I … [Read more...]