The Mentor Sessions

I hear frequently from yoga teachers who feel burned out and are trying to figure out how to dig themselves out of that hole. I know it can be so tough! We become yoga teachers because we love the practice and are initially so excited to share it with others, but the realities of making a living as a yoga teacher can be very challenging. We find ourselves working constantly without making much mon...

The yoga world is a subculture of our society; it mirrors both the beauty and the problems of the wider culture it inhabits. As a group we tend to spend more time teaching and talking about the things we deem "positive" about ourselves and our world, but in the long run this does everyone a disservice, both us and our yoga students.  If we want our world to be different and better it is up to crea...

My spiritual practice is one that asks me to wake up to the world as it is.  My spiritual practice asks me to be strong enough to see the truth about our society and understand my place in it. My spiritual practice values equity for all people and has a deep reverence for our inherent interdependence as a species.  My spiritual practice has always understood that I am not free until all people are...

Ann Swanson is a certified yoga therapist, mind-body science educator, and author of the beautiful new book,  Science of Yoga. She is part heart-based healer and part science nerd. With a Master of Science in yoga therapy and roots studying yoga in India and tai chi/qi gong China, Ann uniquely applies cutting-edge research to mind-body practices while maintaining the heart of the traditions. She j...

Matthew Remski is a yoga teacher and author.  As the survivor of two cults, his work has been pivotal in illuminating the shadows of globalized yoga and Buddhism, and showing that disillusionment and critical inquiry can be gateways to mature spirituality. Matthew has written a new and very important book called Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond and i...

Erin Jade has been working in massage therapy and yoga/movement instruction since 2004. In 2014 she began to pivot away from traditional asana into varietal movement drawing from the influences of Katy Bowman, Erwan Le Corre, Ido Portal, Igor Burdenko, Moshe Feldenkrais, FRC, Laban Bartenieff, contemporary dance and more. The search led her to movement education and rehab through the lens of appli...

This is a VERY special podcast episode! To celebrate Episode #50 I decided to turn the microphone around and let someone interview ME. And it's not just any "someone" . Almost by coincidence two of my very best friends from college, Alece Demeray and Nikki Hay, became yoga teachers many years after I did. We are Yoga Friends now but we still are Regular (Best) Friends first. I knew if I asked them...

It is common for yoga students to come into class, tell us they have an injury and expect us to be able to modify for them or at least give them ideas as to what they should avoid. If those moments before class make you nervous then today's podcast episode is for you! Gabby DeLorenze has her Bachelor's degree in Athletic Training, a Master's degree in Biomechanics, a certification from NASM as a C...

The path of a career yoga teacher can be a circuitous one. I find it so helpful to hear how different teachers navigate that terrain, and today we get to hear from Caitlin Casella, who has been teaching yoga and leading teacher trainings for a decade! Since adding strength training and other functional movement modalities to her repertoire, her practice and priorities have shifted. Now, as she pur...

Today I am THRILLED to introduce you to yoga teacher, writer, mama and studio owner, Octavia Raheem. This episode stands out as an all time favorite; the deep wisdom and beautiful words that Octavia shared felt like a salve for a wound I'd hardly even noticed was there. This path of teaching yoga asks us to constantly look at ourselves in deeper and more curious ways, and to process that intense w...

More and more yoga teachers are incorporating resistance bands into their teaching because they can be a wonderful complement to the movements found in a traditional asana practice! We are super lucky to have TWO amazing teachers who are EXPERTS at this joining us on the podcast today for a roundtable discussion on incorporating resistance bands into asana classes. Giulia Pline is a Threes Physiyo...

Have you been hearing yoga teacher friends talk about PAILs and RAILs and CARs and 90/90 and you're feeling a little left out because you have no idea what they're talking about? No worries... we're going to fix that today! Clayton Weakly is a friend of mine and while he started his teaching career as a Yoga Tune Up teacher he now works as a Functional Range Conditioning movement coach. We've got...

Tax time is coming up here in the States and I know how stressful the process of filing and paying our taxes can be for yoga teachers! Did you know that every year yoga teachers around the U.S. overpay in taxes due to a lack of knowledge around beneficial tax deductions they can take as independent contractors? To helps us all understand everything we need to know to prepare and file our taxes we...

Many yoga teachers want to have a meditation practice, or feel like they should have a meditation practice but don't for some reason.  Other yoga teachers practice meditation but feel shy or uncertain about how to incorporate meditation into their teaching. We are very lucky to have Cyndi Lee (!) on the podcast today, talking us through everything that is important about practicing and teaching me...

Janie Ganga Fronek is a teacher of the Integrated Amrit Method of Yoga. Janie Ganga began practicing Amrit yoga in 2002 as a weekly student – until shifts in her life led her to Amrit Level I (RYT 200) certification in 2013. She believes in Health at Every Size - the simple premise that the best way to improve health is to honor your body – and offers Size-Affirming yoga workshops and Chair Yoga....

Over the next few weeks we're doing something new here on The Mentor Sessions. I'm going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active teaching practices in different parts of the country, and world!  These five teachers also happen to be alumni from my teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™ , and you'll get to hear directly from them what has happe...

Over the next few weeks we're doing something new here on The Mentor Sessions. I'm going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active and full teaching practices in very different parts of the world! These five teachers also happen to be alumni from my teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™ , and you'll get to hear directly from them what has happe...

Megan Spears is a yoga teacher based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Megan teaches publicly, privately, and is also a lead teacher for EveryOne Yoga School 200 hour yoga teacher training. Megan has been practicing yoga since 2005 and teaching professionally since 2014. Megan has passionately pursued additional education with many teachers and mentors in areas of Trauma-Informed Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Functional...

Over the next few weeks we're doing something really special here on The Mentor Sessions. I'm going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active and full teaching practices in very different parts of the world! These five teachers also happen to be alumni from my teacher training, The Science of the Private Lesson™ , and you'll get to hear directly from them wha...

We are doing something new today on The Mentor Sessions! I'm reading some of the Most Frequently Asked questions I get about teaching private lessons and offering you my quick and dirty answers. Some of these topics very well may need their own episode, so please reach out and let me know what follow up questions you have. In this episode you'll hear: How to structure a private lesson so that it d...

Have you ever had a private client bring their partner or friend to a private lesson and wondered exactly what you should be doing? Have you ever struggled to teach private lessons to a couple who had wildly different physical and emotional needs? In today's episode we are going to cover all that and more! In this episode you'll hear: how to meet the needs of two individuals who have completely di...

In the conversations I have with colleagues about yoga teacher trainings the focus is almost always centered on the idea that 200 hours is not enough time to produce high quality baseline yoga teachers. I brought this question to my friend and teacher Jules Mitchell to get her opinion and very quickly our conversation veered from the serious but simple question, "How many hours of training should...

Trina Altman is the creator of Yoga Deconstructed® and Pilates Deconstructed®, which take an interdisciplinary approach to foster an embodied understanding of yoga and Pilates and their relationship to modern movement science. Her book, Yoga Deconstructed®: Transitioning From Rehabilitation Back Into The Yoga Studio is slated to be published by Handspring Publishing in December 2019.  Check out ou...

Dianne Bondy is a celebrated yoga teacher, social justice activist and leading voice of the Yoga For All movement. Her inclusive view of yoga asana and philosophy inspires and empowers thousands of followers around the world – regardless of their shape, size, ethnicity, or level of ability and we are so lucky to have her offering her wisdom and inspiration on The Mentor Sessions podcast today! In...

It is becoming increasingly common for yoga teachers to bring movements and practices from outside the traditional yoga practice into their teaching. Are you one of these teachers? Do you want to be, but feel unsure about the most skillful way to bring non-yoga movements into the practices you teach? At the forefront of this cultural shift we find Cecily Milne of Yoga Detour and I am so excited to...