The Mentor Sessions

You don’t me to tell you that the world as we know it is burning to the ground. This makes teaching yoga hard, important and strange. A few episodes back I answered the question, “Should we talk about current events in our yoga classes?” By essentially saying, “maybe… but most likely YES.” In that episode I talked about how important it was to have an understanding and point of view about what the yoga teachings would say about current events. I received a ton of great feedback about that episode, and also a lot of questions. So we are diving deeper into those questions with my friend Hari-Kirtana Das.  Hari-kirtana das (he/him)  is a yoga teacher, spiritual mentor, and the author of two books on yoga philosophy: Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Exploring Timeless Principles of Transcendental Knowledge and Integrating Them Into Your Life and In Search of the Highest Truth: Adventures in Yoga Philosophy.  Hari has been practicing devotional and other yogic disciplines for over 40 years, has lived in yoga ashrams and intentional spiritual communities, worked for Fortune 500 companies and Silicon Valley start-ups, and brings a wide range of spiritual knowledge and life experience to his classes, workshops, and presentations. He's on the faculty of numerous Yoga Teacher Training programs, offers live online workshops and courses throughout the year, and his mission is to illuminate the many ways in which the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningfully transformative spiritual experiences. In this episode, you’ll hear: why it makes sense for yoga teachers to talk about current events and politics in class how  teachers can start to make the connections between current events and yoga philosophy Hari’s formula for delivering a great dharma talk ideas to help teachers integrate philosophy into asana class And stay tuned for Part 2 of this conversation coming soon! Learn More From Hari-kirtana Das: Hari-kirtana das’ website Hari-kirtana das on Facebook and Instagram Hari-kirtana das’ book Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita Free Dharma Talk EBook Free Community Conversations On-Demand Workshops and Other Free Resources This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

Solo or with guests,  I explore the craft of teaching yoga, as its own practice. I’m seeking answers to the questions about why we teach something the way we do, how we could be more expansive and inclusive in our teaching, and how we can continue to grow and evolve in our teaching practice. I would like to release episodes more frequently and your feedback will determine the kinds of episodes I record. I’d love to offer a bit more personal content including what I’m learning and the routines I use to keep everything running if that would be of interest. Please let me know! Click here for the survey. Thank you for your thoughts!  

Even if you first learned yoga from your parents and your grandparents, the path to truly embodying the philosophical yogic teachings can be long and winding. Today we have a beautiful conversation with Reema Datta to share with you that explores: the path from a physical focus in teaching to a philosophical practice how kleshas impact on our spiritual growth and physical well-being how to work with the koshas in an asana practice the three-step process the vedic tradition prescribes for receiving a spiritual teaching that is so relevant for teachers the biggest differences in the way yoga is taught in the US and India an intimate share from Reema about the way her Indian grandfather responded to her becoming a yoga teacher the yogic perspective on how to create a more compassionate and conscious world   Reema Datta is the author of The Yogi’s Way: Transform Your Mind, Health, and Reality. Datta first learned yoga and Ayurveda from her mother and grandmothers as well as her grandfather, who wrote several books on Vedic philosophy. Since 2002, she has taught yoga and Ayurveda workshops, retreats, and trainings in twenty countries across five continents.  Learn More From Reema: Reema’s website Instagram Facebook X/Twitter LinkedIn 12-Week Online Course Beginning September 21st Her book   This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. The best thing about OfferingTree is you can get up and running in 10 minutes with no tech skills needed. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.  

You don’t need me to tell you what a wild and scary time we are living through. We know that the tools of yoga can be incredibly supportive in difficult times and also have things to say about the difficult times we are living in. So are you talking about this in your classes? Should you? I am, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions about it! So today’s episode is going to dive deep into this question: Should you talk about current events in your yoga classes? In this episode you’ll hear: some questions to ask yourself to help you decide how to navigate this how your students and their needs should be taken into account how I handle this in group classes how I handle this in private lessons an example of a physical theme /dharma teaching pairing that addresses current events Resources: My virtual yoga studio My teacher’s community   This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree!   Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan).  With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online.  All of this can be set up in 10 minutes or less.  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up.  

As I sit down to write these show notes, RFK Jr is currently in his senate confirmation hearing. By the time you read these words it is my assumption that he will be the new head of Health and Human Services for the United States, a job with incredible power. Anything is possible, so there could be a different outcome, but it seems unlikely.  You might ask, “what does that have to do with teaching yoga?”  And I would answer you by saying “quite a lot.”  Many yoga teachers are interested in the health and wellness industries in general and I think the yoga teachings have a LOT to say about public health. As we gear up for another four years of a Trump administration I wanted to have a conversation that highlighted the ways that wellness-interested people were being fed harmful misinformation, so I am incredibly excited to introduce you to Dr. Jessica Knurick. She is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in nutrition science and she focuses on evidence-based nutrition, public health and science communication. As a researcher, speaker, and mom of two, Jessica is passionate about reshaping conversations around health to make science accessible and actionable. In this episode, you’ll hear: how the MAHA movement started  the biggest factors that make Americans unhealthy individual health vs public health what the yoga teachings tell us about public health the truth about seed oils what to know about raw milk what to keep in mind as you consume content about health and wellness Learn More From Dr. Jessica: Visit Dr. Jessica’s Website Connect with Dr. Jessica on Instagram Please note: This episode does not cover RFK Jr's problematic position on vaccines. This does not reflect a lack of concern from myself or my guest about his position on these life-saving measures. We are both firmly pro-vaccine and are VERY concerned about what will happen to public health with RFK Jr. in charge. The mainstream media has done a great job of covering the dangerous potential outcomes of vaccines being harder to access. I wanted to focus this conversation on some of the other health and particular nutrition-based ideas that the MAHA movement brings, because they are a wolf in sheep's clothing. They might seem like harmless or even good ideas, but the hyper fixation on individual ingredients takes the focus away from where it is most needed.  OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate.  Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan).   OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up and I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

Building a career as a yoga teacher is challenging because unlike many other kinds of jobs, you have to build out a career in one hour blocks, working to get and then manage each gig separately. While the explosion of online offerings and social media as a marketing tool has changed much about the landscape, there is one thing it hasn’t changed. In my view, the best way to build a career as a yoga teacher is to teach private clients. But what is the best way to find and connect with new potential students?? In 20 years I’ve had to rebuild my practice several times, and I have an old school strategy that I think works really well! We’re breaking it all down in this solo episode of the podcast! In this episode, you’ll hear: why teaching private clients is the best way to build a thriving yoga career  what people are getting wrong about digital products  my favorite old school way to connect with potential private clients a step by step process for reaching out to your community four core principles for helping students get really excited about their yoga practice Resource Mentioned: Email templates to send to potential students This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.    

Octavia Raheem first wrote a book called Gather where she talked about gathering ancestors, gathering courage and gathering rest. Then she wrote a book, Pause Rest Be, about how rest has served as a tool for courage and resilience for her and the people she’s worked with.    And lucky for us, Octavia has written a new book called Rest Is Sacred, that takes these ideas and weaves them together, taking her readers into a deep place inside themselves Octavia F. Raheem (she/her) is a wife, mother, three time author, rest coach, and restorative + Yoga Nidra Teacher. She is the founder of Devoted to Rest® a transformational rest focused immersion for visionary leaders. She is a true luminary in the areas of rest, restorative arts, wellness, and yoga. Octavia has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Yoga Journal, Well + Good, Tricycle, at Essence Festival and more. You can listen to our previous conversations- 47: How To Hold Space and 107: The Power of Rest In this episode, you’ll hear: why rest is sacred for Octavia, and all of us what rest can help us reclaim why our culture makes rest so challenging for everyone rest in the most practical terms  what Octavia does for her practice and how she makes time for it Learn More Octavia: Ocativa’s Book Rest is Sacred Follow Octavia on Instagram Octavia’s Website This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. The best thing about OfferingTree is you can get up and running in 10 minutes with no tech skills needed. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

I have been an active participant in the yoga industry since the early 2000s, and I have never really understood how brick and mortar yoga studios, especially locally owned ones without corporate backing, made it work.  I’ve been curious about it, and I have seen a few studios run incredibly well and last a long time, but we all know those are the outliers. These spaces are so important for us as teachers and students, and for the wider community as well, but they so often struggle to survive the impact of late stage capitalism.  And that was true even BEFORE the pandemic, when so many of our favorite local businesses closed down. There are not that many yoga studios that have been around for a long time, but we are VERY lucky today to hear from one of my old friends, Deb Flashenberg who has had a thriving locally owned yoga studio in New York City since 2002. AMAZING.  (and if you want to listen to my previous episodes with Deb please check out 31: How To Work With Pregnant Yoga Students and 104: Postnatal Considerations in Asana with Deb Flashenberg) In this episode you’ll hear: what the vibes were like back in 2002 what changed in the landscape between 2002 and 2019 how and why Deb and the Prenatal Yoga Center survived COVID what the “comeback” post-COVID been like what thoughts and advice Deb has for people thinking about opening up a brick and mortar space now Learn More From Deb: Prenatal Yoga Center website Prenatnal Yoga Center on Instagram Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training  

If you are a yoga teacher trying to make anything close to a full time income with your work, then you are an entrepreneur. Many of us resist that truth, or we at least resist some of the work that is associated with being a small business owner. That is why today I’m so excited to introduce you to Jackie Murphy. She is here to give us all a business strategy pep talk! Jackie Murphy (she/her) is the host of the Studio CEO podcast and helps yoga teachers become profitable CEOs by offering them the most effective marketing, sales, and business foundation strategy in the industry. Using her 10 years of experience teaching, opening studios, and leading teacher trainings, Jackie is changing the $115B yoga industry by putting more money in the hands of the people who actually teach yoga. In this episode, you’ll hear: the differences between thinking like an employee and thinking like a CEO how to change the way you are working to make a more sustainable living what helps students show up to class consistently  integrating the philosophy of yoga into ethical and profitable business and what that looks like in action how to understand the tension of teaching a spiritual and healing practice inside of late stage capitalism  the best way to think about selling the importance of having a clear niche and how to do it effectively  Learn More From Jackie: The Yoga Boss Group Follow Jackie on Instagram Like Jackie on Facebook OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate.  Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan).   OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up and I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

The learning journey I’ve been on regarding hypermobility is incredibly personal. I was plagued with nearly constant minor and serious injuries most of my life. As a dancer that seemed normal, but it was very difficult and I was often injured more than anyone else I knew. I worked so hard to “build more stability” and “get out of my patterns of gripping” and some things did help quite a bit, most notably Feldenkrais. But it was really only in the last ten years, as information about hypermobility started to spread first through the movement world, and then through into the mainstream culture, that I began to understand my body and how to work with it effectively. I’m so happy to report that despite being about 7 years past due for when it was suspected I would need a full hip replacement (get the full backstory here) and having a toddler and very little time for self care, I have less pain now then I ever have in my whole life! Learning about how to work with hypermobility in myself and my students has been nothing short of life changing for me. And understanding how to work with hypermobility is particularly important for yoga teachers! That is why I’m so thrilled to finally have Libby Hinsley on the show today.  Libby Hinsley (she/her)  is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, personal trainer, and Yoga Therapist specializing in the treatment of people with hypermobility syndromes and chronic pain As a person living with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, she is passionate about raising awareness about hypermobility syndromes in the yoga community and beyond. In this episode you’ll hear: a deep dive into different kinds of connective tissue and how they respond to load what is different about the connective tissue of someone with HEDS symptoms all about the EDS diagnosis some common co-occurring conditions that are good to know about the science behind the heightened interoception and decreased proprioception of someone with HEDS symptoms and how to work with that in a yoga class Learn More From Libby: Libby’s website Libby on Instagram Anatomy Bites: use coupon code MENTOR at checkout for 10% off Anatomy Bites On Demand Courses: use coupon code MENTOR at checkout for 10% off Hypermobility Hub   This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

Holding grounded space as a teacher is one of the most important and most hard to teach skills for new yoga teachers. How can you be confident doing something you are new at? Do you need to actually be confident? What do we do when challenging situations knock us off our center? To answer these questions and more, I’m so honored to have my teacher and friend Ethan Nichtern with us today. Ethan Nichtern (he/him) is a renowned contemporary Buddhist teacher and the author of Confidence: Holding Your Seat through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds and several other titles, including the widely acclaimed The Road Home. In this episode you’ll hear: how we define confidence, and why as a teacher of buddhism, Ethan wanted to write a book about it how a conversation about privilege and social location is necessary when talking about confidence the myth that Buddhist teachings advocate for overcoming a sense of self and how fits into a Buddhist book about confidence a overview of the 8 worldly winds and how they show up in our lives US election thoughts and predictions! 😬 Learn More From Ethan via his socials below: Instagram Threads YouTube  

I had a profound conversation with yoga teacher and writer Karin Lynn Carlson (she/her) and I can’t wait for you to listen.  Karin is a thoughtful teacher and a beautiful writer and has so much to share on the intersection of ethics and yoga teaching. This episode is packed with both valuable insights and practical advice. We talked about implementing a code of ethics akin to those in social work and discussed problematic behavior and abuse within the yoga world. Karin offered insights about how to support survivors, foster a healthier yoga community and move forward together. These are crucial topics as we envision a future where yoga communities are more accountable, supportive, and ethical.  In this episode, you’ll hear: the importance of implementing a code of ethics in the yoga community boundaries, teacher-student relationships and who is responsible for holding the container the essential role of believing and supporting abuse survivors in the yoga community  advice for teachers who are struggling to move forward after their teachers have let them down Learn More From Karin: Return Yoga Karin on Substack Yoga Club community  

How to teach yoga in a trauma sensitive way is a conversation that floods mainstream yoga spaces these days. And with good reason; almost everyperson in the world has had some experience of trauma, so our yoga classes are filled with people who have had exposure to trauma. It is very easy for yoga and asana to be taught in ways that are not trauma sensitive. Being aware of teacher-student power dynamics and how they impact students with trauma is paramount to skillful teaching.  That is why I am so happy to introduce you to Jenn Turner (she/her). She is a trauma-informed therapist and yoga teacher, and has been at the forefront of combining those two modalities since the early 2000s.  She has also been involved in two different spiritual and healing communities that experienced abuse of power by the leader, as so many of us have. She has advice and a way forward for communities that have experienced this kind of harm. In this episode you’ll hear: what  has changed the most in the landscape of trauma sensitive yoga since 2008 what is most important for yoga teachers to know about when it comes to trauma informed practice how power, self reflection and holding containers are all things we need to be thinking about as yoga teachers what communities and individuals can do when they recover from abuse inside places that are supposed to be healing spaces Learn More From Jenn: Center for Trauma and Embodiment Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Jenn on Instagram  

This episode is one of the most important interviews I’ve ever recorded. Our guest, Katie Blecker (she/her) is here to talk about two of my favorite things, accessible yoga and teaching yoga. And even better, we are going to talk about the intersection of those two things in a conversation that is LONG overdue on this podcast: Making the vocation of teaching yoga accessible to all yoga teachers. Katie Blecker (she/her) is a yoga teacher, disability advocate, and visual artist. Her work as a trauma-informed, adaptive yoga facilitator centers supporting folks of all ages who live with chronic illness and pain, disability, and chronic stress using tools such as therapeutic asana, pranayama, and meditation. She believes deeply in the power of restorative yoga practices to support our self- and community-care. Katie is also a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Her lived experience with multiple complex chronic illnesses informs her worldview and inspires her passion for disability advocacy and accessibility in yoga.  In this episode you’ll hear: what it is like for Katie to live and teach yoga with chronic fatigue syndrome a message for new yoga teachers, especially ones that may not fit the dominant culture yoga teacher mold some of the accommodations Katie has to make personally to make the practice of yoga teaching accessible for her what yoga studios can do to make teaching more accessible a deep dive into healthism and how it shows up in western yoga culture   Learn More From Katie: Katie’s Website Connect with Katie on Instagram  

The yoga world has changed so much in the last 5 years, and more and more yoga teachers are finding they need to build and create their own opportunities to teach. Even before the pandemic it was nearly impossible to build a full time career teaching group classes at studios. The pay is too low, the opportunities too rare and the workload is way too high to exclusively teach at a yoga studio.  But paving your own path can be challenging, especially if you don’t see anyone like you doing it. That is why I’m so excited to introduce you to Emily Anderson. No one is paving their own path better than she is.  Emily Anderson (she/her)  is a self employed yoga therapist in training. She shares yoga as a way to reconnect with the body and mind, process trauma or pain, and to build resiliency in a fatphobic, ableist world. Her virtual studio All Bodies Welcome Yoga centers folks who are fat, chronically ill, disabled, and/or looking for an accessible yoga class outside of diet culture and fitness spaces. Emily invites students to explore with gentleness, empathy, fun, and patience, and to shed body shame and comparisons. In this episode you’ll hear: what led Emily to want to be a teacher and her journey from student to teacher  what it is like to train to be a yoga therapist and Emily’s teaching schedule how Emily got established in her local community and created her own teaching opportunities the kind of business education that is missing from foundational teacher training how Emily supplemented the missing business education with her own research Learn More From Emily + Resources Mentioned: Emily’s website Emily on Instagram Small Business Development Centers SCORE Mentors Emily’s Marketing Coach Inner Peace Yoga Therapy A video of Emily’s first yoga teacher, Arthur, and his journey to regain mobility (tw: some weight loss talk) Joseph Le’s Yoga Toolbox  

Today on the podcast I am introducing you to someone very special to me: one of my most important teachers, Sara Avant Stover. I started studying with Sara privately in the fall of 2012 and what I learned from her radically altered my life path. I went on several deep, immersive retreats with her, the last one in 2016.  Since the last time we saw each other Sara has suffered several very intense heartbreaks and gone deeper into her practice than ever before. Surviving these challenging times and coming out more whole and happy than ever before has expanded her teaching immensely and I’m so honored to share her deep wisdom with you today.  Sara Avant Stover (she/her) is a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner and teacher and mentor of women's spirituality, empowerment,  and entrepreneurship. She's also the author of The Way of the Happy Woman , The Book of SHE , and Handbook for the Heartbroken.  In this episode you’ll hear: about the heartbreak journeys that led Sara to write this book the the aspects of Sara’s heartbreak journey that she struggled with the most a deep dive into Internal Family Systems and how it helped both Sara and I heal from trauma what Sara has seen change in the landscape of online yoga and meditation and teacher trainings since she started offering them in the early 2000s advice from Sara about building a career as a yoga teacher right now Learn More From Sara: her Self podcast Handbook for the Heartbroken Sara’s LinkedIn Sara’s Instagram Sara’s YouTube  

I believe the invitation of life is to become ourselves, live fully and freely, and then, if you are a student of yoga, to extend that full, free, safe living out to all beings everywhere. But how often do we get to see someone really do that?   Today I have a treat for you: a person who is doing just that. Becoming. My friend Miles Borrero (he/him) has survived fronting a Latin rock band, riding horses competitively, acting on various stages across the US, and nannying a six-year-old. He has been Catholic, Jewish, and a frequent guest at Krishna’s house, and has lived life as a boy, a girl, a woman, a man, and something in between. Now a senior yoga teacher who leads retreats and trainings all over the world, Miles is passionate about dismantling the systems within ourselves that keep us small. And he has written a beautiful book called Beautiful Monster: A Becoming. The book reads like one long dharma talk, full of creative writing and yogic wisdom. In this episode you’ll hear: how Miles was Rodney Yee’s best student even though they never met why was it yoga teaching that really stuck for Miles, despite having so many jobs and creative endeavors  what it was like for Miles to teach in his native language after learning to teach yoga in English first all about Miles’ teacher Raghunath and what Miles learned from him what changed in Miles’  asana practice after his top surgery and taking testosterone   Learn More From Miles: Website Chant Your Way to Freedom (Course) 100 YTT with Miles Miles Book, “Beautiful Monster:  A Becoming”  

In case you don’t know, Jivana is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings and supporting yoga teachers. He’s the author of the books: Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body; Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion; and a new book, The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body. His books, classes, and trainings offer support to yoga teachers and yoga therapists in finding ways to bring creativity and collaboration into their teaching while still respecting the ancient yoga tradition. Check out the other two episodes with Jivana: 70: Yoga, Human Rights, and Accessibility with Jivana Heyman 105: Yoga And Social Justice with Jivana Heyman In this episode you’ll hear: how Jivana recommends we balance  tradition and innovation in asana how teachers can innovate in a way that honors the roots of yoga some thoughts on the abuse present in so many lineages and why ethics creates accessibility the specific skills that yoga teachers can learn to make their offerings accessible to everyone the inherent power imbalance between student and teacher how we can use language to make the practice invitational AND clear the kinds of support Jivana recommend yoga teachers find the recurring teaching nightmare that both Jivana and I have!! Learn More From Jivana: Instagram Facebook Accessible Yoga School The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga Book

The brain and the nervous system play a HUGE role in how we integrate sensory information, experience pain and create movement patterns but this topic is not often covered in foundational yoga teacher trainings. That is why I’m so excited to introduce you to Missy Bunch (she/her), a multi-certified movement therapist who has been educating and coaching for over 14 years. As a young professional dancer, she battled many injuries over her career and one day she found someone who studied neurology (the study of the brain and nervous system). After one session with this person, her 4-year knee pain was completely gone. She knew she wanted to teach this approach to the world. The importance of brain function and using the nervous system to rapidly “debug” movement patterns, decrease pain and increase performance, has led her to teach and create lightning-fast improvements with people from all walks of life. Her specialties include injury prevention, injury rehabilitation, joint mobility and decreasing pain, holistically.  In this episode you’ll hear: a deep dive into assessments including how to cue them and what are we looking for when we reassess what it mean to move into a shape “reflexively” how can we work with the brain to decrease pain the role of the nervous system in integrating inputs and creating motor output all about the opposing joint theory and how to use it with 1x1 students an overview of cranial nerves and how and why to stimulate them Resources Mentioned: Missy’s website Missy on Instagram The Science of the Private Lesson The Mentor Sessions Sangha

Today I will answer a bunch of questions that you all have sent in about teaching private lessons! In this episode you’ll hear: suggestions for helping a student establish a neutral pelvis in daily life advice and guidance for hands-on work in private lessons tips for finding private clients outside of the studio tips for when you need to make some money fast support in lightening up a teaching schedule how (and why!) to raise your rates help for a  private student who wants to learn to meditate, but always seems agitated when practicing  Resources Mentioned: 37: Q + A About Private Lessons with Francesca 62: Q + A About Private Lessons with Francesca #2 92: Planning And Progress In Private Lessons (Q+A!)  Teachprivateyoga.com The Mentor Sessions Sangha