Mark Walsh has dedicated his life to embodied learning. He founded the Embodied Facilitator Course, Embodied Yoga Principles, The Embodiment Podcast and The Embodiment Conference. He has taught in fifty countries and made embodiment available online through a YouTube channel that has over 13 million hits. He has a degree in psychology, 20 years yoga experience, an aikido black-belt and has trained with various body-mind masters and in various approaches, including Non Violent Communication, body psychotherapy and meditation.

Listen to this episode and you will find out:

• What are the Embodied Yoga Principles
• Who “invented” the word Embodiment
• How has the embodiment movement developed
• How the Embodied Yoga Principles poses were created
• Who is behind the Embodied Yoga Principles. It is not only Mark
• The advantages of incorporating an Embodiment practice into your life
• Being aware and working on your shadows – especially if you’re in a leadership position!

Links for this episode

Simon Borg Olivier is an international well-known yoga teacher with over 30 years of teaching practice and about 40-50 years of self practice. He is a physiologist, research scientist, author and creator of Yogasynergy System.

Nica met Simon Borg-Olivier back in 2012 and was inspired by his revolutional way of practicing and teaching yoga. YogaSynergy System was created for our modern western body by following the ancient definitions what a true yoga is.

Interested to know more about Simon and his YogaSynergy Method? Then listen to this episode.

You will find out:

• What are the main components of the YogaSynergy
• How Simon manages to teach physiology that is easy to understand and remember
• How to find a proper yoga teacher for yourself
• “The Blind lead the Blind” and other problems of yoga industry nowadays
• What real yoga and meditation practice looks like
• How to practice and teach yoga with joy

If you are searching for a yoga teacher training, check the links below. Anastasia and Nica have created a 200H Yoga Teacher Training (Yoga Alliance certified) which includes an Online Course of Simon Borg Olivier on Yoga Anatomy.

Links for this episode

1. Simon’s Website
2. Simon’s Instagram
3. Yoga Teacher Training with Anastasia and Nica, including Simon’s Online Course “Anatomy and physiology of yoga” in Berlin
4. Yoga Teacher Training with Nica and Anastasia, including Simon’s Online Course “Anatomy and physiology of yoga” in Duisburg

Continuous learning and ongoing personal development is what makes our life really interesting and meaningful and makes us a better versions of ourselves.

In this episode we share different ways for the continuous learning as well as show the possibilities how to use your everyday life for your self-development.

At the end of this session we tell more about our plans and topics for the next Season 2 of Yoga Teacher’s Helper Podcast.

Learning Take Outs

1. Where are you at? What do you need to learn now to be a better yoga teacher you can be?
2. What are the possible ways how you could learn and get inspired for your teachings?
3. Is there anything that you could do for yourself that you need now that would benefit your own practice and as a result will benefit your teachings?

We talk about fears and anxieties around teaching yoga and public speaking.

When we become a public figure we are more visible and therefore more vulnerable. Others have more chances to judge us. That produces fear of being not good enough, fear of being visible, fear of speaking. Sometimes we want to be good for everybody and become accepted by them all, but is it really possible to please everyone?

How to overcome all these issues? How to handle our fears? You will find some practical tips from our personal experiences in this podcast.

Learning Take Outs

1. What are your biggest fears around teaching yoga? Where do you think they come from?
2. What could help you overcome these fears? Who could mentor you?
3. What would be a perfect way for you to learn and practice public speaking?

Sequencing is a creative act. In fact, a great yogi master is really an artist and occasionally a philosopher. To sequence, you use your creativity and personal insight gathered from your own practice and life experience.

In this episode we share our practice experiences and various tips for how to structure your yoga class successfully and creatively.

Learning Take Outs

1. Think about what would help you thrive in your practice: do you need a set sequence or a free flow?
2. Based on what works the best for you, what and how would it make sense for you to teach others?
3. What are your needs at the moment and what are the needs of your students? How can you balance these?

Everyone is unique. As a yoga teacher you will need to bring your inner understanding of yoga to develop your own teaching style. In this episode we will discuss some ways how to do it.

Learning Take Outs

1. What is it that you want to teach others?
2. Would you like to teach in an established method or your own?
3. What aspects / elements in my yoga classes belong to my own teaching style?

A fresh yoga teacher certificate is in your pocket. Juhu! But what’s next? How to start teaching and how to find a place to teach?

In this podcast we will guide you through the following topics:

• Depending on your level as a teacher you might want to start to teach immediately after finishing your yoga teacher training – good idea!

• First teaching possibility might be – teaching your friends and relatives for free or a donation.

• Taking money for your classes wenn you are a fresh yoga teacher – pros and cons.

• How to get a yoga class to teach at a yoga studio?

• Teaching in a yoga studio vs. teaching in a gym.

• Find alternative space to teach (dance studio to rent, art gallery, school, university etc). Think out of the box!

• Last but not least: Work on your teaching style and never stop learning.

Learning Take Outs

1. What level am I at and what level can I teach to others?
2. What yoga studio in my city I would like to teach in?
3. What alternative ways of teaching can I find?

You will find out about the ideas of having a mentor, developing a closer contact and a relationship over years, benefits of that, and also pitfalls (disappointment, getting too personal, expectations, and respect vs authority).

Learning TakeOuts

1. Do I have a teacher already?
2. Who can I go to on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis to learn from?
3. Am I ready to be my own teacher? Inner guide?

Nowadays there are plenty of yoga events happening each moment. Today we speak about how to find a yoga event (yoga teacher training, yoga retreat, yoga holiday, yoga workshop, yoga conference, yoga festival, etc) that perfectly fits to you.

Just only some years ago it was much easier to find your offer, as there were not that many yoga things happening out there. You could compare them all and choose what was best for you. Today you have to use other technics!

We introduce our “Guide Lines”:

1. Yoga teacher training: define where are you in your yoga practice now and what you would like to achieve. Choose your yoga teacher, then your method and then the certification.
2. Yoga Workshop (being exposed to an ad): check teacher quality/content quality. You should be driven to the teacher by something out of his qualities: experience, method, topic, personality. Pay attention not to be fooled by the online identity which can be easily created. Try to sense the true person behind . Pay attention what are the roots (method, teacher, own practice, life story) of the teacher. Look if you feel attached .
3. Yoga Retreat: Define your needs. What do you want – more yoga, more meditation, more unique nature experience, or more cultural activities? Choose accordingly. And don’t hesitate to ask questions. Call and ask directly.
4. Yoga Trips – yoga and travel: Yoga trip is an adventure. It is coming out of the everyday life, new energy, new perspective. A transformation – if you want it.
   Yoga trip is not a yoga retreat but it has a lot of qualities of a retreat . What is very important: the place, the teacher, daily program – all depends on your goals.
   Look what phrases are being used in the yoga trip description. Are the phrases more common – then maybe this trip is a typical tourist offer. If you read specific words, if you hear passion behind, then you are on the right track.
   Rely on the teacher’s energy to attract a certain crowd of people.
5. Yoga Holidays: a moment to rest.
6. Yoga Conference/Festival: It is a hub of ideas, new Trans and connections. Define your needs. Choose if the event should be local, national or international. And compare the visions of the event with your own.

Tipps how not to miss what you want to visit

Nadezda tells you how to organize your yoga event calendar that will attract the right yoga event for you:)

Financies

Anastasia gives some tips how to find the money for all your yoga events.

Learning Take Outs

1. What are your goals regarding yoga Praxis for this year? For example : doing a yoga retreat for 7 days or 2- 3 yoga weekends, visit a conference, participate in one workshop each month, etc
2. What topics would you like to learn this year?
3. Finish your yoga calendar according your plans and wishes. Update it. Follow it

No matter which profession or what industry we are talking about, the basic rule towards success is: Build Your Network & Nurture Your Community. It is much more about Whom you know, then Who you are.

Since the cave times, having a community has been extremely important to us humans for three reasons:
1. Practical: helping individuals survive and have prosperous lives together
2. Psychological: creating a sense of meaning and purpose
3. Spiritual: making it possible to have a transcendental experience and merge as one

In this podcast we are talking about the benefits of having the community and how to find people from / for your community.

You are the creator of your own community/network: you can always pick and chose the people you want to connect with and there many ways how you could do this:

• reach out to people you respect and admire, meet them at the first opportunity, offer your help
• create a space for sharing & exchange where you teach, invite your students and colleagues
• go to workshops with people you want to learn from, connect with them and stay in touch for the future
• go to events where many industry players are involved, network and find ways of collaborating
• surround yourself with people you love, take good care of them, support them, and you will be supported in return
• Thinking outside of the box: creative collaborations – connecting with people who are not necessary yogis or in the yoga industry

Further we are going through HOW to sustain your network, relationships, community and why you should:

• Show support for people you love and respect: showing your face when you have to
• Be on people’s minds: meeting people you know, reminding them about you and your work so that they think of you when they need to work with someone like you
• Connect on a heart level: finding true friends, fostering relationships, and developing them over time
• Connecting on a heart level: fi

We close our talk with thoughts about life satisfaction and purpose which true connections give to us. We speak about self practice and motivation with the help of your community.

Learning Take-Outs:

Answer these questions:

1. What stops you from going out and meeting people?
2. Who would you like to meet and befriend in your community?
3. How big is your network and how could you expand it?
4. Who are your most important connections and how to foster these relationships?
5. How can you help others? What can you do to make your friend’s life better?

Feel free to connect with us via yogateachershelper@gmail.com

We start with our thoughts about why Self-Practice is so important. Yoga is a way of self development. As a Yoga teachers, we show our students who to develop one self. What else makes the self-practice so important?

Self-Practice is our laboratory, our sand-box, our playground, where we explore the possibilities of our own body-mind, the use of sequences, poses and exercises. We work on a specific theme or topic of the class and how it reflects in the asanas.

We talk about what Self Practice requires and develops and what are the Highs and downs on the way of a self practice.

We share our ideas of what can help you to practice regularly. We discuss the pros and corns of morning and evening practice. How to support your self-practice with a proper food schedule. We speak about how often one should practice and when it is the best time to rest.

At the end we share our ideas about how to stick to the plan and what resources we can make use of.

Learning Take-Outs

Answer these questions:

1. What stops me from practicing yoga?
2. What motivates me to practice?
3. Why I practice yoga | Why I need a daily practice?

Feel free to connect with us via yogateachershelper@gmail.com

We start the episode giving you some background on our yoga experience and history: we both have been practicing yoga holistically for over 15 years, showing an interest in spirituality since an early age. 

We proceed to speak about why would someone want to teach yoga and why not everyone can be a yoga teacher: it takes a special type of personality and skills to become a teacher, especially when it comes to the body-mind-spirit system such as yoga.

We speak about some of the developments in the modern yoga where people have access to teacher trainings and can become a yoga teacher very easily, but the challenge of making a living with yoga remains. We suggest that a yoga teacher should always have an additional source of income to have freed-up energy to be of real service to others.

We finish with additional thoughts on what it means to teach yoga to others and what it takes to be a good teacher, as well as the learning take-outs in which we ask you to engage with the content of the episode.

Learning take-outs

Answer these questions:

1. Why do I want to teach yoga/not teach yoga?
2. What yoga has given me and what my yoga classes can give to others?
3. How do I commit to yoga: how much time do I want to invest into it on a regular basis?
4. What resources can I make use of (studios, online resources, access to teachers, etc)?

Feel free to connect with us via yogateachershelper@gmail.com