The Mentor Sessions

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

Well, this is an unusual episode!! Since I released a podcast episode last year about my group class planning process I’ve been getting more and more questions about my unique teaching style.  It’s been described as Buddha Dharma Meets Corrective Exercise With A Little Vinyasa In The Middle For Some Fun. It’s a specific style that has been cultivated over almost 20 years of very full time teaching, and I especially love the way it lands online and in an audio format. 

So this episode is a short explanation, and then a full length practice! You might find it interesting to listen to even if you can’t or don’t want to do the physical part of the practice.

Resources Mentioned:

• The Mentor Sessions Sangha

• The Science of The Private Lesson Training

• 115: The Case For Teaching Leveled Classes

• 116: Integrating Buddha Dharma and Asana with Meredith Witte – Live Mentoring Session

• 118: My Group Class Planning Process