Ep 10: Turn your continuing education into offerings

I know you're a teacher who understands the value in continuing your education. Whether it's to continue learning, stay current and relevant. Maybe it's to keep your teaching and sequencing fresh or just to go all in. On a particular subject.

For example, you've invested in continuing education on topics like anatomy sequencing. Different modalities such as strength, training, resistance, bands, mobility, self myofascial release which is one of my favorites), or issues that pertain to aging bodies, injured bodies, maybe it's the lymphatic system, cadaver labs, and even yoga's roots.

I mean, the list is endless and it really is contingent on your interest. And that's what makes you different than any other yoga teacher.

In this episode, let's discuss the benefits of synthesizing what you're learning in your continuing education and extending that knowledge to your students. That's accessible and easy for them to pick up. All while you integrate the topics you're studying.

Transcript

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Now, I know you're a teacher who understands the value in continuing your education, whether it's to, continue learning, stay current and relevant. Maybe it's to keep your teaching and sequencing fresh, or just to go all in on a particular subject. For example, you've invested in continuing education on topics like anatomy. sequencing, different modalities such as strength training, resistance bands, mobility, self myofascial release, which is one of my favorites, or issues that pertain to aging bodies, injured bodies. Maybe it's the lymphatic system, cadaver labs, and even yoga's roots. I mean, the list is endless and it really is contingent on your interests. I love that part because that's what makes you, you, what you study shapes you and who you are and who you evolve into as a teacher. And that's what makes you different than any other yoga teacher. In this episode, let's discuss the benefits of synthesizing what you're learning in your continuing education and extending that knowledge to your students that's accessible and easy for them to pick up. All while you integrate the topics you're studying. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright, and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you if you're a yoga teacher, you're looking for support, you love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, all the stuff that wasn't taught in teacher training, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies, and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt. And you want to dive deep and set yourself up for success. I'm so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously. So expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together. Okay, I'm a big believer in just addressing what is and not trying to just like brush past it. I'm a little bit under the weather right now. So you might hear it in my voice. Sometimes my voice sounds a little raspy. Sometimes it sounds like a little, you know, sexy voice. Take it however. It resonates for you, and we'll just do our best to get through, um, this episode of the podcast. So, with that said, welcome back to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast. I'm Monica Bright, and today we're getting a little bit more specific, and we're talking all about why you'd want to turn your continuing education into offerings. Did you listen to episode nine? If not, go back and listen to it. It's titled Why You Should Diversify Your Teaching. I walk you through some of the different ways to diversify and why you'd want to. If you did listen, have you been thinking about how you can expand your teaching? I hope so, because this is how you're going to vary your offerings. This is how you're going to learn a lot about your teaching and yourself. And it's how you're going to get closer to bringing your goals to light. Now, I know that you're the teacher who understands the value in continuing your education, whether it's to, you know, continue learning, stay current and relevant. Maybe it's to keep your teaching and sequencing fresh. Or just to go all in on a particular subject. For example, say you're invested in continuing education on subjects like anatomy, sequencing, different modalities such as strength training, resistance band, self myofascial release, which is one of my favorites, uh, issues that pertain to injured bodies or aging bodies. Maybe it's the lymphatic system or cadaver labs. I mean, the list is endless and it really is contingent on your interests, your needs and your wants and your loves and your passion. I've really loved this because that's what makes you, you. It makes you, you based off of what you study, it shapes who you are, who you evolve. into as a teacher and that's what makes you different than any other yoga teacher. So let's talk about why you'd want to turn your education into offerings and how that benefits you and your students alike. Continuing education is going to benefit you as a teacher because Well, I mean, you grow, right? You learn in the process, and you can bring these new learnings, um, to your teaching. Now we know that as a responsible yoga teacher who's devoted to your own evolution, it's important to continue learning and expanding your knowledge of the practice. And you accomplish this by attending trainings and workshops, but you could also be in consistent conversation with other yoga teachers. and investing in coaching and mentoring from teachers who can help you grow and question your current teaching methodology. However, simply taking trainings, workshops, and mentorships is not enough. So I'm just going to say it. It is essential to take what you learn and one, apply it to your teaching in classes, and two, create offerings for your students. So they benefit from what you're learning also for the sake of clarity in this episode. I want to keep the conversation centered around workshops as the additional offering, but there are so many more ways. I just want to keep the conversation on track. Now, I will always remind you that when you finish a training and want to implement what you've just learned into your classes. You have got to take it slow. I want to pause and just share this story with you. It just kind of reminds me of the time when I was taking my level one yoga tune up training with, um, Jill Miller. It was an amazing training. And I learned so much in that, um, in that week together with her, I've gone on and done more trainings with her, but this one was pivotal. For me, in this training, it's not just that we learned a lot about, um, self massage and myofascial release, but there was a ton of anatomy work and understanding and homework, and we did a lot of practices or classes that don't look like a typical yoga class. And again, we also learned some self massage techniques, but she shared with us about some teachers in the past who had returned home and completely changed their classes based off of the classes that we took in the training or what they learned in the training and cautioned us not to do the same, you know, because students. We're becoming confused and eventually stopped coming to those teachers classes. And the reason why is because the change was too much. It was too drastic. It was too different. So if you're teaching like a flow class, and then all of a sudden you start doing these really different things that students have. Vinyasa flow aren't typically used to, they're going to be confused, and so we don't want to confuse students, right? And the thing that you should remember is that, you know, your students already love your classes. They already do, which is why they keep coming back to them. And the new information that you learn should just be sprinkled in, in small doses, right? So that it's easily accessible. And so that your students can easily grasp and hold on to the new information that you're sharing and then also explain why you're incorporating these new movements into the class. You could explain the benefits of these movements, why students should want to incorporate these new ideas into your yoga practice. and into their lives. And I think when you take that approach, where it's like you sprinkle in a little bit and explain why you're doing it, then students start to feel like, okay, this is a little bit different, but it's okay because I understand why we're doing these new things. So I'll try it out. Now, I love workshops because I believe that they're a great way to teach. new concepts to students because they provide this container for you to share the new information that you've learned in a structured and focused setting. You're providing students this opportunity to learn new techniques and deepen their understanding of the practice and this helps improve their practice and achieve their goals. Workshops also help you integrate and solidify your new learning. When you're in the planning stages of the workshop, you know, you have to be able to organize information that you want to present in a way that's easy to follow. and make sense for understanding. You're going to be reinforcing your own understanding too of the material. Think of it as building blocks, like each component of the workshop builds off of the list. And in order to teach, you have to know, right? I'm going to share this quick story. My daughter would kill me if she knew, um, I was sharing this with you, but she's taking AP bio right now in, she's in high school and I'm not going to call out the teacher's name or where she goes to school or any identifying information. She is taking this class and it is clear, the teacher doesn't understand the subject matter. So basically what happens is the students are teaching themselves. So the teacher kind of creates these packets, every unit for the students to study from. And once they've studied from the packet. Then they have a test on the content and when the students aren't sure about information and they ask questions, the teacher, she still doesn't explain the content to them. So they're like all over the place trying to figure out this information because they have to take. A test on the material and every quiz, every test, they hope and pray that they pass. And so this is clear. I kind of explained it to her as like, well, she's a newer teacher and it's just clear. She doesn't really have a, a really good understanding of the content to be able to teach it. To you all. So I don't want you to be in that situation because that's not a good feeling either for, for students or for you as the teacher. I mean, I could just imagine how her. AP bio teacher is feeling as she's going through this school year. I'm sure it's not a good feeling, but when you teach what you learn, you have to have a certain level of mastery of the subject in order to explain it to someone else. Right. Do you know the saying that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else? So. When you go through this process of gaining a deeper understanding of the material, you even retain it longer. So it's like a win win situation. Yeah, I mean, you want to know, really know this content, know this information. And when you do know it and can teach it, you'll be able to retain it longer. Workshops can also be a great way to attract new students and offer something unique. To your current students, you know, I believe in finding ways to increase and diversify your income as a teacher, always workshops and special classes are a great way to do just that. So let's talk about some more things to keep in mind when you're creating a workshop. The first thing to keep in mind is the needs and the interests of your students. It's got to be relevant and beneficial to them. I mean. Something you must do is to create workshops based on what you know will interest your students. Or if the topic is something new that you have to be able to effectively communicate how and why students want to learn more about what you're going to teach them and what they're going to practice. Always popular workshops are like inversion and arm balance workshops. pranayama workshops or maybe special classes that are not on the regular schedule at the studio. Those always typically kind of do well if, if students know kind of about them. So like arm balance workshops, those are self explanatory. It's not like you have to really go into too much detail about what an arm balance workshop is. I mean, yeah, you're going to explain maybe some of the particular arm balances. That you'll focus on, but they're pretty self explanatory. But when you get into subjects like Ayurveda and sometimes even restorative or self massage workshops, you have to go into a little bit more explanation of what these are. Not every yoga student knows what Ayurveda is. So to explain what the workshop is going to be about will help them in the decision making stage to sign up for the workshop. So I want you to think outside of the box, though, when you create workshops. I would combine self massage and restorative together using a Yoga Tune Up gorgeous inflatable ball. And lots and lots of blankets and bolsters, that was always fun. Or pranayama workshops using gorgeous balls to help highlight breathing techniques. So you can create all kinds of experiences, it's really just up to you. Here are a few don'ts when you're thinking about creating workshops. The first thing is, don't try to just wing it, right? Really be intentional about What you want students to gain from attending the workshop. And, you know, they're spending their money and taking time out of their day. So it's important that you are intentional about what you're doing and not just teaching off the fly. That really just is a disservice to your student. The next is not to be so vague that students aren't really sure what the workshop is about. I kind of touched on this before with like Ayurveda. Um, even in the past, when I first started teaching self massage workshops, students really didn't know what that meant. So on the flyers, we did a little bit more explaining what it was before the workshop. In the classes that I would teach, I would give them a little teaser of some self massage techniques that we'd dive deeper into. in the workshop. So there were a couple of different ways that I kind of warmed them up for a workshop that they didn't really know much about. The next is not to cram it with so much information that students leave feeling overwhelmed or confused, or maybe they didn't get the chance to integrate the information during the workshop, or you didn't leave enough time for Q and A's, right? To Answer their question and help them understand the content that you're sharing with them. And then finally, don't try to pitch it to people who it's not truly for. I spent some time during my college years in retail. Um, working in retail and the idea of just trying to sell somebody something that they don't really want just felt icky to me. But for example, if, if you're, if you're teaching an arm balance workshop to elderly students, they might. They might genuinely be interested in it, but if they aren't, I think, I think that it's kind of like, you know, to try to convince someone who the workshop is not appropriate for Try to convince them to sign up for it so that they're just like more people in the room You don't want that you really want people in the room who want to be there who want to learn Who want to get an understanding and who want to practice? what it is that you're teaching them. So focus on getting like the right people in the room. Now, it's super important to make sure that your workshops are well structured and organized and that they provide clear takeaways for participants. Some of the best workshops that I hosted were the ones where students had something to do afterwards or they were clear on what they could do after the workshops because they felt like super supported. So, we talked about how workshops can help you with sharing new concepts, new topics, and knowledge that you're learning with students, and how they also reinforce your own understanding because you know, you gotta know it in order to teach it. But here are a few more reasons why creating special classes and workshops benefit both you and your students. The first is professional development, right? Teaching workshops can also be a great way to develop your professional skills as a teacher. They help you to continue to improve your public speaking skills, develop your ability to lead a group, and to learn how to create effective lesson plans. I, I use the words lesson plans. Because of my background in education, it seems like I can't get away from it. But seriously, planning out what you're going to teach keeps you on track. And it helps you get the necessary information out. And it helps you organize your time. Another benefit of workshops is that they help you build community. They provide an opportunity for students to come together and learn in a group setting. Maybe even working together or attempting to teach each other, which can be a really nice bonding experience. I've led partner yoga workshops, couples yoga, and I've even been a student in acro yoga workshops where the point of the workshop is that You have to work with someone else in the room. Those are really fun, and I like the partnering up idea. And it did definitely build some community. You know that I'm always on the lookout to share ways to help you increase your income, right? So, workshops should be paying more than your regular classes. Often, you'll be negotiating the split between yourself and the studio, whether it's 50 50, 60 40, 70 30, or 80 20, it's up to you to negotiate. I would lean more towards the 80 20 split, because remember, you're doing most of the work. But workshops do provide monetize your knowledge and skills as a teacher and help students become smarter and more knowledgeable of their bodies. and the yoga practice engine. So when you stop to think about it, there's so much value that comes from incorporating workshops into your teaching schedule. Alright, now really do hope that your wheels are turning and that you understand that you definitely need to expand your teaching and turn your continuing education into workshops to help you integrate what you're learning and to diversify your teaching. So let me ask you this. Do you want to learn how to actually do this? Are you looking to save time and energy and not spend countless hours trying to nail down, organize, and promote your workshops? Don't worry, because I teach you inside the business of Yoga 2. 0, my 4 month coaching program for yoga teachers. which opens for enrollment every April. It's the big workshop we never received on how to actually make yoga teaching your career. I work with a small group of teachers each round, and to make sure we're a perfect fit, there's an application process so that I know for sure that we can make a difference in your career. There's a whole module where we talk about workshops from beginning to end so that you are able to create workshops that interest you. and that will serve your students. I'll link the sign up to the waiting list in the show notes below. So hop on it so we can stay in touch and you can learn more about creating the business that you love. Expanding your offerings helps you in so many ways from staying deeply in love with teaching yoga to pushing you to try new things. It's so important for us to have this conversation so that you remember that there are so many opportunities for you in the teaching world. You know that my goal for you is to love the yoga teaching life that you have and allow it to be fulfilling and Rewarding and as always it takes a little bit of work to get there if you love this episode Let me know I love hearing from you subscribe to the podcast So you're always in the know when the new episode drops and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations Because teachers have asked for business related episodes, I'm excited to continue to bring you more. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. And finally, if you haven't already, join my newsletter that's just for yoga teachers. I'll link it in the show notes below, and I would love for you to join it so we can always stay connected. All right, that's it for now. Bye.