Ep 16: Online Yoga - Accessible Learning, Scalability, and Diversifying your Content

Online courses and offerings are all the rage these days. I mean, they are the best way to reach tons of new people. Although it may seem overwhelming and a lot of work you can easily get started. Creating an online course can be a valuable tool for you for several reasons, including expanding your reach, accessible learning, and cultivating a more flexible schedule. Teaching more diverse content, positively affecting and increasing your income, and scaling your business can add more impact and empowerment for your students. 

This episode focuses on three of the above: accessible learning, diverse content, and scalability, and we'll do a deep dive into each one.

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Online courses and offerings are all the rave these days. I mean, they are the best way to reach tons of new people. Although it may seem overwhelming and a lot of work, you can easily get started. Creating an online course can be a valuable tool for you for several reasons, including expanding your reach, accessible learning, cultivating a more flexible schedule, Teaching more diverse content, positively affecting and increasing your income, scaling your business, and adding more impact and empowerment for your students. In this episode, let's focus on three of the above. Accessible learning, diverse content, and scalability. And we'll do a deep dive into each one. 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. All right. Welcome back to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm super excited because My four month coaching program for yoga teachers, the business of yoga 2. 0 is getting ready to be available this month of April. I'm getting so excited about it because applications are going to be opening up soon. And so I've been diving into the modules of the course and doing some updates, moving some things around and just trying to figure out like what goes where best so that you have a wonderful experience inside the course. Applications will open probably around the 3rd week of April, I'm thinking. I'll keep you updated, no worries, but yeah, get excited about it. This will be my 3rd time running it. And every single iteration of it, I just get more and more excited about it. I am enjoying it so much, and so are the teachers that have been through This coaching program. So today we're talking about online courses. Today, they are more widespread than they've ever been. I mean, they are a fantastic way to reach tons of new people outside of your immediate radius, physical radius. And although it might seem overwhelming and a ton of work to, uh, get them produced. And put together, it's not really true. You can easily get started. So creating an online course is going to be valuable for your business for several reasons, including. an expansion of your reach, accessible learning, cultivating more, a more flexible schedule for you, teaching more diverse content. This I love because you can really deep dive into some content that you're passionate about, positively affecting and increasing your income, which is super important, especially if we're talking about longevity as. a yoga teaching career, scaling your business and adding more impact and empowerment for your students. We don't want to leave them out because they're an important part of this whole puzzle, right? Um, getting them more information, making it accessible for them in different types of ways. So in this episode, we're going to focus on three, just three of the above accessible learning, diverse content, And scalability, and we're going to do a deep dive into each one of these. The first is accessible learning. And when we talk about accessible learning, I'm talking about in the context of these courses, I'm really referring to the ability for students to engage with and benefit from the course content, regardless of their background. Regardless of their physical abilities and regardless of their learning preferences, but more specifically, the diverse learning styles and preferences of students. And I'm going to explain that to you. As we move forward, I'm so excited about this because this is where my teaching background comes into play. So if you didn't know, I used to be an elementary school teacher and an educational consultant for various public school districts around the country, including districts in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and of course, Chicago Public Schools, because Chicago is where I live. But while I was teaching students and working with teachers and school administration, it was imperative for me to understand the different learning styles that we all have. And these are how people learn, how people pick up and integrate new content. And it's different for different people. So when people are taught in their learning style. They have a better chance of remembering the information. So that's why this is super important. So I'm going to go through each one, and I'd like for you to see if you can identify which type of learner you are. See if you see yourself in any of these. The first is visual learners, and visual learners prefer to see information presented visually. So when you teach visual learners, you should incorporate videos, images. infographics and diagrams into your online yoga offerings. This is going to be extremely effective in helping them grasp and understand content, whether it's demonstrating yoga poses, whether it's alignment cues, or it's sequences through videos. This type of media allows visual learners to understand better and better. and absorb the material that you're presenting because they actually see it, right, via video content. Are you a visual learner? Do you learn by seeing? Ask yourself, um, that. The next is auditory learners. And auditory learners learn best through listening, And this can include audio recordings of some of your lessons, maybe it's guided meditation or breathing exercises, or yoga sequences taught to students with their eyes closed, or whatever the subject is that you're teaching the student to be able to hear your voice and not necessarily have to see you. If they pick up information like that, they're an auditory learner. When you provide clear and concise verbal explanations and cues in video lessons, it caters to the needs and enhances comprehension for audio learners. So I want to be clear, video can help, but it's really the sound of your voice, them listening to your voice. So it doesn't necessarily have to be a video. It could be an audio. recording. So think of a time that you took a yoga class and you closed your eyes throughout the entire class and you just listened to the teacher's voice to guide you through the whole class. You were using your auditory, um, skills in order to follow along with what the teacher was having you do. So really tapping into those listening skills there. The next is kinesthetic learners, and they learn best through hands on experiences and physical movement. Sometimes it can be difficult. in an online course for kinesthetic learners compared to in person classes. But you can incorporate interactive elements such as virtual hands on workshops, give them something to do with their hands, or assignments that encourage them to do something physically. This is going to help engage these types of learners more effectively because They are integrating the information while they're doing something physically. The next is reading and writing learners, and these learners prefer to engage with written materials and they benefit from reading, writing, and note taking. Think about including written content such as articles, blog posts, e books, or downloadable material. Like PDFs or resources, because this type of content is going to better serve these types of learners. When you provide opportunities for journaling, self assessment, or written reflections, that can also enhance their learning experience. And then finally is multimodal learners, and these learners have a combination of learning styles. They benefit from a variety of learning modalities and may prefer different approaches depending on the context or the content. When you offer a mix of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements in an online course, that'll ensure that your learners have access to various materials that resonate with their preferred context. Learning styles, and it's going to help them retain the information a little bit better because they're learning in their learning style. So question, did you identify which type of learner that you are? So let's take an example, reading, writing learners, for example, right? And say you have a student who loves to journal after learning a new concept, and that's what's going to help them grasp the information. And instead of giving that journaling as an assignment, you may ask him or her to send in a video showing or explaining how they understood what you taught. And can you see how that would make it challenging for that student? My suggestion is that instead of that, you give them a list of options. To decide from, whether it's a video or a written response or even submitting an audio file. Because some students may prefer to talk it out, but not necessarily show their faces on camera while they're doing a video to submit back to you. So think about like different ways, if you have an online course or an online offering and you want to give students homework or something to do to help them. Grasp the information, think about giving them a list of options to choose from that will target and go in line with their learning styles. I remember one of the trainings I took years ago required the submission of a video of me teaching. Which today doesn't really seem like a hassle, but in addition to this not fitting everyone's learning style and ease of being on camera, some people aren't as tech savvy as others, and that can also turn some people off making that recorded class and sending it in. It was really a test for me back then because I was not as computer savvy as I am today. So it was, I mean, it was one thing to just take the video on my camera, but then once I had the video on my camera, I had no idea what to do with it. So then that was a whole nother thing that I had to figure out in order to submit. My homework. All right. I hope that that was helpful because when you know this and when you implement this, this is what's going to help your online course to be more accessible to students, because you're teaching to the type of learner that you have and not just teaching, I always say there are levels to teaching and you can always learn how to be a more effective teacher. Without taking yet another training. I truly believe this is how you reach your students. It's not by throwing more and more information at them. But instead, it's how do I help you learn what I'm trying to teach you? Right? And so getting more and more skilled with being a better teacher for your students. Okay, the next is diversifying your content, and this is one of the best ways to help students learn more about yoga and themselves. Online courses compared to in person yoga classes allow for a broader range of offerings and experiences tailored to the various needs of the students, their preferences, their learning styles, and so on. So I'm going to contrast the online versus in person ways to diversify your content as we go through each example. Okay. So the first way that you can diversify your content is to customize learning paths. So in online courses, you can offer modules or sections that cater to different levels of practitioners, from beginners to advanced students. And this is going to allow participants to choose the content that aligns with their current skill level and goals, while In contrast, in person classes often follow a general structure with limited opportunities for customization based on individual abilities or preferences. The next is specialized practices. Online courses provide the flexibility to include specialized practices that may or not be feasible in a typical yoga class setting. For example, courses focusing on specific themes like yoga for stress relief, yoga for back pain, or prenatal yoga can cater to niche Audiences with unique needs while in person classes may cover a broad range of poses and sequences but might not delve deeply into specialized practices due to time constraints or the diverse needs of all the students in the general class. And we're talking about regular classes on the weekly schedule, right? Not necessarily like workshops that would. Be focused on a specific need like yoga for back pain, right? The next way that you can diversify your content online is through workshops and masterclasses. So in these online offerings, you can incorporate guest sessions. Featuring renowned teachers or experts in specific yoga styles. Maybe it's meditation techniques or some other related wellness practice. If you try to diversify the workshops and masterclasses in person, it might get a little difficult because you might be limited by scheduling conflicts or space availability. In order to get the guests to come in and guest lecture. Another way to diversify your content online is through interactive element, right, such as quizzes, assignments. Discussion forums and live Q and a sessions to enhance your student engagement and learning outcomes. So these features encourage active participation and foster a sense of community among the participants. So in my business, uh, yoga coaching program. I do have after a module, I have, it's not necessarily quiz, it's more like journaling, you know, sit down, think about these prompts, but just write with them. And in order for teachers to get past that module, they have to answer those journaling questions. So, it's really intentional because I want them to pause. And think about these journal prompts before moving on. And so my intention is for them to be more thoughtful as they go through the process in this coaching program. In person classes, they do offer direct interaction with you as the teacher and with other students, but they might lack the structured engagement opportunities that are provided by online platforms. So again, the discussion forums or the assignments or quizzes or things that you might want them to do after the lecture or after the workshop. Let's talk about multimedia resources. Online courses can leverage these resources, such as instructional videos. resources, such audio recordings, downloadable PDFs, and other visual aids to cater to different learning preferences, while in person classes primarily rely on verbal cues from the teacher and physical demonstrations. And that might not fully accommodate the diverse learning styles of all the students in the class. And again, we're talking about weekly classes here. It's not like you're going to send them home with an audio recording afterwards of what you taught in class. It's kind of just in their brain. And hopefully they can keep the information if you're teaching a lot about, for example, shoulder health. Alright. You're not going to send them home with extra information after that class. It's just what they learned in the class. Self paced learning. I love this because online courses allow for students to learn at their own pace. And it gives them the chance to revisit lessons and practices as they need. And they can progress according to their individual schedules. and their preferences. So this self paced approach accommodates diverse learning speeds and time constraints. I know for me, I like to be able to re watch a video, re watch a lesson, Or re listen to it a number of times. That just helps me to integrate new information. And so I love having that availability, right? It's like, I need to hear that again. So let me go back to it and listen to it again. In contrast, in person classes, because they adhere to a fixed schedule and duration, and they offer limited flexibility for those specific students who require more time to grasp these concepts or students who prefer a slower learning pace, and I mean, you could even say it's impossible for them to go back. And get the information again, because like we've gone through class and we're done with it, right? So if they want to go back to revisit the information, they can't do that in an in person class. And then lastly is feedback and support. Online courses provide this personalized feedback and support through teacher led coaching sessions, virtual office hours, or private consultations. Maybe you have some one on one time that you can give. Your students, this individualized guidance helps participants address specific challenges. It helps them refine their practice and it helps them track their progress. So it's really individualized and I love it because they can focus on themselves and the progress that they want to make so that they can see a difference between where they started and how they are progressing. On the other hand, in person classes do offer real time feedback from the instructor, but it may not always allow for in depth instructions or one on one interactions due to time constraints and group dynamics. So you might have another class that's starting right after, or you may need to hurry up and get out of the studio because you got another class to teach, you know, there's so much. That can prohibit a deeper conversation around feedback and support for your students. Can you see that by diversifying your content in online courses, you can create a richer, more inclusive learning experience that's going to cater to a wider range of students? It's going to cater to different learning styles, and it's going to cater to different preferences. This approach is going to enhance accessibility, it's going to enhance engagement and effectiveness, and it'll empower your students to explore yoga in a way that resonates with them personally. and fosters deeper understanding and more growth. And that's what we want from our students, right? We want them to grow. This is why we're creating these additional offerings. All right, let's talk about scalability. So what is scalability? If I were to give you a definition, it's the capacity to expand your teachings, your offerings, your audience reach, and income opportunities without being limited by factors such as time, physical space, or resources. It involves leveraging digital platforms, automation tools, and strategic planning to create and deliver yoga content, courses, and services to a larger audience, both locally and globally. Scalability is going to allow you to reach more students. offer flexible learning options, and generate passive income streams, thereby enhancing your livelihood and professional growth in the teaching of yoga. So when you understand scalability, that's crucial. Number one, it's going to enable you to unlock new opportunities for growth, sustainability, And impact your teaching career overall by embracing scalable practices, such as creating online courses and diversifying your offerings. You can expand your reach, amplify your influence and create meaningful long term success in the ever evolving landscape of yoga education. And it is evolving. I just want to emphasize that. Hey, here are a few things to think about. Regarding why you'd want to scale your offerings in the first place. So online, and these are the pros for online, right? Online offerings have virtually unlimited capacity, which allows you to enroll an unlimited number of students. Without being constrained by physical space or class size limitations. This scalability enables you to reach a global audience and serve a larger community of students. You have 24 7 availability. You offer flexibility for students to access course materials, practice sessions, and resources at their convenience. This asynchronous learning model accommodates diverse schedules, time zones, and preferences. Allowing participants to engage with the content whenever it suits them best. So if you have a student that lives on the West coast and you teach a 6am class and you live on the East coast, your West coast student can watch the recording if they can't make the time for your scheduled offering. I just recently taught an online class. I was a guest teacher for a studio. I'm in Chicago, right? I had students in Ontario, Canada, Connecticut, D. C. area, the U. K. And Scotland It was awesome, and it was around noontime in Chicago, but it was an evening class for the students across the pond in the uk and there's no way, if I were teaching an in-person class, would I, one, have ever met these students and two have ever been able to teach them because they don't live where I teach. Alright, the next is automated processes and this is the part that I love about my online offerings because I've automated a lot of stuff. When you use automations, you streamline administrative tasks such as enrollment, registration, payment processing, and course delivery. Automated systems can handle repetitive tasks, freeing up your time to focus on creating high quality content and engaging with students. This automation also frees you up from having to go back and forth via email, When your students are trying to schedule a meeting time with you. I've automated a number of things. I've automated live class signups, discovery calls, VIP sessions with yoga teachers. And when I begin to have guest interviews on the podcast, I will ask guests to sign up for a time that works for them to be interviewed. Obviously, the time is going to work for me, right, because I'm setting my calendar schedule before the signup link is sent to them. But I say this to say that I will never go back and forth trying to settle on a time with someone. It's not productive and it's not a good use of my time. I remember at the beginning of the Pandemic, when I first started my online yoga studio, I was still sending out emails with Zoom class links and letting students know what props they need and everything and I didn't mind sending that email out before class but I automated that process and now a student signs up for class They check the box for the waiver, they go through the whole sign up process, a reminder email is sent out to them, including the Zoom link. I don't have to do any of that, like it's all on their end, right? And Zoom will automatically create a Zoom link for the class. All I gotta do is start the class, click the link. I love it. The next is scalable revenue streams. I Online courses are going to allow you to generate passive income. I'm going to talk about that in a second. Through course sales, subscriptions, or memberships. And once they're created, digital course content can be sold repeatedly to new cohorts of students without additional overhead or resources. So, I always warn teachers that just because you create an offering, that does not mean that people are going to purchase it or they're going to join it. That's a subject for an entirely different podcast episode. But in short, you'll have to give people a reason to buy, okay? The next, and we kind of have talked about this a little bit, is global reach, right? You transcend geographical boundaries, which enable you to reach students from around the world. This is going to expand your audience beyond local communities, open up opportunities for cultural exchange, diversity, and maybe even collaboration on an international scale. That's exciting, right? Okay, data analytics. Online course platforms will provide this robust data analytics and insights into your student engagement, their progress, and it'll give you some feedback. So you can track metrics such as course completion rates, quiz scores, and participation levels to assess learning outcomes and identify areas for improvement and tailor your future offerings to meet your students needs. based off of feedback or some analytics that you've been keeping your eye on. And then finally, scalable support. Online offerings can give you scalable support mechanisms, such as FAQs, discussion forums, and community groups where students can seek assistance, share experiences with one another, and connect with their peers. Additionally, you can provide personalized support through office hours, email, or live chat, growing your support services to accommodate your growing student base, and then also match what they need. So they may ask you for something that you hadn't thought of, but once they ask, then you can mirror that ask and offer it to them. So let's talk about scalability limitations of in person yoga offerings, because I think we also need to talk about the cons of in person so that you understand the pros of. online offerings. So physical space constraints, right? Limited by space. You're limited by studio capacity. You're limited by mat placement and the room layout. So all of this is going to restrict the number of students who can attend a class at any given time, potentially limiting your reach and your revenue potential. I taught at a studio and I could comfortably teach about 15 students in the yoga room. So even though I was getting paid a base rate plus a rate for every additional student over a certain number, I was never going to get paid. be able to get paid more than 15 total students who could fit into the room. Right? It just wasn't going to happen. And even if I wanted to do a workshop, which might draw more students in, I still had that constraint that the room size, all right, a fixed schedule. So in person classes adhere to a fixed schedule and duration. offering limited flexibility for students with conflicting commitments or varying ability. So this kind of rigidity may deter some individuals from attending classes regularly or participating in ongoing yoga classes because the classes they're searching for are not available when they are. I talk about this a lot, right? But if you offer something online and say it's a Sunday at 2pm and you get signups but some people say I can't make the live but if you send out a recording I can watch the recording and I'll pay for that. So you're getting paid for people who sign up who know that they can't make it but you don't have this limitation based on their schedule. because you're sending a recording and they can still practice. It doesn't matter the time, basically. The next is. Location based audience. So obviously, in person classes are primarily going to attract students from the local area, but proximity and accessibility constraints limit your ability to reach a broader audience and engage with students from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and geographical regions, like I mentioned before. Resource intensity. Hehe. Hehe. This is kind of interesting. In person classes require significant resources, including studio rental fees, equipment, maybe overhead costs. So say you're a teacher that has to go out and find a yoga studio space in order to host the event that you want to, you've got to be able to pay those rental fees. And even if you're hosting a workshop, At a studio that you teach at, there's often a percentage split between you and the studio. So you have to think about like that split as well. When we talk about resource intensity, think about, I want you to also think about the number of props that are on hand. Say you have a space that can hold 50 students. But you only have 20 straps, and you need straps for class. What are you going to do? Or you only have 10 blocks. Are you going to ask everybody to bring their own blocks? These are just some things that you need to think about. Or are you going to purchase more props? All right. Limited. feedback mechanisms. So in person classes offer real time feedback from the instructor, but they also might lack comprehensive feedback mechanisms for tracking student progress, for tracking their engagement, or satisfaction over time. And this is going to hamper your ability to assess learning outcomes, refine your teaching strategies, and address individual needs if needed. So we've all, I'm sure, experienced asking a student after a class or after a workshop, so how was it? And you get, oh, great, the standard answer. That, Answer, while it may be great, it's not giving you more information to refine your teaching strategies, right? As opposed to giving someone a feedback form online and they can fill it out and let you know in more detail if they have questions or if they have concerns or they want more information on a particular area that you covered in the offering. And then finally, there's time and energy constraints. Teaching in person classes demands considerable time and energy from you, including class preparation, commute time, and teaching hours. And we talk a lot about this when we talk about yoga teacher salaries, or what you get paid per class, and does it cover everything that you do. Outside of class, planning for it, getting there, all of that. Oftentimes, this can be physically and emotionally taxing. Limiting your capacity to scale your teaching availability, or the time to explore new opportunities for growth. I've shared in previous episodes how teaching just a one hour class can take up to three hours. of your life. For me, it took three hours of my life to go and teach this one class. And so I really want you to think about how you're using your time. And if you love where you are with your time, cool. If you don't, then you should be thinking about ways that you can be more economical with it. And does that involve schedule changes? Maybe. Alright, to sum up this episode, wow, this one was a little longer than normal, but let's go over the key takeaways. So the three areas that we discussed were accessibility, content, diversity. and scalability of online offerings and how each one of these contributes to the effectiveness in your delivering high quality yoga education to a global audience. When you embrace these principles and leverage digital platforms and technologies, you can create immersive, inclusive learning experiences that will empower your students to cultivate their practice deepen their understanding and achieve their wellness goals more effectively. Creating an online course is easier than ever nowadays. I mean, honestly, I can create one in an afternoon or at least the outline for one in an afternoon. They offer you the chance to diversify your teaching, teach your subject on a deeper level. and free up some of your time and add an additional income stream. All right. My goal for this episode was to explain how online courses or offerings can be beneficial in your teaching business. Not only do they add additional income, but creating them requires that you become a more thoughtful and focused teacher. When you create an offering, you'll find that you're not trying to be the yoga teacher for every student. Instead, you're being the yoga teacher to the students who align with you, your values, your teaching style, your methodology, and so on. I mentioned earlier in this episode about my four month coaching program, The Business of Yoga 2. 0, that I run with a small group of teachers each round. In it, you'll understand the teacher you are and learn ways you can create online offerings. In fact, I have a step by step process. to teach you to get your ideas together and your online offering out into the world. This spring, this April actually, will be my third round offering this coaching program and the teachers who have received coaching so far are making moves. and building sustainable careers, and it's exciting to watch them grow. As always, I want you to be clear about your career, and when you realize that teaching yoga can be done anywhere and anytime, it opens up all kinds of opportunities for you. I love helping yoga teachers find new ways to reach students and new ways to teach yoga. And this is just one way. When you love your teaching life and allow it to be fulfilling and rewarding, it means that you. Are teaching from your heart and you feel aligned. Basically, you're feeling so good about your career and where it's headed. If you loved this episode, I'd love to hear from you and I'll give you a shout out on a future episode. I love the feedback I've heard so far. So thank you. If you've already reached out to me, I truly. Appreciate it. Subscribe to the podcast so you know when a 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 have even more topics to share with you. 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 so we can always stay connected. All right, that's it for now. Bye.