Yoga Teaching and Learning
​at www.yogauk.com

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Hello Reader

Welcome to the January newsletter.

This month's article is about remembering to take time to look back over the past year and reflect upon your yoga teaching. The article includes a check list of aspects to consider. The turn of the year is the perfect time for a review!

The next community Q&A get-together on Zoom is next week. I look forward to our discussions about the challenges of yoga teaching.

Stay warm and well and all my best wishes for 2025,

Keep scrolling for:

• Dates for your diary
• Article: Time to review your yoga?
• Community news and yoga teacher Q&A dates
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Dates for your diary

• Saturday 4th January at 10am-1pm on Zoom - Bhujangasana anatomical analysis for yoga teaching workshop (here)

• Saturday 11th January at 10am - next yoga teacher Q&A Zoom meeting
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Article:

Time to review your yoga?

Now is the ideal moment to reflect on your work and to throw up new ideas and see how they land.
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In a few months, springtime will bring a feeling of renewal and new beginnings and it will be a great time to start new things.

But good new projects don’t come out of thin air - they need some planning and forethought before implementing.

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I tend to do that broad objective thinking at the start of the year. I think about how things have panned out over the previous year, alongside personal gut feelings about how things have been going and fitting in with life, which often warrant deeper reflection.
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I’d like to share with you some pointers on reviewing your own yoga teaching, based on the approaches that have worked for me over the years.
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1) How is your schedule working for you?

Here are some questions to help you to see the bigger picture, which can be obscured from view at busy times:
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• How many yoga classes do you teach per week/year?
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• Does it feel too much or too little?
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• Does your teaching timetable fit well into your personal life and alongside other work?
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• Are you earning enough money to sustain yourself?
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• Are you getting enough inspiration?
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• Do you have space to find what you need to support you in your teaching?

It's important to stay objective and not jump into finding solutions or dwelling on fears. It's useful to remember that nothing is set in stone.

If you find yourself saying the word ‘should’ – replace it with the word ‘could’. This takes the pressure off and makes it a choice and not a goal.
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2) What is important to you?

Life is about experiencing and appreciating the world rather than a race to achieve or 'do the right thing'.

Love and human connection are as important as practical considerations - something to remember when making changes, or choosing not to.

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3) What has worked well this past year?

In assessing the business side of our work, we need to look honestly at the harsh realities. What has worked financially, and what has not?

In terms of the Yoga Teaching and Learning website I’m going to be doing some pruning of anything not being used much last year, and focusing on the most popular aspects of the website for the coming year.

In my work, even if there’s something I love doing, but it’s not useful to others, then it has to go! This makes business and financial sense, but also matches up with my aim to serve my students and colleagues in the best way that I can.

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4) What new projects did you start last year?

How are any new approaches to your teaching or new projects started last year going so far?

In spring last year I took over an existing yoga class. The class is going so well that I will be continuing with that, even though it’s not at the most ideal time of the week for me.

I’m already sure about that, so that’s one thing that doesn’t need further reflection.

We may be hesitant in making choices sometimes, and we never know for sure what the outcome will be. But we do at least have prior experience on the journey so far to draw on as we plan our next steps.

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5) What are you missing?

Is there anything missing in your life or work?

When I started that new class last spring, I dropped my online weekly class. I miss the online class because people used to come along who don’t live locally, or people who prefer to practice at home. Most of these are now not practising at all.

So I’m reflecting on how I can reintroduce an online class in a way that fits into my week.

The solution is not yet evident, but I’ve asked my unconscious mind to work it out and I've stopped thinking about it. I check in now and again to see if any new ideas arise. (I find this usually works, and with minimum effort – give it a try!)

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6) How have you been organising your time?

Sometimes a sticking point or perceived obstacle is not to do with the teaching itself but the way we are organising our time.
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On the Yoga Teaching and Learning website I have some online courses in the pipeline (look out for those over the next few months).

On reflection I see that I have spread myself too thinly in having several half done projects on the go at once. So I’ll focus now on finishing them one at a time. Sometimes we simply need to step away and review our way of working.
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7) Trialling new things

Choices for the coming year don't always have to be big commitments. I've often found it useful to try things out in a small way before deciding to continue, and it also means you can make improvements or tweaks before continuing.

This coming Saturday I’m running a practical anatomy workshop for yoga teachers about bhujangasana (here). This is the start of a new series of workshops based on questions and requests I’ve received from yoga teachers recently about how to apply anatomical knowledge to teaching cues and adjustments.

Any new project needs a trial run, so I’ll put on a few of these and then review in a few months.

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8) Your personal yoga practice

Are you doing the practice that you need, or has your practice become habitual?

Yoga practice is most useful to us when it is fluid enough to adapt to life's changing needs.

Falling back on the dear familiar can be a nice relaxing practice. But we need to remember to adjust for current specific physical or mental needs, and also to give ourselves challenges to allow for growth. Sometimes simply doing something in a different or simpler way can provide the challenge.
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9) Your own growth and learning

• What do you need for your personal growth and to maintain inspiration for your teaching?
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• What skills would it be helpful for you to learn or develop?
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• Do you feel stuck or unsure, and what do you need to get past that?

I took three online courses last year which were all very interesting – and I also found inspiration from talking with colleagues at our Q&A online sessions.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and continuing svadhyaya (self-enquiry) and sadhana (intentional steps on our personal yoga journey) are all important for us as yoga teachers. These need to be given priority in our schedules to support our teaching journey.

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Taking time to assess and reflect, and then directing our next steps forward, can be a life-changing and inspiring process on life's journey.

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I look forward to crossing paths with more yoga teacher colleagues in 2025 and hearing about the successes and challenges you're navigating in your work.

Happy new year and wishing you much love, light and growth for the coming year.
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Community news

The next two Zoom Q&A meetings are:

Saturday 11th January 10-11am

Friday 7th February 2-3.30pm

Log in to the community hub for further dates, to say you're coming, the Zoom link, and to get email reminders. Link from your Dashboard at www.yogauk.com​
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​​Find out more about the community here​
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Workshops

Bhujangasana Analysis workshop - exploring functional anatomy in practice on Saturday 4th January at 10am-1pm. Find out how to get your 50% discount by logging into the community hub.

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Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to any yoga teacher friends or colleagues who might be interested in any of the content. They can sign up to receive newsletters to their own inbox at www.yogauk.com
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