Sustainability and Self Care for Yoga Teachers

About the class

While teaching yoga can be hugely rewarding, it also brings with it challenges that can feel draining. We often work alone, which can feel isolating. In addition to our direct teaching there are often many unpaid hours involved in marketing, planning, travel, and a range of other admin. Burn out is common.

As with any care-giving profession learning how to skilfully hold space for ourselves is as important as learning how to hold space for our students. Doing so enables us to feel resourced and resilient as we ride the inevitable ups and downs of teaching. After all, as the saying goes “you can’t pour from an empty cup”.

This 2-day workshop offers you space to step out of the role of care-giver and shift focus to your own needs in care-receiving. We will place self-care and self-compassion centre stage, shining light on the barriers we face as well as exploring practical ways to weave it within our teaching including scheduling, finances, managing our inner critic, and the importance of creating supportive connections and communities.

Self-care is about so much more the resting on bolsters and soaking in a bubble bath (as lovely as these can be). It can be a courageous commitment to ensure that our own needs aren’t being sidelined through our teaching. It can be about creating small, impactful changes that don’t need to be costly.

The course offers an opportunity to gather collectively in a non-judgmental setting so that we can share openly and honestly about what nourishes and sustains us, as well as tools we use to navigating the challenges. Participants will receive a self-care workbook full of practical suggestions, space to log reflections as well as time to create a personal action plan that supports your sustainability and wellbeing.

And if a part of you feels a little self-indulgent, guilty, or unsure about offering yourself two full days to support your own wellbeing, here are some beautiful words from the meditation teacher Jack Kornfield to reminds us that “If we are to bring light and wisdom and compassion into this world, we must first begin with ourselves.” (from A Path With Heart). After all, when we show up to our teaching feeling more present, resourced, inspired, compassionate and resilient, it benefits ourselves and our students.

Each day will also include a restoring practice to nourish and nurture ourselves and remind us to practice what we feel so passionately about teaching. Participants will receive a manual and plenty of practical tips from Anna and Norman.

Places are £250 (there are two bursary places available for this course, please email studio@orangeyoga.co.uk for more info).

Testimonials from past participants

“This workshop I feel is a must experience for all teachers, as a way to continue to be re-empowered in your teaching journey and also be in an inclusive, safe, positive and non-judgmental open space with other teachers. It's rich in its content and also really impactful too. Highly recommend!”

“Led by two thoughtful, experienced and highly regarded teachers, this weekend offers important reflections, space and support to reflect on what it means to look after yourself as a yoga teacher. A must for all!”

About Norman Blair:

Norman began practising yoga in the early 1990s and he has been teaching since 2001. His practice and teaching embrace both Ashtanga yoga and Yin yoga as well as mindfulness meditation. Through significant periods of training with teachers such as Alaric Newcombe, Judith Hanson Lasater, Richard Freeman and Sarah Powers, he has gained the Yoga Alliance 500 hour accreditation. He believes that yoga is accessible to all of us and through regular practice we can experience profound changes in our mind and body. His own experience has taught him that yoga is an enjoyable way to release and make available energetic potential to enhance our lives. Yoga can help us to become more flexible, physically stronger and improve our stamina, focus and awareness.

Norman teaches intuitive/dynamic flow yoga and Yin yoga classes and workshops throughout London, as well as leading retreats. His Yin yoga training courses are respected and popular. He has run yoga teacher mentoring groups for more than ten years.

About Anna Taylor:

Anna Taylor is a Senior Yoga Teacher, IAYT Accredited Yoga Therapist and Mindfulness & Compassion Instructor based in London. She is the author of Weaving Mindfulness and Compassion into Yoga Teaching – a resource for yoga teachers and teachers in training. She has been teaching since 2008 offering mindful, therapeutic, restorative and yin yoga both in person and online. More information can be found at www.mindbodybalance.co.uk.

Wear and bring:

Due to the nature of the Crescent Bakery building, it's ideal to wear layers of clothing for cooler / warmer fluctuations.



Staying over for courses / workshops:

Looking for somewhere to stay near the studio? Click here for more info -

https://www.orangeyoga.co.uk/staying-over

Cancellations:

Please note workshops will be refunded only if we can find someone to take your place. Obviously we will take account of exceptional circumstances. If you have chosen to pay in instalments, payments to completion will still be due. If we need to cancel a workshop in exceptional circumstances, we'll notify you as soon as we can and refund you the full amount. Please contact us at studio@orangeyoga.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help.

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