I've been working on leveling up my yoga teaching skills recently. I would say it started with Leandra's "Lizard Tail" class, but I didn't start putting concept into creation until I received constructive feedback from my friend Julie Bergfeld after she took my class via Zoom on 8/25/2020. Essentially her feedback was that I should use student's names and be specific on who I am speaking to, it would be helpful if I had a specific theme, and what I spoke to was good, but was enough for two classes worth and I should leave more space (less instructing, more holding space). Her feedback was accurate and helped me get real with how I was holding the container for the students to have a yoga practice. I'd been winging it, waiting for inspiration to hit me with what I could/should speak to during the class. I began deconstructing Leandra's Lizard class, looking for a pattern to work from in order to lead more powerfully.

Julie took my class again on 9/26/2020 and by then I'd themed twelve classes in Leandra's styling & the theme for the class that night was "using resistance as a catalyst for growth". Julie's feedback for me after this class was she wanted to hear more from my share (I'd cut it short) and I say 'good' without directing the encouragement to a specific person.

Luca Richards held a Grow Tips Live webinar on  9/9 on the "The Shape of Sharing" which was all about theming a yoga class powerfully. It took me a while to digest what Luca covered in his webinar, but I began to put it into action in the class on 10/7. Simplifying the theme of the class to a single concept or single word has been my biggest challenge. I started out with "unconditional self-acceptance" and have whittled class themes down to justice, love, connection and gratitude.

This is a mountain with no top. As with everything in life, the only constant is change and as I grow and change how I hold the container of a yoga class, I'm able to look back at the classes I've recorded (especially the videos classes) and see pivotal points in the work that I've been doing to grow as a Baptiste yoga teacher. I'm grateful that video recording your classes was required at the time I was seeking Baptiste certification. I have mile markers that show me messy, hiding and awkward. The first video I made was way back in December of 2016, four months after attending Level One.

In 2017 I was recording classes to apply for Baptiste certification and receive feedback for how my teaching was landing. Messy, awkward, all the cues. First attempt, second attempt and a full class of YTT students I led the same day as the second attempt video. 

Fast forward to June of 2018, I had the opportunity to lead Sunday yoga at the Tampa Lululemon store and I setup the camera to record the 10/31 class at All Y'All Yoga because C. S. Hoback commented on one of my audio classes on YouTube and asked for a new video class. 

Luca says that leading yoga classes is not about you the teacher, it is about the students. Holding the container of the studio space (in person or over Zoom) is all about the students' experience. I'm able to hold the container more clearly as I leave more space, less teaching, more sharing from the space of "I" in a way that creates connection and triumph for everyone listening.

What does all of this mean? It means I'm committed to showing up fully for you. I am committed to honoring and respecting your practice and I am committed to putting my attention on creating more connection.

If you are a yoga teacher and are interested in one-on-one coaching, reach out to Julie or Luca. You'll be glad you did.

^^ These are all engaged, attentive, powerful Baptiste Yoga teachers! ^^

• Look, listen and give tools
• Speak into each and every
• Look for what's needed in the moment
• Have a clear purpose for playing music if you do play music
• Build in active rest and recovery into a beginners class
• Keep beginner students in the vinyasa, allow them to have their experience (whatever that is)
• Use essential language. Movement > body part > direction
• Teach to the middle-strongest students and up. Their energy will empower newer students in the room.
• Offer a challenge to your students by giving them space to take themselves to their edge (whatever that looks like for them from moment to moment)
• Teach from Journey Into Power as written
• During Integration, get the students moving
• Be with the students in the room and keep the energy moving forward.
• Allow for flow in Awakening by removing obstructions to movement
• Reestablish drishti, ujjayi and foundation in the Grounding sequence
• Establish trust with your students by giving them a clear measure of how many repetitions or breaths will occur for each pose.
• Count sequentially with the end number first, then count up 1, 2, 3, 4.
• Switch sides on the second to last number as the transition between sides
• Keep your delivery strong through Opening sequence
• Leave people in the experience of themselves

• trying to tell everyone else to mute themselves
• trying to tell the instructor they couldn't hear her (she wasn't using a mic and was very far away from the video and mic source)
• trying to tell the instructor they couldn't see her because she was so far away and not well lit
• trying to tell the other participants to stop sharing their screens

The teacher never saw any of these chat messages because once she started the Zoom call, she walked away to the front of the room and got on her mat and started talking (although nobody could hear her). Once everyone finally muted themselves, she was still hard to hear. It was a follow-along-and-watch-the-instructor-do-the-yoga yoga class which means that as a student, you had to constantly be looking over at your screen to see what was being done by the teacher. This became potentially dangerous (IMO) as the teacher moved her body into a shoulder stand. I could see other students on the screen try to mimic her shape, while twisting their necks around to see their screens. Several other students were sitting on camera, texting on their phones, not engaged in the class at all. 

The class was an excellent example of how sideways a Zoom yoga class can go when simple guidelines like muting all participants on entry, disabling screen sharing, using a microphone and good lighting aren't followed. 

Drishti is Sanskrit for sight. Where you rest your gaze can shift your balance. When you are focused on where you're gazing, all the distractions around you drop away and you become unmessable with. Set your sight on what you want to have happen and be for it. Seeing your future with your mind's eye is the first step to bringing that future into reality.

Ujjayi is Sanskrit for breath. It is described as ocean breath, victorious breath or even Darth Vader breath (because that's also what he sounds like when he's breathing). It is done by inhaling through your nose and slightly constricting the back of your throat as you exhale through your nose. This audible breath allows your mind to quiet as you focus your attention on hearing the sound of your own breath. Yoga with Adrienne has a great video demonstrating ujjayi breathing.

Fun fact: Ujjayi breathing increases the levels of nitric oxide in your noses and sinuses. Higher nitric oxide levels, the less inflammation in your nasal cavity. This means fewer headaches, allergies, and colds. Another way to increase the level of nitric oxide in your sinuses is humming!

Bandhas is Sanskrit for body locks. Body locks refer to the areas of the body where we can pull in, or hug in the body to engage muscle energy. In Baptiste Yoga, this is often referred to as "Core, Hands and Feet". 

The Bandhas:

• Hasta Bandha, contraction of the hands - pulling energy up into the body
• Pada Bandha, contraction of the feet - pulling energy up into the body
• Mula Bandha, contraction of the perineum - similar to stopping the flow of urine
• Uddiyana bandha, contraction of the abdomen into the rib cage - pulling the belly button into the spine
• Jalandhara Bandha, tucking the chin close to the chest - lengthens the back of the neck.

Tapas is derived from the root Sanskrit verb 'tap' which means 'to burn'. Baptiste Yoga is practiced in a heated room (90F/32.2C) to bring about tapas. The heat helps to melt away layers of resistance and get you out of your comfort zone. As your sweat becomes something you notice, the opportunity arises to use it as a way to stay centered and present in the moment. The skills you cultivate in your yoga practice help you to stay patient and present when your life heats up off the mat.

Vinyasa is derived from the Sanskrit term nyasa, which means "to place," and the prefix vi, "in a special way". Often Vinyasa is used as a shorthand reference to moving through the following poses: Chaturanga > Upward Facing Dog > Downward Facing Dog. Vinyasa is also the flow we move through as we make our way through the Journey Into Power sequence on our mats. We flow (vinyasa) and are also intentional about creating the physical foundation of the pose from one pose to the next.