Ep 52: Self-care for Yoga Teachers - Professional Tips

Welcome to week 3 of quick self-care episodes! I’ve enjoyed talking about the many different ways for you to care for yourself. So far, I’ve talked about mental, emotional, and physical ways to embrace self-care. In this episode let’s talk about how to care for yourself professionally… I’ll share a few of the tips that I concentrate on and I hope they’ll be helpful for you too.

But first, are you really taking care of yourself? This is an easy time of year to burn yourself out, but you don’t want that! I know you know that you’ve got to take care of yourself so that you can be present for your friends, family, and students. 

When the new year begins you may feel as though you have to hit the ground running and if you feel that way now’s a great time to chill out for a bit. And if you need to hear someone say to you, “Take these last few weeks of the year to focus on caring for yourself” well, I’m here to remind you!

Ok, let's get into a few ways that you should be intentionally caring for yourself, professionally!

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the third week of quick self care episodes just for you. The yoga teacher. I've enjoyed talking about the many different ways that you can care for yourself. So far, I've talked about mental, emotional, and physical ways to embrace self care. And in this episode, let's talk about how to take care of yourself. Professionally. I'll share a few of the tips that I concentrate on. And I hope there'll be helpful for you as well. Yeah, I'm excited to continue this month of quick episodes that are centered around your health. I know this is a busy month for so many. I'm feeling it too. How are your energy levels? I'll be honest. I'm more busy this holiday season than ever. It seems like. And I've had to be more conscious about how I'm spending my time, whether it is working, raising my children or relaxing and pouring back into me. Someone told me years ago that you never really find a balance for everything in your life. You just learn to manage what you've got on your hands. And I thought that was an interesting perspective. It's different for sure. Because we're typically thinking about how to balance everything as opposed to managing it all and feeling good about the management of it. So how's your month going? Are you teaching holiday classes or workshops? More importantly, are you taking care of yourself? This is an easy time of year to burn yourself out. But you don't want that. I know that you know, that you've got to take care of yourself so that you can be present for your friends and family, as well as your students and yourself. When the new year begins, you may feel as though you have to hit the ground running. And if you feel that way, Now's a good time to chill out for a bit. And if you need to hear someone say to you, Take these last few weeks of the year to focus on caring for yourself. Well, I'm here to say that. To you. 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, 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. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you for tuning in. I'm so thankful that you're here listening and getting value from these episodes. It's one of the reasons why I started this podcast, you know, to reach you and talk with you. I love having this space to dive deeper into subjects because on social media, it can be super challenging to talk about the conversations that yoga teachers. Either aren't having, or the conversations need to be more widespread. You know how important it is to be professional in this teaching space? Quick question. Do you have friends or family members who think, oh, she's just teaching yoga. Or you just show up to class and teach some stretching and then you have so much free time. Or that your job is not a real job. I get it because I've had to explain to people in my life that my career choice is just as important and demanding as there is. I've got to show up, be prepared, have done the homework. And the studying in order to execute the class environment and teaching that is at the caliber that I expect to exemplify. So I'm not just showing up to class. There's a lot going on in the backend and I'm sure that's the case for you as well. So let's get into some tips for you for caring for yourself professionally, because teaching yoga, running your own business and being an entrepreneur can take up all of your time and leave you without much professional strategy. But no worries. I'll gently remind you of the professional things to consider as a yoga teacher. All right. These are in no particular order. And I find each of them to be just as important as the other. So, if you want to get your journal or take notes on your phone, or just take notes mentally, now's the time to breathe. Listen and take these in. All right. Commit to learning and growing continuously. There are so many opportunities for growing and learning. Have you ever watched a student in class do something and wonder. About why they're doing what they're doing. Or has a student come to class with an injury? This is my personal favorite. And you wanted to study and learn more about it. Maybe you're the teacher who loves to teach about philosophy or deities, or are you Veda? How do you deepen the stories or the themes you weave into your classes? You learn more and then you share what you've learned with students. Whether you're studying sequencing and applying what you're learning about, how the body moves to classes. Or you teach sets sequences, and you begin to add in a bit of anatomy information, there are so many opportunities for you to take what you are learning off the mat and teach it to your students. Some of my favorite classes are taught by teachers who teach about life lessons. And how they grew from them. The opportunities are endless here. Doing this will keep your teaching fresh and inspired. Whether you're taking workshops, courses or intentionally learning from your everyday life experiences. This helps to deepen your knowledge and add to your expertise. Number two. Plan your classes thoughtfully. I'm sure you're already doing this. But if you are generally burnt out and we've all been there. This could be affected because you're just trying to get through the day. Right. Here's my advice on this one. Have a few go-to sequences that you can teach, which are already well thought out and mindful. This way, if you don't have the time or the energy to create a thoughtful sequence, you already have a few to choose from. You could make slight modifications to them if you want. But the bones of the sequences are already created. This will help you manage and reduce last minute stress and give you the space to focus on your students rather than logistics or remembering a sequence. Number three delegate non-teaching tasks as much as possible. Okay. This is a big one and has been super helpful for me when I transitioned to teaching online, hiring a virtual assistant has been the best decision. Let me explain she does the work that either I don't want to do or that I don't need to do. For example, creating canvas slides. I don't need to do that. She knows my business branding, and I've also put in time to teach her. What I need her to do for me. Yes. I put in a bit more extra time in the beginning to teach her. And now that she knows how to do what I need. It has saved me so much time. It frees me up to do the things that only I can do and gives me the time to be more creative because I'm not burning myself out with all of the tasks that she can easily do for me. All right. Number four. Find and maintain a balanced teaching schedule. I know I've brought this up before, but I can't say it too many times. Your teaching schedule will dictate your life. Seriously, you will feel it when it feels right. The right amount of classes at the perfect time of day, whether you have large gaps of time between them or you teach back to back to back classes, all can lead to exhaustion. In the case where you have large gaps of time between classes, you feel it, you don't really get to wind down completely. Because you have another class to teach. And if you're teaching back-to-back classes, you're also expending energy. So you have to find the schedule that's right for you. But I promise you when you have it you'll know. Number five. Seek feedback from students. Okay. I really do have strong feelings about feedback. Because it's not all the same. You have to consider the source and you have to be mindful of whether it's actually helpful and constructive feedback or not. Here's an example. I was teaching a class at a studio and in the particular format that I was teaching, the teachers were supposed to teach a balance of static, dynamic and ballistic stretching. So I had a new student in class and I taught the class according to those parameters. And after class, she comes up to me and she says that yeah, that class was okay, but so-and-so this other teacher taught it this other way. And it was much better. Well that other teacher taught a yin style class. So I know that she wasn't teaching the class the way it's supposed to be taught. I share this story with you because I could have gotten all caught up in the feedback that this student was giving me, but instead I considered the source. She had no idea how the class was supposed to be taught. She just liked what she liked and that was it. I think we can be super hard on ourselves and even more so when we succumb ourselves to feedback that isn't really helpful. On the other hand, students can give you some really valuable feedback, especially when you've developed a relationship with them. I've had students who have asked me about ACU. They didn't understand. And that gives me a chance to think about how I might communicate it differently so that they can understand and easily follow along. I think it's valuable to talk with students about your classes, what they liked or didn't. What connected or did it, and even what they might have lingering questions about. Plus any chance you get to talk and connect with your students is a win in my book. All right. Number six. Invest in professional development. This is a must. And it can also be a double-edged sword. You have got to continue your education because dare I say it. It's separates you from the pack. What do you love learning about. What do you love teaching? Study those subjects and be the go-to teacher for it. Me it's anatomy, injuries and pain. I've got those subjects on lock and I love learning more and more about each one of those topics. I know of another yoga teacher who enjoys teaching about Because why do I know that because she's leaned into teaching them and if a student asks me about mudras, I send them to her. And my eyes, she's the go-to teacher for that. So, what do you love learning about. Can you become the teacher for it? Committing to professional development will help you. I used to travel to take professional development, but now I take more online courses. Because of the ease they provide. Number seven. Pay attention to your finances. If you know me, you know that I truly believe that you must be strategic when it comes to your finances. Especially as a yoga teacher, it's no secret. That we don't get paid our worth. But you can diversify your offerings so that teaching does become lucrative. Without wearing you out and completely draining you. I've met so many yoga teachers who have quit teaching because the pay wasn't enough or they were working themselves into the ground. Just to get by. No one should live like this, especially with the gifts we possess. You have got to have a plan in place. How will you create multiple streams of income? How would you be able to make money if you're physically hurt and cannot teach? What if you have a family emergency and need to take time off from work. The bills still need to be paid. These are all questions that you have to consider. Do you have sick days? Vacation days? Paid time off. Probably not. You cannot ignore the importance of this and when you confront it and make plans is going to help reduce your stress levels related to your income. And lastly, take time off for inspiration. How are you going to do this without financial planning? I mean, you can, but it would be irresponsible. So make the financial plans you need so that you can take time off. Time off is a need. It is your time to regroup and refresh. Plus you deserve time to enjoy life, right? No matter what society says, you're not here on earth to work, work, work, no matter how much you enjoy your career or not, you still need time for yourself, your family and your relationships. Life is about living and you never know, while you're taking time off, you might just find inspiration for a class theme. A workshop idea or a new area that you want to study. Taking time to step away from work will help to recharge you your passion for teaching and your creativity. Plus it helps to prevent burnout and rekindles your love for yoga. Whether you're a new teacher or a seasoned one, I cannot stress enough how important it is. For you to think about your professional self care. It's so important for you to prioritize yourself and your needs. And you have to be mindful and intentional about your professional decisions. Doing so will help to shape your teaching career and make it sustainable. And one that you love for years to come. All right. I hope that this episode makes you think about the professional decisions you make. I've added a link in the show notes for you to send me a quick text message about your thoughts on this episode or any other, I won't know your phone number. It's just an addition to the platform that I use that allows for this new and really easy way for you to communicate with me. Once you click on it, it will take you to your messages, but don't delete the code. That's how your message will get to me. And I would love to know your thoughts on this topic. If you can't tell already, I love diving into these conversations because there are so many important. Discussions to be had in the teaching world. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life and allow it to be fulfilling and rewarding and sustainable. The ability to take care of yourself while you care for so many of your students is important to. If you love this episode, let me know, subscribe to the podcast. So you're always in the know when a new episode drops. And share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. And if you've been taking notes in your journal, as you listen to these episodes, I'm so glad you are. And I would love to hear about it. Don't forget to download the ebook sequencing for different injuries. The link is in the show notes. I promise you it will help form a foundation for teaching students with injuries, and it will be a great resource for you to return to again and again. When you download the ebook, you'll be joining my newsletter. That's just for yoga teachers. I've got more exciting teachings coming soon. So I want to tell you all about them. The link is 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. Mhm.