Transcript - FYT 49 - How to develop a consistent yoga practice, as a yoga teacher

Hello and welcome to For Yoga Teachers. This podcast has been created to help yoga teachers teach with passion, avoid burn out and earn a fair living.

Well you heard it just there - one of the three values, the three aims that underpin For Yoga Teachers, is avoiding burn out. There’s many ways to avoid burn out; stressing less, working less, self care etc etc. But there really is one key way that ticks many of these ‘how to avoid burn out’ boxes, which is: a consistent and nourishing personal yoga practice.

No one really talks about how common it is for the personal yoga practice to fall away on graduating your yoga teacher training, but it really is incredibly common. So much so, actually, that we’ve created a whole Ibizan retreat dedicated to re-igniting your personal practice which is taking place this September, and there’s just a couple of spaces available. Want to know more? Check out the show notes!

On our 200 hour yoga teacher training at Yoga Hero, I always say when you get your certificate, you don’t get 25 hours in a day, you don’t get 8 days in a week! And so fitting in yoga teaching in to, what is probably already a pretty busy life, usually comes at the expense of something else. It might be that a particularly organised or switched on person will start to think, during their training, what do I need to put down, in order to have the time available to focus on the teaching of yoga, but in my humble experience, this is rare. Graduates are so keen and passionate to teach and they’re sure they’ll have the energy and inspiration to do so - and often this is true. For a while. But not forever.

After that while, there isn’t enough time, mental bandwidth or energy to work, see friends, run a household, teach yoga and practice yoga, so something has to give, which is often the practicing of yoga. Does this sound familiar?

Ok - well first things first - there is absolutely no need to beat yourself up about this. I’m sure, like I’m 100% sure, you’re doing your absolute best to keep your plates spinning. So - yoga teacher - please do not have a go at yourself. Also it’s neurologically useless and a total waste of time. Nicole Vignola, author of Rewire, states that positive reinforcement helps us learn better; when you congratulate yourself and feel good about the process, you release dopamine. Whereas beating yourself up does not lead to positive behaviour change. At all.

So, this is where we’re going in today’s episode:

• What does a consistent practice look like?

• Practical suggestions to make it easier to get on your mat

• How to congratulate yourself to build even more consistency

• What to do on hard days

• The benefits of a consistent yoga practice, as a yoga teacher

Ok let’s get cracking!

What does a consistent practice look like?

Well, yoga teacher, only you know this. However, if I can give my humble recommendation, it would be that a consistent yoga practice is fluid, flexible, nourishing, cathartic, self-led and delightful. You might immediately think it has to include sun salutations, or it should be at a certain point in the morning, or that it has to last a certain amount of time.

Well, let’s ditch all these has tos and should.

Take a moment here - if you’re somewhere where you can safely close your eyes, you might like to do that. And think back to a time when your yoga practice was reasonably consistent. How did that feel? Why was it consistent? Was it easy? Was it a no-brainer?

Now, open your eyes if they were closed, and let’s go back to the question we’re answering: what does a consistent yoga practice look like - for you? Because yoga - the definition of yoga - it to still the mind. So your consistent yoga practice can be anything that contributes to the stilling of the mind; this could be sitting in meditation. It could be a pranayama sequence. It could be lying over a bolster. It could be 108 sun salutations, a 4-beat Rocket practice, a sequence up to handstand! The important thing is that it’s your mind, it’s body, and it’s your practice. And so the only person who knows what you need, is you.

However, even thought I’ve just said all of that, I’d really recommend starting with a mini Sadhana. A sadhana is a disciplined practice, or a practice with intention. I’m saying start your practice with a sadhana, because that takes the thinking out of ‘what should I do?, or ‘where should I start?’. Your sadhana could be as simple as sitting somewhere and taking 5 steady breaths. Or a standard, easy, head, neck and shoulder release. Just something short and simple that allows you to check in with how you are and what you need. If you try to decide how you and what you need ahead of your practice, then the practice becomes about decision-making but without the info for your decisions. By starting with a simple sadhana, the next moves, shapes, asanas, practices come from an embodied place of ‘this is what I need, or what I want’ rather than a thinking place of ‘I should do this.’

So, to summarise, your practice doesn’t have to be a certain way. Pick a short sadhana, even something that will be one or two minutes, do that to start and let the rest flow!

Practical suggestions to make it easier to get on your mat

For the avoidance of doubt, your practice doesn’t actually have to take place on a yoga mat! But, for some practical suggestions:

• Have your yoga mat out ready, or if you don’t have space to keep it out all the time, keep it nearby where you want to practice.

• If you love to be led, have a bank of classes ready to choose from to avoid spending your practice time trying to find the right class! Or, book yourself on to classes at your local studio and pay in advance, that way, you’ll be sure to get there

• If you love to be self-led, perhaps set a timer to get in to Savasana, and a timer to come around from Savasana, just so you can be totally sure you won’t run over and be late for what’s next

• Keep a journal - I know, I know, it’s yet another thing to add to the to do list. But this is something I have to do as part of my yoga therapy training - do a practice and then journal about it afterwards, and it’s totally transforming. Even just jotting down a few bullet points about how you feel, what’s going on in your head, how the practice felt etc is very, very enlightening.

• Keep sight of why you practice

• Know whether you’re practicing for you the yoga teacher, or you the person. This might sound a bit over the top, but your personal practice does, 1000000%, need to be differentiated from your sequence planning.

How to congratulate yourself to build even more consistency

Remember at the beginning of this episode, we talked about beating yourself up actually being a total waste of your time, never mind your energy and mental bandwidth! We talked about positive reinforcement being the key to positive behaviour change; and tracking this can take this up a level. Consider downloading a habit tracking app, or getting a wall calendar and adding a stamp for each day you practice. It sounds simple but it’s super effective! Trust me on this one!

What to do on hard days

You know those days where motivation is incredibly hard to find, or where you’ve got back to back classes, meetings and calls and you’re not sure when you’ll eat, never mind do your yoga practice!

On these days, it’s about making it all as easy as you possibly can. Start with your sadhana, and just go from there, and know that 5 minutes, 2 minutes is enough!

The benefits of a consistent yoga practice, as a yoga teacher

And welcome to the most obvious part of the podcast! You know the myriad of benefits of yoga; they’re what kept you practicing in the first place and what led you to become a yoga teacher. So, this isn’t just the benefits of yoga, but the benefits of yoga as a yoga teacher.

It will help you identify and undo postural niggles from teaching

It’s really common for yoga teachers to demo a sequence on one side, and then on the second side, they walk around the room. If you’re teaching lots of classes a week, this could add up to some niggles in posture and in your joints and muscles.

It will remind you why you became a teacher

Because sometimes we need reminding, right?

Your students can read your nervous system

In polyvagal theory, which we teach along with Restorative Yoga in our three day training, and it really is a fabulous combo, we learn that your nervous system is readable by those around you. So if you’re stress, inflamed, anxious, your students will read that and they might struggle to settle in your classes. So really, your personal practice is for you - but it’s for your students too!

All of course, all the many many benefits of yoga on mind and body. By the way, if you’re interested in learning more about the evidence-based benefits of yoga, you might like to check our Yoga Research workshops over on The Base. If you’re not a member yet, use code COMMUNITY for 25% off your first three months!

And that’s it yoga teacher! Some practical solutions to help you build a consistent yoga practice, even alongside a yoga teaching career. As a reminder, it doesn’t have to be a particular thing, it doesn’t have to look a particular way. Define your sadhana, start with that each day, and go from there. And remember, you’re not on your own. We have our Ibizan Intensive taking place this September, which is all about nuturing your personal yoga practice, and growing your yoga business. Check out the show notes to find out more!

And as always, happy teaching!