7 Things I wish I had known when started teaching Yin Yoga

7 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Teaching Yin Yoga
===

[00:00:00]

Today, we are going to talk about what I wish I’d known when I started teaching Yin Yoga, what only the years of teaching revealed. My hope is that this gives you some little pearls gleaned from my own experience that you can then use in your own teaching. So more on that coming up. Stay tuned

If you are new around here Welcome, welcome. If you are a familiar, welcome back. A couple of little things before we dive into today’s episode. The first is a reminder that this is an adult podcast with adult subject matter and possibly adult language, so that if you have small folks around, please grab some headphones now.

the first episode in the brand new season, season nine. Can you even believe we’re in season [00:01:00] nine? What the fuck? Season nine. Anyways, I’m so glad you’re back. I’m back after a summer break. If you’re listening to this live and you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s beginning of fall.

If you do not live in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s probably the beginning of your spring. And if you’re not listening to this live, that’s okay, too. But I hope you all had a beautiful summer,

And then the other thing I wanted to touch on was a thank you, and this is for, hope I’m saying your name right, I will find out soon enough, Silvana, I hope, who, left me a little bit of cashola. And if you’re like, “What? What are you talking about?” I have, In every podcast episode, there’s a link there that says, “Want to support my work?”

If you click that, it takes you to PayPal, and you could leave a cash amount of your choice. So if you feel so inspired, if you have the funds and you didn’t know that was there, please feel free. I would be happy for it. It will keep me in matcha and microphones, as I often [00:02:00] say. This podcast, at the time of this recording anyway, is still unsponsored.

I’m not opposed totally to sponsorship as long as it was the right one, which I have not found yet. Not opposed to sponsorship if it was a kindred spirit,. But this is a way you can support the show. And if you’re not up for that and you wanna support the show, you could, leave a rating or review, if you haven’t already, on Apple or Spotify or wherever you’re listening.

If you’re watching this on YouTube, take a moment to make sure you’re subscribed and like the video. And then you can also leave me comments on Spotify and on YouTube, and also on my blog you can leave me comments. Those are also always appreciated as well. And you could also take a screenshot of this or your favorite episode and share it in your Instagram stories and,, tag me at nicdanyoga or @yinyogapodcast so I can share the love.

So those are all the ways you can support the pod that are not financial. [00:03:00] Or for those of you who’d like, thank you to those of you who do. Click that link and… I should just call it a Buy Me a Coffee, but it’s actually more like buy me a matcha. The other thing I wanna mention, for those of you that are watching this on YouTube, two things.

Number one, it is hella hot in here, so if you see me fanning myself and constantly pulling the cord from my headphones off of my body, it’s ’cause it’s very sweaty in here. And then the other thing to mention is that I do have a episode, , document that I’m gonna be glancing back and forth from, because if I do not have some bullet points of what I wanna talk about, I will get lost on a side quest, and I will forget to circle back to the topic at hand.

So those of you listening won’t know. Those of you on YouTube, you will perhaps see me looking at you, at the camera, and then looking down again. All right, my friends, let’s get into this. So [00:04:00] one of the reasons that I wanted to talk about this is because this comes up a lot in my teacher trainings, which I’m currently, at the time of this recording, just finishing one round and starting another one in September.

By the time this comes out, though, the September round will already be in, in full swing. , But I encourage you to join the wait list, which is also always in the episode notes, , so that you get first crack at the next round, which would be in the spring. You also get a bunch of little bonuses and things from me, as well as these podcasts sent to you in your inbox when you, are on the wait list.

So if you’d like to join the wait list, that’s also in the episode notes. So at the time of this recording, though, I have been doing a training and, a lot of the questions that come up are a little bit more subtle, and they sometimes inspire these episodes so because of some of the [00:05:00] questions I get in my teacher trainings, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about some of the things that don’t often get talked about in our teacher trainings.

So we definitely spend so much time asking, “What is the best cue for this? How could I sequence this class? Should I take another training?” people are wondering. These are all super worthwhile questions, and I’m a huge believer in continuing education, obviously. I run a 100-hour training myself, and I devote my life to learning and study because I know there will always be more to discover.

But over the years, I’ve also come to appreciate something else. Some of the most valuable things I’ve learned about teaching Yin Yoga did not come from getting another certification. They did not come from a book. They didn’t even come from another teacher. They came from paying attention, from teaching [00:06:00] week after week, watching thousands of students, watching bodies change, watching seasons of people’s lives unfold.

Not because experience magically makes us better teachers, sadly not true, but because over time, patterns can emerge, and hopefully we can observe them. I’ve also been thinking a lot about how much easier my own journey might have been if someone had pointed out some of these patterns earlier. And I might not have understood them right away, but I would have known to look for them, or it would have given me perhaps a lens to look through.

So that’s what today’s episode is about. Not a list of lessons you have to wait twenty years to earn. More like a few signposts to keep an eye on as your own teaching unfolds, whether you’re a new teacher or an experienced teacher. Because if you begin noticing these patterns now, [00:07:00] then your experience becomes even greater as a teacher

What I wish someone had told me Is that information isn’t wisdom. One of the biggest misconceptions when we begin teaching is we think we just need more information, another certification, another anatomy course, another sequencing workshop. And learning is important. It’s part of being a responsible teacher, and I love learning. But information and wisdom aren’t quite the same thing.

Information gives us knowledge, experience helps us recognize patterns, and then wisdom begins to merge when those two things meet. Over time, you stop seeing isolated moments and start recognizing themes. And that’s what I wanna share with you today. Not rules, just a few patterns I’ve noticed over the years that continue to shape how I teach [00:08:00] Number one, and probably the most important of all of them, the nervous system always has the first and the last say in my classes One of the first patterns I began to notice was this: the nervous system in a lot of classes gets left out.

And when I was a newer teacher, this definitely would’ve been the case. It wasn’t until I started learning about therapeutic yoga, and I was introduced to the magic of a shape called constructive rest, which I did a whole episode on, so I will link that in the episode notes for you, um, that I started really thinking about, right, we need to start with the nervous system first, and the nervous system has its final stay.

Most of us as teachers are used to our final stillness practice, Shavasana or meditation, but we’re not maybe spending as much time starting [00:09:00] with the nervous system. And here’s why this is super important So when I first started teaching, I thought if I could just explain things better, offer clearer cues, or maybe share the right philosophy, then my students would relax.

But over time, I realized that’s actually not how it works. I wish I had known a dysregulated nervous system doesn’t become regulated because we explain Yin Yoga beautifully The body decides what it feels safe enough to experience, not the thinking mind. And this is something I wish I had understood much earlier

not because it would’ve made me a perfect teacher, but because it would’ve made me stop trying so hard to fix what isn’t mine to fix. And now when I see someone adjusting or coming out of a pose or unable to settle, I’m much li- less likely to think, “What pose should I teach?” Instead, I wonder, “What might their nervous system need right now?”[00:10:00]

And that’s a very different question, one that leads to much more compassionate teaching. Because regulation isn’t something we teach, it’s something we support So this is why I’ve added constructive rest to the start of all of my Yin classes. They’re nervous system first. If we come into our Yin space as a student getting ready to practice, but we are in our fight, flight, or freeze response or just our busy, overwhelmed, rushed, noise, loud, lights, all the things from the world response, and we don’t have that intentional conscious time to drop in at the beginning of class to our bodies, to our breath, to the environment that we’re in, if we don’t give our students this very conscious intentional time to switch gears Then their body isn’t going to open.[00:11:00]

And most of them came probably to experience the Yin poses and to open their bodies. But if the body is feeling stressed or tense or rushed or overwhelmed, everything tightens because they’re still leading from their sympathetic nervous system. They’re still in that sort of rushed, overwhelmed, stressed or fight, flight, or freeze, depending on the person.

And so their body doesn’t feel safe enough to go, “Ah, okay. Now I can settle into these long-held Yin shapes.” So that’s why I start now with nervous system first. Constructive rest, I share a reading, and I do a little guided mindfulness, bring their awareness to their breath long before I invite them into any sort of fun yin shapes with their body.

And the other thing that switched is that I don’t really care what poses my students do. They don’t have to follow the sequence I’ve created. What I care more about is [00:12:00] how do they feel when they’re in a brave space where they can explore healing, resting in whatever way makes sense for their body that day?

If they leave feeling more restful, more supported, and more in their parasympathetic, then I consider that class a win even if their hamstrings are not more flexible

All right, number two. Timing matters more than technique. It took me a long time to notice that the same cue can land beautifully or completely miss, depending on timing. Early on, I was always searching for the perfect words, and now I’m much more interested in when I say them. If students are still arriving, they’re probably not hearing your anatomy lecture.

They’re… [00:13:00] If they’re deeply immersed in sensation, they’re probably not processing a long explanation either. Sometimes the most skillful thing you can say is nothing. I also did a whole episode on that called Dear Yoga Teacher, Please Shut Up. I will share that one also in the show notes. Teaching gradually becomes less about having brilliant content to share and more about sensing readiness.

So if you’re a newer teacher, you can actually begin experimenting with this right now. Start to pay attention and notice when your students seem the most receptive, and you’ll probably notice that that timing changes everything

Number three, your presence matters more than your plan. One mistake I made early on was I used to spend hours refining my sequences, and I still think logical sequencing matters. But I’ve taught enough classes to know [00:14:00] now something surprising. I’ve taught a beautifully sequenced class that kind of fell flat, and I’ve taught incredibly simple, not sequenced and advanced classes that people remembered and remarked on as they left.

The difference wasn’t the sequence, it was the presence. The students are constantly reading us, not consciously, but their nervous systems are responding to ours. It’s called co-regulation. So are we feeling rushed? Are we trying too hard? Are we nervous? Distracted? If so, they’re gonna feel that. They’re also gonna feel it if you’re more grounded, present, and authentic, even if you’re delightfully imperfect.

Now, I know this is difficult as a new teacher because you’re like, “Yeah, but I am still nervous when I’m teaching.” That’s okay. I did another episode on how to teach exceptional classes. I will also share that one in the episode notes, and I give a lot of tips on [00:15:00] how you can arrive at a class and allow yourself to feel more grounded and centered before you even start teaching.

So that will be also linked in the show notes for you. But here’s the thing, people rarely remember every pose you’ve taught. What they remember is how they felt when they were with you. So if you’re a newer teacher, don’t let that intimidate you. Think of it as permission. You don’t have to create the perfect class.

Just simply practice arriving fully as yourself and ground yourself, that your presence is something that deepens over time, but it can be cultivated early on from your first class, and it gets easier with practice. And it’s easier some days than others.

I recently did a training. , I learned some, how to play some bowls and gongs and make them sound pretty, not horrific, which is what I only knew how to do before. And as part of this training, we [00:16:00] had to do a 30-minute sound journey for our fellow students and for the teachers. And then the students and the teachers would give you feedback.

And there was one of my, , teacher training grads and one of my Yin students, in the class with me. She was in the program with me. Shout out to Crystal if you’re listening to this. And when she was giving her feedback, she said, “I’m already a student of Nic, so I knew how I would feel coming into this.”

And then she was going on with some more details, and I had to ask her, “Well, What is that feeling?” You know, I knew, I knew how I would feel. What was it? And she said, “Hell.” Which of course moved me to tears and still does, ’cause I’m leaky like that. So don’t forget that your presence is way more important than the poses you choose

Number four, variability isn’t the problem, it’s the practice. [00:17:00] I still catch myself doing this sometimes, and it might be one of the hardest lessons for many of us as teachers. Bodies are inconsistent, energy is inconsistent, life is inconsistent. One week a student loves butterfly pose, the next week they can’t wait to get out of it.

Nothing changed, and everything changed. Sleep, stress, hormones, grief, work, the seasons, how hydrated they are, all the things. Early on, we think that we should create consistency, but over time I realized that consistency isn’t really the goal, responsiveness is. Now, I wanna be clear here, when I say consistency, me as a teacher, I need to be consistent.

I need to show up consistent, right? That’s part of, of being the guide. I need to show up grounded, calm, et cetera. That needs to be [00:18:00] consistent. But the rest of teaching is often responding to what’s in front of you, meaning today’s body, not yesterday’s body. I often joke to my students and say, “You know, take a moment to notice your body today and how it might be different than the last time you did this, or the version you used to do when you were younger, or the version you think you should do, or the version that you see on the cover of a yoga magazine, or the version your neighbor’s doing.”

We just try to find the version that feels right today, knowing that it might be different next time If you can em- begin to embrace that now as a teacher, you’ll save you and your students a lot of unnecessary frustration. Inconsistency isn’t a problem, it’s the nature of the practice

Number five. I stopped teaching poses, started teaching people. This one is very [00:19:00] meaningful to me. At first it’s really easy to become focused on the shapes. We may even have some sort of alignment hangovers from some of the other styles of yoga that we’ve taught. We’re obsessing over props and variations, and don’t get me wrong, those things matter.

But over time I found myself asking a different question. Not, “How do I get this student into the pose?” But, “What is this person experiencing right now?” It sounds like a subtle shift, but it changes everything. You become less interested in what the pose looks like, and more interested in what is the student experiencing?

Ironically, that’s exactly what we’re encouraging our students to do, but it sometimes takes us a while to embody that as teachers

Number six, experience doesn’t give you all the answers. Perhaps the greatest gift experience [00:20:00] has given me isn’t certainty, it’s curiosity. When I first started teaching, I thought I needed to have an answer for everything. In fact, I think I thought I had way more answers for things than I actually did.

Oh, the hubris of youth and inexperience. But now I’m much more comfortable saying, “I don’t know.” “Let’s try this,” or, “I’m not sure. How does this feel?” with my students. Bodies continue to surprise me. Research continues to evolve. Students continue to teach me. Experience hasn’t made me more certain, it’s made me more curious And I think that’s a healthy place to teach from.

An example of this, going back to my bowls and gongs training, was this happened recently when we did a whole day of playing gongs with an ocean and forest view. Pretty epic moment in my life, let me tell you. The [00:21:00] teacher, Sher Dev, she probably will never hear this, but shout-out to her anyways, , was giving us feedback on our playing.

One of the things she remarked on about my playing, and encouraged others to do when they felt nervous, was instead of getting nervous about playing the gong and thinking, oh, is it gonna be too loud? Am I playing too soft? And ah, but just to be curious. And that was exactly what I was doing. I was introducing myself to each gong or each bowl later as, like, a new connection, like it was a person.

And then as I played it, I was listening. What happens when I do this? Oh, interesting. Okay, what about over here? Oh, what about this? What does that sound like? And it certainly made it way more fun, and it allowed me to have a quicker learning curve because I was curious and I wasn’t nervous and getting kind of worked up about it[00:22:00]

Number seven, let’s bring it back to learning This is one reason I encourage teachers not to chase certifications just for the sake of collecting them. Don’t get me wrong, as I mentioned before, I love me some continuing education, and I think that we can do- we should do as much as we feel called to and can afford to.

But sometimes we’re just chasing certifications for the sake of collecting paper certificates. And don’t even get me started about these condensed trainings that are like, “Learn 200 hours in two weeks in Bali,” or, you know, “Learn this many hours in one weekend.” These are very problematic because your body, mind, and nervous system do not have the time that it takes to assimilate all the things you are learning and then put them into practice.

So take trainings that deepen your understanding That are spread out over time. And then go [00:23:00] teach. Teach one class, teach 100, teach 1,000 Because eventually your experience starts talking back. You’ll begin noticing patterns that no teacher could have fully explained to you in a training And then you’ll come back and study again with those new ahas from your teaching

The same lesson can land differently depending where you are in your teaching journey. I’ve gone back to ideas that my teacher said even 20 years ago and thought, “How did I miss that?” But actually, the truth is I didn’t miss it. It just wasn’t ready to land yet So experience has just made me more prepared to receive it.

And then some thoughts here on mentorship, and this is something that I think is seriously lacking in the yoga, the yogaverse, and I have done a whole [00:24:00] episode on this as well. Um, believe it’s called Mentorship Matters with my friend Dr. Karina Smith. It will also be linked in the episode notes. But sometimes, you know, we do a teacher training, especially if you’ve done one of those condensed ones, and then you’re out there, you’ve got your certificate, you’ve got all this knowledge sort of floating around your head, but none of it’s absorbed, and now you’re teaching and you have questions, and things come up that you don’t think you’re…

have an answer for, you don’t know what to do about, and this is where mentors come in. So I do mentorship, for anyone who’s taken my teacher training in the past. They can, they can do ongoing mentorship with me if that’s something they would like to do, and it can be short or long or whatever their needs are.

I also do business mentorship with, yoga teachers. A lot of people think of me as just , the Yin gal, but I also help yoga teachers with their business in a mentorship role. So mentorship can be super helpful, especially if you’ve taken a whole bunch of certifications, [00:25:00] lots of trainings, but they’ve all been short and condensed and kind of crammed into a small time window.

But sometimes those can actually leave you with far more questions than answers, far more uncertainty than feeling grounded about it, and this is where mentorship can really help. I was lucky enough to have had mentorship throughout my career and hope to find some again as well because I think it’s invaluable.

All right, my friends, in closing, if you are a newer teacher or an experienced teacher, I hope that these reflections don’t feel like things you have to wait years to understand. Think of them as places to rest your attention, like little rest stops. You know, if you’re on a road trip, just pulling over, get a little rest at the rest stop.

And as you continue teaching, you might begin to notice some of these patterns for yourself. They’ll probably look a little different through your eyes than they do mine, and you might come up with all kinds of [00:26:00] little ahas and pearls that I have not mentioned here. And if so, I would love to hear about them in the comments on YouTube.

Send me a DM on Instagram, comments on Spotify or on my blog. There’s a comment section. So let me know, which ones did I miss? What have you learned, for those of you that have been teaching for years, teaching Yin for years? What little pearls of wisdom did I miss? So yours will probably look different than mine, and that’s exactly how it should be, because every teacher develops their own way of seeing.

But hopefully in sharing this, these few pearls that you might take to your path, and it might make it a little smoother than mine was. Because experience isn’t a race, it’s a relationship. Every class you teach becomes another conversation with it. And perhaps what years of teaching really reveal are not to how to become a perfect yin yoga teacher.

I am far [00:27:00] from that, let me tell you. But more how to become a little more observant, a little more curious, a little more patient, a little more humble, a little more compassionate, not just with your students, but also with yourself. And I think that’s a lesson worth learning, no matter where we are on our teaching journey.

None of these lessons actually require 20 plus years to begin practicing. They required over 20 years for me to notice, but my hope is that sharing them with you, you’ll start noticing them and many of your own much sooner Okay, my friends. That’s all I have for you today. I hope that this was helpful.

Please get at me and let me know. How did this episode land for you? Did you have little pearls of wisdom that you noticed when you started becoming a yin teacher? Please let me know. DMs [00:28:00] on Instagram, below this on Spotify, or on my blog, or in the YouTube comments. Let me know. And until we meet again, bye for now