Tag Archives: yoga teacher training

Breakthrough story!

Posted on June 6, 2012 by in writings

Breakthrough story!

“The moment you say yes to acting on your desire is the real beginning.” – Danielle LaPorte, The Fire Starter Sessions

I am excited to tell you that so much is going on at Speak Your Inspiration!

I am writing you this week because I have an amazing breakthrough story to share with you.

In the past few months I have had the pleasure of hearing the dreams of many aspiring teachers. I feel so grateful to be part of their path. I want to share a breakthrough story that was really an “a-ha” moment for me too.

I spoke to a woman this week who taught yoga to her mother as she was passing. Her name is Stella.
Her mother couldn’t move much, but she used yoga to help her move easily and simply in her last months.
In honor of her mother she wanted to continue to give this service to the elderly but “didn’t know how” and “felt stuck.”

We were on our weekly call, talking for about 10 minutes diving and into the root of what was making her stuck. After a few minutes I interrupted Stella.

“Do you have a website?” I asked
“No,” Stella said. “I’m not tech savvy.”
“Then how are nursing homes, retirement homes, hospitals and concerned families going to contact you!!?” I continued, “a website will set you apart from the people who just go by word of mouth. Potential employers will be able to go on your website, read your story and see how they can contact you.”

“Wow,”  she said, and after a long pause, “I didn’t even know I was closing myself off like that.”

The energy on the phone changed immediately.

I felt like we made real progress toward her goal. Not only did she see multiple avenues that want her business, Stella saw that this idea could really turn into a business.

But we were still stuck. My not-tech-savvy client didn’t believe she could build a website on her own. And if she did she was positive it would cost her way too much.

***
I sympathized completely because I knew how she felt. I wanted a website when first began teaching and asked two graphic designer friends for help. The first one agreed immediately and refused to accepting money.  A month or so went by and he started it, but then never finished the site. My other friend set it up for me but it looked like a blog, not a website. Nothing was manageable. Nothing was ever updated. I emailed him often and he never responded.

So when I first wanted to create Speak Your Inspiration I felt stuck too because I also wasn’t tech savvy.  But my desire to create this community trumped my belief that I could not learn how to create a site. So I decided to pay to learn how to easily create and self manage a website. I fell in love with how easy it was as I practiced, creating more and more sites, and now I am happy to announce I will be offering website creation (that you can easily manage) going forward as part of Speak Your Inspiration.

I have found many teachers have AMAZING ideas and communities to share them with – but no platform to share it on. Having no web presence where you write about what you believe in and who you are prevents you from connecting with other teachers and students who are looking for you.

So if you have a dream, a specific dream, who will it serve? how will you reach them? you may feel unconfident because you have not tried to reach out yet, but once you get moving, get people interested, and get the ball rolling, you will feel better because your idea will be in motion in the world – and not just in your head.

I DO NOT want this blog to be a place where I sell any products or services. My true intent is to hold a community of inspiration and advice. However,  I offered to help Stella begin her website that she can then manage on her own through WordPress. All of the details listed here. It is very cheap, and I wanted to offer them here, once, in case you need help with the tech-stuff. For the purpose of not making this a sales pitch – I will just ask you to contact me at my personal email address: jlynnedaniels@gmail.com and we can discuss further. 


Feedback is only personal if YOU make it personal

Posted on March 23, 2012 by in writings

                                                         

Ever get really hard-to-digest feedback on an audition or just from students in your class?

They might of told you that you did not speak loud enough, or your sequence was not understandable, or maybe you did not have enough voice que’s for a certain asana. A student in your class might of looked angry, or frustrated, and after class stormed off. The next day, a text might of come through from a studio manager telling you your class needs advanced poses. And next week, when it comes time to teach, you’re terrified to even walk back in the room.

Half of the senarios I just listed happened to me in real life. 

It took me a long time to realize that I had power in how I respond to feedback. 

How you respond to feedback is KEY for your success and confidence in teaching. You can either let it ruin your day and career, or you can really take it for what it is, and let it build you up to be a better teacher.

To illustrate this, lets break down the above senario and see how you can get all of the juice out of each possible moment:

Speaking Loud Enough – This one is one of my personal nemesis’s. (although, if you asked my boyfriend today if I speak loud enough, he would have no problem saying yes!) When I was in teacher training this was the one piece of feedback that continuously came back to me: “Jess your not speaking loud enough, Jess we cant hear you, Jess start over and speak loud and proud.” At the time, I over-intellectualized and over-analyzed this so much, that I became so afraid of standing and even opening my mouth in front of class. “They are just going to tell me I suck,” I said to myself, “the actors in the class have had voice training – and now they will have yoga training.” I think I pondered the end to my yoga teaching career many times before I even became a certified teacher. 

Looking back, I can see I WASNT LOUD BECAUSE I WAS NOT CONFIDENT IN ANYTHING I WAS SAYING. I wanted to get the words out, but I was always being paused after the third or fourth word. I wanted a chance to speak before I was told not to. So while the feedback is true, I needed to be louder so the class could hear me, but it was not a problem with me. I just needed the chance to begin before I was told to stop. 

I actually got this chance on the last day of Teacher Training. We were doing our final group practice and set up in child’s pose. The lead teacher came over and patted me on the shoulder and said “Jess, your teaching this one.” TOTAL SHOCKER. I was literally shaking. But I just got up and began, this was an opportunity and an honor I could not pass up. The teachers left the room – and it was just us. I taught the hour long class and got the most amazing feedback from my fellow TT’s. So much love was in that room that no feedback could push me off the edge. And you know what, I DID GET NEGATIVE FEEDBACK THAT I WASNT LOUD ENOUGH from the teachers who WERE NOT IN THE ROOM. And I did not care, because I knew that I was loud enough and everything went perfect, they just needed something to say :)

More responses to feedback coming in the next few days. Post a comment about a moment where you felt stuck because of feedback and let me help you see it differently!