Enhanced Body by Monica

I learned more about teaching when I started having older adults in my classes. Watching them move, witnessing how they organize my cueing in their brains, and talking with them about their movement abilities and limitations gave me much more feedback than a book or a course.

I’m not saying not to continue your education, because by all means you should! But you should also seek out and get curious about teaching aging students because you will learn so much!

*slide 3 moment —> movement* 🤦🏼‍♀️

This week’s episode on the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast is
Episode 124: Teaching Yoga to Aging Students

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For all the yogis who love ‘hip openers’ there’s another yogi who is experiencing hip pain. But why? And what can you do about it in your classes?

Let’s discuss…

This week’s episode on the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast is:

Episode 120: Poses That Trigger Hip Discomfort & How To Modify Them Safely

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Is this one of the fears you have teaching yoga? Ohmygosh I was so afraid, and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

But I’m not anymore and if you want so you don’t feel this way too, then this week’s podcast might be helpful for you!

This week’s episode on the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast is
Episode 119: What to Say When A Student Asks, ‘Will This Hurt My Injury?’

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The first injury I witnessed in yoga was not my own. It was my best friend’s injury…

Neither one of us could understand why. So we searched high and low (she’s a nurse anesthetist so she knows a bit about the human body ).

Then, in one of my continuing ed courses I wrote a blog article about it. That was 2014, since then I’ve learned & studied a lot more. So I updated the blog article: Wrist and Forearm Pain in Downward Facing Dog.

Included are the root causes, how to talk with these students about pain, and options to offer these students and why.

If you love to read like I do 🤓 check it out!

We don’t talk about wrist pain in yoga enough! So let’s change that!

Giving you all the practical tools and knowledge you need to know to help students with wrist pain in your yoga classes.

It’s episode # 116 on the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast - Students With Wrist Pain in Your Yoga Classes? Here’s How To Help!

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I used to be the teacher who panicked when students told me they had an injury. I would tell them to, “Listen to your body” and then I would avoid them during class. I was afraid to ask them after class how they felt because I didn’t want to hear their answer.

I would tell them “It’s not in my scope of practice” because I was scared to admit I didn’t know enough.

Then my own injuries forced me to get honest. I thought, “If I’m going to guide bodies through movement, I have a RESPONSIBILITY to understand what I’m doing.”

So I focused my continuing education on:
→ Biomechanics
→ Human movement
→ Pain science
→ Functional anatomy
→ Nervous system function
→ Common injuries

Because I wanted to be a CONFIDENT yoga teacher who could actually serve my students. And everything changed.

Now when a student mentions hip pain, I don’t panic. I ask them questions so that I can understand what they’re experiencing, what movements to avoid, what movements actually help.

Injured students SEEK ME OUT because I’m known as a teacher who understands bodies. Now I charge premium rates because I have expertise that’s genuinely valuable. And I teach other yoga teachers how to make this same shift. Because you don’t need to stay stuck in panic mode. You just need education. If you’re a yoga teacher who’s tired of feeling unprepared when injured students show up, save this post and check out the free resources in my bio. Your students are waiting for the confident version of you. But that version requires doing the work.

if you’ve ever felt this way, know that you’re not alone. Let’s normalize the journey from feeling unprepared to seeking help so that you feel confident working with all of your students.

Anatomy is fascinating and can often feel overwhelming to learn. Did you learn it in your YTT as a separate presentation, on its own?

That’s pretty common as it’s often taught in isolation and not together with sequencing.

Merging your anatomy knowledge while you sequence transforms the way you think about sequencing as a whole.

Let’s talk about it!

This week’s episode on the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast is
Episode 111: The Missing Link Between Anatomy Knowledge And Sequencing

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So many yoga teachers and students get caught up in performing. And I get it! Whether it’s comparing yourself to other teachers, mimicing what you see on social media, or being “creative” in order to satisfy your students.

Teaching yoga based on how a pose looks instead of how it feels.

But yoga was never meant to be performed. It was meant to be lived.

When we teach yoga as a relationship, the practice becomes about awareness, instead of achieving a particular goal.

In this week’s episode of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast we’re discussing:
✨how to help students learn to trust their bodies
✨how to teach students to make choices that support them, and
✨teach them that it’s normal to explore movement from the inside out.

Episode 110: Teaching Yoga As A Personal Relationship

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