One perspective I wanted to make sure we had during this conversation series around YTTs was the longtime trainer and studio owner.

And I could not have gotten a better match than Stephanie Adams. Stephanie started SAYF, or The Sustainable Asana Yoga Foundation—and has been training folks for over a decade.

Stephanie has lots of wisdom to share from her years of teaching and training, so take a listen to find out more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

*What do we think about Stephanie’s point about trainers needing to teach their own material?  She is the first person who I have heard say this outright–and I agree with her.  If you are invested enough in the act of training other yoga professionals, shouldn’t we require that you make your own content?  Do you agree or not?  Let me know!

*Pre-recorded-only trainings are a challenge for us as an industry–especially if you take this job seriously.  I have now contacted ½ a dozen “online-pre-recorded” programs to ask if they would talk to me about how they measure the outcomes and skillsets of their students, and while I came close, nobody actually would speak with me.  

*Spending time training together is a little bit of magic, let’s just say that now.  And I sometimes think we don’t appreciate what Stephanie calls a “life pattern interrupt” can do for the nervous system, the brain, and the heart.  We do that, friends.  In fact, it might be the best thing we do when we offer those sorts of experiences to other people.

*This is another great point Stephanie made, which is an offshoot of what I have been saying for this whole series.  There is not a ton of money to be made in studios when we train.  And a lot of our experienced trainers have moved on to other parts of the profession because they are more financially lucrative.  This is a shame.  We need our best and brightest training for the next generation of yoga pros–don’t you think?

*Teaching online is a new skill set we didn’t need to train folks for prior to 2020.  We need to have MUCH more discussion about what the best practices are for yoga teaching online, and I am looking forward to it in the future.

RESOURCES

Working In Yoga Website

Working In Yoga Newsletter

SAYF Website

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