In this episode, we’re talking about one of yoga’s most persistent myths: that there’s such a thing as perfect alignment. Many of us were taught that safety and skill are determined by how closely a student’s alignment matches the positioning that you saw in a picture. However, modern understanding of anatomy, pain science, and the nervous system tells us a very different story.

Alignment looks and feels different for every student. Their structure, past injuries, and proprioceptive awareness all influence how a student experiences movement. 

I’ll talk about how & if you should pause your class when your cues aren’t landing, how to communicate function rather than shape, and how to help students explore alignment through curiosity instead of correction. You'll understand how nervous system regulation plays into physical expression and how fostering safety can change the way your students move and learn.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have a more modern perspective on alignment and practical ways to bring individualized, inclusive, and evidence-informed teaching into your classes. 

If you want to evolve past outdated alignment rules and start teaching from a place of understanding, compassion, and adaptability, this is the episode. 

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

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Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

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Every yoga teacher knows this feeling, I know I do from time to time... It's the moment you prepare to teach and realize you don’t feel fully prepared. Maybe the energy of the room is different than you expected, a student comes with an injury you weren’t planning for, or the sequence you created suddenly doesn’t feel right for the students in the yoga room. In this episode, we explore what to do when you feel uncertain and how to handle it with confidence and authenticity.

You’ll learn how to regulate your nervous system before and during class, why flexibility in your teaching matters more than sticking to a rigid plan, and how moments of uncertainty can actually be signs of growth. 

Whether you’ve been teaching for years or you’re just starting, this episode offers grounded guidance for how to stay centered and confident, even when your plan seems to fall apart.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

Working smarter is not about “doing more.” Thinking this way is the mentality that keeps so many yoga teachers right on the edge of burnout. Instead of adding more classes or constantly creating brand new sequences every week, we’ll explore how to design a sustainable teaching ecosystem for 2026. One that supports your energy, honors your nervous system, and deepens your impact with students.

Discover how to plan your teaching year intentionally, build workshops and offerings that align with your students’ needs, and choose continuing education based on how it will transform your teaching. I'll offer you a few reflection questions and practical strategies for structuring your year around purpose, so you feel less pressure.

If you’re a yoga teacher ready to stop hustling and start teaching with more clarity and confidence, this episode will help you create a year that truly supports you and gets you excited about teaching in the year ahead!

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

Feeling drained or uninspired in your teaching? You’re not alone. In this episode, we explore why burnout happens for yoga teachers, how nervous system dysregulation contributes to it, and what you can do to reconnect to your practice, your students, and your purpose. Learn how to recognize the signs of burnout, set boundaries without guilt, and restore your energy through nervous system care. Whether you’re feeling depleted or just need a gentle reminder to slow down, this episode will help you return to teaching from a place of authenticity and alignment.

You'll realize how chronic sympathetic activation can quietly lead to feeling burnout, why rest is not a luxury but a biological need, and how small, consistent nervous system care practices can help you regulate, reset, and reconnect with yourself, and why you started teaching in the first place.

Get your journals because I'll also weave in a few reflection questions throughout the episode to help you reconnect to yourself.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

In this episode, let's explore how to identify your class’s true purpose. Including the physical, functional, and nervous system outcomes you intend for your students to experience. We’ll discuss how to move from creativity-based sequencing to need-based sequencing, how to plan for injuries and limitations, and why simplicity and clarity often make the most powerful classes.

This episode will help you stop doubting your choices as a teacher, gain confidence through clarity, and start sequencing in a way that supports the real-life students in your classes.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

In this episode, we explore two of the most common myths that get in your way when it comes to creating effective sequences. If you believe that every class must be brand new to keep students engaged, or that sequencing should revolve around what feels good in your own body, well, that's just not true! 

We'll examine why constant novelty is not only unrealistic but also counterproductive for student learning and nervous system regulation. Learn why repetition and familiarity are actually essential for developing strength, stability, and proprioception, especially for students with pain, injuries, or limited mobility. 

We also explore the limitations of sequencing based solely on your personal practice. While your own body can be a helpful reference point, it cannot reflect the wide range of experiences and needs present in a group class. You’ll hear how this mindset might lead to gaps in your teaching and unintentionally exclude students who move differently than you. 

Instead of chasing creativity for creativity’s sake, this episode will help you shift toward purpose, clarity, and progressive sequencing that meets students where they are.

Most importantly, it encourages you to see that effective sequencing does not come from being flashy or inventive; it comes from being intentional, observant, and aligned with what your students actually need.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

This 100th episode isn’t about me, milestones, or fancy numbers. It’s about you, the teacher who continues to show up, learn, and support your students in your classes, even on the days when it feels challenging. In this episode, I'll reflect on what it really means to hold space as the yoga teacher: the courage it takes, the doubts that often arise, and the quiet impact you make in the lives of your students.

Let's revisit the reasons you may have chosen to teach in the first place and explore how your purpose has evolved along the way. If you’ve ever questioned your direction, felt uninspired, or wondered if what you’re doing makes a difference, this episode is here to remind you: it absolutely does.

This episode intends to help you celebrate yourself and remember that your presence is your most powerful teaching tool.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

We all want to create classes that feel safe, supportive, and empowering for every student who joins. But how confident are you that your sequences truly support different bodies, different types of injuries, and physical limitations in students' bodies?

In this episode, I'll explore the art of intentional sequencing, the kind that considers anatomy, the nervous system, and each student’s unique movement experience. Rather than chasing creativity or perfection, this conversation will invite you to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with why you teach.

Discover how to approach sequencing from a place of compassion and understanding, and how to reframe your role as a guide rather than a choreographer of poses. I'll also share journal prompts throughout the episode to help you identify your teaching blind spots, deepen your confidence, and strengthen your connection with your students.

This episode is intended to help you look at sequencing through a new lens, which honors the complexity of the human body and the diversity of the students in your classes.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

In this final episode of the series, I’ll discuss the unique challenges of the shoulders: the balance between mobility and stability, the high volume of weight-bearing in vinyasa flows, and the nervous system’s role in amplifying or quieting pain.

I’ll continue to explain how shoulder pain shows up in different yoga class formats, from repetitive transitions in vinyasa, to prop-heavy Iyengar setups, to restorative postures that need careful support. This episode will help you begin to shift your approach from rigid alignment cues to functional, adaptable options that meet your students where they are. 

By the end, you’ll feel more confident in supporting students without using fear-based language. Your role as a teacher isn’t to fix their shoulders, but instead to guide students toward movement, breath, and nervous system regulation that helps them feel safe and empowered to practice despite their pain & injuries.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.

In this second episode of our pain-focused series, I'll explore what it really means to support students with sensitive knees across a few different yoga class formats.

I’ll discuss how weight-bearing in vinyas, alignment expectations in Iyengar, deep/long holds in yin, and prop use in restorative can either aggravate or alleviate a student's knee discomfort. You’ll learn why:

• knee pain is rarely just about the knees themselves
• how the hips and ankles influence knee health, and 
• how nervous system sensitivity can make even “simple” poses feel unsafe for a student.

Most importantly, this episode gives you solutions. You’ll walk away with ideas for variations that make yoga accessible without isolating students or making them feel "less than." And you’ll learn how language, sequencing, and your compassion can empower your students to trust their bodies and their practice, especially while they're dealing with chronic pain or injuries.

Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Support the show

Teaching Students w/ Injuries Mentorship

YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright

Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries

Let's connect:

• Check out my website: Enhanced Body
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
• Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
• Join my Newsletter for teachers below!

Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!

Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.