Trains of thought on being in the teacher's seat. Inspired by my recent conversations with yoga teacher trainees, we talk about a few questions around facilitating yoga classes - including whether to gently awake sleeping students in Savasana.

It's an interesting time at the end of teacher training. Lots of great questions come up, but they're really questions that should be asked and answered once you are doing some teaching. And asked again, and again, and again - since we should always be refining!

I noticed a lot of questions coming up about facilitation specifically though, so this week we address a few questions about what to do when...

• You should praise your students, which inspired a whole thread on talking to students in and out of class in general.
• Integrating pranayama and meditation into your teaching (i.e. it's only weird if you make it weird)
• Should you wake up snoring students? I put this one to Instagram in a story, and share my community's responses.
• When should you share inspiring quotations? As well as some considerations on reading selection
• What do you do about students who are late? Once? Often? What shapes how you get to handle this situation?

The intelligent edge yoga podcast was produced by Kathryn Anne Flynn; author of Teach Kind, Clear Yoga: A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers. To learn more about Kathryn, practice online, or find retreats and training opportunities, visit www.kathrynanneflynn.com

Heart and Bones is the result of Brea Johnson's heart work and a long relationship with yoga and inquiry, particularly into anatomy and movement as it applies to teaching asana. She joins me to wander through a bit of her history as a faciliator and studio owner, her yoga existential crisis and resulting content, and what it's like to move online. We also discuss...

Show Notes on www.intelligentedge.yoga

A yogi mama with a diversity of experience in the yoga-Ayurveda world, Jennifer Hardy-Berthiaume (Jenny Bee), recently published her first book on using Ayurveda to parent with greater ease and for greater health and harmony in the household.

We talk about how we know each other, just a little nostalgia, before getting into conversation about the challenges of parenting, and how critical yoga and Ayurveda are for knowing yourself and your kids.

Jenn shares the super cute way she describes the doshas in her book, and some of the ways she integrates Ayurveda into her parenting her active kid, her more passive little guy, and what dinnertime is like in their household.

We commiserate on the challenges and surprises of parenthood, but even if you're not a parent, you probably teach a lot of them. Get to know a little bit about some insider information on what it's like to be a yogi mama.

For show notes and more information on where to find Jenn's book, go to www.intelligentedge.yoga

This week I talk about what it means to have healthy bowel movements by modern healthcare's definition, as well as Ayurveda. We learn all about what's reasonable to expect, some interesting facts about feces, the anatomy of defecation, and some practical advice for pooping well.

After devoting a couple of yoga classes to eliminating well, I decided to bring it online to the intelligent edge yoga podcast community. We talk about...

Find the show notes, including links to cited articles and books, at www.intelligentedge.yoga

Part 2 of a conversation with the poetic Ayurvedic practitioner Balaram Chandra das, where we dig into some of the challenges of being a responsible teacher, models of education and how they work (or don't) in yoga and Ayurveda, as well as multiple Ayurvedic concepts, including springtime Ayurvedic concepts and care.

• Balaram’s familial history of curanderos (healers), and how he’s stepping into his lineage as a healer through Ayurveda

www.intelligentedge.yoga

Meet Balarama Chandra das, one of my teachers from Ayurveda school, who is a fascinating person wonderfully capable of expanding on philosophical and Ayurvedic concepts with poetic commentary.

Balarama has many places in his beginning, and many places in his continuing story. Born Boaz Ramos in Arizona, he was driven by inquiry to study with his teacher in an ashram in San Diego, and ultimately followed him to India and then traveled the world with him.

So we hear how Balaram got on his path as it has taken shape the way I know him, but also how…

Show Notes at www.intelligentedge.yoga

Exploring Sun Salutations and their mythology, we talk about how when we know something well, it brings certain good qualities and other challenges. I offer some thoughts on evolving our approach to Sun Salutations, including different approaches to cues, sequencing, and how to approach plank, wrist stability and spinal articulation in cobra.

Find out more about Kathryn and get the show notes, as well as teacher resources and blog posts at www.intelligentedge.yoga

Raised in Montreal by the original yogi-mama seeker, Hali Schwartz lives and teaches in Toronto, Canada and visits India annually. Devoted to living and sharing yoga through philosophy, chant and mantra, Hali is a dedicated practitioner who helps yogis add the philosophical framework of yoga to their path.

We talk about her unusual upbringing and how her mother met her guru, and then continue through various tenets of yoga philosophy and why bother - the remembering of our own divinity. We also talk on...

Wow! What a fascinating woman - author, teacher, and musician. You can find out more about Hali from her site, which you can find linked from the show notes.

Find the show notes on www.intelligentedge.yoga

A Q&A on sequencing recorded from the Toronto Yoga Conference! I share quite a bit about my thoughts on abdominal strengthening (core) exercises in yoga classes, as well as when and how to teach pranayama in asana classes. The episode concludes with advice on how to integrate the things you learn in your yoga education into your teaching - especially when you feel like it's different from what you've been doing.

My approach to teaching core strength is at the beginning of class - the "it was all a dream approach" to teaching core strength! I explain why I like this approach, and the only caveat you need to keep in mind.

I also talk about which types of pranayama I might put at the beginning of class, and which I prefer to save for the end and why.

But aside from these specifics, whether you study with me or anyone else who teaches you a method you want to integrate into your teaching, how do you do that when your community is used to a certain approach? We end with some practical advice on doing just that.

Western Insight Meditation and yoga teacher Dawn Mauricio brings her light, introspective approach to sincere meditation. We chat about personal practice and teaching, cultural appropriation in spiritual communities and spiritual bypassing.

We talk about the limitations of social media for authentic shares, and how/when to share your personal processes with your community. Dawn talks about her history with meditation and why she prefers to refer to Insight Meditation as "Western Insight", which leads to a chat about cultural appropriation in the Buddhist and yoga spiritual communities. We finally touch on spiritual bypassing - the avoidance of personal pain and interpersonal exploration for spiritual "heights" - and how doing interpersonal work is a required component of spiritual practice.

From Montreal, Dawn teaches and practices internationally, and you can join her in person or in her free 21 Day Meditation course, offered in partnership with Lole. See the show notes for details!

Show Notes