The Mentor Sessions

Today I'm revisiting one of the ideas I talked about when I first started the podcast nine years ago: the idea that yoga teachers need to find their "ideal student" or a very specific niche in order to build a successful teaching career.

I still believe there is some value in getting specific about who we're speaking to when we communicate about our work. Specific language can make our marketing more compelling and help potential students understand how our teaching might support them.

But I've become increasingly convinced that the idea of finding your perfect student doesn't translate well to the actual work of teaching yoga.

Teaching people is relational, creative, vulnerable, and challenging. There is no teaching practice where every student is effortless to work with. A student being difficult to teach doesn't automatically mean they are the wrong student for you, and it certainly doesn't mean you're a bad teacher.

In this episode, I explore why the "ideal client" and "find your niche" advice can become problematic for yoga teachers—and what I think we should focus on instead.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Where the idea of the "ideal student," "ideal client," and "dream customer" comes from

• The difference between communicating specifically about your work and pigeonholing yourself into a narrow niche

• Why difficulty in a teacher-student relationship doesn't automatically mean it is a bad fit

• The normal challenges that come with teaching private clients, including boundaries, unclear goals, and difficulty reading a new student

• How surface-level demographics can unnecessarily limit your teaching practice

• Why helping students discover what they need, build trust, stay engaged, and maintain a consistent practice is part of our job

• How we can stop searching for the mythical "dream student" and instead develop the skills to teach many different kinds of people deeply and sustainably

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This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree! Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online.

In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, I'm revisiting an idea I first explored many years ago: that teaching yoga asana primarily with words rather than relying on the body to demonstrate every pose is a skill many teachers benefit from working on.

I demonstrate as little as possible when I teach. And while I don't think demonstrating is inherently bad, I do think it can become a habit that keeps us from developing our verbal skills as teachers.

When I transitioned to teaching online in 2020, I realized just how valuable this approach had been. My students were already accustomed to practicing with my voice rather than watching my body. That experience made me even more curious about what is possible when we ask students to listen, feel, notice, and explore instead of simply copying what they see.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why I demonstrate as little as possible when I teach yoga

• How teaching with words helps students pay attention to their own experience instead of copying a shape

• What I notice when I'm watching my students instead of practicing alongside them

• How a serious hip injury strengthened my verbal teaching skills

• Three experiments to help you teach without demonstrating

• When demonstrating does serve students, and how to make it an intentional choice

• Why teaching private students invites us to develop a shared language

OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate. Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you'll get 50% off your first three months or 15% off any annual plan. OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up and I'm proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

There is no cookie-cutter approach to private yoga teaching.

The most effective private teachers learn to listen carefully, think critically, stay curious, and trust their ability to adapt. Private teaching is not about giving someone a customized version of a group class. It's about creating a collaborative practice that responds to who they are, what they need, and where they are right now.

That requires both clarity of intention and flexibility of method.

In today's episode we are looking back at one of the foundational ideas behind my work as a private yoga teacher: how to create a yoga practice that actually meets the needs of the person in front of you.

We'll walk through four key principles for tailoring a private yoga session, including building trust, questioning the idea of a well-rounded practice, understanding the intended benefit of a pose, and staying creative and flexible in your teaching.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why teaching private yoga lessons requires a different skill set than teaching group classes

• The difference between a teacher-driven group class and a student-driven private lesson

• How to distinguish between what a student wants and what they may actually need

• How to maintain the depth and heart of yoga while adapting the way you teach it

• Why students who appear "easy" to teach may actually require more creativity and attention

• How understanding the intended benefit of a pose can transform individualized teaching

• Helping students develop discernment about whether a practice is actually useful to them

• Creative alternatives to traditional centering practices at the beginning of a private lesson

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you'll get 50% off your first three months or 15% off any annual plan!

In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, Francesca talks with Andrew Tanner, founder and CEO of the American Yoga Council (AYC), about his vision for creating a healthier, more sustainable yoga ecosystem.

Andrew brings more than 20 years of experience as a yoga teacher, studio owner, business consultant, technology leader, and former Yoga Alliance executive. His career has taken him from teaching and owning multiple yoga studios to working at Kripalu and Yoga Alliance, co-founding the Berkshire Yoga Festival, and now building a new credentialing and professional organization for yoga teachers.

The conversation goes far beyond the American Yoga Council itself. Francesca and Andrew explore the problems with the current yoga teacher credentialing system, why yoga teachers need better business education, how mentorship can transform professional development, and why Andrew believes the yoga industry needs to "grow up."

They also have an unusually candid conversation about Andrew's experience leaving a high-demand spiritual organization, the power dynamics that can exist within yoga communities, institutional resistance to change, and why transparency is one of AYC's core values.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The challenges of power, money, loyalty, and authority within spiritual communities

• About Andrew's work at Kripalu and his belief that institutions heal by creating something new rather than remaining stuck in the past

• Andrew's work at Yoga Alliance and the Standards Review Project

• Why he became disillusioned with the existing credentialing and accreditation model

• The creation and mission of the American Yoga Council

• Why AYC operates as a public benefit corporation rather than a nonprofit

• Why Andrew believes yoga studios should be viewed as "third places" and hospitality businesses

• Andrew's vision for the future of yoga and the American Yoga Council

Resources Mentioned:

• www.americanyogacouncil.com

Listeners can use the code FRANCESCA30 for 30% off an AYC membership.

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you'll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! I'm proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

If you've ever felt like building a successful yoga career means becoming an influencer, constantly creating content, or perfecting your personal brand, this episode is for you.

Today I'm sharing a different perspective—one that's rooted in the way I believe sustainable yoga careers are actually built. While marketing and visibility have their place, the longest-lasting teaching careers aren't created through algorithms or viral moments. They're built through relationships, trust, referrals, collaboration, and genuine participation in community.

I explore the difference between building an audience and cultivating an ecosystem, and why focusing on your local yoga community, complementary professionals, mentorship, and authentic connections will serve your teaching career far better than chasing online attention. If your goal is to spend more time teaching and less time performing online, this episode offers a practical and deeply encouraging roadmap.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why social media has encouraged yoga teachers to think like influencers

• The limitations of personal branding in a relationship-based profession

• How referrals become the foundation of long-term private yoga teaching

• The role teacher friendships and mentorship play in career longevity

• Creative ways to collaborate with studios and local businesses

• How building relationships with physical therapists and other practitioners can grow your private practice

• Why content creation should support your teaching—not replace it

• How community, reciprocity, and collaboration create a resilient yoga career

Resources Mentioned:

• Mentorship for yoga teachers

This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree! Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online.

Many yoga teachers are intrigued by the idea of teaching private clients but feel held back by self-doubt, uncertainty, or the practical realities of self-employment. In this episode, I unpack the most common concerns I hear from teachers who want to teach one-on-one but don't yet feel confident enough to begin.

Drawing from more than two decades of experience teaching private yoga clients, I explore why confidence isn't something you achieve before you start—it's something you build through experience, observation, relationships, systems, and practice. We talk about the difference between technical knowledge and relational skill, how vulnerability shows up in private teaching, and why teaching one-on-one can actually accelerate your growth as a teacher.

I also address concerns about safety, imposter syndrome, and the administrative side of running a private yoga practice. Throughout the episode, I offer practical strategies and mindset shifts that can help you move from hesitation to action.

If you've been waiting until you feel "ready" to teach private clients, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The difference between knowledge, expertise, and teaching capacity

• How vulnerability shows up in private yoga teaching

• Why relational skills matter more than having all the answers

• Why more certifications don't automatically lead to better private teaching

• Practical safety systems for working with new private clients

• How consultation calls help establish trust and assess fit

• The realities of self-employment and administrative labor

• Financial systems that simplify private yoga teaching

• Boundaries and communication practices that reduce overwhelm

Resources Mentioned:

• The Science of the Private Lesson

• Previous episode: The Hidden Labor of Yoga Teaching

OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate. Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you'll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan).

Teaching yoga involves far more than the hours we spend with our yoga students. Behind every yoga class we teach there is a significant amount of planning, relationship-building, scheduling, administration, marketing, and financial management. In this episode, I share the practical systems that have helped me build a sustainable yoga teaching career over the last two decades.

Following up on our recent conversation about the hidden labor of yoga teaching, this episode focuses on solutions. While we absolutely need collective action and systemic change to better support yoga teachers (and other freelance workers), there are also concrete systems we can put in place right now to make our work feel more manageable, organized, and sustainable.

I walk you through six essential systems every yoga teacher should consider implementing, whether you're brand new to teaching or have years of experience.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why sustainability requires both personal systems and collective advocacy

• The financial systems that create consistency and reduce stress

• My approach to managing a yoga teaching schedule without burnout

• Two proven strategies for finding new private clients

• How to simplify class planning while improving the student experience

• Why an email list is one of the most valuable marketing assets you can build

• The six systems every yoga teacher needs

Resources Mentioned:

• Book Private Clients

• OfferingTree

• You Need A Budget (YNAB)

• Monarch Money

• QuickBooks

• Wave

• Bill.com

• Stripe

• Square

• Calendly

• YouCanBookMe

• Acuity Scheduling

• ConvertKit is now Kit

• Flodesk

• Mailchimp

• Working Families Party

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you'll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!

As yoga teachers, we spend a lot of time talking about teaching techniques, sequencing, cueing, and professional growth. But there's another side of this work that often goes unnamed: the hidden labor of teaching yoga.

In this episode, I explore the physical, emotional, mental, and administrative work that happens behind the scenes of a yoga teaching career. From building a business one class at a time to managing finances, marketing, commuting, continuing education, and emotional boundaries, much of the work that sustains a teaching career is invisible to students—and often unacknowledged within the industry itself.

My goal isn't to complain about the profession or discourage new teachers. Instead, I want to name some of the uniquely challenging aspects of yoga teaching so that if you've struggled with them, you know you're not alone.

I also share why I believe sustainable yoga teaching is possible, what has helped me maintain a full-time career in yoga for more than two decades, and the three essential ingredients I believe every teacher needs to thrive long-term.

• Why yoga teachers are essentially automatically entrepreneurs

• The hidden administrative work of managing taxes, finances, insurance, and policies

• Why networking and relationship-building require patience and resilience

• How commuting, class planning, and continuing education add to a teacher's workload

• The importance of energetic boundaries and why yoga teachers often lack adequate support systems

• The pressure many teachers feel to be constantly available

• Why loving yoga and loving teaching yoga are not the same thing

• What makes a long-term yoga teaching career sustainable

• The role that systems, structure, and social support play in teacher wellbeing

This episode is the first part of a larger conversation. In the next episode, I'll share practical systems and strategies that can help make yoga teaching more sustainable, including:

• A group class planning system

• A private client acquisition system

• A community engagement system

• A money management system

• A scheduling system

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the hidden demands of teaching yoga, I hope this conversation helps you feel seen, understood, and supported.

Resources Mentioned:

• Yoga for Cancer and Tari Prinster

• The Mentor Session Sangha

• Working Families Party

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. The best thing about OfferingTree is you can get up and running in 10 minutes with no tech skills needed. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you'll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!

Have you ever been in a yoga class where the yoga teacher gives a long dharma talk about ahimsa, and then when the movement practice begins the teaching style feels very aggressive? Or maybe you have been that teacher yourself. I know I have!

I think there are really subtle and beautiful ways to teach the movement part of yoga in a way that has the deeper philosophical teachings embedded within it, but most of us were not taught to do that, and it is more challenging to do than you might think!

Also, many of us claim that yoga movement can be healing, but a performative style of teaching doesn't allow for that. In this episode, I explore an idea that has become central to my work as a yoga teacher and educator: the disconnect between how yoga is often marketed as a healing practice and how it is frequently taught as a performative one.

I dive into the ways traditional teaching frameworks—especially the language of "regressions," "progressions," "safe," "unsafe," "full expression," "modifcation"—can unintentionally reinforce hierarchy, competition, and performance-based thinking. If our goal is to help students feel better in their bodies, develop agency, and cultivate discernment, I believe we need a different approach.

Throughout the episode, I share practical tools for teaching movement in a way that aligns more closely with healing-centered values. We explore how to move beyond visual ideals, teach from intended benefit rather than aesthetic outcomes, and help students make informed choices based on their unique experiences rather than universal standards.

I also discuss the role of teacher authority, student agency, movement literacy, and why teaching in a more nuanced, non-hierarchical way is both more challenging and ultimately more effective.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why yoga cannot simultaneously be a healing practice and a performance-based achievement system

• The hidden hierarchy embedded in common yoga teaching language

• Why regressions and progressions are not universal

• How movement experiences vary from body to body

• The difference between teaching shapes and teaching movement experiences

• Student agency, teacher authority, and finding the middle path between control and abdication

• Why "harder" and "easier" are often misleading descriptors

• Alternative frameworks for cueing movement, including active vs. passive, symmetrical vs. asymmetrical, and stability vs. mobility

• How to identify the intended benefit of a pose or movement

• The importance of sensation-based and function-based cueing

• Common compensation patterns and how to work with them

• Why nonlinear movement teaching requires more observation, education, and nuance

• Helping students develop movement literacy and discernment

• Practical examples from tabletop, lunges, Warrior III, Extended Side Angle, and more

Resources Mentioned:

• Episode 165: The Intended Benefit + Removing Linear Hierarchy

• The Sangha

This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree! Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online. All of this can be set up in 10 minutes or less.

In this solo episode of The Mentor Sessions, I'm sharing a more personal, behind-the-scenes look at my life right now and the things that are genuinely helping me stay grounded, connected, and functional during a very full season of teaching, parenting, and activism.

After asking on Instagram what kinds of episodes you wanted more of, one request came up again and again: more real-life context about how I make all of this work. So in this episode, I'm walking you through the practices, systems, apps, routines, communities, and relationships that are "saving my life" right now.

I talk honestly about balancing a full teaching schedule with motherhood, creating sustainable routines that support my nervous system, deepening my activism work, and building a life that feels aligned with my values—even when it's imperfect. From romance novels on my Kindle to strength training at 5:30 a.m. to building community through the The Mentor Session Sangha, this episode is a candid snapshot of what's supporting me in this season of life.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why the Libby app completely changed my reading habits

• How the iPhone "send later" text feature helps me communicate without feeling constantly available

• The way I structure my work schedule around my family priorities

• Why having a clear shutdown routine before picking up my son makes such a big difference

• How activism has become one of the most meaningful parts of my life

• Why I use ScreenZen to limit social media access

• The political podcasts helping me stay informed without completely burning out

• How keeping a running list of things to look forward to boosts my mood and perspective

• The consistency of my movement and meditation practices

• Why the The Mentor Session Sangha continues to challenge and support me as a teacher

Resources Mentioned:

• Libby App

• Emily Henry

• Ali Hazelwood

• Christina Lauren

• Kate Clayborn

• ScreenZen

• Pod Save America

• Chamber of Mothers

• Singing Resistance

• Indivisible

• Kearsten Lyon of Toronto Movement Therapy

• Susan Piver

• Habit Tracker App

• The Mentor Sessions Sangha

OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate. Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you'll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up and I'm proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.