Your Yoga In English by Enga Unite

Over the past weeks, you've heard me talk about teaching beyond the asanas. I want you to feel confident teaching asana, but also offer more than that: a well-rounded experience!

One way to add more value to your classes and offer these 'well-rounded experiences' is... adding mindfulness and meditation practices!

Writing scripts for mindfulness and meditation practices, as a non-native English speaker, teaching in English, requires you to learn metaphorical language or language for imagination. Learning this type of language is the next level in your language learning and takes some time. But just as it requires skill, knowledge and practice of vocabulary, metaphors and imaginary language you can learn!

In this episode I'll explain how you can add mindfulness and meditation practices to your services and offerings.

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Your transformation is our mission!

In this episode, learn about Andrea's journey and experience working with Enga for the past three years!

Some of you may have seen Andrea during the mini-course as well, because behind the scenes Andrea works with us and combines her passion for yoga and skills in business and marketing!

Andrea is a yoga teacher from Peru, currently living in Spain.

During the pandemic she completed her YTT in Paris, France and realised that her English skills weren’t yet enough to teach yoga.

In 2022, Andrea finished the English for Yoga Teachers Course and in this interview she shares with us what she learned and improved. What was most useful and what she loved the most.

In this episode, I’d like to share with you the missing piece to your international career.

Actually, there are a few missing pieces, but the first and most important one, as you can guess now, is receiving support and guidance with finding and developing your own voice (even more so, if you want to teach in a foreign language).

Finding your voice is step one of the 6-step process to becoming a confident and authentic English-speaking yoga teacher.

Your voice, as they call it in yoga, is the way you speak and what you communicate. This includes your tone of voice and also the type of language you use. You may have heard of the terms ‘use your voice’, ‘authentic voice’, ‘finding your voice’.

All of this refers to the development of becoming and expressing yourself as you are. The way you communicate and what you communicate. When finding your voice in a foreign language, it also refers to learning the type of language that matches your teaching style and personality, so that you can stay true to your natural way of being and communication, even when teaching in English.

It can be intimidating to teach in a foreign language, but since you’re here. I know you have a passion you want to share with the world. It’s time to do the work and kiss goodbye all your fears and insecurities.

Because remember, ’Teaching yoga in a foreign language is a sign of bravery!’

In this training, I'll share 7 steps to overcome practical challenges and common fears that stop you from finding your voice!

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In episode 118, I shared with you the mindset shifts needed to feel capable of teaching yoga.

I spoke about the reason 'why' you feel you aren't ready to teach yoga and unpacked 4 things that may cause you to lack confidence.

All of them are limiting beliefs.

It starts with a thought, which then makes you feel a certain way, which provokes another thought, and boom ... you’re in the cycle of negative thinking, doubting your skills, and feeding your own insecurities, which is absolutely not necessary!

As I finished that training, I realised that there's A LOT more I’d like to share about this topic so in this episode, I want to continue and give you 3 practical tricks to reprogramme your mindset for a lasting career.​

Expect to find out

• How to leave the chicken and egg situation and actually get out there

• How to find safe teaching opportunities that will help you build confidence and feel capable

• 3 ways to overcome limited and negative thinking and shift your thoughts outward rather than in

P.S. Are your English language skills the reason for you to postpone your career?

Time and time again I hear from teachers they're postponing their teaching career because they 'don't feel ready'.

The feeling of not feeling ready is caused by a negative thought pattern that's ruled by fears, lack of confidence, overthinking, or high expectations.

You became a yoga teacher for a reason. The reason why may not be ultra clear to you right now, but I bet it'll be as soon as you actually start teaching.

It's time to get out of your shell!

In this episode you'll discover what's holding you back and shift your mindset to feel capable of teaching yoga and build a sustainable career.

PS Are your English language skills the reason for you to postpone your career?

When teaching yoga in a foreign language you're faced with many challenges.

First of all it takes time to find your voice and learn vocabulary to cue and instruct effectively.

The next challenge is to form sentences that are easy to understand for your students, easy to remember for you, but also clear, concise, accurate, and inclusive.

For that you need to have knowledge of three things:

In this training, I'll help you revise your grammar usage and knowledge for effective cues.

To enhance your grammar knowledge for effective cues

Becoming a thriving, international yoga teacher goes further than 'just' teaching yoga.

To set yourself up for a sustainable career your online presence is extremely important.

In this expert interview, Eddie from OfferingTree will share with us how to boost your online presence using OfferingTree. 

We'll discuss

We're proud to partner with OfferingTree and allow you to try it 14 days for free + get 50% off your first three months! 

Join Annie & Gwen for an expert interview to learn about how you can create a yoga career with in-person and digital offerings!

In this chat we cover:
• Why mixing in-person and digital offerings is so beneficial
• How we started offering both ourselves
• Tricks and how tos for running your own in-person and digital offerings

Plus: tips for overcoming common fears such as competition and being visible online.

Do you have questions? Write a DM at @engaunite on Instagram!

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The word 'outdated' refers to things that are old-fashioned.

Usually, old-fashioned is a word that describes something that is ancient, antique, obsolete, or out of date. Stuff that’s made in a different age; from materials we no longer use; things that aren’t anymore produced, or because we’ve found faster, more innovative ways. Just as production and consumption make advances, so do we people and so does language.

In the past you may have heard or learned certain cues. They made a lot of sense and you may have even started using them in your own classes. By now, you’ve heard them so often that you don’t even question the words anymore. However, due to social advances, research and revision, some of the cues you may use today are no longer accepted. Instead this type of outdated language is considered

• ineffective

• inaccurate

• non-inclusive

• offensive

With this episode, I want to help you understand why some cues are no longer safe to use and how you can recognise similar phrases to make your cueing language up-to-date and appropriate.

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Every day, I get messages from people to ask me about ‘how to choose the right words' for teaching yoga in English.

Learning a foreign language takes time and from time to time it can be confusing.

To make a language your own and feel confident teaching/speaking in it, there’s a lot to think of, remember, and study. Especially in the beginning, I can only imagine how overwhelming it is trying to learn everything at once.

In this episode, I won’t explain all the words you need to know. Instead I want to help you ‘unlearn’ 3 words you no longer want to use teaching yoga in English. I'll explain a little bit about the difference between English grammar and yogic language and I’ve got a little task for you to think about words and phrases that you can use instead.

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Many teachers in our community complain that their Yoga Teacher Training didn’t prepare them enough to write sequences or that they didn’t receive enough practice time to learn to write them. And, I know how much your ability to write high quality sequences would boosts your confidence.

Themed sequences that feel logical and intuitive.

Sequences that...

Or simply put, sequences your students love to practice, and you love to teach.

Everyone’s learning process is different. Learning processes differ depending on for example:

• the type of thing you want to learn

• your experience with the topic so far

• the methodologies and learning techniques you’ve been taught to use in the past

Some sign up for courses to work towards a specific outcome in a container, finding support in sharing their journey with their classmates. Others go for coaching or mentoring to receive 1:1 or personalised support. And again others like a more independent approach and try to figure it all out by themselves.

Whatever your learning strategy looks like, it can be that you:

• Don’t know really know where to start or how to continue

• Feel overwhelmed with all the different resources, materials and courses available and don’t know which is right for you

• Get stuck because you focus on things you don’t actually need by using old-fashioned learning methods that don’t (longer) work for you

• Feel alone, because you don’t have anymore to share your progress with

As an avid learner of anything to do with yoga and foreign languages, I’ve explored many different learning strategies. Some worked, some didn’t, and years back I thought it’d be the same for everyone.

However, teaching English as a foreign language has taught me that the opposite is true. Everyone has a different way of absorbing and processing information, so I’m aware that there’s no one-size-fits-all.

I love exploring this topic and it’s my passion to help you optimise your learning journey. So, having helped hundreds of yoga teachers and English learners navigate their journey I realised that there’s one thing that truly works for all: personalising your learning journey!

In this training I’ll take you through the 7 ways to optimise learning English for yoga!

Join us for the Teach with Confidence Mini-Course | 10-12 March, live on Zoom.

Learning a foreign language comes with unique challenges.

Depending on your mother tongue, some languages may be easier to learn than others. But, even when the roots or origins of two languages are the same, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and cultural aspects are different.

Most of the time, the purpose of general language classes is to help you pass exams. This is unfortunate when you want to learn a language for teaching yoga. The language aspects we use in a yogic setting are very specific and very sensitive. General language classes usually don’t provide you with the knowledge and skill practice you need to teach yoga in a foreign language.

So, yoga teachers that have never studied language for yoga classes often make mistakes that can

• cause physical and emotional harm

• damage your student-teacher relationships

• cause a lot of confusion

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In today’s training I want to discuss with you three of the most common language mistakes I see teachers in our community make. My aim is to help you analyse your language use and find out what you can improve it to

• make yourself understood better

• guide your students with more compassion

• strengthen your student-teacher relationships

Resources mentioned:

Cueing is the art of verbally guiding students through your yoga asana classes.

It includes all the words, phrases, metaphors and expressions you use to teach.

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Now, imagine teaching yoga in a foreign language…

Knowing the correct terminology for body parts, verbs, and language for directions and movement can be quite a challenge.

Then understanding which words are inclusive and non-offensive requires study and real-life experience.

And when you finally know the right vocabulary, forming sentences that are quickly understood by your students and easy to remember for you is the next step.

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As you can tell, cueing isn't something you learn in one day and mistakes are easily made.

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In this training, I'd like to help you become aware of 5 cueing mistakes that are commonly made by multilingual yoga teachers. This awareness will help you:

• analyse what language aspects you can improve

• optimise your verbal communication to strengthen your student-teacher relationships

• guide your students with compassion

Join us for the Teach with Confidence Mini-Course | 10-12 March

When I did my first yoga teacher training, I learned the hard way that the language we use in a yogic setting isn’t the same as what we learn in general language classes. At this point I was already very fluent in English; I had a C2 certificate and even taught English as a foreign language to students from all over the world.

I did not once think that I would have language challenges doing my yoga teacher training in English. My level of English was proficient, but having a conversation about yogic topics, let alone cueing a yoga asana class was something completely new.

In the very beginning, I felt defeated and doubted my skills.

It made me feel as if I had to start learning all over again. But then I realised it had nothing to do with my language skills, it simply was because my studies and daily conversations had never been in this area.

Thankfully, I was an English language teacher so I could transfer the skills and knowledge I gained teaching general and exam English, to teach myself the language I needed for teaching yoga. I spent hours and hours learning, studying, observing, and improving.

Realising that the need for language and communication training among yoga teachers was high, I did more yoga teacher training and eventually developed a framework to help you: non-native English speaking yoga teachers, learn the language you need for your job, so that you can:

• Teach with confidence

• Speak with authenticity

• Strengthen your student-teacher relationships.

Based on my experience guiding hundreds of yogis learning to teach yoga in English as a foreign language, in this training I want to share with you 3 steps to help you understand:

• Where to start teaching yoga in a foreign language.

• What to do to save time

• How you can make your learning journey personal, effective and enjoyable!

Check out and register your spot for the Cue with Confidence Mini-Course

Live on Zoom | 10-12 March 2023

The biggest obstacle when learning anything is lack of confidence.

Think of when you're learning a foreign language and feel embarrassed about your pronunciation.

Or learning to teach yoga and doubt your cues and instructions are effective and easily understood.

Imagine learning to teach yoga in a foreign language and the fears around both your speaking and teaching skills come up.

When you lack confidence it's possible that you

• hide

• stop trying

• avoid things you find challenging

But if your aim is to teach yoga in internationally, in multiple languages none of these things help.

Instead, I want to help you teach with total confidence and share your passion for yoga without doubting yourself.

If you recognise this challenge, join me for this training to find out about 3 key tools that help you boost your confidence teaching yoga in a foreign language and you can easily start doing today!

This year, I envision a lot of growth for YOU!

Having travelled quite a bit, I know our yoga and wellness practices aren't available to everyone and certainly not in every language.

I believe it's my job to guide you learn to teach yoga in more than one language and build your own business so we can spread the benefits of yoga and wellness around the globe.

But to do so, I need YOU!

It's time to get out of your comfort-zone!

Time to learn the skills, gain the knowledge and confidence to teach internationally. To share your skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise (even if until now you haven't felt ready to do so).

So in today's episode I want to help you analyse where you’re at in your teaching journey so that you can intentionally take your next step forward.

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Every year is full of new learnings!

To fully be present with what arises... what needs to be seen... and prepare for growth...

I believe we need intentional reflection on 'what actually happened' and 'how we got there'.

For me personally, 2022 was an extremely challenging year.

I started the year feeling completely burnt out, not being able to do anything for 3 months. I separated, moved countries, went back into therapy and did A LOT of work on myself.

Even though I felt defeated, triggered, tested... I know it was something I had to go through to experience 'break through'.

Break through was needed to keep doing what I do... helping you create the career you dream of!

Whether it's by improving your language and communication skills or business knowledge.

I met heaps of incredible people that inspired, supported, and encouraged my growth.

I had tons of new experiences, 'aha' moments, transitions, and signs that activated my intuition and made me make life changes (which I'll share with you tomorrow)

So, in this live training, I'll tell you a little bit about what happened for me in 2022, what I learned and how I dealt with the challenges life threw my way to step up and overcome obstacles that limited my growth (and career path).

I hope you see this as an invitation to receive the tools to intentionally reflect on your year too and prepare yourself for intuitive goal setting!

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Every year, around this time, I check in with how things are going in my business...

I check in with my values and 'reason why'...

I examine our purpose and if the actions we take match it...

I acknowledge mistakes...

I look at what and how to improve...

And, I set new goals!

These goals often include investments too. Investments in studies, coaches, software, and programmes.

The reason I do it at this time of the year is that the biggest sales of tech, software and programmes is happening very soon. And if you're in business, you know that these investments add up, so why not take this chance and save a little money!

You may already have a wish list of programmes and software to invest in, so in today's live training I want to help you reflect and analyse what you truly need to thrive in your next year in business!

Without partnerships and collaborations I would never make the impact I'm making and experience the success I have today'.

I'm so immensely grateful to myself that from early on in my business, I took action and went out there to establish partnerships and collaborations. And so grateful too, for all the opportunities these partnerships and collaborations opened up for me after (and still do).

Joint efforts have endless benefits and can cause your business to grow organically, very fast. You as one of the partners have the opportunity to leverage your expertise, but at the same time you’re introducing your audience to another party they can benefit from. Whatever your partnership or collaborations looks like, they can add immense value to the way you and your business are being portrayed and perceived.

So in today's training let’s have a look at some invaluable reasons why you need to partner up and collaborate to experience massive growth in your business or career!

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For our 100th episode on the Your Yoga in English podcast I want to help you kick off the new year with clarity and (re-)evaluate your business model! 

Celebrate with us and make a chance on winning a free 1:1 coaching session with Annie!

What to do:

As Covid is slowly becoming part of our history, I see more and more teachers in desperate need for a change. Some have been blocked by a type of fear or scarcity mindset until now, but I see that at least those in our community are starting to dare to dream bigger, plan ahead and are willing to leave their comfort-zones.

Being a self-employed yoga teacher comes with a big advantage called FREEDOM!

Freedom to choose the things that actually fulfil you. From the types of projects you want to work on, to wherever, and with whomever. That means you can do and create exactly that what gives you meaning. The things and people you really love and those that feel aligned with your purpose.

But how to do this for some still is a mystery, so in today’s training I’d like to talk about how you can attract and create more job opportunities so that you can finally make a living of sharing what you love the most.

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What do you know about the concept of flow?

I know we use it in yoga class all the time, but what does 'flow' mean in your daily life and business approach?

In the past weeks, I've been reflecting on the concept of flow a lot. And I don't believe it's a coincidence that in the classes I've taught these weeks, the concept kept popping up too.

It’s possible that right now, you feel frustrated, annoyed, overwhelmed, self-critical or even demotivated. That you doubt you're doing the right thing, don't know how to continue or where to go next. If that's you, I'd love for you to join me during our live training today and speak about the concept of flow and how it helps you create a life and business with more ease and contentment.

I want to take you through a quick exercise to practise listening to your intuition and strengthen your ability to connect to the concept of flow.

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Let's speak about the most common challenges multilingual and international yoga businesses deal with.

This is for you if you (want to) teach and/or serve students....

In this training I'll divide the most common challenges into 5 categories to help you overcome, prepare, prevent them and set you up for success in your multilingual or international business!

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Is the English for Yoga Teachers Course for you?

In this episode I’ll take you through:
• the modules & what you’ll learn
• what we’ll practice in the conversation classes and teaching practices
• the schedule & times of the classes & training
• who it’s really for
• how fluent you need to be to understand everything
• doubts that are holding you back

This course is for you if you’re ready to:
• feel authentic and confident teaching and speaking in English
• feel more capable sharing well-rounded yoga practices
• want to build an international teaching career and experience more freedom
• do the work to achieve the career you dream of

Obstacles live inside your head, and the longer you postpone your dreams, the less likely they’re actually going to happen.

Your decisions today, define your tomorrow!

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Creating your own business is a challenge, and more so, if you're looking to do this in multiple languages.

It involves many steps. Knowing exactly which to take may seem like a puzzle.

In today's episode, I'll give you some points to consider. I'll take you through the process of decision-making and building your foundation; what to take into account and ultimately where to start so that you have a more structured way of setting up your own (multilingual) yoga business!

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As the yoga industry is booming, the integration of technology is inevitable. Online yoga is more popular than ever, and I know that they're here to stay. So I believe this is a great opportunity for you to explore your options and start thinking about opening your own online yoga studio too.

The benefits are countless. It allows you to

and so much more!

If you wish to be an international (travelling) yoga teacher... having your own online yoga studio could mean massive growth!

In this expert interview, Joost and Ingo will tell you all about how you can optimally run your own online yoga studio. Expect to learn about:

• Recent changes in yoga market
• What an online yoga studio entails
• Why having your own (online) yoga studio is so beneficial
• How Momoyoga facilitates your live as an independent yoga teacher

and much more!

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Do you feel like you could be more productive?

Do you feel stuck postponing your goals because you...

... don't know where to start?

... don't have enough students?

... don't have enough experience?

.... fear there's too much competition?

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Procrastination is one of the most common challenges among yoga teachers (spoiler alert: I'm familiar with it too).

You may postpone creating your website, social media content, class plans, writing your own course, whatever it is, for some reason you can't find the motivation to work towards your ideas or finish off your projects.

Next to the unpleasant result of it delaying your goals and plans, it lowers your self-esteem and self-belief.

Overcoming it isn't easy, because it requires you to do some work and that work is exactly what you're postponing right now. So it can feel like an infinite loop.

But to offer you a little help, today, I want to share 5 ways that will help you find back your motivation and kiss your procrastination goodbye to stay motivated and achieve your goals.

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Cueing is an art. It’s the art of guiding your students into positions or variations that allow them to experience the asana in a way that is beneficial to them, using as few words as possible.

Cueing is communicating clearly and considerately so that you can guide your students’ movement in the moment. These cues must serve your students as individuals even when they’re in a group so that they can find what works in their body.

If you speak too fast, students get lost. If you speak too quietly, students focus too much on trying to hear you. And if you use too many words, students will need to think too much about what you want them to do.

To master your cues, simplicity is the key. What you say and how you say it directly impacts the practice of our students, so it’s really important to pay attention to it.

Now you know that cueing is the art of directing your students into positions or variations that allow them to experience the asana in a way that is beneficial to them, with as few words as possible, in this training we’ll look at how to form instructional cues (active cues) with the four types of words that will help you master the foundation of your cueing language.

Learn about:

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Teaching yoga isn't something you learn overnight. Even less so if you want to teach in a foreign language.

Even the most fluent speakers struggle to teach with confidence, accuracy, effectiveness and authenticity. Simply because the language we use in yoga, for most, isn't same as what you use on a daily basis.

Since the majority of your community speaks English as a foreign language, I want to dedicate this training to helping you understand what it takes to teach yoga in English.

Take your journal to write down your notes and let me help you become clear on the 6 steps to confidently teach yoga in English!

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Yoga teachers are eager learners! Coming out of YTT you know that your journey doesn’t stop there. There’s always more to discover, more knowledge to gain and more to learn.

The yoga industry is booming and growing faster than ever before. The variety and options are countless and with the growth of yoga in the past years, I think it can really help to get some guidance on choosing your continuing education in the way that best suits you.

You’re not the only one, if you enrol in course after course. That you’re always looking for new programmes and ways to upskill your expertise. But, how do you choose your next yoga teacher course?

In this training I’m taking you through 5 questions to make that decision with intention. So that you start it with the right attitude and complete it feeling fulfilled, confident and capable.

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This is the third episode of our mini series on sequencing!

By now you know, every teacher is different. Some teachers love to write out detailed sequences and scripts, others keep it to bullet points or stick figures. Maybe you already know what methods work for you. Make it your own and choose the techniques that match your learning style and preference.

1. Practise what you teach

2. Highlight your detailed designs and scripts

3. Use keywords or bullet points

4. Draw stick figures

5. Create your own language

Want to find out why you find sequencing hard, or how to gain more confidence? Scroll through our feed or check out the previous episodes on our Your Yoga In English Podcast!

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Following up on our training of last week where we spoke about 'what you find sequencing hard', I'd like to help you now gain confidence in your sequencing.

In this chat, I mention and elaborate on:

• Your self-practice

• Creating your own sequencing bank

• Repeating sequences and cues

• Cultivating consistency

• Offering private classes

Listen to the episode to find out about my recommendations and advise, so that you can start building confidence in your sequencing straight away.

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Welcome to our mini-series on sequencing. In this training find out about some common sequencing challenges and why you may feel stuck creating your own sequences.

Including:

• lack of exposure in YTT

• inconsistent students

• finding inspiration

• not having a theme, intention, or purpose

• teaching ‘to’ instead of ‘for’ your students

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The main job of a yoga teacher is to assist students in a journey of self-discovery. You’re not teaching them to tell them what to do but to support them with tools and guidance that suits their goals, wishes, and current experience for deeper connections and self-exploration.

Being a teacher comes with great responsibility. It requires you to be mindful of your language and communication. You'll have to pay attention to who you’re actually teaching and what you can do to ensure that your classes provide them with what they truly need.

Apart from developing your social skills and building student-teacher relationships, you need to become aware of how you instruct and speak to them in a supportive way.

So, in this episode let’s analyse 4 types of cues that support your students.

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A common misconception is that to learn how to teach yoga in a foreign language is to attend regular language classes. But, the terminology regarding the different areas the practice of yoga can benefit in life is very specific. To guide your students through a completely transformational experience, you need to have knowledge and the ability to speak about more than just the body.

As a multilingual yogi it can feel extremely discouraging knowing you speak a language, but not being able to express yourself fully in a yoga class. I understand what it’s like to doubt your accent, you’re using the right words and find it challenging to speak with clarity. Or, find words and phrases that make your cues easy to remember.

You may think you’re repetitive and your students find your classes boring. Or you believe that you aren’t clear enough and your cues lack imagination. You want to be able to guide your students in a way that’s accurate, safe, informative, but also inspiring!

It may surprise you that to do so, your accent, fear of repetition and memorising the right words aren’t part of the mistakes I address in this episode. To upgrade your language skills, you need to start with awareness of the five communication mistakes multilingual yogis make in regard to language and mindset - let's begin!

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Learning to teach yoga confidently and authentically in a foreign language is a task that's highly underestimated.

There's so much more to it than completing yoga teacher training and working on your communication skills.

In this episode, I'll share the 7 steps I've identified that will help you teach yoga in a foreign language! This is also the proven framework I use for all students at Enga!

They'll help you:

and even more!

Going through these steps, you'll speed up your progress so that you no longer have to postpone your international yoga teaching career - let's begin!

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Manifest to your ideal teaching career with intention

Your challenges as a multilingual yoga teacher aren’t the same as that of teachers teaching in their first language. They’re about identity, language, and communication which are both unique and personal. Yet all teachers in our community deal with these same things.

So, in order for me to create an impactful experience, I reflected on all the things I missed in my training and education as a non-native speaker. And that’s when I realised that having knowledge is step one, but the opportunity to embody this knowledge through practice, teaching experience and the help of a community is underestimated.

I came to realise that all the work I’ve put into creating our courses is because I want them to truly make a difference for you.

They are inspiring, motivating and completely personalised to your learning styles and professional goals. They help you transform your teaching voice, techniques, knowledge and skills so that you can create the teaching career you dream of.

So, in this training, I want to help YOU manifest your ideal teaching career with intention.

JOURNAL QUESTIONS FOR ACTIVE GOAL-PLANNING:

1. How is my year unfolding?

2. What have I already achieved?

3. Who played a part in my success?

4. What positive habits support me?

6. What negative habits hinder me?

7. What do I want to accomplish before the year ends?

8. Set a positive, affirmative intention that reminds you of your purpose and holds you accountable for taking action in direction of your goals!

You can take your time answering them and feel free to write me an email or DM with your reflections.

Always ask for help, support or feedback if you want it!

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Step 1: Find out what your learning style is

Are you a self-employed yoga teacher? And do you want to grow your audience, network and clientele? Just posting on social media and hosting classes or events aren't going to give you the results you want.

To build a thriving career, it's not important 'who' you know, but 'how' you make use of your contacts and network!

So, if you're ready to expand your career opportunities... listen to this episode to find out about three ways you can collaborate and gain visibility to grow your business!

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All businesses start with an idea or a dream. You believe you have something to offer that could immensely help your students. Sometimes, you have more than one idea and you’re looking at ways to combine it. 

In this episode, I help you find some clarity as to how you could combine your passions and interests with teaching yoga so that you can serve your students worldwide!

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

Cueing yoga is an art! The skill of cueing clearly and effectively has a lot to do with your communication skills, and your ability to understand what goes on in your students' minds while they're moving through your classes.

Great cues don’t leave room for questions, have your students wondering ‘what did my teacher say’?, or students telling you ‘I don’t understand’.

In this episode I’m sharing three foundational cues that you need to know to build on the foundations of your teaching skills. This is a great place to start, even if you’re teaching in a foreign language!

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

Our standardised educational systems unfortunately focus too much on developing the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking), but there's a fifth skill, which I call becoming an independent learner.

As an independent learner, you know how to distinguish passive from active vocabulary and find the resources and learning material that match your personal and professional objectives for learning the language.

Understanding this difference will massively improve your ability to learn yogic vocabulary for teaching yoga in English and speaking about yogic topics with your students and colleagues!

In this training learn the difference between passive and active vocabulary and..

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Most language learners say that one of the most challenging things about learning a language is memorising new vocabulary.

Some argue that it’s due to the overload of information we already need to remember. Others say that they’re too old and only young people can memorise well. It may also be a lack of concentration that makes you lose focus. But I believe, it’s the standardised study techniques that aren’t working for you.

In this episode I explain how you can better memorise yogic vocabulary so that you can more fluently teach yoga in English!

The most common challenge our students claim to have is that they don’t know the right vocabulary or cues to effectively guide their students.

They deal with the common misconception of believing it’s necessary to have a proficient level of English. So in this episode, I want to address 10 categories of yogic words you should know about to teach with confidence and clarity.

In this episode learn about

‘Find your voice’, ‘Use your voice’, ‘Teach as your own authentic Self’. In the world of yoga, you may have heard these expressions before. But what do they really mean? And what’s your style of teaching voice? 

In this episode let’s explore the usage of communication in the yoga room, different styles and the importance of developing your own authentic teaching voice.

Learn how understanding and defining your teaching style helps you:
• Cue effectively
• Improve student-teacher relationships
• Adjust your language to your students needs/experience with yoga

The most common reasons for us to postpone our dreams is self-doubt and lack of clarity.

When you want to teach yoga in a foreign language working on these two things are the foundation of your career, teaching style and ultimately your development and success.

So let's build on your foundation and listen to this episode in which I help you understand the 3 main reasons why you may lack confidence teaching in English and receive some guidelines as to how to overcome them.

Nervousness can be because of many different reasons, but for new or less experienced yoga teachers it’s often because they worry about the way they’re perceived, if the students like them, and how their classes and sequences will go.

But, as a teacher, you’re not there to perform. You’re there to guide and assist your students and give them a yogic experience that helps them travel through their own mind and body.

In this episode I’ll help you shift your focus from teaching TO your students, to teaching FOR your students!

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Imposter syndrome is an emotional circumstance in which you believe your achievements, skills, knowledge, or experience aren’t real or valuable.

For yoga teachers this often comes down to self-doubt or lack of confidence. These obstacles are complex and very psychological, but not impossible to overcome.

In this episode I help you go back to the root reason of your imposter syndrome and how it could lead to serious procrastination and what you can do to analyse it to overcome it so that you can finally take action and work on achieving your teaching career goals.

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Many YTTs don't actually have or give you the time to make enough teaching hours to develop your style, teaching personality and build your teaching foundations. So, it's not uncommon to feel incapable of teaching after obtaining your teaching certificate. 

Next to that, getting your first teaching experience, especially during the time of the pandemic has changed. Even more, now that 80% of all yogis, practice from home!

In this episode, I’m sharing 2 ways to get more teaching experience online and/or from home (even when you're working at a studio, gym, or other type of yoga organisation), so that you can teach with confidence and clarity!

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Learning a language is a challenge, learning how to teach yoga is a skill, but learning how to teach yoga in a foreign language is an expertise.

The language you learn in a general English class isn’t the language you need for teaching yoga, so, in this episode, let me share with you what type of language you need to study to feel more confident and become more fluent while teaching yoga in English.

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

As a teacher, you know that your education doesn’t stop after finishing a YTT. It’s an ongoing journey of learning and development.

In this episode, I share ways of finding reliable resources and putting into practice the skills and knowledge gained in your YTT.

The clearer you are on your niche, the problem or desire they have and how you can solve it or help them, creating content becomes easy-peasy! Your research, client or student feedback and community will give you all the inspiration you need. 

But, to get there, there’s work to do... In this episode, I help you analyse your niche and find inspiration for engaging, educative and entertaining content that will help you build trust and relationships with your ideal students on social media.

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When creating your own yoga business, you may see and hear the term ‘niche’. And you probably hear your business teachers tell you that it's important to have one and actually need one to become profitable and successful.

But, what really is a niche? Why do you need one? And how do you choose one without feeling limited or restricted?

In this episode I’ll take you through some key elements to take into account when choosing your own niche!

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To theme your classes you need to decide on a focus or outcome and find some inspiration. Inspiration is hard to find on the days you're struggling, but the good thing is, it's everywhere. 

Often, when we get stuck theming our classes, it’s because the theme doesn’t fully resonate to you, it's something you haven't made your own or studied enough, or because it relates to an experience you haven’t fully processed.

In this episode, let me help you with elements to take into account when theming your own yoga classes.

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Pricing your yoga classes can be a challenging task. What’s too much? What’s too little? And what aspects such as demographics, location, studies and experience do you need to bear in mind when pricing your own yogic services?

In this episode, I’ll explain what you need to consider when deciding on a price for your offerings.

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Today, I’m answering the question: ‘How do I create my own community from zero?'

To build your own community, you don’t need to have years of experience teaching or already have a clientele of people that speak your first language.

Listen to this episode to find out which 5 things you can do to start building an international community from ground zero!

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Today, I’m answering the question: ‘I feel too insecure to teach yoga in English, what do I do?'

It’s normal to feel doubtful and insecure speaking or teaching in a foreign language. But when we experience these feelings, we get stuck in negative thought patterns and create beliefs that limit our growth.

In this episode I’ll share 5 techniques that will help you shift your mindset and open yourself up to teaching and speaking practices to achieve the goals you have for your international teaching career.

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Constructing sequences is one of your main jobs as a yoga teacher, but is it really necessary to write a new sequence for every single class you teach?

In this episode, I share how you can create a great, well-rounded sequence in 8 steps.Use these steps to create more intentional classes and deeper experiences for your students!

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If you want to grow your community or clientele, business communication is very important.

All of this has to do with the language used by your community members speak, existing students, and also by the other people you want to attract/your target market.

In this episode, find out the points you should consider when you want to decide in which language you write your business communications, such as social media posts and blogs.

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

Articles are small words that go before nouns in English.

In this episode find out how we use articles in English yoga cues and how you could replace them with possessive pronouns.

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

The vocabulary for teaching yoga and speaking about yogic topics varies from anatomy to history and philosophy, but it also involves teaching terminology and so much more.

All of these categories of words can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

In this episode, I’m sharing 6 techniques that help you learn new vocabulary.

Time to find out how you can learn the vocabulary you need for your teaching goals, so that you can teach and speak about yogic topics confidently and authentically!

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

According to the certification requirements set by Yoga Alliance, you should learn how to cue and write a sequence. However, every training has a different focus, framework and structure, so the hours provided may not be enough for you to feel knowledgeable enough to cue and write sequences.

In this episode, find out what you can do to gain confidence and get more teaching practice.

Here at Enga, we help you gain this confidence through our teaching practices that help yoga teachers develop their cueing and sequencing skills.

If you're interested and would like to receive this extra teaching practice, have a look at our English for Yoga Teachers Course. You can already sign up to the waiting list. Signing up to the waiting list ensures, you'll be the first to apply when we open enrolment later in 2022 and it gives you a $350 discount.

Why, who and where do you want to teach?

Whether or not you need a teacher certificate to do so depends on your goals.

In this episode, find out why it’s beneficial to complete a yoga teacher training, and how it positively influences your chances of employment!

You’ll also learn how following framework like teacher training strengthens your knowledge and the quality of your classes.

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

The best and most effective way to learn and remember new words is repetition.

Integrate your receptive (listening and reading) and productive (writing and speaking) skills, and repeat them to help new vocabulary stick.

In this episode, find out about 5+ techniques that can help you better memorise new vocabulary.

If you want to find out more about memorising vocabulary:

In yoga we often refer to the belly area. For example, to engage the core or stretch the abdomen in Bridge Pose. Both the core and the abdomen are found in the belly area.

Belly, abdomen and stomach are often used interchangeably because all of them are around the same area. However, they have a very different purpose and are cued with very different intentions.

I recommend choosing the term that specifically speaks to what you want your students to do.

Listen to this episode to find out how to choose the best word in a situation like this, to make your class cues clear, consistent and effective.

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If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

Today, I’m answering the question: ‘What do you do if you don’t know the answer to a question.’

Learn:

If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

In our first episode of the Q&A miniserie, I’m answering the question: ‘How do you improve your accent as a non-native English speaker.’

Learn:

If you have a question that you’d like to appear on the podcast too, scroll down and click on ‘send in a voice message’.

Teaching in a foreign language and/or starting your own yoga business require a healthy dose of confidence. 

Our confidence is intertwined with our mindset: our thoughts and beliefs. 

Through my own personal development and helping other yoga teachers on their journey, I've identified 4 main causes that make you lack confidence. In this episode, find out what they are. At the end, I will share 4 ways to help you build confidence and cultivate a healthier mindset. This mindset change will lead you to successful learning and professional yoga teaching opportunities.

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Year Reflection and Goal Setting for 2022

How do you finish your year and start a new one? Do you reflect? Set resolutions? Or start your year with an intention?

Today, I’m going live to give you the guidelines for making your reflection on your past year more effective. This will help you start your new year with clear goals and intentions.

In today’s training you’ll …

Learn why it’s so important to reflect (especially when creating your own yoga a business)

Receive 9 journal questions that don’t only help you list your achievements, but get to the root of what they actually mean for your future

Get 9 steps for clear and realistic goal planning that will help you to make 2022 a great success!

Today, I want to speak to you about practising yoga off the mat during the holidays.

The Christmas holidays, or any type of holiday period, can be a time when many of use are taken out of our routines. That means you have less time to yourself and less time for your yoga practice, which can feel extremely unsettling.

You may feel a little unbalanced, unstable, or ungrounded. It could cause symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, or sadness. And I want you to know that all of these feelings are common, and nothing to be ashamed of.

So, if this period makes you feel unbalanced, too, I want to invite you to listen to this live training.

It’s going to help you practise yoga off the mat during the holidays so that you can enjoy them without guilt or frustration.

Even if you aren’t enjoying holidays soon, it’ll help you the next time you do: everyone is welcome!

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To have a successful course launch you need to know

In our workshop bundle, we'll be teaching you how to attract the right people so that you can create a course your students can't resist, but today is all about your intention and understanding your students biggest desires.

Becoming a yoga teacher for many is a very transformational experience. It’s not only the new studies, practices and people you meet, but also introspection and finding out things about ourselves we wish we had known before.

In today's weekly live training, I share what I wish I had known before becoming a yoga teacher.

I'll speak about the things I didn’t know before becoming a yoga teacher. The fact that nobody could give/gave me the answers to these things at the time has made my journey very challenging. I hope that this training will help you gain some insight into everything that happens behind the scenes of this job and most careers as an international yoga teacher. By sharing the answers I needed myself all those years ago, I aim to stop you from making the same mistakes, or having to deal with the same obstacles.

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You’ve been considering teaching yoga in English. You’ve got a repertoire of classes and scripts in your own language and believe that your next step is to simply translate them...

I want to stop you there!

Translating words directly is problematic for a few reasons:

Reason 1:
Translation apps are often incorrect, too literal and don’t consider context or alternatives.

Reason 2:
Direct translations can result in confusing, offensive, non-inclusive language.

Reason 3:
A good translation communicates messages, meaning and feelings, not just a line of individual words.

Translating is about communicating the whole meaning of an idea, not the meaning of individual words.

If you want to know how to achieve this for your yoga classes, tune in and find out!

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Two very common fears are fear of failure and fear of ability.

Thoughts that suggest a fear of failure might be: ‘it won’t work, it won’t sell, it won’t be a success’. While a fear of ability could be: ‘I’m not as good as the others’, ‘I don’t have enough skills, knowledge, or experience.’

But did you know that there are 8 more fears that stop your professional growth and cause imposter syndrome?

Join Annie to find out the underlaying fears you may experience that are the cause of your imposter syndrome.

Join Shannon and Annie for an expert interview about how to find your own unique yoga niche!

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Shannon Crow (she/her) is a trainer and consultant working for yoga teachers who are ready to specialize, stand out and run a profitable yoga business. She hosts The Connected Yoga Teacher podcast and Facebook group; offering support to yoga teachers around the globe. She gets how isolating it can be to leave a yoga teacher training or to teach way too many group classes in a week with little income.

As a yoga teacher, Shannon specializes in teaching Yoga for Pelvic Health. She didn’t always have a niche though. Shannon tried many paths first; working as a yoga studio manager, YTT director, yoga school founder, Thai yoga massage therapist and all while raising three children.

She knows what it is like to just keep signing up for yoga teacher training, thinking this is the ticket to expertise, knowledge and confidence in running a successful yoga business. She understands yoga teacher burnout firsthand and how niche work, a supportive community and business education can make all the difference.

Shannon is the founder of Pelvic Health Professionals, an online membership for anyone working with individuals who have a pelvis. She leads a 20-hour Yoga for Pelvic Health training both online and in person.

In her spare time Shannon can be found hiking, gardening, swimming and skiing on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada with her partner Shawn. Her three kids are growing into young adults now and have been her best teachers.

Find Shannon online:

7 Ways Yoga Can Help You Learn New Things

Today I’m speaking about two of my biggest passions. Learning and yoga. Specifically 7 ways yoga helps you learn new things!

Practising and teaching yoga opens up a whole new world. It gives you new perspectives on behaviour, actions, knowledge, but also culture and beliefs. It teaches you about your relationships with yourself, the people around you, and the world as a whole. It takes you on a transformative journey which often makes you rethink all your previous thoughts, words and decisions. It helps you develop awareness, including self-awareness.

As a yoga practitioner or teacher you know that yoga and learning go hand in hand. But did you know that the values and tools of your yoga practice set you up for learning anything?! 

The route to achieving big goals naturally involves making mistakes and lots of learning. Even the best planners come across situations they’d never thought of before. The most experienced entrepreneurs have had to overcome self-doubt and the fear of taking risks. Wherever you are in your journey right now, there might be some things that hold you back from making big progress. That’s why I hope this blog helps you gain some insight into the 6 mistakes that stop your professional growth!

These are the mistakes I’ve made too and I want to help prevent you from making the same ones. I want to help you avoid losing time, money and, as a result, losing your passion for teaching yoga!

Here are the 6 mistakes that stop your professional growth!

Does any of these 6 Mistakes Stop your Professional Growth? And what have you tried to defeat them?

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Join Michelle and Annie for an expert interview about inclusive language for international yoga classes.

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Michelle started practicing meditation in 1988 and yoga in 2004. She originally studied yoga under Shanti Kelley and went on to study with Nischala Joy Devi, Richard Miller and Leslie Kaminoff at the Soul of Yoga in Encinitas, CA. Michelle is an E-RYT 500 with Yoga Alliance, and a C-IAYT Yoga Therapist specializing in eating recovery, cardiac and cancer rehabilitation. Michelle currently serves Seton Hospital as their Cardiac Yoga Therapist and develops and leads teacher training internationally.

Michelle’s Vinyasa classes are empowering and focus on stability in the major joint systems while carefully providing students with a projection free environment for self-exploration. Michelle practices nonduality and believes that each experience is an opportunity to awaken to the subtle qualities of Self Realization.

Join Kelly from the Digital Yoga Academy and Annie for an interview about how to start your own international, online yoga business from scratch!

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Kelly McHugh: FOUNDER OF DIGITAL YOGA ACADEMY, EDUCATOR AND COACH.

Kelly's also a yoga teacher and obsessed with supporting you to step out of your limitations and into confidence, abundance and success!

As the founder of the leading online business and marketing school for yoga teachers worldwide, she’s taught thousands of yoga teachers to rise up and thrive in the online space.

She took her 15+ years of marketing experience to create a thriving retreat business and a multiple six-figure online business. Now she teaches you how to do the same!

What type of Yogipreneur are you? 

Join Manu and Annie for an expert interview about how to offer online yoga classes and gain (more) students! 

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Manu (Manuel Molina de la Torre) is an entrepreneurship coach for yoga and wellness professionals. He was born and raised in Spain before he travelled the world and lived in Ireland, Italy and Thailand.  

Yoga and movement have been his passion, his lifestyle and his way of earning an income since 2008. He started his yoga journey in 2004 and he has been working in the yoga industry since 2008.  

In 2015 he got his RYT500 certification as well as a fitness training education (ACE). In 2019 he started his journey as an entrepreneur in the yoga world.  

Today Manu lives in Spain and he helps other yoga & wellness professionals to embody leadership, so that they can become confident and successful entrepreneurs.  

To find more about him, check out:  

Join Gwen and Annie for a special interview on the types of themes you could use for your yoga classes in English!

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Gwendoline Ferreira is a E-RYT500, RPYT and YACEP Yoga Teacher based on Nusa Lembongan island (Bali). She has been teaching drop-in classes, yoga retreats and teacher training at Yoga Bliss Lembongan since 2016 and teaches Yoga since 2014.

She took her first yoga class around 15 years ago and is a dedicated Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Restorative practitioner. She began to teach following the request of her teachers. She has studied Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Anatomy, Yin Yoga and Restorative Yoga in France, India, and Indonesia with world-renowned teachers. She completed her last 300hr YTT with Monica Gauci and Gregor Maehle who are KPJAYI certified and published authors. She also trained with Laruga Glaser, Janet Stone, Saul David Haye, Sienna Sherman, Paul Grilley and Jason Crandell for example. She believes that all teachers should remain students and as she is passionate about learning, she is always training in different subjects in online courses or in-person TTC.

One of her big passions is to share everything she has learned from her own teachers with her students. Gwen also teaches pranayama and yogic meditation as traditionally taught in India. She has studied with Kausthub Desikachar and Gregor Maehle and follows Krishnamacharya lineage. Gwendoline is as well trained in Restorative Yoga in the tradition of Iyengar with Judith Hanson Lasater, Lizzie Lasater and Cyndi Lee. Gwen teaches Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Prenatal, Postnatal, Kids and Restorative Yoga classes. She also teaches Anatomy courses for 200 and 300 hours YTTC and has studied Yoga Anatomy with Physiotherapists and Chiropractors such as Monica Gauci, Judith Hanson Lasater, Paul Grilley and David Keil. She is also a certified sound therapist.

Her teaching style combines a traditional approach to yoga with the needs of each individual student and this is why she offers her teaching to all ages and groups of people from kids to seniors.

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