I am a fairly new teacher and enjoying teaching semi privates and small group sessions in my home (in my GARDEN!) this summer. It’s gone really well, and would like to work into private sessions. I particularly liked this quick tip, since I would like to get engaged more one and one with my students and help them feel into the poses and not MISS this opportunity to help them. so THANK YOU! a subtle but very helpful tip! Thanks
You are so so welcome Erin. Private classes in your garden sound AMAZING 🙂
I really do think the kind of dialogue I am talking about here is one of the aspects of a private lesson that should be most different from a group class, but rarely is.
Once you get a chance to try it in your teaching, let me know how it feels for you!
I really appreciate your insight and compassion. Just as everyone of us loves to hear someone call us by name, I think all people love feeling that they have been seen and heard. The work you are doing is seriously encouraging to me, right now I am only teaching group classes and am working my ability to observe my students. It stills makes me feel shy. But your videos are giving me a pep in my step. 🙂
Thank you so much for your thoughts Michelle. Teaching one-on-one does make both the student and teacher very vulnerable. Give yourself time and space to get used to that; it will get easier. 🙂
Thanks Francesca for confirming my intuitive believe about private yoga classes. That is exactly how I feel when I’m with 1or 2 students. I observe and try to connect with them as they move & breathe into poses and from there I will cue or assist them….thanks!
You’re so welcome! I’m so happy this landed so well! <3
Ken Morris
I am a new teacher and have a goal to teach privately. Watching your video, I couldn’t help but think how important “mindfulness” of your client is throughout the class. The awareness of what is going on for your client and verbally prompting them, sets the stage for not only insightful teaching, but developing a grounded and trusting relationship. For me, the video put this in perspective. Thanks Francesca
i now have 50% of my practice with private clients. I have been doing things that you talk about in this video, but, was not aware of it. Your video has made me “consciously competent”. It is good to know that I have been on the right track! Thanks for your reinforcement.
I have been incorporating more dialogue not only in my privates, but also in my smaller classes as well. Not only do I witness the investigative look on my students face but also learn a lot about how the same poses can feel so differently in all of us. Great learning experience for myself too!
This is such a great point Bernie! The more in tune we are with our students, the more we get a sense of how different the practice is for everyone. This awareness builds on itself with experience and we become able to see and adapt even more quickly. XO
thank you! dialouge is important for me, not only do worry about my verbage that I don’t want to miss an opportunity with the client in their practice..To be more invovled..
These little videos are great. I love that they come to me at my desk. This hint today I probably may have heard during my Teacher Training, but it’s a lovely refreshing little moment during the day to remember connection and mindfulness as a Private Teacher, and being interested to share in and hear the client’s experience.
Thank you so much! You have a lovely presence on camera.
Thank you so much for your kind words Allison. It is really lovely to virtually meet you! I’d love to hear a bit about your teaching path. Where are you teaching? Are you working with any private clients? <3
Such great info to ponder! While I know how important this kind of dialog with private clients is, I was raised in a family that tended towards ‘leaving others alone,’ so while I know intellectually that people like to feel that they are cared for and that others are in tune with them, the layer of my upbringing makes this kind of thing come less than naturally to me (AND I’m a new teacher, to boot). So thanks for the reminder. You are doing such great work with these videos.
These videos are great! I’m so sad that there is only one left after this one but I can’t wait to see what it will be about!
I have often felt awkward after asking a client how they feel in a pose and not getting a response that allows me to use the feedback for their benefit. Your tip is such a great one that I had never thought about before. I’ll definitely be trying it this week!
Thank You for these videos Francesca. I am a physical therapist as well as a yoga teacher. I have a private client for yoga this week. Feedback is so important in my job as a PT. However, I often give much less when teaching yoga as I sometimes feel it interferes with the flow of the class. However, you are right about feedback being so important in building trust and in tuning in to a person and what is going on in their body. I love your tips!!!
Wonderful suggestion to create a dialogue with the client! Should have been obvious, but it wasn’t until you pointed it out. I met with my very first private client yesterday (for the first time), and will meet with her again tomorrow, so I will be more aware of checking in with her during our second session. She is a neighbor and a friend, so it might be a little tricky navigating the territory between friend and teacher.
You are most welcome Ann! There is so much of this work that seems simple once you learn it, but it is not going to be obvious if you were never taught it! In yoga teacher trainings we are taught to lead group classes, not teach 1X1 lessons, and it requires a totally different skill set. And you are right, maintaining the appropriate boundaries in that situation will be tough, but you can do it! Have a look at this blog post for support { http://fcyw.wpengine.com/chatting/ }, and let us know how it goes. <3
Extremely helpful tip for fine-tuning the dialogue with private clients! I often ask them if they “feel” that the pose is doing something, and I also frequently describe where and how they might feel the work of the pose. But it’s usually either/or, and you give me a subtle way to link these two methods together, to gather more meaningful information from the client. I also remind them that there is not a right or wrong answer when describing how the pose effects them, but it is just part of the work to tune into the pose and its effects on the body/breath/mind. Your suggestions pull it all together for me, and I think will demonstrate that I am truly listening to the client and personalizing their practice. Thank you!
Fantastic Susan! I am so glad my suggestions feel helpful. You are already asking all the right questions, and have the best intentions to make your clients feel seen and heard, so I know you are doing a wonderful job with them!
Thank you so much for these wonderful, well thought out guidelines for working with private students. I hope you continue making the videos for us! Most of my students are in a group setting, but I have a few who have expressed an interest in private classes which I would love to have more of.
You are really welcome Janet! Guess what? I am right now hard at work on an online version of my teacher training, that will have TONS of videos including fully narrated sessions with real private clients of mine! To be released in January 2015. Stay tuned. <3
Thanks Francesca! I also appreciate your blog post about balancing chatting with instruction. My question is: How do you make sure a student is still getting a meditative experience at the same time as you incorporate more of a dialogue about their body? One of the things that feels so important to me about yoga is getting to that deep quiet — when the mind is more still without effort — because that it so rare in our lives otherwise! Can you comment on how you weave these 2 modes together??
You are so welcome Janie. Thank you so much for being part of our community here. This is an excellent question. I too find the deep quiet that comes with sustained presence to be one of the greatest benefits of a yoga practice. So you are right, weaving that through a practice that includes a lot of dialogue is challenging. Part of it happens in modeling for our students what it looks and feels like to be quiet and grounded. That means sometimes not asking any questions or saying anything, just holding space for stillness, as well and using many of our directions to help our students come back to breath and presence. I think this is shown well in the video series I am releasing in January. Are you on the list? http://fcyw.wpengine.com/online-training/ Thanks and love, dear!
Thank you Francesca for this helpful tip! I love the idea of helping a client who may not be as in-tune with his/her body to articulate how specific poses feel. Sometimes we forget as teachers that our students may not have the same depth of knowledge in anatomy as we do, and/or may not have cultivated the body awareness yet to share how they are feeling in a pose. Your approach is smart, and to the point. I look forward to putting it into action!
I´m so pleased with the information you are giving to us, thank you dear Francesca! I really believe this will get me more confident when I start my private classes!
Thanks Francesca! I use a mix of dialogue and quiet observation, occasionally a slight adjustment without any dialogue initiates the client to speak, smile, release. I love working one-to-one, the dialogue with the client is very beneficial while doing the poses, I find for many of them they talk through their issues, indecisions, reach their own conclusions, it’s a wonderfully safe and caring environment. Thanks for your advice and tips and it’s comforting to know this is the right way to approach my sessions.
Hi Francesca, loved the video and your technique for digging a little deeper (i.e. gentle probing suggestions about how they might feel in their body). Really enjoying your videos and tips! Theresa
Loved this short video. I enjoy creating dialogues, also works well in small groups, but can be adapted to larger ones, although you lose the personal connection since you are asking folks to answer in their mind and then offering ideas, suggestions to the group without singling out someone. “If you are feeling……, try….., or……”. I have been asking them lately to develop their interoception and notice the sensations the body is experiencing in each pose. I am really hoping to teach privates and looking forward to more of your helpful ideas. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for taking the time an effort to put together this short video series! They are a great tool for becoming more mindful with your self and with your students. That connection is so important for the student to gain insight into their mind and body. A great learning tool!
That was a great tip! People r so general these days. A lot has to do with the fact that no-one really cares. People ask all the time “how r u doing” or say other general things that they don’t really mean. So when someone gives a vague or general answer, u just taught me to go deeper in your awareness and care for the person, by showing them u truly r interested in their well-being. So rad!
And my website is rainbowbody.center…Thank You
Hi Francesca! This video was very helpful! I have had a 1 private client for a few months and I have been teaching classes for about a year. My private client really just wants to her session to move and relax so I basically have been teaching her a class that I would teach in the studio because she doesn’t have any poses or muscles she wants to work on. I love these tips on engaging during the practice.
That sounds great Carrie! So happy these tips have been helpful. And even though you are teaching a more traditional class your student is still getting all your 1×1 attention and that is so meaningful!
Hi Francesca, love your video and tips!… Fully agree with your insights… Tip for you… which I only recently discovered about myself… when engaging the camera – eye to eye contact is soo critical.. moving your gaze away even for even second can be distracting to your client, viewer or anyone you are talking too. I was told this recently which is why i noticed it in your video :). keep up the inspiring videos xxx
Hi Francesca,
I’m so glad I found you through YA. Your talk and videos (I think I’ve watched everything you’ve ever posted by now) are extremely helpful. Please keep supporting more mindful yoga teachers! It does the world good.
Thanks for this Francesca! I appreiciate the insights and suggestions on dialogue you share here. Just wanted to say that I love my small group classes for this reason as well. We are able to chat about what they are each experiencing, and I find it helps them to see how different and unique each persons experience/body is, so each understands it is not a “cookie cutter” mold that shapes each persons experience. Thanks again…these are great 🙂
Hi Franscesca,
Thanks for your work and your sharing, that’s realy helpful. I’m a french yoga teacher in Paris. I hope my english won’t be too bad …
I have a private client for 3 years now. She had a stroke, when she was 30 (now she’s 40) and have some pretty important sequaeles. She can’t stand or walk by her self. She as no stability, can’t work and have very little social interactions. Teaching her is a big challenge on the physical level but very intresting and I love it =)
However, I’m having a hard time with her on the “discussion” level. She realy talks a lot ! I don’t know how to stay on track with the practice with her. Whenever I ask her for a feedback on a pose, she will jump on the occasion to take the speech on some other thing unrelated with the practice. I feel unconfortable and it’s hard for me to find a smouth way to come back on the yoga practice … Do you have any advice ?
Thanks
Hi there
I am a fairly new teacher and enjoying teaching semi privates and small group sessions in my home (in my GARDEN!) this summer. It’s gone really well, and would like to work into private sessions. I particularly liked this quick tip, since I would like to get engaged more one and one with my students and help them feel into the poses and not MISS this opportunity to help them. so THANK YOU! a subtle but very helpful tip! Thanks
You are so so welcome Erin. Private classes in your garden sound AMAZING 🙂
I really do think the kind of dialogue I am talking about here is one of the aspects of a private lesson that should be most different from a group class, but rarely is.
Once you get a chance to try it in your teaching, let me know how it feels for you!
Hi Francesca,
I really appreciate your insight and compassion. Just as everyone of us loves to hear someone call us by name, I think all people love feeling that they have been seen and heard. The work you are doing is seriously encouraging to me, right now I am only teaching group classes and am working my ability to observe my students. It stills makes me feel shy. But your videos are giving me a pep in my step. 🙂
Many thanks! Michelle Boutilier
Thank you so much for your thoughts Michelle. Teaching one-on-one does make both the student and teacher very vulnerable. Give yourself time and space to get used to that; it will get easier. 🙂
Thanks Francesca for confirming my intuitive believe about private yoga classes. That is exactly how I feel when I’m with 1or 2 students. I observe and try to connect with them as they move & breathe into poses and from there I will cue or assist them….thanks!
You’re so welcome! I’m so happy this landed so well! <3
I am a new teacher and have a goal to teach privately. Watching your video, I couldn’t help but think how important “mindfulness” of your client is throughout the class. The awareness of what is going on for your client and verbally prompting them, sets the stage for not only insightful teaching, but developing a grounded and trusting relationship. For me, the video put this in perspective. Thanks Francesca
Yes, exactly Ken! Thank you for these lovely and articulate thoughts.
Thanks for the great info and putting these videos together.
i now have 50% of my practice with private clients. I have been doing things that you talk about in this video, but, was not aware of it. Your video has made me “consciously competent”. It is good to know that I have been on the right track! Thanks for your reinforcement.
Glad to hear you are feeling on the right track Shree!!
I have been incorporating more dialogue not only in my privates, but also in my smaller classes as well. Not only do I witness the investigative look on my students face but also learn a lot about how the same poses can feel so differently in all of us. Great learning experience for myself too!
This is such a great point Bernie! The more in tune we are with our students, the more we get a sense of how different the practice is for everyone. This awareness builds on itself with experience and we become able to see and adapt even more quickly. XO
thank you! dialouge is important for me, not only do worry about my verbage that I don’t want to miss an opportunity with the client in their practice..To be more invovled..
You are so welcome! And you are so right– the more involved you are as a teacher, the more you will be able to help your students.
Hi Francesca
These little videos are great. I love that they come to me at my desk. This hint today I probably may have heard during my Teacher Training, but it’s a lovely refreshing little moment during the day to remember connection and mindfulness as a Private Teacher, and being interested to share in and hear the client’s experience.
Thank you so much! You have a lovely presence on camera.
Thank you so much for your kind words Allison. It is really lovely to virtually meet you! I’d love to hear a bit about your teaching path. Where are you teaching? Are you working with any private clients? <3
Great information! Very useful!
Such great info to ponder! While I know how important this kind of dialog with private clients is, I was raised in a family that tended towards ‘leaving others alone,’ so while I know intellectually that people like to feel that they are cared for and that others are in tune with them, the layer of my upbringing makes this kind of thing come less than naturally to me (AND I’m a new teacher, to boot). So thanks for the reminder. You are doing such great work with these videos.
These videos are great! I’m so sad that there is only one left after this one but I can’t wait to see what it will be about!
I have often felt awkward after asking a client how they feel in a pose and not getting a response that allows me to use the feedback for their benefit. Your tip is such a great one that I had never thought about before. I’ll definitely be trying it this week!
I’m so happy to help Lisa! How did it go??
Great tip! I will definitely try it.
Awesome, let us know how it goes!
Another really thoughtful, powerful tool. I’m going to consciously bring this one to the table today with my private client. Thank you, Francesca!
You are really welcome Nicole 🙂
Thank You for these videos Francesca. I am a physical therapist as well as a yoga teacher. I have a private client for yoga this week. Feedback is so important in my job as a PT. However, I often give much less when teaching yoga as I sometimes feel it interferes with the flow of the class. However, you are right about feedback being so important in building trust and in tuning in to a person and what is going on in their body. I love your tips!!!
You are so welcome Elaine. You have so much to offer your private yoga clients because of your PT background, don’t hold yourself back! XO
Wonderful suggestion to create a dialogue with the client! Should have been obvious, but it wasn’t until you pointed it out. I met with my very first private client yesterday (for the first time), and will meet with her again tomorrow, so I will be more aware of checking in with her during our second session. She is a neighbor and a friend, so it might be a little tricky navigating the territory between friend and teacher.
You are most welcome Ann! There is so much of this work that seems simple once you learn it, but it is not going to be obvious if you were never taught it! In yoga teacher trainings we are taught to lead group classes, not teach 1X1 lessons, and it requires a totally different skill set. And you are right, maintaining the appropriate boundaries in that situation will be tough, but you can do it! Have a look at this blog post for support { http://fcyw.wpengine.com/chatting/ }, and let us know how it goes. <3
Extremely helpful tip for fine-tuning the dialogue with private clients! I often ask them if they “feel” that the pose is doing something, and I also frequently describe where and how they might feel the work of the pose. But it’s usually either/or, and you give me a subtle way to link these two methods together, to gather more meaningful information from the client. I also remind them that there is not a right or wrong answer when describing how the pose effects them, but it is just part of the work to tune into the pose and its effects on the body/breath/mind. Your suggestions pull it all together for me, and I think will demonstrate that I am truly listening to the client and personalizing their practice. Thank you!
Fantastic Susan! I am so glad my suggestions feel helpful. You are already asking all the right questions, and have the best intentions to make your clients feel seen and heard, so I know you are doing a wonderful job with them!
Thank you so much for these wonderful, well thought out guidelines for working with private students. I hope you continue making the videos for us! Most of my students are in a group setting, but I have a few who have expressed an interest in private classes which I would love to have more of.
You are really welcome Janet! Guess what? I am right now hard at work on an online version of my teacher training, that will have TONS of videos including fully narrated sessions with real private clients of mine! To be released in January 2015. Stay tuned. <3
Thanks Francesca! I also appreciate your blog post about balancing chatting with instruction. My question is: How do you make sure a student is still getting a meditative experience at the same time as you incorporate more of a dialogue about their body? One of the things that feels so important to me about yoga is getting to that deep quiet — when the mind is more still without effort — because that it so rare in our lives otherwise! Can you comment on how you weave these 2 modes together??
You are so welcome Janie. Thank you so much for being part of our community here. This is an excellent question. I too find the deep quiet that comes with sustained presence to be one of the greatest benefits of a yoga practice. So you are right, weaving that through a practice that includes a lot of dialogue is challenging. Part of it happens in modeling for our students what it looks and feels like to be quiet and grounded. That means sometimes not asking any questions or saying anything, just holding space for stillness, as well and using many of our directions to help our students come back to breath and presence. I think this is shown well in the video series I am releasing in January. Are you on the list? http://fcyw.wpengine.com/online-training/ Thanks and love, dear!
Thank you Francesca for this helpful tip! I love the idea of helping a client who may not be as in-tune with his/her body to articulate how specific poses feel. Sometimes we forget as teachers that our students may not have the same depth of knowledge in anatomy as we do, and/or may not have cultivated the body awareness yet to share how they are feeling in a pose. Your approach is smart, and to the point. I look forward to putting it into action!
I’m so glad this feels helpful Dina! It is so nice to have you as a part of our community here!
I´m so pleased with the information you are giving to us, thank you dear Francesca! I really believe this will get me more confident when I start my private classes!
You are most welcome Rocky! I am so happy to have you here with us. XO
Thanks Francesca! I use a mix of dialogue and quiet observation, occasionally a slight adjustment without any dialogue initiates the client to speak, smile, release. I love working one-to-one, the dialogue with the client is very beneficial while doing the poses, I find for many of them they talk through their issues, indecisions, reach their own conclusions, it’s a wonderfully safe and caring environment. Thanks for your advice and tips and it’s comforting to know this is the right way to approach my sessions.
You are really welcome Alexia. It sounds like your students are lucky to have a thoughtful, caring teacher like you. Keep up the great work! <3
Hi Francesca, loved the video and your technique for digging a little deeper (i.e. gentle probing suggestions about how they might feel in their body). Really enjoying your videos and tips! Theresa
I am so glad it has been helpful! <3
Loved this short video. I enjoy creating dialogues, also works well in small groups, but can be adapted to larger ones, although you lose the personal connection since you are asking folks to answer in their mind and then offering ideas, suggestions to the group without singling out someone. “If you are feeling……, try….., or……”. I have been asking them lately to develop their interoception and notice the sensations the body is experiencing in each pose. I am really hoping to teach privates and looking forward to more of your helpful ideas. Thank you so much!
Yes Jann! That is a perfect description of how to take this dialogue heavy style of teaching into a group class! So happy to have you here.
Thanks so much for taking the time an effort to put together this short video series! They are a great tool for becoming more mindful with your self and with your students. That connection is so important for the student to gain insight into their mind and body. A great learning tool!
You are so welcome Maggie! I’m happy to hear it is landing so well! 🙂
That was a great tip! People r so general these days. A lot has to do with the fact that no-one really cares. People ask all the time “how r u doing” or say other general things that they don’t really mean. So when someone gives a vague or general answer, u just taught me to go deeper in your awareness and care for the person, by showing them u truly r interested in their well-being. So rad!
And my website is rainbowbody.center…Thank You
You are so welcome Dahlia! I’m happy you found this so helpful! Don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know how I can support you. <3
Hi Francesca! This video was very helpful! I have had a 1 private client for a few months and I have been teaching classes for about a year. My private client really just wants to her session to move and relax so I basically have been teaching her a class that I would teach in the studio because she doesn’t have any poses or muscles she wants to work on. I love these tips on engaging during the practice.
That sounds great Carrie! So happy these tips have been helpful. And even though you are teaching a more traditional class your student is still getting all your 1×1 attention and that is so meaningful!
Hi Francesca, love your video and tips!… Fully agree with your insights… Tip for you… which I only recently discovered about myself… when engaging the camera – eye to eye contact is soo critical.. moving your gaze away even for even second can be distracting to your client, viewer or anyone you are talking too. I was told this recently which is why i noticed it in your video :). keep up the inspiring videos xxx
Wow, this is an amazing tip! Love these videos. I will definitely do this.
I am so happy to hear that Niki! 🙂
A good reminder about how personal one’s practice truly is, and how being curious supports that truth. Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m so happy that resonates! 🙂
Hi Francesca,
I’m so glad I found you through YA. Your talk and videos (I think I’ve watched everything you’ve ever posted by now) are extremely helpful. Please keep supporting more mindful yoga teachers! It does the world good.
Thank you for being a member of this beloved community!
Thanks for this Francesca! I appreiciate the insights and suggestions on dialogue you share here. Just wanted to say that I love my small group classes for this reason as well. We are able to chat about what they are each experiencing, and I find it helps them to see how different and unique each persons experience/body is, so each understands it is not a “cookie cutter” mold that shapes each persons experience. Thanks again…these are great 🙂
You are so welcome Michele, and yes, small groups are wonderful for the same reason!
Hi Franscesca,
Thanks for your work and your sharing, that’s realy helpful. I’m a french yoga teacher in Paris. I hope my english won’t be too bad …
I have a private client for 3 years now. She had a stroke, when she was 30 (now she’s 40) and have some pretty important sequaeles. She can’t stand or walk by her self. She as no stability, can’t work and have very little social interactions. Teaching her is a big challenge on the physical level but very intresting and I love it =)
However, I’m having a hard time with her on the “discussion” level. She realy talks a lot ! I don’t know how to stay on track with the practice with her. Whenever I ask her for a feedback on a pose, she will jump on the occasion to take the speech on some other thing unrelated with the practice. I feel unconfortable and it’s hard for me to find a smouth way to come back on the yoga practice … Do you have any advice ?
Thanks
Your English is beautiful Muriel, and I’m so happy this was helpful! You’ve posed a VERY common issue and I talk a bit about how to work with this in a video I’ll share below. Do let me know if it helps and if you have any other questions! https://www.francescacervero.com/video-try-this-at-home-teaching-tip-2-keep-chatting-to-a-minimum/
Thanks, for the tips to redirect the chat on the body. I’m going to try next time I see her : 2021 new year, new rules !
Excellent, let me know how it goes!