143: Should You Talk About Current Events In Yoga Classes??
You don’t need me to tell you what a wild and scary time we are living through. We know that the tools of yoga can be incredibly supportive in difficult times and also have things to say about the difficult times we are living in.
So are you talking about this in your classes? Should you?
I am, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions about it! So today’s episode is going to dive deep into this question: Should you talk about current events in your yoga classes?
In this episode you’ll hear:
some questions to ask yourself to help you decide how to navigate this
how your students and their needs should be taken into account
how I handle this in group classes
how I handle this in private lessons
an example of a physical theme /dharma teaching pairing that addresses current events
Resources:
This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree! Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online. All of this can be set up in 10 minutes or less. OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up.
Have you ever been in a yoga class where the yoga teacher gives a long dharma talk about ahimsa, and then when the movement practice begins the teaching style feels very aggressive? Or maybe you have been that teacher yourself. I know I have!
I think there are really subtle and beautiful ways to teach the movement part of yoga in a way that has the deeper philosophical teachings embedded within it, but most of us were not taught to do that, and it is more challenging to do than you might think!