166: Do We Want AI in Yoga? with Lizzie Lasater
In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, I’m joined by Lizzie Lasseter for a wide-ranging conversation about teaching yoga in a rapidly evolving world. Lizzie is a designer, educator, and second-generation yoga teacher with over 20 years of experience. As the daughter of Judith Hanson Lasseter, Lizzie grew up immersed in the Iyengar lineage, while also carving out her own path as a teacher, business owner, and working parent of six-year-old twins.
Together, we explore lineage, embodiment, and the increasingly complex role AI is playing in the yoga world.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
how Lizzie’s work is intentionally structured around the rhythms of family life and nervous system regulation
the realities of parenting young children while teaching yoga
our discussion of hypermobility, joint stability, and the ways dogmatic alignment language can contribute to pain rather than healing
all about Lizzie’s use of AI in her business including how AI supports her writing process and assists with course notes and student learning
a discussion of what gets lost when editing is outsourced, the difference between processing ideas and producing content and the risk of generic, “flattened” language
some concerns about the future of AI and yoga
Learn More From Lizzie:
This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Today I’m revisiting one of the ideas I talked about when I first started the podcast nine years ago: the idea that yoga teachers need to find their “ideal student” or a very specific niche in order to build a successful teaching career.
I still believe there is some value in getting specific about who we’re speaking to when we communicate about our work. Specific language can make our marketing more compelling and help potential students understand how our teaching might support them.
But I’ve become increasingly convinced that the idea of finding your perfect student doesn’t translate well to the actual work of teaching yoga.