The Yoga Teacher's Almanac

Reignite Your Passion for Teaching!

When inspiration has run dry…

When you are teaching yoga classes week-in, week-out, your inspiration can sometimes run dry. The Almanac will help you to overcome yoga lesson planning blocks and tap into a deep well of creative inspiration. The Almanac provides a treasure-chest of ready-made yoga resources, but more importantly you will get into the habit of generating your own inspirational course material. You will be encouraged to approach lesson/course planning in a way that is fun, stimulating, self-nourishing, and tops up your energy rather than depleting it.

You’re suffering from burnout…

As a yoga teacher your aim is to create yoga sessions for your students that leave them feeling energised, relaxed, and full of the joys of life. However, it’s easy to neglect your own yoga practice and end up feeling burned out. When you’re teaching a lot of classes, requiring a lot of lesson preparation, your own home practice can become neglected. You are giving out yoga wisdom, but you are too tired to replenish yourself with yoga. You can become jaded and end up teaching on auto pilot. The Almanac will encourage you to centre your own home yoga practice so that you are topping up your own energy, finding peace and relaxation, and, in turn, you’ll have more to give your students.

You’re feeling overwhelmed by other people’s problems…

Naturally, your yoga students want to share their joys, their trials, and their tribulations with you. It’s an honour and a responsibility to be trusted with their confidences in this way. However, it’s not helpful to the student or you if you take everyone’s problems on. You just end up feeling overwhelmed and resentful. The Almanac will help you to consider how to psychically protect yourself from becoming a sponge and internalising everyone’s emotional problems. By putting this layer of protection in place, you will feel energised and more able to be a loving, kind presence, who listens to students without getting overwhelmed.

Since you’ve started teaching you’ve fallen out of love with yoga

The Almanac will remind you of that initial enthusiasm that you felt when you first discovered yoga. I want you to get back in touch with that sense of curiosity that prompted you to study yoga to an advanced level. What was it that fascinated you about yoga? What still intrigues you? What aspects of yoga do you want to explore further? If you are fascinated by and immersed in yoga, that excitement will rub off on your students. If you can keep the flame of your own love of yoga burning, then you will be able to pass on the flame to your students. I want you to fall back in love with your own yoga practice, and in turn share that love with others.

You’re suffering from impostor syndrome…

The French have an expression bien dans sa peau which means feeling comfortable in your own skin. When you’re teaching do you feel comfortable in your own skin? Or are you teaching in a way that doesn’t feel true to yourself? Perhaps you are simply parroting words spoken by your own teacher. Or maybe you feel impostor syndrome. Are you feeling pressure to look a certain way, to talk a certain way, or to be the picture-perfect yoga teacher?

The Almanac will help you to discover the path of yoga that leads you home to yourself. You’ll be encouraged to find an aspect of yoga that you care about and that you feel you have something to say about. Passion is an overused word, but if you feel passionate about something it’s a great motivator.

The Yoga Teacher's Almanac Course Info

• Each month your tutor, Jilly Shipway, will share with you a treasure trove of resources which you can dip into to find inspiration for yoga practices, meditations, affirmations, breathing practices, inspirational quotes, readings, ideas for class themes, and handouts.
• This online, self-paced course is divided into twelve monthly modules. The course is designed in such a way that you can devote a lot of time to each module, or if you’re pushed for time you can simply dip in and out of the course to find inspiration.
• The course will encourage you to take a creative, meditative approach to yoga lesson planning and will help you to overcome blocks. We explore the joys and challenges of teaching yoga and look at how to overcome any obstacles that we face along the way.
• Yoga teachers are encouraged to balance looking after their students’ needs with nurturing and nourishing themselves. They are encouraged to establish their own home yoga practice as a foundation for their teaching.
• Forum-based student discussions are included throughout the course, providing an opportunity for students to interact with each other and their tutor. There’s no pressure to participate in the discussion forums, however, taking part in as many discussions as possible helps you to get the most out of the course.
• This is a no-pressure course and there are no formal written assignments. However, each month there are engaging exercises designed to help you formulate your own ideas and to connect with your Inner Wisdom. Your tutor, Jilly Shipway, will be available via the discussion forums to answer your questions and to give general guidance.
• There is no video or audio content. The course is delivered in text form, making it easy to progress through the course chapter-by-chapter. You can progress through the lessons and exercises at your own pace. The course is designed to fit around a busy lifestyle, and each chapter is conveniently bite-sized so that you can always be making progress.
• The Almanac is designed to be a perpetual resource that you can return to year after year. It's yours forever!
  

What equipment and software will I need?

All you need is access to a computer and the internet. You can view the study materials on a mobile device (phone or tablet) but to get the best experience I’d recommend using a desktop or laptop computer.