23: The Support / Challenge Matrix of Private Yoga Lessons

It’s just you and I again on the podcast today! We are going to dive deeper into a topic I have mentioned several times on this podcast: The Support/Challenge Matrix of Private Yoga Lessons.

I hear all the time from teachers who are overwhelmed with all the possibility that comes with teaching private yoga.There are so many things to think about! I want to help you drop into your intuition in a grounded way so I created a framework to use as you assess your students and figure out what they need.

These are not diagnostics tools, because as yoga teachers it is outside of our scope of practice to diagnose or treat our students. That said, it most certainly is within the scope of our practice to teach a individualized practice that helps our students come into balance and that is what I’ll teach you how to do in today’s episode.

In today’s episode we will talk about the four elements that might be included in every private yoga lesson:

• physical support

• physical challenge

• emotional support

• and emotional challenge

I’ll share:

• why I think these elements are all important to address

• how to assess what is going on with your student on physical and emotional levels

• specific examples of all these elements, and ideas for ways to bring them into the practice

• why I take a hard stance against a lot of chatting in a private yoga lesson

• what to do if a practice is challenging for physical AND emotional reasons

• what is possible for both you and your students when you are able to support meaningful change in their lives