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The Mentor Sessions — Fitness & Nutrition
The Mentor Sessions

With amazing guests or solo, I explore the craft of teaching yoga, as its own practice. I’m seeking answers to the questions about why we teach something the way we do, how we could be more expansive and inclusive in our teaching, and how we can continue to grow and evolve in our teaching practice.

I’m so glad you are here because I believe the depth that arises in teaching comes from inquiry and relationship. Join me as I offer nourishing support to help you feel more confident in your teaching and realistic strategy to help you find more clarity on your career path.

Francesca Cervero (she/her) has been a full-time yoga teacher since 2005. Her teaching is inspired by her foundational training with Cyndi Lee at OM Yoga Center, the years she spent as a dancer and the subsequent years she spent in physical therapy. Her teaching is also influenced by her love of Buddhist teachings and a constant curiosity about anatomy and biomechanics. She is in private practice teaching a full schedule of 1×1 clients, mentors yoga teachers in The Science of the Private Lesson™, hosts the podcast, The Mentor Sessions: Support & Strategy for Yoga Teachers and is the founder of the adjoining community, The Mentor Sessions Sangha.

Latest Episodes:

97: Masks, Vaccines + Polarization In The Yoga Community with Wolf Terry Sep 08, 2021

Show notes

As you are well aware, we are living through a devastating public health crisis and masks and vaccines are our most important wellness tools right now (BY FAR). We know from our spiritual study that we are all interconnected, and none of us are truly well unless we are all well.

I know this is a divisive topic in the yoga world and that makes it even more important that we talk about it. My guest today is Wolf Terry (she/her), a retired e-ryt and a contributing writer for Yoga Journal. Before walking away from the seat of the teacher, Wolf had taught over 2000 hours of classes, teacher trainings, and workshops, while answering letters for her former Yoga Journal advice column, Wolf Wisdom. Wolf is now a full-time writer, writing coach, social justice, mental health, and public health activist. She is originally from Maine, but now resides in Colorado with her husband and son.

In this episode you'll hear:

why it was so important for Wolf to write the essay for Yoga Journal entitled, Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa
the response Wolf received from the yoga community after that essay was published
why it is more important that ever that we mask up (yes, even if you're vaxxed)
why the yoga world is polarized on these topics (hint: white supremacist capitalism is a big part of the problem!)
the most common misinformation spreading about the vaccines
the responsibility we have to each other as a community of yoga teachers and practitioners
the response from my students at my last in-person class in 2020 (I cry every time I tell this story!)
how to talk to those in our communities who are vaccine hesitant

96: The "BEST" way to teach twisting movements! Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

The "BEST" way to teach twisting movements!

What kind of rules have you been taught about the safest way to twist? What do you teach your students about the best way to rotate through the spine? Today we are taking a deep dive into these questions and I couldn't be more excited!

Your fellow teacher and podcast listener Madison Houck joins us today to unpack this conversation, as it was inspired by a really interesting private lesson Madison and I had.

In this episode you'll hear:

how the spinal vertebrae relate and react to each other
the single good reason to focus twisting movements in the thoracic spine
several specific twisting movements to try with your students
some ideas for cueing in a specific, but expansive way
why brining nuance into movement teaching is so challenging, and so important

Resources:

95: How To Use Fascial Slings and Whole Body Cueing In Your Teaching (PLUS: The Biopsychosocial Model!) with Kearsten Lyon Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

Kearsten Lyon (she/her) is the founder and owner of an extended health care clinic called Total Movement Therapy based in Toronto, ON and sees clients virtually all over the world. Kearsten has been working and teaching within the Pilates and Rehabilitation Therapy industry since 2011. She utilizes a unique blend of Pilates, The Oov, Franklin Method, Movement for Trauma, traditional strength and conditioning exercises, client education and client–directed tissue release work in each session with her clients.

In working with her I have learned so much about the human body, my own movement patterns and most especially I've had my eyes opened to some of my movement blindspots and biases. It's been incredible, for me personally and for my teaching!

In this episode you'll hear:

what is important for teachers to think about when they're integrating ideas from different movement frameworks
all about Whole Body Cueing and how can yoga teachers incorporate that into their teaching
a deep dive into fascial slings and why they are important to think about when cueing movement
a conversation about uncovering some of my own unconscious movement biases
a little bit about the biopsychosocial model and how can we incorporate that into our yoga teaching

94: What Compelling Marketing Looks Like with Mado Hesselink Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

I often feel like marketing is hard, and the things the "experts" tell us to do are slimy and also don't work. You feel me?

That's why I'm so excited to have Mado Hesselink (she/they) on the show today!

After teaching yoga for ten years, Mado met their fairy godmother business coach. She appeared in their life just long enough to plant the seeds that good business and good yoga can co-exist.

Mado nurtured those seeds by studying all things business, marketing, and productivity and to her surprise found a new passion: finding the places where business principles and yoga principles overlap in order to help yoga teachers make a bigger impact with their teaching.

In this episode you'll hear:

the most important steps a new yoga teacher needs to take to get themselves set up
why marketing is so hard
what compelling marketing looks and sounds like
the difference between a target market and a niche
what good market research looks like
the best way for new teachers to find students

93: Teaching Kids Yoga Has Lessons For Us All with Crystal McCreary Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Teaching yoga to kids has the potential to be incredibly impactful for kids and their communities, but there are many challenges that arise when we try to take the deep and meaningful teachings of yoga and make them developmentally appropriate without losing the heart of the teachings!

Lucky for us, today we have Crystal McCreary on the podcast to talk about how to model and teach yogic practices that are empowering and transformative for kids, ourselves, and our world.

And even if you don't teach kids yoga, I think you will get SO MUCH out of listening to this conversation. It turns out that learning to teach children well holds many lessons for teaching adults skillfully also.

Crystal McCreary (she/her) is a yoga, mindfulness, and health educator, actor, speaker, and writer. Crystal's programs emphasize self-care as the gateway to social justice and community healing and she works full-time as a health educator at an independent K-12 school in New York City.

In this episode we'll answer questions like:

What are the biggest differences between kids facilitation and adult facilitation?
How do you bring in the philosophy and dharma elements of the practice in a way that is developmentally appropriate?
How do you teach yoga to kids in a way that helps them cultivate empathy, curiosity, kindness, emotional balance, and compassionate action?
Where do you stand on whether or not yoga can be considered secular?
Does kids yoga belong in schools?

92: Q+A Planning And Progress In Private Lessons #3 Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

Teaching yoga in 1x1 settings is such a wonderful way to inspire and support meaningful change in our student's lives. But the possibilities for what and how you could teach a private lesson are endless and as a teacher that can feel overwhelming! How do you decide what to focus on??

Teaching yoga one-on-one requires a different skill set than teaching group classes, and these unique skills are left out of most teacher trainings. In this podcast episode I'll share the simple framework I use to teach private lessons in a way that is balancing and helpful for my students without being draining for me and I answer questions like:

What is your class format for a private session? How do you make it special?
Many folks don't have a clear objective in mind. How do you help people figure out what they want to work on?
Are your zoom privates cheaper than your in person privates?
How are you gauging private client progress within a session or group of sessions? What metrics do you use to measure goals and how do you monitor achievable outcomes for physical, mental and emotional progress?
How do you stay on time, particularly when wrapping up to leave?
Plus, I answer a bonus question about bakasana!

Resources Mentioned In The Episode:

The Support/ Challenge Matrix of Private Lessons (podcast episode)
The Science of the Private Lesson (online training)
The Mentor Sessions Sangha (online community)

91: Legal Protections For Yoga Teachers with Cory Sterling May 25, 2021

Show notes

As yoga teachers most of us are legally and financially out on our own; we are small business owners and independent contractors cobbling together enough work to make a living. There is much that needs to change about our systems, but today I want to start small and offer this free training on legal protections for yoga teachers and I'm so happy to introduce you to Cory Sterling (he/him)!

Cory is a lawyer, small business owner, group fitness instructor and yoga teacher. He wrote The Yoga Law Book and has served hundreds of clients in the yoga, health and fitness space all across the world, the majority of whom own or operate a fitness/health studio.

I brought Cory on the podcast to answer all the questions you send me about legal protections!

He answered questions like:

What is a waiver and what needs to be included in a waiver?
Do waivers even count/hold up in any way if someone wanted to sue?
Do electronic waivers count or do we need printed signatures?
Has there ever been a lawsuit where a student sued a yoga teacher for injuring them in a situation where this teacher only taught using verbal cues?
Can teachers legally require covid vaccines of participants prior to traveling on a retreat?
What specific covid-related release of liability should we have in our retreat waivers?
What is the difference between a trademark, patent and copyright and when should teachers use these tools to protect their work?
And so much more!

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

90: Super Practical Answers To All Your Yoga-Tech Questions with Alex Haley May 11, 2021

Show notes

The yoga world has changed so much since I started teaching 16 years ago. Back then I didn't have a website, use social media or have any fancy tech equipment, and I didn't know many (any?) yoga teachers who did!

The need to be able to understand and use technology has changed a lot since 2005, and even more so in this last year...obviously. I'm so happy to have an episode for you today that has super practical answers to all your yoga-tech questions!

My guest today is Alex Haley (he/him) and in addition to being a long time meditation teacher, he is one of the co-founders of the public benefit corporation OfferingTree, which provides an all-in-one platform for yoga teachers and studios to build a website, manage scheduling, take payments and coordinate communication. Alex has also worked for start-ups, mid-sized companies and large multinationals in business roles, so he has tons of practical experience to share with us!

Alex is on the pod today to answer all your tech questions like:

What is the best webcam?
What is the best microphone?
What is the best lighting setup?
What are your thoughts about playing music through Zoom?
What do you think yoga and meditation teachers most need in their website?
What is the best way to seamlessly connect class registration to zoom links, billing and email reminders?
How do you recommend yoga teachers effectively use SEO?
What is the best way to collect payment for online and in-person classes?

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

webinars from OfferingTree, especially Meg Casebolt and Danait Berhe
Logitech C920 ( ~$79)\
DSLR camera - Panasonic GH4 ( ~$650)
Blue Yeti (podcast / video recording)
Rode Wireless Go ( live teaching / movement / video recording )
Audio Technica AT2020 ( guided meditation / podcast / video recording )
Jabra Elite - many different models ( guided meditation / video recording )
AirPods Pro (live teaching / movement) <-- if you have a Mac
Free Music Archive - Creative Commons

Best Practices For Teaching Online
Acuity is another great platform that syncs payments, registrations and Zoom links and my own right hand project manager Jess is an expert in it!

89: An Update On Online Teaching + A Deep Dive Into The Camera On/Camera Off Debate Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

It has been just over one year since I shifted from teaching yoga full time in-person, to teaching full time online. It has been a huge change (obviously) in my approach to teaching and my day to day schedule. In this episode I share some updates with you about how it's going in general (well!) how my students are doing (so much beautiful growth and adaptation) and what my teaching plans look like for the future (I don't know!).

I also wanted to expand on a foundational part of my teaching philosophy: the importance of being able to teach without demonstrating, and investigate how that impacts online teaching. I address some of the questions that come up inside the camera on/ camera off debate AND make an announcement about some very fun things happening in our community soon!

In this episode you'll hear:

an update on online teaching and my plans for the future
why it is both important and challenging to teach without demonstrating
why students benefit from our attention more than they do from our demonstrations
some suggestions for helping our students feel more comfortable being on video
how to support students who are visual learners
advice I would give my March 2020 self!

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

Stillness + Movement Virtual Yoga Studio: Use the coupon code MENTOR at checkout to take your first class free.
The Mentor Sessions Sangha: Registration will open for the first time on June 1st 2021
Toronto Movement Therapy
The Science of the Private Lesson online training

88: How Not To Teach Yoga with Tori Lunden Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

Do you know Tori Lunden (she/her)? She is known as Bad At Yoga on social media and if you haven't come across her work yet I'm SO excited I get to introduce you to her today. If you do know Tori's work, you won't be surprised at all to know that I jumped at the chance to connect with her, (and we had a blast!) because there are many similarities in our work!

After two and half decades of spiritual searching, Tori's outlook on life can be summed up simply as, "Just be kind and maybe try therapy." A teacher since 2008, Tori's approach to yoga is a balance of pragmatism and irreverence.

Tori has a degree in Social Work through the University of Calgary. Though no longer practicing social work in a formal setting, she remains committed to social justice and building healthier communities. Her current yoga teaching practice is guided by the three pillars of her social work practice; person centered, anti oppressive, and strengths based.

Tori self published her first book, "How not to Teach Yoga: Lessons on Boundaries, Accountability, and Vulnerability - Learnt the Hard Way" in February of 2021 and I got to talk to her all about the hard lessons she's learned as a yoga teacher, and some wisdom and advice she has for the rest of us.

In this episode you'll hear:

why more information isn't helpful if we haven't done the work of learning how to apply it
what Tori suggests we do to integrate the yoga teachings into the way we show up as teachers
the reasons there is so much doubt along a yoga teaching path and how we can work with that
why manipulation, spiritual bypassing and authoritarian teaching styles are common and how we can work with them when they show up in our own lives
the difference between "big hands teaching" and "small hands teaching"
what it takes to cultivate professional self trust as a yoga teacher

Learn More From Tori:

At her website
buy her book
Follow her on Instagram

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 30 minutes or less. This is a great product that I highly recommend!

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