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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:

106: The Power of Rest with Octavia Raheem Apr 19, 2022

Show notes

Much of a yoga practice can, from the outside, look like very little is happening. In a meditation practice it might look like we are just sitting there, but as we all know, that "just sitting there" can be a wild experience and a potent place to make friends with ourselves.

Pausing in an asana practice to rest in Child's Pose can look like a lull in the action, even though we know the space between is sometimes the most powerful.

Resting in a restorative yoga pose can look like an extra cozy nap... And while it can be that, Octavia Raheem (she/her) is here today to tell us why deep rest can serve as a tool for courage and resilience!

105: Yoga And Social Justice with Jivana Heyman Mar 22, 2022

Show notes

The historical teachings of yoga have incredible lessons for our modern world. Understanding and unpacking the ancient teachings is a lifelong process, and those of us lucky enough to practice, study and teach yoga must investigate how these teachings can shape our worldview.

The bottom line is that the teachings of yoga point towards care of the collective as a path to enlightenment. The liberation of all beings (including ourselves) is where my personal study has led me over and over again. In our world today, that often looks like what we call social justice.

Jivana Heyman, is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings.

104: Postnatal Considerations in Asana with Deb Flashenberg Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

Deb Flashenberg (she/her) is the founder and director of the Prenatal Yoga Center which she founded in NYC in 2002. Along with being a prenatal yoga teacher, she is also a labor support doula, Lamaze childbirth educator, mother of two and self proclaimed "birth and anatomy geek". After the challenging birth of her first child, Deb became incredibly interested in pelvic health and has since earned her Pelvic Floor Yoga Certification with Leslie Howard. Deb is currently knee deep in an intensive program with Dr. Sarah Duvall to earn her Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist certification.

103: The Yoga Teachings Are Inherently Political with Jacoby Ballard Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

I know that questioning whether the practices of yoga have a political aspect to them is a popular conversation, even controversy. But from my reading and study of the yogic and Buddhist teachings, there is no way to see dharma as separate from the world we live in, and with the world we live in being so full of injustice, that makes the teachings inherently political.

If the intention of the teachings is to help us be stronger, more self aware, more compassionate and more awake to the nature of our world, in my view that is a strong and specific viewpoint. If in our practice we intend to send care and safety to all beings, and all beings are not well or safe because of the structures of oppression that are woven through our culture, that sets our work on a clear path to make the world a safer and more just place.

And for this reason I am so incredibly excited to introduce you to my friend Jacoby Ballard. Jacoby Ballard (he/they) is a social justice educator and yoga teacher who leads workshops and trainings around the country on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a yoga teacher with 20 years of experience, he leads workshops, retreats, teacher trainings and teaches at conferences. Since 2006, Jacoby has taught Queer and Trans Yoga, a space for queer folks to unfurl and cultivate resilience and received Yoga Journal's Game Changer Award in 2014 and Good Karma Award in 2016.

In this episode you'll hear:

why Jacoby experiences both his identity and teaching as political
the relationship between the Brahma Viharas and social justice, and how to make it actionable
a new insight into the First Noble Truth of Buddhism and why it was so powerful for me personally
how we as practitioners and teachers can reconcile the idea of contentment with our desire to make the world a better place
the effect that late stage capitalism has on the way the yoga teachings are shared in the US today
how the teachings of yoga and Buddishm can play a part in the necessary reallocation of resources and power
all about the Trans and Queer yoga classes Jacoby teaches!

102: Decolonizing The Wellness Publishing Industry with Rebekah Borucki Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

I imagine by now you've probably heard that over 65% of COVID misinformation is spread by just 12 people, and those 12 people are almost all from the wellness community. As yoga teachers we may loosely (or closely) identify with the wider wellness community and so addressing these issues is important! What you may not know is that several of those people also have the same publisher-- Hay House Publishing.

Our amazing guest today, Rebekah Borucki, is a very popular meditation guide and author who publicly left Hay House Publishing last year. She left because of their refusal to address the rampant misinformation some of their authors were spreading about COVID and their unwillingness to address the lack of diversity in the authors they publish as well.

Speaking of... did you know that publishing is 79% white, 89% straight, 96% non-disabled and 99% Cisgender? With stats like that, just imagine all the stories that aren't being told! I am so excited to tell you about the brand new wellness publishing house that our guest has founded! It is called Row House Publishing and they are "Raising the Volume on Voices That Matter™" and publishing books at the intersection of personal development and social justice. Their work is actively decolonizing the wellness community!

Rebekah "Bex" Borucki (she/they) is a mother-to-five, self-help and children's author, and the Founder and President of Row House, Wheat Penny Press (Row House's children's imprint), and the WPP Little Readers Big Change Initiative. Rebekah is driven by a commitment to make wellness tools available to all and to help others recover the liberation stolen from them by White Supremacy. She lives with her family in New Jersey.

In this episode you'll hear:

how Rebekah began studying and then teaching yoga and meditation
how Rebekah got her first book deal with Hay House Publishing
why Rebekah publicly left Hay House and how it felt to do that
why the idea that you can offer some silent solidarity is a myth
why Rebekah founded this new publishing house
all about the inequitable and unfair aquisionton practices that make it difficult for emerging voices to get heard
a little bit about the amazing authors already in contract with Row House

101: Working With Injuries (A Solo Episode) Nov 30, 2021

Show notes

In teaching yoga and asana we end up working with bodies quite a lot. Many, if not most, of our students will likely be dealing with some kind of discomfort, whether it be the aches and pains of modern living, or full-blown, diagnosed injuries.

As yoga teachers it is entirely out of our scope to diagnose or treat pain or injuries. Full stop. I do, however, think we should be educated and thoughtful about working with bodies in a way that allows our students' yoga practice to be supportive, sometimes even in highly specific, physical ways.

I have studied massive amounts about anatomy, biomechanics, injuries and therapeutics, and have also worked through many very serious injuries in my own body. Because of this history I love helping fellow yoga teachers brainstorm ways to best support their students who have pain or injuries and this episode is dedicated entirely to your questions!

In this episode, you'll hear questions and discussions about:

adductor and pelvic pain
SI joint pain
nerve pain in the glutes
elbow pain
discomfort in the QL
burning hip discomfort in hip flexion
shoulder pain in overhead flexion
imposter syndrome when talking to healthcare providers

An Important Announcement + A Request Nov 23, 2021

Show notes

I'm excited to share this quick bonus + important announcement episode with you. In the episode, I share the updated description of the podcast, why I'm releasing one episode per month starting now, and how important reviews are. (And did I mention a really important announcement?!)

Each & every review counts! Thank you so much!

If you'd like to submit a review on your computer from a web browser:

Visit The Mentor Sessions | Support + Strategy for Yoga Teachers in your web browser
Click "Listen on Apple Podcasts" to the right of the logo; then accept the pop-up asking if you want to launch iTunes
In iTunes, click "Ratings & Reviews" under the main title
To rate the show, select a number of stars between 1 and 5 next to the words "Click to rate" under the Customer Ratings headline
To write a review, click "Write a Review" under the Customer Reviews heading

If you'd like to submit a review using your iPhone or iPad:

Open your Podcast app
Search for The Mentor Sessions | Support + Strategy for Yoga Teachers
Tap on the SHOW image (not the Episodes)
Scroll down to Ratings & Reviews
Click on 'Write a review'

100: What Good Quality Teaching Looks Like with Dr. Janna Dresden + Dr. Ronald Cervero Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

Today is our 100th episode and to celebrate we have two very special guests! Joining us on the podcast are two nationally renowned professors who are experts in online learning and teacher education, and... they also happen to be my parents!

As I hope comes through on The Mentor Sessions podcast, I am very interested in studying the craft of teaching yoga, as its own practice. I love asking 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.

When you meet my parents today, you won't be at all surprised that these are the kinds of questions I find inspiring. In my family's case, the apple appears to have fallen directly underneath the tree 😂 It's funny though, because I don't remember long conversations about quality teacher education around the dinner table or anything... I was a dancer pursuing a professional career, and very much felt that I was on my own path. But as my focus shifted away from the dance world, and towards the yoga world, I quickly became very interested in unpacking what good quality teaching looks like (it looks like 1 million things, of course!) and making space for conversations around that.

Today I'm so excited to introduce you to Janna and Ron, my parents, so we can hear from an academic view what good quality teaching looks like and how we might bring these inquiries into the yoga world.

In this episode you'll hear:

an explanation of the basic idea of pedagogy
what we have we learned from recent studies in neuroscience about how people learn
what good quality teacher education look like and how we might evaluate that
how my Dad brought online learning to the University of Georgia way back in 2001
how online learning has changed in the last 20 years
the joke my Mom told at my wedding that had everyone cry-laughing

99: A Collaborative Yoga Membership Model with Catherine la O' Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

In The Mentor Sessions Sangha we have been having a robust conversation about online yoga class library memberships. These are very popular now, and can be a great way to diversify your teaching income and support your students. They also require a decent amount of work to set up, there are an endless number of ways to organize the process and the pricing for these offerings are all over the map.

If you have thought about creating an online class library, or a membership model for your live classes, I think today's podcast episode with Catherine la O' will be inspiring for you! Catherine is a long time yoga teacher, who despite not feeling very tech savvy, decided to set up a membership and online class library for her students in the summer of 2020.

In this episode you'll hear:

why Catherine felt this was the best way to continue teaching through the pandemic
how much it cost to set up
a deep dive into all the platforms and software she uses to film her classes and host the online library
a specific breakdown of her teaching, filming, editing and uploading process
the pricing structure of her membership
how many members she has currently
why her unique collaborative approach with other teacher colleagues is serving both her and her students so well
how she recommends teachers get started if they are interested in creating something similar

98: Trauma-Conscious Yoga Is A Philosophy, Not A Specialty Class with Hannah Davis Sep 28, 2021

Show notes

When you think of teaching a trauma-informed yoga class, what comes to mind? Do you think of teaching a special class for a specific population, like veterans recovering from PTSD or survivors of abuse in a shelter? Those are populations that certainly benefit from a very well trained and thoughtfully trauma-conscious teacher (and specialty class!), but the truth is every single human has experienced some kind of trauma, and that is important to keep in mind in every yoga class we teach.

I'm thrilled today to introduce you to yoga teacher, social worker and trauma-informed yoga expert Hannah Davis! Hannah Davis (she/her) is a body-focused clinician and yoga teacher specializing in mind-body healing. She has training in somatic healing, Ayurveda, mindful vinyasa, and various trauma-sensitive approaches. She leads several trauma-informed community-based yoga classes through Vikara Village and is a Licensed Social Worker in Maryland and DC.

In this episode you'll hear:

an important, foundational definition of trauma
why yoga is such a powerful modality for people living with and healing from trauma
why trauma-informed yoga is an entire philosophy not *only* a specialty class
an explanation of the universal precautions as a core trauma-informed concept
the important skills of a Safe Space facilitator
whether or not it is possible to have a truly trauma-informed approach to hands-on adjustments
the place philosophy and subtle body teachings have in a trauma-conscious philosophy

Learn More From Hannah:

At her website
Learn more about Vikara Village here
Follow Hannah on Instagram here
Follow Hannah on Facebook here
Download this Trauma-Informed Checklist!
Take class with Hannah at Stillness + Movement here (use code NEWSTUDENT for your first class free!)

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