From mid-2005 to mid-2008 this yogi took time out of my kids yoga business.
The reason?
To take some much needed rest from teaching 27 classes a week.
However, I didn’t just put my feet up during that time.
No no no.
For those 3 years, I jumped into some personal growth, training and development.
(All the while, coaching new teachers to look after my classes.)
I continued studying (I did 2 more yoga teaching diplomas) meditation courses, travelled to the US to become a certified macro chef and counsellor.
I studied business skills, leadership, empowerment and too many personal development courses to list.
And I was even hired by my teachers to teach their teachers.
For example, a big Yoga School in NYC hired me to run workshops for their teachers and trainees on how to teach kids yoga.
The point is…
During that time I was still working with kids yoga, but instead of me teaching, I was helping a lot of teachers – more than when I was running my kids yoga business.
In fact, I would say working with just one big US yoga community meant I was able to help well over 100 female yoga teachers start up successful kids yoga classes.
And the reason I bring this up is because – when you work with that many teachers you get very good at recognising what their real problems in the classroom are, and exactly what they need to do to have a successful, impactful, smooth running kids yoga class.
In other words…
You see problems and solutions quickly – often before they begin.
So what I want to do now is list a few of those common problems kids yoga teachers have when they first start.
Many will seem obvious. But what I’ve found is that many teachers recognise them, but they don’t understand why these problems are happening and what to do about it.
So take the following list very seriously because they are the core of why 95% of kids teachers give up.
- Have no structureI’ve spoken about this before, but the #1 reason why kids yoga teachers struggle is because the class has no defined structure.
They think they will be fine with winging it, or stringing together some fun games and craft activities (and it doesn’t work)
This type of class leads to all sorts of problems – mostly a chaotic class, with lots of chatting, and very little ‘yoga.’
2. No clear outcome
If you want to create a lesson that has impact and meaning, then it must have a clear purpose and outcome.
The best outcome is one that is based on the student’s needs (then fill the structure with age appropriate content.)
Once you’re clear on what the needs of the student are, then you can educate them on all the ways and tools that yoga provides to give a solution.
Get clear on both of those – the needs and how to help and you have a winning formula for an impactful class
(and one the students will be interested in.)
3. Don’t have good classroom management skills or techniques
Many teachers I train think that because they’re teaching yoga, they don’t need anu behaviour management training.
And so I hear things like… there are no rules in yoga….or, the only rule in yoga is to have fun!
The problem is – you are teaching children and teens (and they do not behave like adults!)
So what do they do?
They muck about, chat throughout class, answer back, get up and walk around the room….do anything but yoga…
This type of teaching, wears teachers out…
I have seen many a teacher give up, or say, this is too hard and not for me.
And so what you want to have is a clear, defined system of boundaries, techniques and rules…that all good classroom teachers use. (In fact many classroom teachers love the Zenergy Yoga advanced method of classroom management, because it works!)
4. Are Game-Based Classes
Often the biggest problem I see, is that kids yoga teachers have been trained in a play-based / game-based approach.
By this, I mean the entire class is a series of games. (Even the breathing activity is a game.)
As we talked about earlier – games are fine, if done at the right moment in class and have a clear purpose, that leads to the outcome of the class.
But to have one game after another after another, turns into a fun activity, not a yoga class.
When there are more games, with a bit of yoga, rather than a yoga class that is fun, you know you are off track and have lost sight of why you started yoga for kids in the first place.
Now this is not the fault of the teacher. Most kids yoga teachers are trained this way. And it seems fun….until it’s not. And teachers feel weary, that they know they should be doing more.
So my job is to re-educate them.
Teach them the Zenergy Lesson Plan Structure – a solid framework of 10 components that takes kids and teens on a yoga journey through their body, mind, emotions and into a deep state of relaxation.
We teach a formula for targeting the needs of children physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually and how to do this in one class.
The number of times, a kids yoga teacher has blurted out during a training course, “Oh my god! I wish I’d known this when I first started! It would’ve saved me hours of planning and solved all the problems I’ve been having.”
Enough said….
- High Energy leads to Burn Out
Back to the game based / play based approach, (without a good structure)…
Many adult’s yoga teachers, (and I was one of them), think to teach kids yoga, we go faster, make it fun and talk louder…
And it wears the teachers out.
By the end of the class, you have no voice. After 5 classes back to back, you are exhausted and after 2 years, you’re done.
Again, not the fault of the teacher.
Either, they didn’t get trained in kids yoga.
Or, they got trained in play-based yoga.
The story type – where you tell a story and the kids follow and then play a game and have a rest at the end…
Doesn’t work.
This relies on the teacher being so high energy (think play-school teacher) or a child’s entertainer and it’s tiring.
Better to have a definite structure (back to #1 again…see how important it is), one that leads through highs and lows, and has variety of pace, tone, activity.
At Zenergy yoga you get access to our template that does the work for you, so you become the conductor of the energy, not the one driving the energy.
It makes a massive difference
Finally…
- They give up too earlyI see a lot of teachers give up too early when they have problems filling their classes, or running the class.
I understand how demoralising it can be to do your training, buy your yoga mats, get flyers printed and then no one shows up.
Further, I understand the anxiety and stress that comes with a low or no income.
(That was me in the beginning too.)
But the truth is – I’ve seen the most “biz illiterate” teachers succeed.
(Me again)
I’ve seen kids yoga teachers with no website succeed.
And the reason why these kids yoga teachers succeeded was because they kept going.
Moreover…
They believed in me – their mentor – and my advice, and they kept implementing diligently.
And that’s why any teacher who keeps going can also succeed.
But you are not alone.
Part of my mission is to help all the Zenergy Yoga grads start teaching and impact millions of lives.
So after your first course, you are welcomed into the Zenergy yoga community and we encourage, support and mentor you to success.
There are other problems that come up often for kids yoga teachers. But those are the big ones.
Interestingly, when I restarted up my Kids Yoga business again in 2008, I focused on the above 6 steps.
—> I created a solid, consistent framework for teaching a kids yoga class (one that targeted all the needs physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually)…
—> I got clear on my #1 intention for the class (what the greatest need was)…
—> I created a curriculum to build to an outcome over a number of weeks and delivered it in a way that the kids or teens enjoyed or thought was meaningful to them (educated them about what they were doing and why)…
—> I brought together all my training in classroom management, leadership and team building and designed an advanced behavioural management system for the yoga class that has even the teen boys quiet in 3 seconds ), and most of all…
—> I practised and practised the structure and system until I got it right.
And because I focused on those steps, I not only saw amazing results from my classes, but also the Zenergy Yoga teachers were seeing them too.
With that being said…
Inside The Zenergy Kids Yoga Certificate Programme I take you through each of these steps methodically.
Along with that, every step in the program comes with a proven template, scripts, activities, exercises and fill-in-the-blank formulas.
Each having been refined many times over the course of having thousands of kids yoga teachers go through them.
But what you’ll probably like most about the program is you get access to The Zenergy Yoga Methodology and a proven track record.
Plus – you get direct mentoring and training from me, so that if you get stuck – or if you have any questions – I’m right there to help.
To become a Zenergy Yoga Trained Kids Yoga Teacher …Click Here: Zenergy Kids Yoga Certificate Programme
Cannot wait to see you inside,
Loraine x
