281: Yoga Teaching Tips with Gabrielle Harris
Whether you’re fresh out of a yoga teacher training or have been teaching yoga for years, there is always something new to learn about becoming a better teacher. Gabrielle Harris shares actionable tips for yoga teachers that you can start implementing in your classes and using right away.
Gabrielle describes herself as a writer at heart and a yogi in mind and body. Her aim is to inspire students and teachers from all disciplines to keep falling in love with yoga each new day. Gabrielle has over 1000 hours of training in various disciplines and traditions, and through her written work and yoga classes reminds us to start living a full life through the toolbox of yoga. She is also the author of The Language of Yin and The Inspired Yoga Teacher.
Gabrielle talks about her journey in writing these two books, how to teach yoga to beginners, and why language is so important and powerful in yoga. Gabrielle also shares her thoughts on what makes a good yoga teacher and why our job is to watch, listen and observe, rather than centering ourselves in our teaching. She offers some tips on the different types of cues we might use, how to practice nonviolent communication, and encourages us to reflect on our responsibility as yoga teachers.
Key Takeaways:
[0:00] Shannon addresses the recent US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
[2:30] This episode is also sponsored by the Accessible Yoga Continuing Education Program.
[5:58] Shannon shares one of the resources she has been learning from – Buffy on CBC.
[9:06] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode – Gabrielle Harris.
[12:31] What does Gabrielle do and who does she do it for?
[13:11] Gabrielle shares more about the two books she has written.
[14:24] What has helped Gabrielle get through the long process of writing books and teaching yoga?
“It is much more difficult to be precise and concise and essential.” ~ Gabrielle Harris
[15:26] Gabrielle has teaching experience outside of yoga. She explains how that has shaped how she teaches yoga.
[18:07] How can yoga teachers cut out the fluff and get to the very essential parts of yoga when teaching beginners?
“If you want to know what the essence of what you’re trying to teach is, you need to go back to what your intention is for that class.” ~ Gabrielle Harris
[19:53] How does Gabrielle apply what she learned in teaching a language to a yoga teacher training?
[23:15] It can be tempting to try to fill space with words, but it is important to be intentional instead.
[25:14] How can we practice self-editing?
[27:05] Why do we often feel the need to fill silence with words?
[30:02] As yoga teachers, sharing parts of your life can be very powerful, but only under certain circumstances. It can be useful to become the listener instead.
[33:22] What are some things that can help improve our teaching technique?
[35:43] Timing and pace are also very important for a yoga class.
[38:37] Shannon pops in with an update about OfferingTree, sponsor of the podcast.
[41:30] How can yoga teachers manage the timing of their flow and sequence?
[44:03] Gabrielle shares some tips around different types of cues you can give in a yoga class and examples of what that may look like.
“There are different types of cueing and there’s a place for all of them.” ~ Gabrielle Harris
[49:44] Using questions in teaching is a great technique to center the students instead of the teacher.
[52:15] How does Gabrielle handle questions from students who ask where they should be feeling a pose or how to be experiencing a movement?
[56:21] Gabrielle shares some thoughts around the responsibility we have as yoga teachers.
[59:58] What does Gabrielle wish she had known as a newer teacher?
“I want the teachers out there to assume that everything that we’re saying, everything that we do in a yoga class has a propensity to change or to harm or to heal.” ~ Gabrielle Harris
[61:04] Find out more about Gabrielle and her work by checking out her work and the links below.
[62:46] You can win a copy of one of Gabrielle’s books!
[65:27] Shannon shares her biggest takeaways from this interview with Gabrielle.
Links:
- Gabrielle Harris
- Gabrielle Harris on Instagram and Facebook
- Books by Gabrielle Harris
- Accessible Yoga Continuing Education Program
- Accessible Yoga Podcast
- Buffy Podcast
- The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 275: Kicked Out of a Yoga Class?! with Shannon Crow
- Lindsay Hobbs, Topaz Editing & Literary
- Pelvic Health Professionals
- Native Land Digital
- Shannon Crow on Instagram
- The Connected Yoga Teacher Facebook Group
Gratitude to our Sponsors, OfferingTree and Accessible Yoga Continuing Education Program.
Thank you for sharing Gabrielle! I’m training to teach yoga and loved that you addressed “de-fluffing” what we are saying when teaching.
This was a wonderful episode with Gabrielle. My biggest takeaway was about paring down what I have to say, to find the essence. Rather than having to say everything in my head on the topic or pose!! I need to put this into practice, not just in yoga, but in parenting too!
I really loved this podcast. Gabrielle was so honestly human which made it easy for me to listen and connect with all that she was saying. I loved her advice on leaving moments of silence when teaching yoga as well as questioning as to how yogis are feeling in the pose they are in. I have Gabrielle’s book The Inspired Yoga Teacher already but would love a copy of the Language of Yin, if I’m lucky enough to be selected.
Thanks so much x
My key take away was being ok with making mistakes because thats part of the teaching process. I also loved the idea of writing the L/R either on the mat or on the hands to help with mirroring. This was a great listen overall! Thanks for sharing so many wonderful tips and ideas!
Thank you for this podcast!
EDITING, talking less, will also allow the students to FEEL the poses. Otherwise, their attention will always be on our cues if we talk all the time. I like to help people to taste and enjoy silence.
FEEL the space -vs- FILL the space :-).
MIRRORING the students: this is something that I have to learn/practice. I feel that would be a major improvement. Thank you, I now feel motivated.
PUNCTUALITY is a major thing for me and I also see it as respect of people’s time also. I heard many saying that they stopped going to a yoga class, even though it was really great because it would finish way later than expected.
My key takeaway: I loved the part about INTROSPECTIVE CUES.
RESPONSIBILITY that we have is a gift. It offers us the chance to be focused and to take care of other humans. Change can occur with the POWER of our words and rub off on other and this begins a beautiful chain of kindness.
THANK YOU!
I very much appreciate the attention to allowing space, silence, introspection, interoception. This is SO valuable and often overlooked. Most classes I’ve attended play music, so even if the instructor isn’t speaking, there’s still audio input. I know a ton of people appreciate having music playing, but I find it distracting. I love music, but not when I’m practicing yoga. In that setting, for me, it’s just one more thing to tune out as I turn inward.
Thank you for this podcast… this and all episodes. 🙏
Great interview! Silence is so hard but necessary.
I’ve been working on talking less as I tend to talk alot in class, So that was a good reminder to working on that. Also, I liked her breakdown of cues – the physical cue, the interoceptive cue and the philosophy cue. It’s helpful to think about cuing like that Thank you for making this podcast available.,
I absolutely LOVED this podcast! My key takeaways….
Sand timer – I’ve tried phone timers and they’re quite distracting. Plus it’s very visual. I’m wondering if you have a recommendation for a good timer for 2,3 & 5 minutes?
Silence – I know I love the pauses in a class. I love the suggestion to start in your everyday conversations. As a person with adhd, it’s hard for me not to interrupt and it drives me nuts! So the idea of just stopping and listening to understand.
Essential language – I really appreciated the idea of recording myself to listen and see where I’m saying too much and pairing it down to just the basics.
Thank you so much Gabrielle and Shannon.
Such an interesting episode and has left me so much to ponder. Shannon, I pulled my car over to write your quote down “Communicate and listen to understand, not to be understood.” I now have it in my phone and with me always. So powerful 😊
Thank you so much for sharing! Really enjoyed listening & so many takeaways ❤️
I’ll be working on speaking less and giving more space 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Gratitude to Gabrielle for her yoga wisdom and to you, Shannon for soliciting such wisdom with your questions. I particularly loved hearing about the need for silence. In teaching yoga, I refer to that space of time as “the pause” between poses or between each side of the body. Pausing to: sense into, to feel, to compare sides, to explore a deepening of the pose with micro-movements, with alignment, with breath. Thank you for this affirmation and the need to become more at ease with using silence (the pause). It is truly about having students connect with their bodies’ expressions through sensation and integration with the pose. I found love to receive one of your books. Thank you for this podcast – so much reflection on all that was shared.
I have Gabrielle’s Yin Yoga book and was fun to learn more from her in this episode! Thanks for the reminder about creating space for silence when teaching.
Wonderful podcast, thank you! Perfect timing as I have just started reading The Enlightened Yoga Teacher. I tend to over think so he phrase “It will be okay….” was very comforting. Best wishes, Jo.
Just had the time to listen to this podcast-thank you Gabrielle & Shannon.. such great advice! My big takeaway was it’s ok to be silent-as a new teacher I feel compelled to constantly cue and fill space with words. But also will start using a sand timer and focus on using essential language..will relisten to take note!
This talk was very I interesting because as a new teacher I tend to cue to much. I learned that I could cue less and relax.
I loved this episode! I’m so happy I found this. The part about the importance of silence really resonated with me 🙂 thank you for all you do!