282: What’s Missing? Yoga Class Notes with Kathryn Anne Flynn
Have you ever been to a yoga class and noticed that something is missing? Perhaps it was the cues given, or the postures practices, or even the sequence of the class. There are certain key elements that we need to have to make a well-rounded yoga class and we might be missing some of them! Kathryn Anne Flynn shares her expertise on this topic and how we can make our classes more accessible to all.
Kathryn Anne Flynn is a teacher and student of yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, and psychotherapy in Ottawa, Canada. She is known for weaving together her fields of study and practice tools to meet life with a compassionate presence. Students of many generations call her their teacher and they are drawn to her inclusivity and authenticity. Kathryn is also the host of the Intelligent Edge Yoga Podcast, author of Teach Kind, Clear Yoga, and offers online practices as well as trainings, workshops, and retreats.
Kathryn shares her insights about some of the key elements missing from yoga classes (especially with newer teachers) such as silence, little joint care, and music and playlists, and gives us tips on how we can effectively incorporate these into our yoga classes to become better teachers and create a better environment for our yoga students. This is a really motivating episode to get inspiration about how to improve on your classes and create a better environment for our yoga students.
Key Takeaways:
[0:00] Shannon addresses the recent US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
[1:45] This episode is also sponsored by the Accessible Yoga Continuing Education Program.
[8:33] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode – Kathryn Anne Flynn.
[11:55] You can win one of Kathryn’s books simply by leaving a comment in the show notes!
[13:04] What does Kathryn do and who does she do it for?
[14:37] What got Kathryn interested in her work around psychotherapy and trauma therapy, from being a yoga educator?
[17:29] Kathryn is the author of Teach Kind, Clear Yoga. What was her motivation for writing the book and what feedback has she received about it?
[19:31] There are often trends in things that are missing from new yoga teachers’ classes. Kathryn reflects on how she made this observation.
[22:14] A reminder for people going through their yoga teacher training: Teaching yoga is never going to be as hard as it is in your training.
[24:01] Something that is often missing even from experienced teachers’ classes is silence.
“Reviewing your teaching can remain uncomfortable and it’s worth it.” ~ Kathryn Anne Flynn
[26:09] Another element often missing in yoga classes is little joint care.
[28:53] There is value in simplicity and repetition.
[32:33] A tip for new teachers – if you are nervous when teaching yoga, you can use music to support your teaching and create atmosphere in your classes.
[33:54] Shannon pops in to share a conversation she had with Sara Villamil about OfferingTree.
[36:11] Is music essential to a yoga class or can we teach without it? Shannon and Kathyrn share their perspectives.
[43:07] Kathryn shares some tips around what to consider when sequencing your yoga class.
“If you design your classes in a way that folks are safe doing the practice, you can have faith in the resilience of the human body – which means you can have faith in the potency of silence and restrain yourself to offer more space because people need silence so badly if their lives are super busy and loud.” ~ Kathryn Anne Flynn
[48:33] You can bring creativity into sequencing your yoga classes.
[50:16] Kathryn developed her own personal style of yoga because of the communities she worked with and paying attention to their needs.
[53:05] Kathryn highlights two types of postures that are often missing from yoga classes.
[59:30] What are some final thoughts Kathryn has for a yoga teacher who is feeling like something is missing from their class?
“I think it’s important to be able to teach and practice both with and without [music]. It’s just another tool that you need to know how and when to apply it.” ~ Kathryn Anne Flynn
[60:39] Get Kathryn’s book and connect with her via her website and social media.
[62:24] Shannon shares her key takeaways from this interview with Kathryn.
Links:
- Kathryn Anne Flynn
- Kathryn Anne Flynn on Instagram and Facebook
- Intelligent Edge Yoga Podcast
- Teach Kind, Clear Yoga by Kathryn Anne Flynn
- Accessible Yoga Continuing Education Program
- Accessible Yoga Podcast
- The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 281: Yoga Teaching Tips with Gabrielle Harris
- Diane Liska
- Sara Villamil
- Self-Awakening Yoga, by Don Stapleton
- Aborsh Podcast
- Intelligent Edge Yoga Podcast – Yoga Playlists: The Effects of Music on Practice and the Practicalities of Teaching to Music on Apple and Spotify
- Balance Cushion
- The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 268: Yoga for Surviors of Sexual Assault with Nikki Adams
- 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.
Yess, I was looking forward to see what is little joint care was and I am so happy that it is something that I have always done in my classes. In between postures, one roll here and another there. I also like to include rolls within a pose. Thank you for this super podcast ! I took plenty of notes.
Hello Laurie! So pleased you found it both affirming and inspiring – I’m thrilled! My dear friend and mentor, Mona Warner, loves to say that teaching yoga trainings is “helping you remember what you already know.” 🙂
Thank you for this helpful and inspiring podcast. I teach a lot of accessible classes and we start on our backs 99% of the time which does seem to work well, but in some ways it was a happy accident as when I first started teaching I was so incredibly nervous it helped me enormously to begin in a position where I didn’t have every one looking at me! Thank you also for the reminder to include small joint work. I would love your book. Best wishes, Jo
Hi Jo!
Thank you for your humour and humility sharing that story! What’s helpful for students can be helpful for teachers – the two don’t need to be opposed! For example, I teach balance postures or sequences from the back of the room to minimize visual distraction for my students. When I was pregnant and suffering from terrible “morning sickness” (more like “all day sickness”!), my students were accustomed to me being behind them. I remember classes where the wall was holding me up at times!
Thank you so much for this inspiring guest, this is a podcast I’ll definitely listen to multiple times. Kathryn’s insights and comments are so relevant for my teaching, the majority of my students fall in the 40-75 age range, with some well into their 80s, and accessibility is the primary theme in my planning, language and sequencing. I sometimes start class on our backs, but this will now be by my go-to way to start. I’m definitely going to to try the modified camel, for my own practice🤗. I laughed when I heard the playlist shuffle mistake, been there, done that! Thank you for giving your listeners more resources to refine what we can offer to our students, so appreciated!
Hi Mary!
I’m so pleased to hear that you’re out in your community teaching a variety of ages. As one of my “chronologically experienced” students said to me, “there’s not a lot of yoga for those of somewhere between vinyasa and chair yoga – and that’s a pretty big spectrum!”. I love what chair yoga and *even more* accessible forms of yoga have to offer, but honing the accessible-and-still-mobilizing repertoire can be challenging.
I do know that form of camel is super helpful for a lot of folks, including myself, but I know any version of camel requiring a reach behind the body is inaccessible to some. (Or the knees can’t take it!) This is where chairs, walls and doors can be helpful in facilitating stretching across the chest!
This was a lovely and inspiring podcast. I primarily teach chair yoga, gentle Hatha and Hatha Flow, so I aim to offer variations for all abilities, which really keeps my mind in a creative, problem solving mode and my students are well served, I hope! For me teaching an older student base has been tremendously rewarding. And resources like this podcast have invaluable. Thanks for all you do Shannon and Kathryn!
This whole episode is amazing! 👏
As someone who is deeply interested in using music to support the experience of a class… I particularly enjoyed hearing both your opinions on music, though.
I feel so many teachers (particularly newer ones) feel pressured to use music, yet have never even been taught the bare bones of how to create a beneficial playlist.
I wasn’t familiar with Kathryn before this, but I admired so much she said. I can’t wait to check out her book. I absolutely loved her quote… “It can be potent in its transformative capacity, but it also can have the exact opposite effect.” Perfectly said. I agree whole-heartedly. Which is a reason I believe the topic can’t be discussed or dissected enough in yoga circles. Loved it!
I also gave a listen to her podcast episode about music in the show notes. Also so great. It’s offers so much for us to all think about. I highly recommend.
What a great episode & a great check on my own teaching – i think backbends need a bigger place in my own classes. And thank you for including the link to the music podcast – I am a fan of music, but do try to be aware of limiting popular music in my classes. It was great to hear more about how music is impacting participants.
Great episode! I always plan the focus for my yoga classes a month at a time, and I just posted for the month of August yesterday. The focus for the second week in August will be “Arms, Legs, Hands, and Feet”! We’ll be focusing on some “little joint care” — and now I will add this quote from Kathryn, “We don’t often think about the need to strengthen and mobilize these [little] joints, until we’ve lost the ability to move them.” So very true!
I loved this podcast episode! I appreciate the reminder about the need for silence. As a new yoga teacher, I struggle with the desire to fill the silence, but I agree that silence is exactly what students often need. I also love Kathryn’s quote, “Dare to be simple and repetitive”. That takes so much pressure off me as a teacher, and it feels expansive and attainable.
I also enjoyed hearing the varying perspectives on music in yoga classes. I liked music in classes until I attended my yoga teacher training. Now, both as a student and a teacher, I feel like music takes away from the experience.
I am excited to read Kathryn’s book! Thank you for this valuable conversation.