Today on The Connected Yoga Teacher live show, Shannon talks about how to introduce yourself in a new way to your yoga students (or to potential yoga students).

There is a video (to the left) and show notes below with all of the links and information.

If you would like to work more on defining your core message, your yoga niche or any other topics. You can book a consultation with Shannon with the button below.

This weekend, I attended the Toronto Yoga Conference, so I feel like today’s live show topic was one that I was able to learn about first-hand. I am adding those notes in the video and article below for you.

Introducing Myself to The Toronto Yoga Conference

First of all let me say that I was uncomfortable when I decided to actually try this out. I love talking with people one-on-one, especially yoga teachers. At the same time I was feeling out of my comfort zone thinking of introducing myself to people as a way to network.

For The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast, I am always looking for people to interview. I am also always listening to the struggles that yoga teachers share with me in conversations so that I have more ideas for podcast and live show episodes.

The Yoga Conference offers the perfect place for this.

I was ready, business cards in hand and a full trade show floor of yoga teachers and professionals who work with yoga teachers stretching out in front of me. I dedicated an entire morning to this project and I was still nervous with all of this motivation behind me.

Before You Introduce Yourself

So often people ask us, “What do you do?” and we have a choice right then. We can reply, “I am a yoga teacher.” and leave it at that or we can share our core message in that moment.

Define Your Core Message

Ask yourself a few questions to get into this mindset.

• What is the purpose of the work that you are doing?
• What is your yoga offering to the world?
• Why are you really passionate about this work?
• What has shaped how you share yoga?
• Have you been curious about this work for your entire life? If so how?
• If you had a room of people listening to you for 30 minutes (and you had no fear of public speaking), what would you want to talk to them about so that you could have an impact on how they were living?
• What do you believe in or stand for?

A great tool for this is in the book “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath. They call it the three whys and it is designed to get at the emotional core to an idea. In the video I share more on this concept, but here is a quick outline.

1. Write down your yoga offering or idea.
2. Write down why you think this is important in the world.
3. Write down why you think #2 is important.
4. Write down why you think #3 is important.

Create Your Elevator Speech

Let me clarify before we dive into this. I don’t use my elevator speech when I meet people in person. It doesn’t fit into natural conversation in my world. I also don’t have just one elevator speech or way of introducing myself. I let this flow with the setting and the conversation.

Carol Cox of Speaking Your Brand shared an excellent template for creating an elevator speech. It is shown in the image below. This uses all of the principles that we talked about in getting to the core message of your yoga. Who do you work with, what do you help them with and how?

Carol shares her example:

Consider Your Story and Their Story

In the core message we talked about what led you to the yoga that you share. People connect with story. The same is true when we ask questions that draw out someone else’s story. So ask people questions when you meet them. Get really curious.

This is how you get to know your yoga students, (or people in general), what their struggles are and how you can help them. I also don’t mean how we can help as in “fixing” people emotionally and physically with yoga. Sometimes we can help people by telling them about a great physiotherapist or article that is related to what they are asking about. And sometimes the work that we do is what that person is looking for.

In the video I talked about how Felicia Slattery, author of “Kill the Elevator Speech”, talks about being the travelling buddy bench.

What’s a buddy bench? Here is a video explaining that.

Getting Clear on Your Introduction and Core Message is a Marketing Tool

When you want to share your story, your core message and what your yoga sharing is about — this is how you create your social media sites, website, posters and any communication with your students.

If you are faced with a decision on what to say in a poster — you just need to come back to your core message and the what you offer and to whom to choose your words.

Flow and Be Yourself

When you introduce yourself to new people be authentic and talk in a way that feels natural to you. And go with the flow. I talked to a yoga teacher last week who told me that she introduces herself in different ways, depending on who she is talking with. This is especially helpful if you are working as a yoga teacher and you have another career or if you have different areas of focus within teaching.

Continue with this authentic communication within your marketing materials as well.