The standard run-of-the-mill yoga class is structured in a way that is not always comfortable or accessible for people with trauma in their systems. To better understand this, let’s look at some of the most common symptoms of trauma, how they can show up in a yoga class, and how you can make simple adjustments […]
Teach Yoga
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Understanding Trauma in the Studio: Avoidance and Isolation
The standard run-of-the-mill yoga class is structured in a way that is not always comfortable or accessible for people with trauma in their systems. To better understand this, let’s look at some of the most common symptoms of trauma, how they can show up in a yoga class, and how you can make simple adjustments […]
Yoga Income Streams: Workshops
Of the many possibilities to bring in income as a yoga teacher, workshops are a great way to serve a portion of your current community and bring in new folks. As you begin to think about building yoga workshops, survey your regular students about what aspects of yoga they want to learn more about. You […]
Understanding Trauma in the Yoga Studio: Triggers
The standard run-of-the-mill yoga class is structured in a way that is not always comfortable or accessible for people with trauma in their systems. To better understand this, let’s look at some of the most common symptoms of trauma, how they can show up in a yoga class, and how you can make simple adjustments […]
The Power of Keeping a Success Journal
It’s about that time of year when New Year resolutions wander off into the desert of good intentions. Keep your present self motivated and your future self in awe by creating a success journal that you can keep throughout the year – not just at resolution time. Your successes can be big or small, personal […]
Understanding Trauma in the Yoga Studio: Hyperarousal
The standard run-of-the-mill yoga class is structured in a way that is not always comfortable or accessible for people with trauma in their systems. To better understand this, let’s look at some of the most common symptoms of trauma, how they can show up in a yoga class, and how you can make simple adjustments […]
The Power of Keeping a Practice Journal
At Vesselify School of Yoga, we are big fans of keeping a practice journal to track your personal progress. Why? Journaling is a great way to see your progress over time It will help support your dedication to a regular practice that you can then pass along to your students Looking back on your practice […]
Understanding Trauma in the Yoga Studio: Hypervigilance
The standard run-of-the-mill yoga class is structured in a way that is not always comfortable or accessible for people with trauma in their systems. To better understand this, let’s look at some of the most common symptoms of trauma, how they can show up in a yoga class, and how you can make simple adjustments […]
Hope in an Age of Unease
Hope is imagination. Hope is faith in humanity. Hope is potential visualized. Hope is innovation. Hope is bravery. Hope is dreaming big. Hope is faith in a more superb future. If there’s one Hindu goddess that could embody hope itself, it would be Ushas, the Vedic goddess of the dawn. She’s described in the Rg […]
A Mini Morning Sequence for Your Upper Back
Stiff upper back in the morning? Our tendency is to stretch – or overstretch – the muscles in the upper back, rather than stretching the front of the torso to release upper back crankiness. This mini sequence from Vesselify co-founder Amy Ippoliti moves through some accessible yoga poses and movements for your shoulders, spine, and chest. […]
How Do I Become a Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher?
You know what trauma-informed yoga is and what makes a class or teacher good. Now, let’s look at what it takes to become a trauma-informed yoga teacher. I’m already a yoga teacher – how do I become a trauma-informed yoga teacher? If you haven’t already, get your 500-hour certification! More training means a better understanding […]
How Do I Know a Trauma-Informed Yoga Class is… Good?
Now that you know what trauma-informed yoga is, let’s look at what to look out for in classes and teachers. But first, huge kudos to you for seeking out trauma-informed yoga! Whether you are a practitioner looking to support the trauma in your system or a yoga teacher with experience working with trauma, it’s important […]
What is Trauma-Informed Yoga?
I’m often suspicious of clinical or academic terminology that becomes popularized. Pop psychology usually starts rooted in science, then as it makes its rounds through celebrities, talk shows, and wellness communities, it loses focus and becomes a ghost of its clinical self. Take narcissism, for example. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a diagnosable disorder, outlined in […]
A Mini Morning Sequence for Your Lower Back
Are you waking up with discomfort in your lower back? Whether you slept in a funny position, over-taxed your back in the days prior, or have been sitting too much, try out this short sequence that can fit into even the busiest of days. This mini sequence from Vesselify co-founder Amy Ippoliti moves through some […]
Yoga Sequencing to Settle a Fried Nervous System
We’re living through a time of great uncertainty, difficult news, and internet-induced senselessness. Some days, I’m amazed that so many of us are still here, surviving, getting work done, taking care of family, and staying healthy and alive. Living through these times is so frazzling, I often find myself numb to how fried my nervous […]
A Mini Video Sequence for Spine Mobility
What are some of the most common complaints you hear from yoga students? “I have tight shoulders.” “My low back hurts all the time.” “My upper back is uncomfortable.” Each of these areas can benefit greatly from one common concept: encouraging mobility in the spine. This mini sequence from Vesselify co-founder Amy Ippoliti moves through […]
How to Create Week-by-Week Yoga Class Sequencing
To plan or not to plan your yoga classes? After over two decades of teaching yoga, I am still planning my classes. Having a solid class plan makes me feel so much more relaxed, calm, and prepared. And, I tend to teach better in most cases when I have a plan. During this period of […]
I Just Led My First Retreat Since the Pandemic and This is What I Learned
In December 2021 I was very fortunate to be able to host my first retreat since the pandemic began in early 2020. How to describe the experience…It was a lot of pent-up desire for travel, change, humidity, and hugs that flourished in a beautiful week of community togetherness. Our retreat location was Nosara, Costa Rica, […]
A Guide to Great Holiday Yoga Class Themes
Ahhhh, the holidays are here again. If you teach yoga, the pressure is on to help students ease their way through the ups and downs of the season with relevant class themes. For those of you newer to teaching, this might feel like a welcome challenge. But if you’ve been at this for a while, […]
How to Get People to Care in Your Yoga Classes
There’s a lot going on in the world right now. Record-breaking temperature highs can be found across the globe. The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed. Deadly hurricanes are becoming more common and more intense. Our soil is becoming desecrated. Forest fires are decimating Greece, Siberia, Brazil, Algeria, the western United States — really almost everywhere. […]
How Do We Keep Yoga Alive In the Time of Covid?
Yoga has made it through countless iterations, traditions, locations, and cultures. Like nature, it seems to always find a way. With the massive impact that covid-19 had on the yoga world, we have to wonder, can we still keep the practice alive? Since early 2020, yoga classes quickly moved into – and have become more […]
Amy Ippoliti
What’s your favorite part of your work in the world? We all need friendship and support to live a meaningful, happy life. To that end, I love helping to build community through my teaching, trainings, and retreats! I love knowing that these students have made lasting friendships that feel like family. I also feel […]
5 Tips to Market Your Online Yoga Classes
Offering online yoga classes requires online marketing strategies. Here are some practical ideas for you to employ as you educate your community about what you offer. 1. Invite your friends and family If your family and friends are scattered all around the country, there has never been a better time than now to call them […]
How Much Does a Yoga Teacher Make (And How You Can Make It Too)
Are you wondering how much a yoga teacher makes? According to a survey report by CNN, being a yoga instructor is among the top 10 jobs in America as it can help you earn an average of over $62K per year. How much does a yoga teacher actually make? The starting pay for a yoga […]
6 Essential Tips for Becoming a Full-time Yoga Teacher
Many people don’t believe it is possible to turn teaching yoga into a full-time career. Learn about the six essentials (next to teaching high-quality classes of course), that will help you become a full-time yoga teacher and earn enough to live comfortably: 1. Location, location, location… it doesn’t have to be expensive It is important […]
Why we should stop branding our yoga classes
We are in a golden age of rethinking classical yoga. I love this, as I believe yoga was never meant to be stagnant. As physiology and movement science make their way into our shalas, we can better meet the goal of a lifelong practice. But, let’s make no mistake, it’s all yoga. For years, I […]
Prioritize Stability Over Flexibility
As yoga teachers we need stability more than we need flexibility in our yoga practices and in our yoga businesses. One of the aims of yoga practice is to cultivate balance. Asana practices that focus solely on building flexibility, without regard for strength and stability, risk creating joint instability over time. Beyond asana, we need […]
How to use your website to offer online scheduling to your students
If your yoga business relies on in-person teachings, you already know that managing your schedule can be a challenge! Juggling multiple clients, a variety of services, email reminders, and rescheduling requests—it can be a lot to keep up with, whether you teach private sessions or own a studio! Enter online scheduling software. Sleek, secure and […]
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Three Tips for Increasing Visitors To Your Site
Ever wonder how Google ranks its search results? Or wish that your site popped up on the first page of these results? SEO is the art and science of getting found online and it depends on two main factors: the relevance of your site’s content to a particular search and the authority rating search engines […]
Are You Giving Your Older Students What They Need? (It’s Not Just Stretching)
I read so many books and articles about how to keep a midlife student safe that I’m ready to barf. Of course, we need to be safe. I’m not advocating that we do something crazy and hurt ourselves. But what a midlife person often needs has little do with gentle stretching. For starters, more than […]
Dawn Mauricio
What’s your favorite part of your work? Each time I teach a class or co-lead a retreat, I feel immense gratitude that I get to spend so many of my days surrounded by people who have a genuine interest in seeing the heart and mind more clearly. What’s your least favorite part of your work? […]
Jillian Pransky
What’s your favorite part of your work? A favorite part of my work, is that I am constantly offered the opportunity to slow down and connect with others and myself. I am regularly gifted moments of presence, spaciousness, and intimacy within myself and the honor of witnessing my students experiencing the same. What’s your least […]
Kia Miller
What’s your favorite part of your work? Teaching and sharing what I love. Sharing tools that help people connect to their deeper selves. I love the art of teaching, of connecting with students and getting out of the way so that the information can come through me. What’s your least favorite part of your work? […]
Manorama
What’s your favorite part of your work? I love when the teaching crystallizes for the student and she starts to understand the teaching more. I love to share Sanskrit and the beauty of the mantras and the deep layers of meaning encoded in the structure of the language. I love to show students how to […]
Karuna
What’s your favorite part of your work? I love teaching Yoga, it shares so many aspects of honoring the self as a whole, through nutrition, diet, beauty and grace I get to watch people transform their lives and to me that is a MIRACLE! What’s your least favorite part of your work? Every part of […]
3 Steps To Abundance for All
When Elena Brower shared her thoughts about creating prosperity, I watched it a few times and took copious notes. I also reflected on my own relationship with money. Abundance is something I’ve written about before here (Creating Mindful Abundance), but I thought I would take it one step farther and delve into how to create […]
The Science of Devotion… Where nothing is quite as it seems.
If there is one thing my yoga practice has taught me, it is that nothing is ever quite as it seems. Everything — all of our pains and joys and deepest desires and everything in between — they are at once both sacred and mundane, everything and nothing, the source of our oppression and the […]
Should I run a TTC?
I’ve just emerged from running the first TTC at Yoga Beach House as the lead trainer, an experience that has plunged me deeper into my yogic lifestyle and transformed the lives of 8 other yogis. For a few years I asked myself the question should I run a TTC, as I started to have a […]
Janet Stone
What’s your favorite part of your work? The humanness of it all. This line of “work” requires that we hold a long view, that we look back at the teachers and their teachers and see the flow of humanity through the times. It suggests an embracing of the rise and fall of our preferences being […]
Zeyneb Uras
Zeyneb Uras invited me to Istanbul – and although it was years before I managed to make the trip, it was immediately that I knew she and I would be dear friends one day. Her voice is pure, her love of the practice is true, and her respect of the work is infectious. Proud to […]
Balancing Funds Teaching Balancing Poses
Yoga is for everyone, and everyone can benefit from yoga. So yoga should be financially accessible for students. But financial stability (pardon the pun) is a must for the teachers as well as the students. When I first decided to complete a Yoga Teacher Training course I was convinced that I would never teach yoga; […]
Six Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Held My First Retreat
Gearing up to lead your first yoga retreat? It’s an exciting process, but sometimes also an intimidating one. Luckily, there’s lots to learn from the seasoned retreat leaders who’ve trod this path before. We’ve gathered six experienced, knowledgeable yoga teachers to share some things they wish someone had told them before they held their first […]
Tony Giuliano
What’s your favorite part of your work? My favorite part of my work is that I get to share my passion for movement with people and empower them to make conscious choices in all aspects of their lives. What’s your least favorite part of your work? Owning and running a studio takes a lot of […]
Konstantinos Charantiniotis
What’s your favorite part of your work? Witnessing the transformation is a great joy. Watching my students evolving and making life choices that uplift themselves and the whole world. A favorite moment is always the closing ceremony in my Teacher Trainings where trainees are able to speak up and articulate in an emotional and intelligent […]
On Being Brave
I never intended to be an entrepreneur or to start a small business. I’ve worked on social and environmental justice issues for most of my life – finding my calling at a young age at the intersection of climate change and human rights. It was so fulfilling, so all-encompassing, but also deeply disturbing to be […]
Pay Yourself First!
From Elena: This was my year to get my financial situation organized, and of course the Universe handed me many resources and informative humans to help. Paige McKechnie came to me from one of my dear teammates at dōTERRA, and upon hearing of her level of expertise, I asked her three key questions – and […]
How to Cultivate Mindful Abundance
Last week in Virginia, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of female solo entrepreneurs about mindful abundance. To some, mindful abundance may seem like an oxymoron. But if you are self- employed, thoughts of abundance have crossed your radar. As an independent contractor, there is a strong likelihood that you’ve made some […]
Lisa Wimberger
What’s your favorite part of your work? Hearing from clients that their lives got better since using the Neuroscupting® practices. If I know I have helped people live better lives then I feel like I have lived my mission. It’s the individual moments of hope in each student’s eyes that fuel me. WHAT’S YOUR LEAST […]
From Subsistence to Sustainability: The Shift from Yoga Teacher to Yoga Entrepreneur
It’s no secret that when you decided to become a yoga teacher, there were whispers every which way telling you you that you’ll never make enough money, you’ll always need a second job and that this choice will never be sustainable as a full time gig. For some of us, it can be tricky to […]
Tiffany Cruikshank
What’s your favorite part of your work? Helping students & teachers understand the why & how of the practice by overlaying it with an understating of anatomy & physiology. I love watching the light go on in their heads as they make sense of it and how to apply the practice in a meaningful way […]
7 Ways to Build a Successful Retreat
For the last 10 years I have been putting together and selling out yoga retreats to some wonderful destinations worldwide. There are tons of beautiful centers that will cater exactly to what your needs are whether it be an adventure filled retreat or perhaps a more meditative quiet experience. Whichever you choose make sure to […]
Pamela Miles
What’s your favorite part of your work? Midwifing people to happiness and health. What’s your least favorite? Bookkeeping. I’ve progressed from terror to mild dislike. What still excites you and keeps you engaged? My daily practice. My work is an ever-changing mosaic with so many facets – private clients, teaching beginners, mentoring developing practitioners and […]
Tari Prinster
What’s your favorite part of your work? Cancer survivors come to my classes with high expectations. They come with fear, doubts and questions about both cancer and yoga. And they come with a desire to know how and why yoga will help them be healthy and stay cancer-free. They come to yoga as people wanting to feel […]
Max Strom
Since I began studying in LA in the late nineties, Max Strom has taught me only a handful of times, but his intelligence, humility and kindness have been a captivating example of teaching at its most simple and highly refined, all at once. What’s your favorite part of your work? My favorite part of the […]
Annie Carpenter
Annie Carpenter made her first impression on me in a shuttle heading from the Reno airport to the first year at Wanderlust Tahoe. Her intelligence, kindness and forthrightness were so refreshing and comforting, and I adored her instantly. Her erudite Glo classes are beloved for her accurate cueing, potent present-moment reminders, which always lead me […]
Donna Farhi
Donna Farhi’s work has informed my teaching for over a decade. Her masterful descriptions of the space of practice have inspired my most subtle understandings. Her insightful interview is a concise reflection of her intelligent scholarship and commitment to practice. 1. What’s your favorite part of your work? The favorite part of my work is […]
Alan Finger
When I first moved to NYC in 1993, my first class was at Yoga Zone on 56th Street. My second class was at Yoga Zone on 19th Street, with Yogiraj Alan Finger. I was simultaneously intimidated, thrilled, and amazed to have found the real thing right there in the Flatiron district of New York City. […]
Rod Stryker
First time I attended a Yoga Journal Conference, I was 27 and committed to vinyasa yoga as *the* path. I landed in Rod’s class on day one, and instantly realized when he began to speak that I was back to square one – time to slow down and locate my light in a very different […]
Hari Kaur Khalsa
Hari Kaur Khalsa trained me to teach Kundalini Yoga. At the time, I was struggling with addiction, and she held space. I couldn’t really see myself, and she helped me soften my stance. She is a light for the practice in New York City, her generosity and wisdom will always influence my ways of seeing […]
Dr. Douglas Brooks
Dr. Douglas Brooks was my first philosophy teacher, but he’s been so much more than that. He taught me about family, love, priorities and studentship. He led me to some of the highest teachings to which I’d ever been exposed, in the most accessible and humble ways. Studying with him starting in the late 1990s […]
Sally Kempton
Sally Kempton has been a quiet force in my life and studies since 2000. Her writing and online teachings have helped me understand the fullness of meditation, and the state of expanded, luminous Awareness at the heart of practice. Her tales of her own interior experience inform and expand my own, and I’m forever grateful […]
Donna Eden
Donna Eden’s work has come rushing into my life in the past year as I’ve begun managing my compromised immune system. Through her student Lauren Walker’s Energy Medicine Yoga, and Donna’s books, I’m learning how to slow down, take breaks, take care of myself and honour the creativity and wisdom of my body to evolve […]
Abbie Galvin
Abbie Galvin is a senior teacner of Katonah Yoga, with locations both in NYC and Bedford, NY. With Abbie, I’m learning refined alignment and its impact on organ function; understanding how my habits of movement dovetail with my patterns of thinking, and comprehending new ways to recreate myself, starting with my bones. Studying with Abbie […]