business development

How to Become A Kids Yoga Teacher Free Video Training Webinar

We had wonderful participation in the free webinar video training over the weekend.

I want to thank everyone for your great questions and feedback. We met, we talked, we learned a lot about becoming a kids yoga teacher. I appreciate all the questions sent in to make the webinar so informative and interesting.

Here are just a few questions that were answered:

What does it take to become a kids yoga teacher?
What is different about the 95 Hour Training compared to the 25 hour training I took?
How do you make the kids pay attention?
If you could have only 3 props in your kids class, what would they be?

We covered so many subjects for those new to kids yoga and for teachers looking for fresh ideas.

In addition to these questions, we answered a whole bunch of important questions by participants. For all those who want to know the ins and outs of getting trained as a kids yoga teacher, this is an excellent resource. If you weren’t able to attend the webinar live, the recording is below along with all the links mentioned in the webinar.

[divider]

Kids Yoga Teacher Training Resources Links

During the webinar I talked about some wonderful resources so here is a list of them:

July 14 – 26, 2019

Summer Certification in Burlington, Ontario
Come get your 95 Hour Certificate (or as many modules as you want to attend) by the shores of Lake Ontario this summer.
Summer Certification Details and Registration Costs Here

March 29-31
Toronto Yoga Show – Free Tickets to Show
Visit A Children’s Yoga Network Booth 526 at The Toronto Yoga Show
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Get Free Tickets to the Show on our Facebook Page

April 14-16
Kundalini Yoga Spring Getaway – An Amazing Yoga Weekend for Adults
Immerse yourself in a weekend to enhance your personal practice and see what a difference it makes in your teaching!
Register for the Spring Getaway Here

Getting Clear on Your Kids Yoga Niche

Life is known for its surprises and December was no exception. That month I treated myself to the Kundalini Yoga Winter Solstice Sadhana in Florida for lots of yoga, meditation, and healthy eating before the cookie trays and gravy boats of Christmas. Florida started with lots of sunshine and good yoga then turned into a tornado zone. Mid way through the week I abandoned my flooded tent for a cozy warm hotel room, hot bath, movies on TV, and take-out Chinese food.

Even though it wasn’t what I expected it was what I needed. I released a lot of guilty feelings for taking care of myself.

You see, I did feel a little bad for not getting work done, then for not being at camp during the tornado warnings, but when I returned to camp the next day I was rested and ready to go. All around me people were yawning, coughing and sniffling from all the rain. They were so happy I had energy to give the kids in the Youth Camp. They immediately transferred me from crafts to a whole day with the 3-4 year olds.

With the sun shining again and our mindful supervision, the kids played all day and I’m happy to report it ended very well for all.

Plus when I got home I had more energy for my family and now for work.

I know there will be more to write about this experience later, for now you can follow my Instagram feed for videos and pics from that trip.

Creating a Business Vision and Intention

Now that 2019 is here I’m back to planning for the year ahead. If you’ve ever wondered what mindful planning looks like, I’ll tell you my process now.

Visioning is part of my meditative practice. Consciously choosing a direction is my practice, just like choosing a yoga practice, I choose a life practice! Setting my vision means I don’t get pulled in different directions by what other people are doing ending up in a rut, trying to keep up, or forgetting what I was intending to do.

I’ve written about goal setting on my blog in 2018, offered a free visioning workbook in 2017, and shared a story about setting intentions here. Reviewing, planning, and intention setting is my ritual at the new year. It is a ritual that contributes to my business growth.

Here’s something you may not know about my early planning experiences.

My Ambitious First Business Plan

When I first started teaching yoga I thought kids yoga would be a side gig for me. I wrote my first business plan in 1999, which was to teach yoga classes and provide students with healthy meals. It was a yoga and meal service for people who wanted to be healthy. There was not much about kids yoga in it at all. I had no clue that my side hustle would become my main focus.

Sometimes when you are starting a business you don’t know what parts will take off. However, that ambitious first business plan was part of the process that brought me to where I am now.

It also taught me an important lesson: your vision must grow and change with your experience!

As I learned that shopping, prepping, cooking, packaging meals, doing dishes, delivering food was not for me, I noticed my energy for kids yoga growing. I made the decision to pivot in a new direction.

tree pose with kids yoga teacher trainer Aruna Kathy Humphrys — This is one of the earliest pictures I have of me teaching kids yoga (maybe in 2002?). My two nephews and niece are 23, 21, and 19 now!

Before I started offering Teacher Training, my niche was teaching children in daycare centres, after school programs, and community centres. I didn’t like teaching private clients. I didn’t like teaching in yoga studios. My niche was going where the kids already were, getting hired by those places, and staying there for as many years as they would have me. I taught in one school for 18 years!

The niche of kids yoga eventually grew into kids yoga teacher training.

A Niche Helps You Stop Chasing Shiny Objects

Now let’s fast forward to my process in the present day. With a focus on training new kids yoga teachers lately I’ve been getting emails asking for online training. The technology is there for this to be possible.

But the timing is not right and its not sitting right with me. This time of taking stock of what I offer lets me clearly see if I can start anything new.

yoga teacher vision board business planning — Reviewing my Yoga Business Vision Board from 2018

Review and Revise Your Past Goals

My first step to my new year planning is looking back on my plans for the previous year. Here’s what I wanted to do in 2018:

Re-Write 95 Hour and offer Kids Yoga Teacher Training: updating my Kids Yoga Teacher Training was a long-overdue task and like most projects, it took much longer than I planned! I’m happy to say it is completed and I love the new training! So this part can be checked off and will open up time for other goals like getting a regular newsletter and blog going again.

Kids Yoga teacher summer immersion training in Ontario Canada — The dates are set for the Summer Certification Intensive and registration is open!

Promote Ambassador: My goal of 12 new Ambassador Fast-Track Trainer Program fell short, but I did get to 5. Helping experienced yoga teachers run their own 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training is still very exciting to me and will definitely stay on my goal list. I’d love to see qualified kids yoga teachers make their teen program a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training. That would really get teens committed to their practice! If you’re curious about this, take a look here.

Leadership in Training: Another work in process is bringing new trainers into the Young Yoga Masters kids yoga teacher training. It is slowly moving forward and I’m learning more about what I need to know. For instance I know that unlike the Ambassador Fast-Track, I will only draw trainers from graduates of the 95 Hour Training. Again, definitely something I want to continue to focus on.

It’s clear from reviewing my past year that my plate is already quite full!

I’ve made a choice not to do any new projects, so no online courses, no books, or no shiny new projects that cross my path. In fact, I’ve started naming these (often out loud) as “shiny object” to help me stay focused.

A Niche Helps You Find the Right Client

Contemplating my niche is helping me see that there are niches within niches. For instance you may think that begin a Kids Yoga Teacher trainer is a niche. However after doing this for over 10 years now, I see the niches within kids yoga teacher training.

I am drawn to work with those who want to earn the full 95 Hour kids yoga training rather than those who want to take one weekend course and be done with their training. I enjoy seeing people progress through all the elements of the full training. I prefer the longer term relationships with students where I get to know people and find out why they want to teach kids yoga and the best ways to support them. I feel so proud when I give someone their 95 Hour Certificate because I’ve seen the commitment and sacrifices it took them to get to the full training.

I’m not exactly sure how, but I will be focusing more on supporting those getting the complete 95 Hour Certification.

A Niche Helps You Find Peace of Mind

Finally, if I didn’t take time to ponder my niche, I would not have hopped on that plane to Florida in December. Why? Because I would have been drawn to start some new project, spreading myself thin and putting my own practice on the back burner (again).

Knowing I have a plan and a focus is comforting for me. It gives me peace of mind that I wouldn’t get if I was trying to do everything. This year my planning routine led me to create my own custom calendar through Vistaprint.

I use the calendar to track my bookings and the top to track my ideas and other important ideas.

Here’s a picture:

Do You Know Your Kids Yoga Niche Yet?

The more I vision, the more I’m drawn to explore the importance of a niche to explore you are going to do, and also what you are NOT going to do.

Narrowing down your niche may seem counter intuitive when you first start off because it may feel like you are turning people away. You want to do it all to get your business going as fast as possible. When you first start out you may not know what your niche will become. At least it was that way for me.

Plus if you are reading this blog, you probably feel like you have a niche: Kids Yoga.

But consider the time when you could call yourself a yoga teacher, now you need to clarify that you’re a Hatha Teacher, Kundalini Teacher, or a Restorative Teacher.

The same clarification needs to happen in kids yoga.

Do you specialize in a certain age group?
Do you teach playful classes or more serious and meditative classes?
Do you work with sports teams, children on the autism spectrum, classroom yoga, or preschool yoga?
Do you do private classes, schools, or yoga studios?

Whatever you choose, look for what you love to do, because when you choose it as your niche, you’ll be doing it a lot as you become an expert.

The more you are an expert, the more you will be sought after.

That specialization will be good for the kids, for your business, and for your peace of mind too!

Can you Explain your Niche?

How would you identify your niche to a new client?

Leave a comment with your “elevator pitch” of your niche. Then read others to comment on and offer feedback.

How clear the niche is coming across to you?

I will also read each comment and offer feedback!

Give Your Creativity Free Reign

The holiday season is officially over. Gosh, how I enjoyed this break! It’s so cold outside, I just love being holed up in my cozy attic and giving my creativity free reign in my bullet journal, vision boards and dreaming about all the things I want to do in 2018 and beyond.

Have you been doing any dreaming and planning for the year ahead?

I’m a firm believer in conscious planning for the future because most of my major accomplishments have started as notes in my journal. As far as I’m concerned, creativity is king in visioning. Its a key step to setting my intentions and goals, especially for my business.

Here’s the process that has helped me add a touch of magic to my planning.

Steps for Setting Intentions and Goals

My first step is always looking at what I intend to get done this year. For example, in 2018 I see three major projects on my horizon:

Update our Kids Yoga Teacher Training
(RCYS – Registered Children’s Yoga School)
Grow Ambassador Yoga Train-the-Trainer
(200 Hour RYS – Registered Yoga School)
Mentor New Trainers for both my Yoga Training Schools

Right now my top priority is the first one, the update.

Write Down What You Know for Sure

Some of my intentions are foggy and unclear but there are always a few things I know for sure. I recommend acknowledging the things you know for sure, because this action can help the other elements come into focus.

In the case of my RCYS update, I know a few things for sure, things I’ve learned since starting the RCYS in 2012. So I randomly listed all the things I’d like to change, add, reorganize, delete, and research in my journal. I just let it come out in any order, I will organize it later.

I capture my initial ideas a couple ways:

Journals: I’m currently using a bullet journal but any journal will do,
Trello is an online tool to organize tasks and ideas. I have Trello on my computer. On my phone I use the Trello App to capture my ideas. Trello is free, and here is my affiliate link if you want to check it out.

bullet journal for yoga teacher to track habits — Here’s a page from my bullet journal that I use to track personal habits I know for sure I want to encourage in my life.

Put Everything on the Table and Design Your Destiny

I also recommend you put everything on the table to examine and make sure it is something you still choose to pursue.

Have you ever done this when you clean out your handbag? Just empty everything on the table and then decide what you really want to put back in again.

In the case of visioning the RCYS update, I even put whether to stay with Yoga Alliance on the table. This decision wasn’t hard because I feel the Yoga Alliance Standards have made my training more thorough, complete, and professional.

Affirming my connection with Yoga Alliance led to this vision board, a playful way to review the Standards for a RCYS for the update. I like to get the most out of life by enjoying my work and vision boards do it for me.

Registered Childrens yoga school standards and educational categories of learning for Yoga Alliance Certification — It’s important to me that our RCYS is in integrity with the YA standards, educational categories, and provides proper contact hours and non-contact hours allowed in each training.

Give Your Creativity Free Reign

The next part is the hardest part for me because I’m tempted to jump into planning mode. Yet visioning requires lots and lots of time for new ideas. This is time to let your imagination run wild and to slow down, to meditate, be still, get creative, and listen.

Continue using your journal, post it notes for ideas, tidy, clear out the old and create space for the new.

Try to resist the urge to do final planning, you still need a creative incubation period.

Organize Your Plan into a Vision

For my update it took a couple months for a new direction to came into focus. It took a month longer than I thought it would take.

I just hit this phase last week, but the creative space allowed me to get really clear on what I want for the update. These ideas sprung from the synergy of all the other steps and activities. If I started planning earlier it would have felt like work, and the result would be quite different than the ideas I have now.

I know I am ready to start my final update because I feel really happy and excited about the new ideas.

Your Vision is a Priceless Treasure

Visioning for your future is a priceless treasure, without your own vision you are borrowing from other people’s treasure, living a vision someone else created.

The New Year coincides with a slowdown in my business so it is a great time for me to work on my vision. Visioning is best done all year long, even though it is hard to find the time, its something you don’t want to ignore.

If this New Year gives you the feeling to look at your vision for your life, or your yoga classes, or family planning, or other business, consider that there is no better time to start then right now. The process can take weeks, months, and sometimes years to get excited about.

However setting your own vision is one of the most important things you can do to love and care for yourself.

It can also be wildly creative and what better way to live then letting your creativity reign free for a while.

Happy New Year and New Planning to you!

Aruna

Young Yoga Masters

Upcoming Kids Yoga Teacher Training Courses and Dates in Toronto at this link — Our next Kids Yoga Teacher Training starts soon!

The Harsh Truth of Running Your Own Yoga Business

The harsh truth for anyone, but especially someone self-employed, is that the last thing you want is to do is spend most of a month in a hospital ward. Welcome to my August.

Three days before graduation at Kids Yoga Teacher Summer Certification in Burlington, my father got admitted to Ajax General Hospital. As it happens, our new trainer Marcia was teaching the next morning. So began the first of numerous trips to see my dad that month. Fortunately potent antibiotics zapped his infection, and my dad was released feeling better than he had in months.

graduates of the best kids yoga teacher certification in Ontario — Way to Go Graduates of the Burlington Summer Certification! What a wonderful, compassionate group, so caring and kind towards me as I managed the news of my father in the hospital.

Afterwards I squeezed a week of holidays into 4 nights then got back to my folks, follow-up appointments, doing laundry, moving my niece into residence, and finally home.

When I decided to treat myself to some vegan coconut brownies it did not end up being the delight I was longing for. Within an hour I had excruciating stomach pains. I’ve had stomach aches before that always went away, but after a fitful night without much sleep, the pain persisted and I called my doctor who told me to go straight to the Emergency Room.

You know you’re in trouble when the nurse says, “It’s really good that you came in. I’ve been working in Emerg for eight years and I’ve never seen test results that far off normal.”

yoga teacher Aruna in the hospital and thinking about how to plan for emergencies in her yoga business — Hanging out in the lounge just to get some sunlight!

All the tests confirmed I had gall stones. “Once the infection goes down, we recommend removal of the gallbladder,” the doctors suggested. Without much time to think, I agreed and was eventually wheeled to a room with 3 other suffering souls dealing with their own health events, waiting for healing.

Waiting is difficult at the best of times, but waiting with other injured people, in a dark curtained room, was for me, a test of my spiritual practice.

I immediately leaned on my skills, especially the Mindfulness practice I had been immersed in while preparing to do my video for Mindfulness Month (October 2017).

May the moaning woman find peace.

May the man who leaves his TV on 24 hours find happiness.

May I find my own health and happiness.

By day three I was off painkillers. My saline IV dripped, and I fasted every day waiting, lowest on the priority scale, for surgery.

On the fifth morning I began considering checking myself out. My new neighbor was an aggressive young man who bossed the nurses around and yelled at his girlfriend.

My silent mantra was changing to:

May the new guy find peace and love, in another room.

May I kindly get the heck out of here!

I missed home, my uplifting community, being able to focus on what I cared about. So I think the whole floor heard me and my visitors cheer when we were told I would have surgery at 6 pm and probably be home by 10 pm that night.

It’s been three weeks since the surgery and recovery is going well, I’m about 80% back to normal, 100% back to work, being conscious not to go 150% back to work.

For everyone, unplanned time away due to medical emergencies or family responsibilities is difficult, they shine a light on the harsh realities of running your own business.

Here’s some of the things I started to think more deeply about after the hospital:

Harsh Reality – Cover Yourself as Part of Business

I am grateful for the free health coverage in Canada (OHIP), the total cost for my gallbladder removal was $17 for a prescription after I was released. Such an event could seriously ruin the financial well-being of a yoga teacher who has no medical coverage. Five days in the ward room and so much time off did get me thinking, what if I had something more serious and I couldn’t work for months instead of weeks? I’m now considering various plans for extra health coverage.

Harsh Reality – Sometimes Yoga Teachers Neglect their Own Health

On the one hand yoga teachers have a wonderful practice to get them through tough times like being in the hospital for 5 days. But I’m not the first, and won’t be the last yoga teacher who has neglected checking their own health thinking they can eat, breathe, think, or stretch their way out of the problem.

Few people like going to the doctor, but if I had listened to the advice I give my students and used all resources, including western medicine, I would have got the stomach pains checked out before they became an emergency. I’d have seen fewer doctors in the process too.

Is there anything you should get checked out by a Doctor? May this be your nudge to do it.

Harsh Reality for Business – You Can’t Do it Alone

The timing of these events was such that I didn’t have to cancel any courses. This was the first time this type of thing has happened to me in my 20 years of business. However my harsh month of August leaves me wanting to have my business set up so I can care for my parents, elders, and myself when needed.

So now, more than ever before, I will be on the lookout for new trainers and new admin support to create a team. Most of my successful collaborations have been with grads who are teaching kids’ yoga and making an effort to stay in touch. I’ve a new appreciation for our current trainers in the USA and Ontario.

Any grads who are teaching kids’ yoga and considering getting into training, now is a good time to connect with me to let me know!

This also means me learning the skills to lead a business instead of doing it all myself, something I’m very curious about.

Harsh Reality – Life is Fragile

Gallbladder surgery is fairly common these days, yet if left unchecked it could have caused serious problems. I am so very grateful for the nurses, doctors, and hospital equipment that brought me back to health and of course for the support of my husband, family, and friends.

Seeing all the suffering so many people are experiencing around the world and my own experience of going under the knife, I’m reminded of the fragility of life. No one is going to live forever and I’m glad I have more time to follow my dreams because one never knows when their time will run out.

I plan to use my time wisely.

Upcoming Events: Young Yoga Masters.com

Mindfulness Month with Young Yoga Masters Oct 7 — Mindfulness Month: Yoga for Kids and Families

Putting Yourself Out There as a Yoga Teacher

After yoga teacher training, starting your yoga teaching business is kind of like telling the world you’re a yoga fanatic.

Before teacher training the practice of yoga is highly personal, you do it for yourself. It’s glorious and indulgent me-time. At least, that’s what I felt when I first started doing yoga at the YMCA over 20 years ago.

When I realized I had become a yoga fanatic I knew the right choice for me was enrolling in yoga teacher training. Teacher training was a protective bubble of positivity surrounded by uplifting fellow yogis. When I graduated and wanted to actually teach yoga, that bubble suddenly burst. Yoga was no longer just me-time, a time to take a break from the stresses of daily life and relax. Yoga WAS real life. It was my real life and my job and I had to start telling others about it. I had to start promoting myself, something I had no experience doing and I didn’t really know where to start.

New Orleans Kids Yoga Teacher Graduating Class of 2017

The completion of yoga teacher training can be a bit of shock as you shift from student to teacher. It is a big step that can leave you a little vulnerable. You may be worried that you will turn people off by promoting yourself too much or too hard.

You Don’t Want to be THAT Person

We’ve all had the experience of having a friend or acquaintance contact us out of the blue about their new business. If we’re not interested, and the friend is insistent, it can become uncomfortable and put a rift in the friendship.

We don’t want to be that pushy person, but we also have to figure out how to put ourselves out there in a way that feels good for everyone. We all know of people “living the dream” doing a job they care about and talking passionately about it in a way that inspires. They make it look easy, not sleazy.

tweens doing tricky tree kids yoga pose NOLA — Tweens do tricky tree in the practicum of the Kids Yoga Teacher Training in New Orleans

It’s Like Teaching Yoga to Tweens

Overcoming the hesitancy to promote yourself is like teaching yoga to tweens. They can be reluctant to try yoga because it’s different or they associate it with something “not cool” and they don’t want to look foolish in front of their friends. But once they’re doing the poses and playing the games they forget about their worries and just enjoy themselves. Before they know it, class is over and everyone is hugging.

Maybe we all still listen a bit too much to the twelve year old kid inside us. The one who cares what other people think and who doesn’t want to look foolish but doesn’t want to miss the party either.

That kid also has the urge to take chances and put him or herself out there to experience something different and create a new life for themselves.

n the practicum, the class discusses the meaning of the meditation and why it is relevant to tweens. — In the practicum, the class discusses the meaning of the meditation and how it is relevant to their lives.

How to Put Yourself Out There as a Kids Yoga Teacher

In yoga teacher training we learn that it is best for beginners to start with beginning poses. And so it is with self-promotion in the business realm.

Start by Telling People Who Support You: Who When I started my business, I started with people who I knew would be supportive. I told other yoga loving people in my social circle, I told my supportive family members and I told my friends who I knew would be happy for me and believed in me enough to tell others what I was doing.

Start by Subbing: I offered myself as a substitute yoga teacher to experienced yoga teachers who needed help during their time away for holidays or courses. I approached new studios looking for people with energy.

Start by Networking: I formed networks and shared my passion for my specialty, kids yoga, with anyone who had kids, taught kids, worked with kids or was interested in kids health and happiness. I had weekly tea with another kids yoga teacher in my neighborhood and we supported each other and eventually offered a 3 hour workshop to parents. I volunteered in the adult yoga community I belonged to and soon all the other adult teachers knew I was the Kids Yoga person. I always had time to talk to parents after my kids yoga classes, and one of them told me about a Montessori School that was looking for a kids yoga teacher. I ended up working at that school as the weekly yoga teacher for 18 years!

Avoid the Nay-Sayers: I did NOT tell people if I thought they would find fault in my yoga teaching career move. That would be like me trying to do Crane Pose in my first yoga class – definitely difficult and for me, even dangerous.

Beginners are best starting with beginner steps. Build your business in a sweet and steady way.

Warrior Pose Kids Yoga Teacher Certification Toronto Ontario Canada — Warrior Pose during the practicum of the Kids Yoga Teacher Certification – Become a Yoga Warrior who leads with their heart.

Be True – Avoid Sleazy Advertising

Advertising can be designed to trick people into buying (I’m looking at you Vitamin Water!) The yogic approach to advertising which involves working with integrity to build relationships has been successful for me. This type of marketing helps people see if my offering is right for them.

Let Your Style be Known: I started blogging to show people what I am about, what my teaching philosophy is and to give readers an opportunity to figure out if they resonate with the way I do kids yoga.

Be Real, Credible, Remove the Mystery: It’s best for new teachers to not promise the moon. Let your advertising be true to who you are and describe what is unique about what you are offering. To you it may be obvious what happens in a kids yoga class, but to a new person, it is still a mystery. Let your advertising demystify your offering. Let your customers know if your kids class is challenging and disciplined helping children build focus and develop attention. Or maybe your kids class is playful and relaxing which helps children relieve stress and learn to manage anxiety. Whatever your style, develop your advertising to reflect your class, not to sound what you think it should say. You’ll attract customers who will appreciate what you offer.

Advertising that has a point of view doesn’t feel gross; it actually helps people make an informed decision.

a yoga teacher dressed as a superhero leads a yoga class for children to save the world! — Young Yoga Masters grad Marcia LeBlanc (and Cheryl Adams not pictured) teach a Superhero Kids Yoga class at the Yoga Show in Toronto. The class has a strong point of view – be the hero of your own life!

Build Slow, Build Strong. Be a Support for Yourself and Others.

I didn’t overload my stress levels as I built my new kids yoga business. I took part time jobs that eased the financial pressure. It takes years to build a business so don’t expect to build in a few months.

I literally went out of my way to meet with other yoga teachers to brainstorm ideas for classes. I got their advice on what to charge and how to get myself out there as a reliable and professional teacher and shared my experiences with them. I sought and found active communities of support. If a class wasn’t in my area, I shared it with someone in my network, and others shared classes with me.

We have a private Facebook Group for Young Yoga Masters graduates that connects grads from all years and supports our new kids yoga teachers. If you are thinking of taking adult or kids yoga teacher training, find out what kind of post-training support is offered, that helps.

If you’ve completed your yoga teacher training and are at the place where you’re ready to teach new classes but don’t know where to start, you aren’t the only one.

As you start putting yourself out there let everything that you’ve learned in yoga guide you.

It is possible to create a new career, full or part-time, without destroying all the things you love about yoga and about yourself. You might have begun your yoga teacher training journey because you were a yoga fanatic and there is absolutely no reason it can’t stay that way as it it becomes your job and your business. I say this with confidence because I’ve been living that passion for over twenty years now.

Yours truly,

Aruna Kathy Humphrys

Lead Trainer, Young Yoga Masters

Yoga Alliance Registered Children’s Yoga School

Upcoming Events

For our fellow yoga fanatics reading, we invite you to consider the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Training.

Click on the link below for more details.

Kids Yoga Teacher Training Yoga Alliance Registered Childrens Yoga School — Click Here or on the Image above for more details of the Kids Yoga Teacher Certification

Join the Newsletter if you’d like to be reminded of early registration deadlines.

Conscious Intention Setting for Teaching Yoga – Free Workbook

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2017. Today I have a free downloadable workbook that I’ll explain more about below.

I also want to make sure you know about the Early Registration Special that runs to the end of the weekend on the next module of Kids Yoga Teacher Training. The upcoming Themes and Dreams Certificate is a favourite because of all the songs, stories, meditations and philosophy for Kids. If you are planning to get Certified as a Kids Yoga Teacher this year, register now to reserve your spot. We’re also polishing up the details of the 95 Hour Summer Certification 2017 – you can get a sneak peak here. Let me know if you have any questions about Kids Yoga teacher training.

Tools to Consciously Set Your Course for 2017

The beginning of 2017 marks the beginning of a new year and the passing away of an old one. Appreciating the fact that all things are temporary, they are born, they grow, and they pass away is an integral part of the yogic life. It helps us truly appreciate them while they exist and to learn from them to create better tomorrows.

A new year brings a natural opportunity to reflect on the year that just passed and to consciously set intentions for one that is coming up. My meditation teacher always warned that if you don’t set your own vision for your life, you will be living the vision of someone else. I have lived other people’s visions of what life should be and I prefer to set my own course!

Writing Your Goals to Create Your Life

For this reason I started keeping journals of my goals, plans and desired lifestyle when I started meditating regularly. When I look back through my journals I can see that everything I’ve done, including Young Yoga Masters, Ambassador Yoga and even finding my husband, were shaped by the intentions I wrote in my visioning journals.

The benefits I got from my visioning practice inspired me to start teaching a yearly workshop for Conscious Intention Setting seven years ago. It is always offered at the beginning of the year and it’s called the Kundalini Kick Start (I got my adult yoga training in Kundalini Yoga). During the workshop we do yoga, meditation and conscious intention setting.

Historically the workshop sells out and many who attend are past grads. I love to reconnect with you all in person through yoga and meditation, the practices that brought us together. I know we teachers have to consciously make time to keep our own practice healthy! This is one great way to do this.

Kundalini Kick Start 2017 is a 3-hour workshop happening in Grimsby (between Hamilton and St. Catharine’s) on Saturday Saturday Jan. 14 and in Toronto on Sunday January 15 (with co-teacher Daya Kaur Khalsa)

Conscious Intention Setting for Yoga Teachers Using the Free Download Worksheets

However not everyone is able to make it to Toronto for this workshop, so this year you can use the worksheets below to participate in the process. Having a conscious intention setting ritual to begin a new year helps us to create the work and life we want for the upcoming year and beyond.

In Kundalini Kick Start we do a thorough yoga set and one or two x 11 minute meditation sessions before we dive into the visioning for the new year. Consider attending a yoga class or doing an hour of yoga at home, then meditating before you start. Make an afternoon of it. You’ll be glad you did! It will help you look at what you want more clearly.

Then use this free downloadable workbook (modified from Kundalini Kick Start) to guide you through the process. It’s a way to think through and vision the year ahead for yourself personally, socially and professionally. Below are descriptions of what’s in its pages.

Reflections on 2016- Page 1

Yoga Teacher worksheet to reflect on the past year, what worked, what didn't work in 2016 — Page 1 of Workbook

Reflection on 2016. You can start with positives and what went right for you in your personal, social and professional life. Or you may be drawn to look at What Didn’t Work first. Some yogis say the mind comes up with negatives first and fastest so that you can avoid danger. You can fill this out in any order that suits you.

Then take the reflections from what went right and what could have worked out better to draw some lessons to carry forward into 2017.

Your Vision for Yourself for 2017 – Page 2

Yoga teachers use this worksheet to look at what they want in the year ahead for business, personal, and community. — Page 2 of Workbook

Now turn your focus towards forming a vision for what you want to be in 2017. What you want to be will determine what you will do and what you do will lead to what you end up having in your life. This is the Be/Do/Have model for forming a vision for your life.

What You Need to Achieve Your 2017 Vision – Page 3

Yoga Teacher worksheet of what you need to attain your goals and visions for the year ahead. — Page 3 of Workbook

Once you’ve sketched out a vision for 2017 you can look at what you need to bring that vision to reality. In this worksheet you identify what you lack. Often yoga teachers train themselves to focus on gratitude and the positives. Allow yourself to feel what is missing when you set your vision because our lack can provide the clue to the direction we need to go.

It might be training you need, resources that are required, or relationships that need to be developed. It might be letting go of other things to make room for what you really want. Search your heart and apply your yogic wisdom then put what you need on paper to clarify how you feel now.

How to Spend Your Time and Maintain Balance in Your Life – Page 4

Yoga teachers look at time management to help follow through on their goals for 2017 — Page 4 of Workbook

Before moving onto action steps, take some time to think about how you currently spend your time during a typical twenty four hour day. Ideally, how would you like to spend your time? Fill in the twenty-four hour pie chart with estimates of what you do during a typical day and what you would like to do in an ideal day (don’t forget to include a good night’s sleep).

Turn Your Vision into Action – Page 5

Yoga teachers take all the insights from the workbook to clarify their goals and vision for 2017 — Page 5 of Workbook

Apply the insights from previous pages to add action steps you can take to build upon your vision and move it forward. Be as specific as possible in this part.

Timelines for Action – Page 6

Yoga teachers use the worksheet to sketch out a timeline for their goals and visioning using the workbook. — Page 6 of Workbook

Take the action steps sketched out on page 5 and arrange them on the timelines in a sequence that seems appropriate to you. Is what you have written realistic? Do you need to adjust your goals, plans or timelines to be able to have a balanced life?

You may want to print out one or more of these pages again to update and modify your vision as you learn more about what you want and whether it is really what you thought it would be.

Let your vision be a work in progress that you return to and update as a living breathing force in your life.

Finally, congratulate yourself!

You’ve earned it. It’s not easy to take time out to think about what you love about your life, what could be improved upon and how you might go about doing that. But taking the time to do that helps you move towards what you really want from life so you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again out of habit.

Have a beautiful balanced 2017!

(check your email after you click the button above)

business development

Kids Yoga Teacher Training Resources Links

More Resource Links from the Webinar

Online Training Resources

Hope to See you at the Summer Certification!

Creating a Business Vision and Intention

My Ambitious First Business Plan

A Niche Helps You Stop Chasing Shiny Objects

Review and Revise Your Past Goals

A Niche Helps You Find the Right Client

A Niche Helps You Find Peace of Mind

Do You Know Your Kids Yoga Niche Yet?

Can you Explain your Niche?

Steps for Setting Intentions and Goals

Write Down What You Know for Sure

Put Everything on the Table and Design Your Destiny

Give Your Creativity Free Reign

Organize Your Plan into a Vision

Your Vision is a Priceless Treasure

Aruna

Harsh Reality – Cover Yourself as Part of Business

Harsh Reality – Sometimes Yoga Teachers Neglect their Own Health

Harsh Reality for Business – You Can’t Do it Alone

Harsh Reality – Life is Fragile

Upcoming Events: Young Yoga Masters.com

You Don’t Want to be THAT Person

It’s Like Teaching Yoga to Tweens

How to Put Yourself Out There as a Kids Yoga Teacher

Be True – Avoid Sleazy Advertising

Build Slow, Build Strong. Be a Support for Yourself and Others.

Aruna Kathy Humphrys

Upcoming Events

Tools to Consciously Set Your Course for 2017

Writing Your Goals to Create Your Life

Conscious Intention Setting for Yoga Teachers Using the Free Download Worksheets

Reflections on 2016- Page 1

Your Vision for Yourself for 2017 – Page 2

What You Need to Achieve Your 2017 Vision – Page 3

How to Spend Your Time and Maintain Balance in Your Life – Page 4

Turn Your Vision into Action – Page 5

Timelines for Action – Page 6

Finally, congratulate yourself!

Enter your email to have the Free 2017 Yoga Teacher Yearly Planner PDF delivered to your In-box: