Empowering Yoga Teachers: Changing the World

Yesterday I had a chat with Amy Ippoliti as part of a series of conversations I am having with yoga teachers and leaders in the yoga community that have inspired me greatly and who are pouring their energy into empowering yoga teachers. Amy Ippoliti has been involved with the yoga community since 1986, was part of the rise of the New York yoga scene in the early 90′s and has been a student of John Friend’s since 1998. She is widely respected as not only a fun and inspirational workshop leader but also a teacher of teachers.

I have not yet met Amy in person but I have experienced her as a teacher in the virtual classroom as I took part in her signature 90 Minutes to Change the World online course for yoga teachers last year. I was thrilled by what Amy was offering as it was so entirely different to any other yoga teacher development courses I had taken over the years as she not only shared technique on teaching to be used in the classroom but placed a great emphasis on encouraging yoga teachers everywhere to think of themselves as professionals and to take charge of the business aspect of their careers from the ground up.

I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in the classroom learning how to teach asana, pranayama, yoga philosophy, and meditation and a fraction (and I really do mean a fraction) of those hours were dedicated to how to manage time effectively, how to market yourself as a yoga teacher, how to manage your finances, and how to create community. These things are just not part of yoga teacher training curriculum for most schools as there is so much to cover in regards to technique and practice that there just isn’t enough time and as well most often even the most talented yoga teachers out there are simply are not experts in business.  And this is such a shame as it means that so many talented yoga teachers out there burn out after a few years of teaching as they are overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated.

This is the reason Amy created her online courses for yoga teachers and it is the driving force behind my online offering as well as my revised curriculum for my Yoga Teacher Training Programs .  As I have stepped into teaching and mentoring newer yoga teachers I have realized that so much of what I have learned in the last ten years being a full time yoga teacher is valuable and can literally save years of time and excess effort for teachers just starting out. I have realized that if the teachers I train are to have a chance creating a respectable career out of teaching yoga than this information needs to be shared with them along with teaching methodology and yogic philosophy.  Which ultimately means more yoga teachers can continue to share their life affirming messages with their local communities and the world at large. Its a simple equation. More stable and inspired yoga teachers=more supported and inspired yoga students=more positive and uplifted communities around the globe.

I am incredibly inspired by the work of visionaries like Amy and I was delighted to speak with her yesterday. I will continue to offer free content such as the recording below here on my blog so that you too can hear what these passionate teachers have to share.

Click this link to listen to Amy’s call from yesterday.

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