Subtle® Yoga Blog
“Pick Up the Pace” and Other Questionable Yoga Advice
“pick up the pace,” – as if faster yoga practice automatically means better. But breath-centric yoga follows the rhythm of the person, not the teacher, or the beat of the music. It’s time to rethink pacing.
I Spent 2 Weeks Talking to Mature Yoga Teachers – Here’s What They Struggle With
After talking one-on-one with 47 mature yoga teachers, I identified three key struggles coming up again and again: confidence, feeling unprepared to work with today’s students, and not having enough students. Here’s what I learned.
6 Things You Won’t Find in My Yoga Classes
It may be just as important to be clear about what you don’t teach as it is to explain what you do teach. Using neti neti as a metaphor, I explore six things you won’t find in my yoga classes and why discernment matters for yoga teachers.
If Your Yoga Teaching is About Making Shapes – AI Might Actually Replace You (Part 2)
AI has been writing some of the comments on my posts lately. It may be better at spotting “alignment” than a real person, but it’s never going to take over yoga teaching. More and more people will flock to yoga because it offers them two important things that they are increasingly being starved of – connection and thinking.
The Yoga World is Having an Asana Meltdown
The yoga world is having a meltdown about asanas. While questioning outdated cues is important, reducing yoga poses to stretching or biomechanics misses something deeper. What if asanas were developed not only for the body, but also for the nervous system, mind, and subtle energetic transformation?
AI and the Future of Teaching Yoga – Part 1
AI-generated yoga videos are already here. They’re creepy. But real yoga teaching is not going away. In fact, as AI creates more disconnection, distraction, and loneliness, skilled yoga teachers will become even more essential. Yoga provides the technology for becoming more human.
If Shutdown Is Not Driven by the Dorsal Vagus, Then What Creates It?
Many yoga teachers were taught that shutdown is caused by the dorsal vagal branch of the vagus nerve. But critics suggest the picture is much more complex. In this post, I unpack shutdown as a whole-system hypometabolic defense response and explain what that means for yoga teachers working with dissociation and trauma.
Yoga Teachers: Never Force Someone Into Their body
A new systematic review links dissociation with interoceptive dysfunction, which has important implications for yoga teachers. This post explores one young woman’s experience of dissociation triggered by a yoga pose, and also what it taught me about trauma, and how it’s important for yoga teachers never to force anyone into their body, and how to skillfully offer the experience.
The Body Vs. The Brain – Who’s Really Keeping the Score?
A new neuroscience article challenges the idea that trauma is stored in the body. But for yoga professionals, the bigger takeaway may be how an integrated yoga practice that supports flow states, plus somatic healing may help heal trauma.
Yoga Teachers: Are You Creating More Confusion or Clearing it Up?
There’s a lot of confusion about what Chair Yoga is and who it’s for. In this post, I unpack the difference between Accessible Chair Yoga for people with mobility challenges and yoga that simply uses a chair as a prop, and why those distinctions matter in terms of safety, functionality, and marketing.
I Got This (but getting there took time)
It took me a long time to feel confident as a yoga teacher. I’m not naturally bold or self-assured, and get my teaching chops together was a slow burn. In this post, I share what actually helped: meditation, experience, clarity about methodology, and leaning into the folks who support me.
Have I Ever Told You About CJ?
A childhood frenemy became the mirror through which I learned about jealousy, competition, self-worth and self-acceptance. This personal reflection explores how, through the lens of yoga philosophy, the people who trigger us are essential for our personal growth.
