We have arrived at Present Your Yoga Workshop with Confidence! This is the 4th post in this Workshop Series. If you missed the Pitch, Plan, and Promote your yoga workshop info, go back and hopefully you’ll gain some tips and reassurance that you can pull off a successful workshop!
Why does a workshop sound so much more intimidating than simply teaching a Tuesday yoga class?
Usually the same amount of people in the room – if not a little less, suddenly feels different. Yet I hear time & time again from teachers, “there’s a lot of pressure presenting a workshop”. No friend, this is the great place you want to be! These attendees can’t wait for you to dive deep into the good stuff you love to share – sometimes you have to skim over – in a regular yoga class. They’re on the edge of their seats ready for your nuggets of wisdom. You’re in the best spot with the most receptive crowd!
I realized, minutes before my first workshop why I was feeling nervous. I was presenting information as if I was the “expert” on Yin Yoga yet I didn’t create Yin Yoga. I wasn’t a fraud. Honestly, I am knowledgeable about its roots. Who started it, how it morphed into the Yin we do today. I know the poses and ways to modify them. I understand Yin & Yang energies. I learned a few acupressure points and the meridians. I had to drop the pressure of thinking I was acting like “an expert” and shift into being excited to present information I believe works.
You don’t have to weigh yourself down with impostor syndrome. You’re not a fraud either. You are someone who has a passion for something and you want to better others’ lives with what you know to work. Chakra Healing, Sound Bath, Yoga Foundations, Inversions, etc. You’re not training teachers, you’re offering an informative workshop to students who want a deeper understanding.
Present Your Yoga Workshop with Confidence
Surely you have done the research, you’re not making anything up. You are sharing what you have learned. And hopefully, you’re sharing something you are passionate about. My son competes in Speech Tournaments for his high school Speech & Debate Team. We have a little reminder before it’s his turn – “stress is for people who are not prepared”. You are prepared! Just like he was when he won State.
When you are passionate about your workshop topic you can’t wait to share it. Some mornings before work I am buzzing with energy excited to share my flow. Focus more on the gift of info you’re giving – what you’re bringing into the room! You’re about to enlighten some attendees, that’s exciting and turns the focus from: “What if I screw up” to “I can’t wait to tell you about this thing I love”.
Of course, our brains get in the way. If you’re focusing on the lack of things … I don’t have a pretty crystal collection, I don’t have a chakra rug, I don’t have a Yin Yang sign, I don’t have … you’re focusing on the wrong thing.
If your lack of something is really getting under your skin then go buy the thing you want to put your brain at ease. But I’m lovingly telling you – it’s not necessary. It’s a prop. It’s the background. It’s noise. Your information is the main event. No one is going to walk out of your workshop and think, “wow that was only a 7 at best, if only she had a podium of flame-less candles it would have been a 10.” This is not a performance, it’s a workshop. IF those flame-less candles are nagging at you then ask a friend to borrow some and remove that hiccup.
The Real Tips
Be sure to run through your workshop before the day of your workshop! This is a great opportunity to time it, get the kinks out, say words out loud that you might stumble over. Notice your note pages and get them in order. See what you want on your right side and what fits better on the left side. It’s a dress rehearsal – so go through the workshop like it’s the real deal.
The day of the workshop, be at your best. Don’t fidget and do a load of laundry just to lose track of time and leave later, drive frantically, and show up rattled. Whatever routine settles your soul, be sure to settle. This is just another day teaching people who are even more eager and interested in what you have to say! You don’t have to win anyone over, they already want to hear what you have to share! They’re excited to go deeper.
I always arrive a little earlier than I need to because I like being in the space. I like setting things up the way I want them. If it’s your notes, print-outs, candles, crystals, bowls, sage, whatever – take time to make sure everything feels comfortable and easily accessible.
I greet guests and open the workshop with a little, “before we jump into my stuff – let’s meet each other” and give students an option to share why they signed up or what they’re hoping to get out of the session. This is a quick check to let me know any areas where I need to linger on one topic.
Notice if you need to move on!
Be aware if you need to move on. This might take a few workshops but there are indicators to move on. Some we are guilty of creating some because of students who love to hear themselves talk.
Move on because everyone already knows the info and you’re beating a dead horse. You’ll see a lot of nods, glazed over eyes, fidgeting. They got it – you don’t have to explain the origins of yoga to a group of women who want to do inversions. They have a yoga practice it might be a quick drive by explanation not a 20 minute dissertation.
Move on if the information doesn’t hit the attendees, at all. It’s important to know your room. If you have 5 minutes on prenatal yoga but your workshop is full of menopause ladies – ditch it. You don’t even need to bring it up.
Move on if you stand up to present your autobiography. A quick example is great to relate to your students but don’t open the baby book. The workshop isn’t about you. I don’t need to know about your favorite 3rd grade teacher and how your parents never bought you a surfboard for Christmas. However, if Chakra Cleansing helped you with more energy – then share how the topic worked for you.
Move on if the group starts talking and takes the workshop in a different direction. I had to reign in the room at one Yin Workshop when I was talking about eastern vs western approach to health. Someone made a comment and ran with the US health care problems and it took me 2 minutes before I realized she hijacked my workshop to vent politics. “Thanks Susan, let’s chat more about Yin Yoga and the Parasympathetic Nervous System”.
Workshops Create Community
I’m a big believer in community. Any chance I can introduce one yoga student to another or bring someone in to contribute – I’m going to do it. Workshops offer the space for the yoga community to grow. I have a few women who now say hi to each other in class because they were in a workshop together. But it’s up to us to give that space a bit of encouragement.
I already mentioned the introduction, but also time to ask questions for group input. During my Restorative Workshop Series I asked where people hold their stress. There were nods of agreement with those who had clenched jaws in common. People realize they’re not alone, and they can relate.
Also during that workshop I asked a woman to share her favorite Restorative Props – after the workshop some women approached her to ask where she bought them and they continued the conversation out into the parking lot.
Workshops are fun. When we take the pressure off of ourselves to be perfect, all knowing, and present the workshop as a community space of deepening knowledge together – it becomes a beautiful opportunity.
You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be perfect and never skip a bullet point. I took students through 26 Yin postures and forgot 2 of them. Not one person demanded their money back!
You can present your workshop with confidence because you have planned it out, you care about the topic, and you are you! Some of my workshop attendees come because they already love my style of class teaching so they know they’re going to get the same thing in my workshop!
It is time! Go teach that workshop.
from my mat to yours ~
Stef