Yin and Yang of Teaching Yoga with Paul Teodo

0:00 Hey there, Before we get started on this week's episode, I would love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast. We want to share yoga with as many people as possible in this free resource. This podcast is one of the ways that we can do that, and the best way that you can help support us is by giving us a review.

0:16 So if you go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever podcast platform you use, Scroll down until you find that star review and then give us some love. Thank you so much and let's get started with this week's episode. Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga Podcast.

0:35 If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you. We talk all things yoga related for teachers in order to supplement and complement and even support after a 200 hour yoga teacher training. Or if you've never done a training before, this podcast is all about just learning more about yoga in an authentic way.

0:52 Together with Paul Tioto and Byron De Marseille, we put together this podcast to provide you with a free resource to learn more about yoga. Whether you want to share yoga or teach yoga or just practice yoga, this podcast is talking all things yoga related. And we're trying to talk from the teacher's perspective and also the students perspective to make sure we get a full 360 degree angle on what yoga is all about and how it's evolved in the modern world.

1:16 Welcome to our podcast. Hello, and welcome back to the Going Pro Yoga podcasts. Michael Henry here with Paul Tieto is with me today. And I'm excited actually, because I love having Paul in the podcast. It's the rare occurrence with the family that he's got and everything he's got juggling. So I'm really happy to have him with me today to to chat about something that's actually something he actually likes talking about a lot, which is the Yin. And the Yang, Yes, but we're

1:47 going to be talking about the yin and the Yang of teaching yoga. What does that even mean? Well, the inn and the Yang is basically the balance between two things. So in teaching yoga. Two things that are opposite. Two things that are opposite things, Two things that are opposite truth.

2:03 Truth. So the two things of teaching yoga, or at least the things that I've written down to kind of like deconstruct and unfold, are well, well, I'll let you choose. What would you like to start with the end of the Yang? I think we can start with the Yang, because I think when a lot of people think of this podcast, maybe they find our classes through the power yoga stuff right? Though we talk about the Yang.

2:25 However, I love teaching in. I love teaching meditation. I just got done leading a meditation training with my wife in the meditation class like 20 minutes. Ago, yeah, yeah. In class, yeah. In with, in. With sound healing.

2:40 So. Yeah. Yeah. And then in teaching, Teaching both styles is like, it's like going from electric guitar to acoustic guitar. They're the same instrument in some ways, but they're completely different instruments in another way. Yeah, So I'll, I'll write down some of the things that I wrote down and thought about when I when I thought of the yin and the Yang of teaching.

3:03 And then you can, you know add in as you feel please. But the Yang to me is very much, you know, you can call it the masculine, but I to me the word structure came out as much as possible. Structure and you know, understanding, sequencing, you know, order of poses, understanding poses a little bit more of the left brain, if you will. You know, the logical, like the safety, maybe a little bit of anatomy or body awareness to some level controlling the room. Yes, these types of qualities,

3:34 which actually I was thinking about it on the drive over here because there's so many different types of actually, yeah, I'll say it cuz I already started, might as well since there's so many different types of 200 hour yoga teacher trainings that exist. And then I was thinking it was like, OK, well, some trainings are probably a little bit more yin, some are a little bit more Yang.

3:50 And I'm not talking about yin yoga, Yang yoga. I'm talking about. Energetically, yeah, Yin teaching yoga or Yang teaching yoga. And then I thought about ours. And ours is a balance, but it's more on the yank, yeah. It's a more masculine training.

4:07 I I kind of like on structure. Yeah, I kind of like using that word. I mean even though like there's this whole, this has nothing new to gender Okay, I know that that's like a big hot button topic right now talk about masculine. So, So what that means to me is having structure, having discipline.

4:23 And to me, if you could encapsulate what we're trying to achieve with a a Yang energetic class, it's a certain degree of respect. And truth and honesty, that's the Yang. And for me the yin is love and softness and gentleness. So those are the two separate sides. So if you are teaching a Yang and a class that is Yang energetic, something like Vinyasa or something like power or something like Rocket Yoga Eshtanga, What's Rocket Yoga? Rocket yoga is a, it's a, it's a

5:00 take on a Shtanga. So it's crazy arm balances and inversions. But you look at those, those type styles of yoga and who created them Men, they were they were masculine, they were created by men. Men created those styles. And there is an like a sense of it's a strong physical class. The the class is like a stronger there is a set sequence. So there's a lot of structure.

5:27 Byron and I love to give you a template where there's structure and then there's a lot of freedom to be creative within the structure, right? Because I don't want to be too rigid. I'm not the kind of teacher that would teach the same sequence every single time.

5:40 Neither is. Neither is Byron. But yeah, so having that degree of structure, but then respect. So as as a teacher, if I'm leading a power yoga class, especially if the class is busy. And especially if you're if you're doing like a lot of hand stands and arm balances and stuff, you're going to attract the people in your class that have egos that want like they want to float up to their handstand and. Do you have the capacity to have the room respect? You so last week or even like 10

6:14 days ago, it was like a week or 10 days ago. I had a really busy class and there is a very nice young man who is in class. And he would just would not stop trying to kick up the handstand. And he was flopping around in a way that was dangerous to himself, which is unfortunate.

6:33 But even more so he was endangering other people because the room is so crowded, like the potential of him kicking somebody else. So I went up to that guy very assertively and said at first I said just be careful, don't do that. The second time I came up to him and there was anger in my tone and it was a forceful like.

6:52 Stop doing that. Like, do not do that again. And he looked at me and I could tell he was a little hurt, but I'm doing it for him and I'm doing it for everybody else in the room. And then a couple people that were around him looked at me and they're like, thank you, Yeah, you know, so that's the controlling the room part.

7:10 Yeah. It's also protecting and keeping holding a safe space. Yeah, and and not being afraid of in moments where you. Need to. Be confrontational. Be assertive and confrontational. If it's the right thing to do, you know. Yeah.

7:25 So that that's a that's it seems like a lot of masculine there. But I, you know the yin of of protecting people or or like you know, considering everyone else or feeling compassion for the other people and then also compassion for him to give him a chance to like OK, like I said it once that didn't work.

7:41 You know it's the carrot and the stick that Byron talks about. Yeah, you know, you show the carrot, the carrot's not working. All right, well, I'm going to get pull the stick out. And it wasn't like he was just kind of kicking up once or twice, like a little.

7:55 Like he was flopping around in a way that was like distracting and dangerous. And so he needed to be, like, immediately reprimanded because I didn't want him to fall and hurt himself or hurt somebody else or what. What also could happen is he starts doing that.

8:13 And then some other person with their big egos like walk, but he's going to start flopping up and then you got three or four people that are flopping around but and you've lost control of the room in the structure. And the structure of the room is is gone. So I I do keep you know, and then also this is like with you know telling people not to turn their phone on in class like my new thing is I will, I will at the very beginning class I would say.

8:38 No phones in class. And then I'll pause and I'll be like, hey, everybody, let's say that together. And then everybody in the room will say no phones in class. So there's literally no excuses. You can't say like I didn't hear you or whatever like and it really like drills home that point. And I find by setting that structure and a certain. Degree of rules, but that.

9:02 Doesn't mean there's no creativity. There's tons of room to be creative, right? Once we'll talk more about. Yeah, tons of room to be creative within that structure. But I find because I do that at the beginning and there's a certain degree of like like just don't disrespect me. Like, don't disrespect this, this room. The.

9:25 Bad behavior students, they never show up in my class or sometimes I'll get teacher people that will say, hey, did you get that student in your class? He's a real pain in the butt or she's a real pain in the butt. I'm like, yeah, but that person doesn't act up in my class because they know that if. If they.

9:41 Were to do that, I would. I would discipline them. I would call them out. You know, so there's established A presence. Your presence. Yes. Like this is, you know, respect me, Respect the people in the room. Yeah. And these are the ways.

9:55 You don't say it that way. But, you know, I think that's one of the important things or one of the things that you do well and which is why we call you professional, Paul. You you bring in that professionalism which helps to keep things in check, helps to keep the structure, which is really, really valuable. And also at the beginning, like you said, beginning of the yoga class, we do it at the beginning of training, setting the tone. Yeah, setting the tone.

10:18 Otherwise, things can get a little chaotic. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's really important. It's more important in those types of classes that, you know, so we're talking about like teaching a Yang or teaching like a fiery, sweaty style class playing electric guitar. Like, what do you need in those types of classes? You know, you would track the head bangers. You would track the mosh fit people you know. So you got it.

10:41 Instead, you got it. Stay exactly. You got it. Stay exactly. You got to keep those people. And then and then I say, like, I always promise. So this is another thing about, like, I if I make a promise, I'm going to keep my promise.

10:53 I'll say, like, I'm going to give you time to work on those poses. I promise. And then like, I deliver on that promise like 30 minutes later, they're doing handstand. 30 minutes later, I'm saying do whatever flow you want. OK.

11:06 I'm suggesting Sun B. But do whatever you want. I'm going to turn up the music and just do whatever the fuck you want, you know? But like, that's another like healthy, like Yang quality is when you make following through on your promises, following through on your commitments, starting your class on time, finishing your class on time.

11:22 Like all of that is a certain degree of like it cultivates respect. And I think that when people. I think it's part of the reason why our our trainings do well at least what I bring is people see like okay, like this guy creates a structure in a container. Like I'm really going to be able to learn something from him versus like just coming and doing a teacher training and getting an experience that's all love and light and very healing and that can be.

11:54 I'm all about that. But but I also want you to learn something and then go out in the world and fucking do it. You know and and also I think there's a sense of a Yang. A Yang energy doesn't tolerate like mediocrity. So if like one of the students is half assing it like you say that and I wouldn't say that necessarily in a public class, but in one of the trainings if somebody's chronically late or if they're like. I have a bad attitude.

12:22 Or if they're just, you know, being rebellious like you, you say something. You pull them aside and say like, hey, like, you know, I'm here to get the best out of you, to help or not even get the best. I'm here to to help you get the best out of yourself and what you're what you're doing right now, you're showing up.

12:35 It's a CC plus, you know, Is this how you want to spend the next 24 days? You flew all the way over here. You know, you gave us a month of your life. Like, give me your fucking best, you know? And that's a great responsibility to take ownership as a trainer, teacher, trainer, but then also to improve or let's just say do some quality control of the room or the training to ensure that the environment is suitable for growth and learning for everyone else.

13:05 Yeah. And I say this because I working in different trainings, other trainings besides the ones that we do with the power yoga. I see it's, you know, these 200 hour trainings. Of course there's going to be people who are, they're more keen than others, let's just say. Yeah, right.

13:21 But then I see the ones that are keen and they kind of look at the ones that are not and they're just like, fuck, like, why are you here? You're dragging a stem? I'm dragging. Yeah. You're affecting my experience. You know, I want to be here.

13:31 Like, this is important to me and it doesn't seem important to you. And it's like they're not saying these words, but I can just see it. Yeah, I can just see it. But without having some sort of presence, yeah, teacher, mentor or whoever, that's holding the space to basically cultivate that as much as possible.

13:47 It will be a little bit more chaotic and not have that structure from a training perspective. Yeah, exactly. So Okay, let's, let's switch a little bit, Yeah, let's go over the YIN. We'll go back to the classes. I think that's or just a teaching in general. We kind of jumped in the training conversation, which is fine, but with the yin teaching, not necessarily yin, but teaching.

14:11 Softer class, yinner way. Yeah, right. So the things that I wrote down and I'll just say them holding space. Yeah, right. Creativity or personality, bringing in your flavor, your who you are in whatever way that may be. Authenticity in moments of vulnerability, which can stem into things like sharing something real or taking risks.

14:36 Yes, those are the things that I wrote down. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So and then that's something you can bring into a power yoga class or whatever. But so I think first and foremost is to create a safe. So safety is super important for a soft yin class, a yin experience.

14:54 People need to feel safe and people, people I say well don't. They need to feel safe in every class. And my answer that is not really. I don't think somebody needs to feel safe. In my power class, they need to trust me because I'm going to make them do things that are going to make them feel slightly unsafe so that they grow. Because that's actually the only way you grow is to do something that makes you feel slightly unsafe, but to heal, which is yin, you need to feel safe.

15:24 So if we're if we're talking about that type of environment where we're switching from growth to healing, safety is super important. And my thoughts on that is because yin and Yang, it's not like a light switch. Things kind of flow. At least this is the way I see two opposites as they flow within each other by just had a bit of a brain fart. Basically.

15:47 By God I lost it. Say the last thing you said. Feeling safe and then that's right. The word trust, The word trust, now it is. So trust was the word that you said and I lost it there. But you need them to trust or you want them to trust you because if they trust you, then you know they'll follow the sequence you're made. Yeah.

16:06 To me, trust has a strong element of yin or or that softness, because if you trust someone, then there's a sense of safety there. It's like, I trust that he's going to keep me safe in these poses. The way he cues, the way he, you know, cues alignment.

16:21 So to me, even though the structure and you know we're talking about the Yang, there's still that Yin that kind of comes into that limit as well. Yeah, absolutely. So we eventually got there. Thanks for your patience. Cool. So continuing off of that, we talked about the beginning basically holding space.

16:41 Holding space is super important vulnerability, I mean that's what happens when you feel safe is you start to feel vulnerable and either good emotions. Start to flow through you to be felt and experienced and enjoyed or not so good emotions or not so positive necessarily emotions come up to be looked at and healed and. But either both of those things they require vulnerability that require safety, they require relaxation so that the person needs to be relaxed and that's

17:15 super important. Like today's class, I taught the yen class the sound healing and I incorporate a. Lots of breathing techniques and softening the body and like the humming, the brommery, the something like that alternate nostril breathing. All of these activities designed to calm the nervous system. Because I think a yin yoga class doesn't even really begin. Until the student is relaxed and it starts to feel safe, that's when the practice Otherwise

17:50 you're just stretching and and I don't think of yin as stretching class. I think of it as a class where we work on the nervous system while we hold poses. Yeah, You know, that's that's my take on it. Yeah. More comes out of it when the nervous system's on board. Yeah.

18:06 Yeah, cool. And then so because we were talking about a yin class, you talked about creativity, bringing personality, which I think that's pretty somewhat straightforward. But, you know, doing it in your way. Yeah, teaching a class in your way and not necessarily your way as in like the only way is my way. It's more so like what what do you feel like teaching that day? Like how do you, how do you want to make it a little bit more unique to unique to you, like

18:35 personality, how you're feeling today and bringing that in or something that you like, like, you know, guitar or playing flute, Personal touch. Yeah, yeah, You know, sharing a story, yeah, reading a poem, something that's important to you all that kind of personality that way people again, it all kind of blends together. We'll start to connect with you.

18:54 And then also something that I recognize, maybe I should take your training because touch, you know, but again that's a very sensitive topic and you have to make sure that the room is aware of like giving people, you know, hands on, hands on adjustments, make sure to have like a consent card or.

19:14 Right. Ask people to raise their hands before. I'd love for you to come into the trading, but. I would love to come, at least like, you know, as a guest or if you wanted to come, I want to. Come take it as a student I'm just again, we we know.

19:25 I'm just. I have so much going on with the family. I I would love to take that. We'll see if we can plug you in somehow. Yeah, but yeah, touch is super important. And then receptivity. You know a yin teacher when somebody gives them feedback. You can be receptive to it.

19:43 You know, you don't just necessarily put up a block and like don't listen to the haters. Like it will. You know if if four people give you constructive feedback, I can't hear your voice, obviously. Like there's something to that, that you need to change your voice. You need to do something about it, okay or four people like that class was too hard or whatever. Like you need to be receptive to it. And just just to speak on that, like receiving feedback or receiving some sort of

20:11 information based off of what we do or what you're doing, teaching yoga or just in general. I mean, I talk about this a lot. This is a lot of what the expressions of power training is, is learning how to receive back and also give feedback. And something that I think Byron mentioned it before. But it's like if someone tells you something once, yeah, listen to it, take it in, but you can throw it away. Yeah.

20:33 If someone tells you the same thing, not the same person, but a second piece of feedback, now you start to take it in with a little bit more, like, OK, yeah, third time. Now you have to start to be like, OK, this is, there's something here. Like you said the 4th time, there's no right number. Yeah.

20:46 But the idea is the more times you hear it, you should start to absorb this as like, OK, there's got to be some truth here. Yeah, you should take it as truth the first time. Yeah, But you can throw it away. But the more that comes in you, the truth should start to grow a little bit more.

21:01 And then hopefully, if you're receptive enough to learn from whatever that feedback might be. Yeah, Which is hard to do, I'll admit for myself, Sometimes you hear it. You're like, I don't know if I agree with that, but then you hear it again, you're like, maybe I do need to agree with that. Yeah, so.

21:15 Yeah, exactly. Just to tanch on that. Yeah, absolutely. And we always used to say when Byron and I started teaching donation yoga. Obviously donation yoga was amazing because it's instant feedback, right? Like you instantly you open up that that box. And if you taught a good class, like the donations would be good.

21:33 And if you taught a bad class, the donations would be spider web, spider web, not not over spider webs, but not not as good, right? And there's a lot of truths that it was really good because you really would start to pay attention to like okay what was working, what wasn't like.

21:50 So like I was very receptive. That when I started playing guitar at the end of my classes, starting Shabasana, my donations doubled. So that was instant feedback that like okay, that's really working, right. So I assume you still play guitar at the end.

22:06 I do. I still do that, but then also like I remember. Trying to teach a meditation class at at Santa Monica Power Yoga. And it was pretty and I was a pretty established teacher that people knew me and like nobody would show up.

22:24 I'm like, okay. There's feedback like like this. This environment is not right for meditation. Like people don't want to take my meditation class and it's hard, you know, It was, you know, it hurt my feelings a little bit. But then I found a better studio and I ended up teaching meditation there.

22:39 You know, so you got to, you know be willing to to see it both ways. Like, you know, positive feedback and being able to handle constructive feedback is super important. It's so valuable in just life in general. That's where growth comes from, you know, being able to see or it's almost like a gift.

22:58 It's like a gift of being able to see something that you might not be able to see. Yeah. Or chances are you probably don't see it. And then how that that perspective or that angle can help shift things in a positive way.

23:11 Yeah, depending on how we receive it, of course. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's that's again that's part of the the YIN aspects of being a teacher. And I think, you know, I was doing this meditation training last month with my wife and we had, we had 19, it was all women. So it was 19 women all going about this journey and it was so amazing and so beautiful and so.

23:35 An opportunity for me to be receptive in terms of, like, how I'm showing up for these ladies and whether or not my energy can be too intense or too harsh. Because I am. I'm a fucking intense person. Even when I'm calm, I'm still intensely calm. So, like, I just noticed that, like, okay, I think I did a pretty good job.

23:53 But there were moments where I could catch myself just being more direct. Not intentionally, like just being direct on things when I could have been softer or. Pushing the students in the yoga classes a little more than they wanted, but they also respected, like, you know, if if one of them didn't do a very good job, they knew that I was going to be the one who would be honest. You know, like I'm going to tell the truth. That is the healthy masculine

24:22 quality. I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to do it compassionately, you know, And that was, that was kind of my, my job. But there was a moment, a beautiful moment with one of the students. Where she got up and taught a meditation or led a meditation for the group.

24:38 And it was her second time going. And the first time going she was nervous and she was just energetically a little bit closed. And you could see it like, you know, English wasn't her verse language. So he was, she was dealing with the translation. She had, you know, everybody in the room looking at her. The first time it was, it was okay. It was not, it was not bad by any means. But then the second time.

25:00 She showed up and she was relaxed and she was excited and she was just glowing. Like it was beautiful like this. Not even, like how, not even what she said, but how she taught and her energy and her essence. Like it didn't even matter. Like, she just showed up and I gave her the feedback because it just came to me that, you know what? Why?

25:25 Why do you think people felt so connected to you? And she's like, I don't know. And I was like, I'm like, well, the way that you. Then at the very end, she she looked, there was a moment where she brought everyone out of the meditation and she had this beautiful smile and she looked around the room and she sent her energy, but she allowed herself to be seen. And I said, people can see that you love yourself and that's why you're.

25:53 You're killing that. You're crushing this meditation right now because people want to be around a person who who loves themself, like, not in a narcissistic way, but like in a really vulnerable, soft way. And that's like the power that we can have if we're teaching from that yen energy, like just a person who loves and accepts himself, you know, very.

26:15 Yes, it's very attractive. It's magnetic. It's very magnetic and the opposite side of that. Is a person who is completely connected, who they don't even exist. They are so connected to their purpose. Like that's I think on the other end of that, that's the masculine like.

26:32 And that again is also very like Martin Luther King. Like he was very attracted to his purpose. Like it wasn't even about him. It's about me like being the leader for the civil rights movement. I don't even exist. I'm not important.

26:46 My purpose is important, you know. And then the opposite side of that would be the end. And I think they're both very attractive qualities and different sides of us are attracted to both, right. You know, yeah, Awesome. I love that Okay.

27:02 So maybe I'll just mention the two other things or bring them back in sharing something real. I feel like we kind of talked about your personality, something that's authentic or true for you. Basically sharing a piece of your heart. Take a risk taking a risk.

27:19 It kind of falls into that. That was the. Some of that is taking a risk. But also taking a risk is like trying something new for the first time. See if it works. You know, we're saying a joke. Yeah, saying a joke. You know, I had at the, I told you this before the podcast, but I held space for my family around the fire last night and I was doing a little meditation, like a light meditation, basically holding space about the breath and you know, trying to center the space before we

27:42 did an intention setting with a writing on a piece of paper and burning into the fire. So cool. And I I popped a joke. Yeah, in the middle of it. And, like, I realized I was like, not, not the right time for a joke I got. I got instant feedback.

27:56 Yeah, yeah, instant feedback. But I took the risk, 'cause it just felt like, yeah, I forget what I said. Like, I would take it, take a deep inhale or breathe that smoke in or something. Like, yeah, yeah. And then I was like, that was a joke.

28:06 Didn't like nothing. No reactions. Look around. I was just like, I just, I just moved on. I just, whatever. I'm curious. I thought about it afterwards 'cause I let go of it in that moment, but I was just a random taking a risk with that attachment of.

28:20 Course, yeah. But it made me feel like okay, I'm okay to be myself and it's okay to just do that and it doesn't mean anything. Exactly. Doesn't mean anything. Yeah, so. And there'll be other times when you'll tell a joke and it'll land. Yeah.

28:32 You know, I've done that in yoga class as well where I've said jokes or something. And yeah, some of them will not. Like in like, okay, I walks into a bar. But you know, like something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like a dad joke or something like that. And you know, sometimes it's just like nothing happens and it's like, I'll just keep going, I guess. Yeah, but like that actually makes me feel lighter. Yeah, makes me feel lighter.

28:53 Takes the tension off and and regardless of the reaction, people might actually inside be like, that was kind of funny or oh, you know this guy's light or this guy's not taking himself too seriously. Yeah, which is a nice YIN quality I think as well. Yeah, absolutely.

29:08 Yeah, so cool. I think the yin Yang conversation is pretty good. I think you know, talking about the trainings we talked about before. There's so many different types of trainings I assume. I assume most people who are listening to this podcast have probably taken a 200 hour training.

29:23 Yeah, right. And you probably. Are there really interested in doing one? Possibly, Yeah, possibly. And you know I've I've seen and I'm sure you've seen a variety of different 200 hour trainings having worked with different schools, having our own school and I've seen kind of a blend of a little bit more Yang, you know, more Yang, a combination of both or a lack thereof of both or more one than the other with regards to the union, the Yang teaching learnings to become a yoga teacher or to

29:50 learn the ways of of sharing yoga. And then obviously there's 300 hour trainings or advanced trainings or I don't really like the word advanced but continued learning of yoga that can help to cultivate more of something that you're interested in. So for me.

30:09 For instead of more, decide that you haven't. Nurtured yet, Right. So your first training was super yin or super like eminent love and light. Flowy. Yeah. Then take a training that's more structured. Exactly. You know, if your first training was super structured, take a training that's more more flowy and soft. Yeah.

30:31 My first training was the yoga works training. It was fantastic structured training. Like, I I left that training. I was like, I'm ready to teach. I did a great job. I understand sequencing and cueing, you know, But there weren't a lot of moments where I felt like I really, you know, healed A wound from my past or or knew how to handle like, or use the philosophy to like, solve a major problem in my life or whatever.

30:54 You know what I mean? There wasn't that part of it, right? The more the stuff we talked about. Yeah, but then I spent the next couple years really studying that. Not necessarily in the training, but working with. Working with meditation teachers and developing my own practice and doing meditation workshops and in workshops and.

31:12 Yeah, so. But I recognized that that was like a side of me that was weak. You know, so the the masculine side of me and the the, pardon me, that wants to be his best, the best I can be. I was like okay. I got to start working out legs or you know what I mean?

31:26 Like, you got to do the rest of the body, you know, skinny calves. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that's that. But that would be. I think for most teachers, like, especially as you've been teaching for a few years, like, don't just be a person who just does one thing.

31:43 You know you want to have be able to teach more than one thing. Especially if you're going to eventually start leading your own trainings as a teacher. Like you know you got to understand meditation. You're going to understand. Yin, you have to understand.

31:56 How to find the cool downs And then if you're if that, if you're really good at that like you got to understand how to like cultivate respect. You got to build structure. You got to be tough on people in a loving way. In a compassionate way. Yeah, you know and that's a really like fine line especially right now in like the yoga community. There's like it can be, in my opinion, overly, maybe overly sensitive and overly, like probably more so here. Especially, yeah, more so here.

32:25 But I think like a lot of places you know like like the people that created like Astanga and I Anger, these were not like teddy bear. Like these are not like soft little teddy bears. These are like tough, disciplined men who like you wouldn't.

32:38 You can't show up 10 minutes late to like BKS I Anger's class like you'd like, get the fuck out of my studio, right? Or what's the hot yoga guy again? In Bikram, yeah, yeah. And those are examples of like very unhealthy environments. But there was a certain degree of qualities that you learned in those experiences that could serve you for life, right? Like being punctual, doing your best, not being mediocre, being honest, you know, telling the truth. Like all of those things are

33:07 healthy qualities and and holding yourself up to a very high standard. Like, those are all to me. They're super important. Yeah, I think the balance between the yin and the Yang teaching. Yeah, traits, properties, skills, whatever you want to call them. Like you said, you, you know, you probably had a little bit more of the one, plus you had the training that nurtured that a bit more and then you realized I need to help balance my cell phone.

33:34 It's kind of like, you know, I feel like I'm using another masculine example, but Michael Jordan and who had a certain set of he's, you know, very good basketball player. Clearly if you don't know Michael Jordan is he was one of the best, if not dumb ass out depending on your stance on that. But he recognized shortcomings or weaknesses, if you will, in his game and he just focused on that to help balance out his portfolio.

33:59 Yeah, he was more diverse. He was more able to play the game or be more attracted to other, let's just say teams or something like that, to be able to actually like perform or do what he needs to do, do his job. Yeah. And I think about with the yin and the Yang teaching style because for me, I'll just speak quickly.

34:18 The Yang is really easy for me. Yeah, right. I have. I'm very left brained. I'm very science oriented, as most of you guys know. You know, I understand the body. I understand queuing. I understand sequencing. I even took a power yoga training, which was our training, your training now, I guess our training, which was very focused on structure.

34:35 So I got that deadlock. Yeah, the inside is something I'm still working on, right? It's something that I'm trying to cultivate more. I feel like I'm getting pretty good at it, but takes time, right? To, to do a little bit more of that creativity, that personality, sharing something, taking risks like these little joke things and stuff like that. I think it takes time and I think it also like you have to delete, you really have to talk yourself into recognizing the benefits.

35:05 Yeah, because the benefits are not usually external, right? Like the benefits of me playing my guitar for 30 years has not been money. You know, like you're not going to feed yourself a lot of times with the yin. Does that make sense? Not just feed yourself but like the the that type of those types of qualities like the artists.

35:27 Yes, You know, there's there's a stereotype of like starving artists, artists, right? Yeah. So those things that people really love the heart. Yes, the centered practices, heart centered activities, hobbies, They're not as well cultivated because of the fact that they don't necessarily produce, or at least they don't produce right away. Yeah, they're not as attractive right away and. It's more difficult to produce right off of creativity people love.

35:55 People love it more. Yes, they love it. More people that do like there will be a very intense positive Yeah, reaction if you cultivate that side of you. Yeah. And. And both sides are going to be attractive to different people.

36:08 Yeah. Right. So if you you have 1:00, then that's great. If you have the other one, that's great too. If you have both, guess what? Classes grow. Yeah. People are going to be attracted. You're going to have more that magnetism. And if you do want to continue to share and teach yoga, then that will help your career or your growth to expand. Yeah.

36:25 And I think that's a beautiful thing, which I do want to do. And I'm going to continue to do that. In fact, kind of just wrapping it up because we're about 35 minutes, which is a little bit longer than we usually do. But that's cool, cool, you know, taking additional trainings or, you know, doing your own work to just look into what you can do.

36:43 You said you studied with some meditation teachers. You did take some trainings. You said you took a bunch of trainings for that. So I just wanted to highlight, for example, myself, I'm going to be taking the empowerment Yoga training with Byron. Yeah, I'm also gonna, I am gonna be facilitating as well. I'll be holding space and probably teaching aspects. I'm actually meeting meeting with Byron later to talk about what that'll be.

37:04 But I'm also taking it as a student because that training is going to help me cultivate a little bit more of my inside. Yeah. And for example, and you know, and if you guys are listening or want, there's not a lot of spots left. I don't think it's almost sold out. So if you do want to join that training, definitely reach out as soon as possible depending on that's when it's September 21st. So depending on when this podcast comes out, reach out maybe there's still a spot.

37:28 Otherwise what we've done in our school, which I think is really cool for 2024 as we started to package together a little bit more of our 300 hour offerings. Yeah, to help nurture more of the one side or the other side, the inside of the yank side, yeah. So kind of connecting expressions of power, the hands on adjustments training which has now been evolved into also a sequencing training.

37:52 It's 100 hour training on hands on adjustments and sequencing, which focuses a lot on structure and the Yang qualities that we talked about. And then also combining it with the yin Yang training, which sounds like a balance train, which it is. But there's also a lot of the skills that you're going to be learning and training which we've talked about before. There's a podcast on it talking about the Yin or what is Yin yoga if you go back to that a

38:16 few weeks ago. So I'm excited about that combination because for those people that want to cultivate more of that structure, more develop that that quality within themselves, then the that training is going to be really beautiful. And I think we're aiming for the fall of next year is what we're going for.

38:31 Yeah, TBD officially, but and then also combining the Empowerment Yoga training. Next year with latest, Yeah. So that one's coming up in September. Like I said, if you can get in, great. But you know, if not next year, yeah.

38:44 Which will be combined with Leia's meditation teacher trained to help cultivate and develop the yen qualities. Yeah, a little bit more. Yeah, and also just have have new skills in your skill set that are completely diverse.

38:59 Like to be able to teach a super strong power yoga class and then turn around and teach it a beautiful soft loving kindness meditation Like what diversity you know. Or to be able to do you know an inversion workshop and then go do. Byron's Empowerment Yoga, which it sounds like a powerful class, but it's not about the power of the physical body. Yes, it's a very.

39:21 It's almost like being your own life coach. Yeah, it's really beautiful. I'm actually really proud of the the offerings that are coming together and I'm excited for 2020. Five, I'm so proud of the offerings that we have. Yeah, yeah.

39:33 And they're they're they're awesome. And all of the modules are awesome. Yeah, we're trying to make it diverse so that it can speak to different people depending on what your needs are. Yeah. So anyway, as always, if you have questions, you can always reach out.

39:44 Of course podcast that goingproyoga.com. Otherwise, yeah, we're almost on 40 minute mark. And you have any last thoughts before we wrap this up, Paul? No, there's great conversation. Yeah, I agree. So yin and the Yang, the balance of teaching yoga, finding a little bit more structure or finding a little bit more creativity, a little bit more vulnerability, authenticity, combining both of those together and basically being an awesome human and probably a pretty good yoga teacher at the same time.

40:12 All right. Thanks for listening and we'll check you next week. Bye, bye. Take care, all right? Before you go, let me just tell you about the Goingpro yoga.com platform. So right now you can go to goingproyoga.com and check it out for free for seven days where you can actually learn more about yoga in the ways of alignment, queuing, sequencing, yoga, anatomy. So that if you've done a 200 hour teacher training and you want to continue to learn, practice and grow, this platform is definitely for you.

40:41 So I definitely suggest checking it out goingproyoga.com right now. You can try it out for free for seven days.