Somatics, Creativity, Language, and the Art of Teaching Yoga: An Inspiring Yoga Teacher Workshop

The most powerful teaching tool you possess is your ability to communicate in ways that support learning, curiosity and embodied experience.

Long before students learn a pose, they’re learning how to pay attention. Our language can either pull students away from their direct experience or guide them more deeply into it. Your words, tone, pace and presence shape that process.

Yet words are only part of the conversation. Our first language is wordless and somatic; we learn through sensation, movement, touch and relationship. This direct, embodied knowing—sometimes called our felt sense—remains a powerful source of learning throughout our lives.

The art of teaching involves weaving these two languages together: the language of words and the somatic language of experience. 

Learn to teach with greater confidence, creativity, clarity and presence, while supporting your students' capacity for self-inquiry, curiosity, and agency. 

The workshop is designed to teach you practical skills including:

Language and Communication

• Using verbal and non-verbal communication to support learning, confidence and agency 
• The language of somatic inquiry, shared inquiry and self-inquiry 
• Understanding how tone, pace, rhythm and delivery influence learning 
• Toggling skilfully between clear instructions and open-ended questions
• Offering evidence-informed ideas with clarity and confidence 

Learning and Pedagogy

• Moving from fixing, correcting and directing towards educating and empowering 
• Supporting students to discover their own alignment and organisation 
• Introducing bite-size pieces of new information in ways that are accessible, and not overwhelming
• Knowing when to simplify, progress or refine your teaching 
• Sequencing learning from simple to complex, broad to nuanced, and simple to challenging 

Safety, Trust and Agency

• Creating learning environments that foster trust, curiosity and self-awareness 
• The role of authentic permission, choice and consent 
• Offering modifications that are accessible, inclusive and fun 
• Working skilfully with individual needs within a group setting 
• Seeking consent for touch 

Teacher Presence

• Demonstrating while teaching 
• Clarifying your unique voice, perspective and teaching style 
• Modelling uncertainty and being willing to stay in the questions 
• Moving beyond teacher-knows-best towards a collaborative learning model of shared inquiry 

This workshop reflects Lisa Petersen’s ongoing inquiry into what it means to be human. It’s informed by her years as Donna's student, assistant and co-teacher, and by the human and more-than human teachers who continue to shape the conversation. Thank you to everyone whose curiosity, questions and lived experience informs this work and allows it flourish.

May all beings be peaceful, happy, healthy and whole.