Bloom Yoga Victoria

12/09/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 12!

Feedback! Is it important? Yes! Can it be helpful? Sure? Do you need to listen to all the feedback you receive and keep changing things? NO!

Hot take - but I definitely don’t listen to all the feedback I receive. I consider the source - a supervisor? A long time student? A new person I’ve never met before or don’t know well? These are all things to consider.

I also think about how many times have I heard something like this? If I keep getting the same feedback over and over again it might be time to shift something.

But also consider for some folks “giving feedback” is a way to get you to teach/adjust/change to what they like. But what do you like?! Some folks just want you to adjust for them, but who else does it serve?

Going back to another point - be confident! Be confident in what you teach and know. You do not need to change your whole vibe for someone else. Maybe that student needs a different teacher, a studio, or type of class. You can’t be everyone’s cup of tea (and that’s ok!)

12/07/2025

Me in my natural habitat, singing into a mike, surrounded by funny women.

12/04/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 10 AND 11!

This one is 2 parts - first to be a confident teacher and second is to be confident enough to know that it’s ok to not know everything!

A confident teacher can instil confidence in your students. YOU are the teacher, and this is YOUR class. You know your stuff! If confidence doesn’t come naturally for you work on building it.

And remember that you don’t need to know everything! It’s not realistic, and is it even possible to know everything?! Congratulations if you do! lol.

I think it takes confidence to admit to not knowing it all. To be a lifelong student, and to continue being curious.

This feels important to me to share because I struggled in my first few years of personal training, feeling like I didn’t know enough. It was hard to get over and admit that I didn’t know all the answers. It felt liberating to answer “I don’t know” instead of feeling like I should know it all.

12/03/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 9!

It’s ok to change your mind, your opinion, the way you teach. It’s important to keep evolving and trying new things. It’s easy to get stuck in that pattern of always doing things the same way, teaching the same thing year after year.

It’s hard to let things go! I’ve had tough decisions over the years choosing to drop classes, change where I teach, and change how I teach. It’s hard to make a change that will disappoint people.

You will probably lose some people, your new style might not resonate with everyone. But if you are passionate about what you are teaching you’ll find your people that love what you do!

11/28/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 8!

Build a community for yourself. I love getting together with my friends who are also yoga and exercise teachers, as well as other folks who are self employed.

I’ve found being self employed to be a little lonely sometimes, and I find it hard to not be part of a team like in other jobs. It has really helped me to connect with other people like me. It’s so wonderful to have other folks understand your work, and people who get what it’s like to be doing it on your own.

11/26/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 7 (part 2!)

Today I’m sharing a story of when I did not have good emotional boundaries. I was struggling in my personal life as I was a caregiver to my mom. I was not managing well. I was showing up to class depleted, sometimes crying, very emotional. I was too open with what was happening in my personal life and my students were becoming very worried about me. Which is lovely, I received a lot of kindness, but that’s not their role! Your students shouldn’t be overly concerned about you. You are there to teach a class, hold space for folks, and be a grounded leader.

This is a hard truth, and it’s my therapist that told me this - your students shouldn’t be worried about you and your well being! Having a sh*tty day? Zip it! Terrible week? Fake it! It is not your students problem. I’m not telling you to mask your emotions and what’s happening in your life. I’m just reminding you that your students aren’t your besties, or your therapist, and to be discerning over what you share.

Part 3 will be exploring the different between being vulnerable and crossing boundaries.

11/24/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 7!

Boundaries! You need them and so do your students! In this first video I share about feeling exhausted at the end of my classes because I spent too much time (for me, and on that particular day) chatting with students. Set a boundary telling folks exactly how much time you have after class to chat. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, no minutes, whatever!

If you find yourself constantly depleted after teaching this might be something to look at.

11/20/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 6!

Deal with your stuff! Your trauma, your mental health, your own issues. It’s very difficult to be grounded and hold space for other folks when you are barely holding it together yourself.

This is hard. Looking at our own shortcomings is tough but worth it. Not just for yourself but all the other people you are in relation with.

11/18/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 5!

Get to know the people that come to your classes! I make sure I’m able to stick around after class to chat with folks. This isn’t always possible, maybe there in only a short window in between classes, maybe you need to let another class and teacher in.

I generally make my own schedule and book off time (5/10/15 minutes, whatever I decide and have capacity for) to hang out after class and connect with people.

In my experience, especially post pandemic, people are starved for connection! You have a unique opportunity to create connection.

I will chat in another post about boundaries and valuing your time. Some people want a lot of time and attention and that can get tricky!

11/13/2025

11/11/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 3!

Begin and end your classes on time! People are counting on you to keep track of time so they can tune out and enjoy the class experience.

Hot take - it’s annoying when teachers go over the class time ending. People are busy! We all have places to go and things to do. Respect people’s time!

11/06/2025

25 years of teaching, 25 tips to be a great teacher. Tip number 2!

Make sure you greet a new person to your class as soon as you can! It’s really important to make that person feel seen. They also might be nervous! Make them feel comfortable with a warm hello and a smile.