Success Strategies for

Success Strategies FOR TEACHING VIRTUALLY

By Beth Shaw

Ilove teaching live. Nothing brings me greater pleasure than to give and receive energy from my classes. With live teaching, it’s easy to gauge the temperature of the room, the energy of the students, and to observe what is working and what is not. Teaching in person gives us flexibility and feedback. We can course correct quickly based on the room.

Unfortunately, our world has changed and many if not most of us have been relegated to teaching online.

The good news is that we can reach so many more people, in different locations, all around the world.

Here are some basic tips and tricks for teaching online:

First let’s get started with set up. • Prep Work Checklist • Zoom Session Preparation • Before the session, make sure that you have: • Scheduled your Zoom session. • Practiced using Zoom features in advance. • An internet-connected computer. • Webcam (if you wish to be seen by others). • A quiet space to hold the session – make sure you will not be interrupted. • Double check your background and ambiance. • Great lighting such as a light ring to place behind your computer; many rings have different color lights so you can get a rosy glow. • A detailed session plan. • Resources you wish to use or share like PowerPoints. • Set and send any etiquette and session instruction information to participants. • Sent instructions to co-presenters or guest speakers (if applicable) • Prepared a Welcome message slide with the session start time and display participant instructions.

Ensure participants have: • Session date and time. • Joining instructions, including the participation

Zoom link. • An internet-connected computer or mobile phone. • Informed you of any accessibility needs (encourage students to inform you by a certain date to ensure you can make appropriate arrangements in time). • Etiquette and session guidelines for the session. When Teaching Virtually, Keep These Tips in Mind Energy – Think of yourself as a television actor. You need to amplify and broadcast EXTRA Energy to channel it through the small screen. Energy translates even on Zoom or other virtual platforms. Keep it high even when it’s a mellow class. Beam your light and channel your enthusiasm.

Sound – Practice teaching with your friends prior to your class to evaluate your sound. For example, look at how your voice is carrying across the platform. Make sure you are not talking the entire time since it can be annoying. Leave some space between your words allowing the participates to have their own experience.

Explanations / Cueing – I like to do a lot more repetitive flows while teaching online, to allow the participants to get into their bodies and out of their minds. If you are going from pose to pose, it can be very complicated to flow especially for beginners. Remember to leave some space between your words when cueing. Demonstrate the pose and then say something like, “We are doing ten of these.” Or, “Stay here for 15 deep breaths.”

Demonstrations/ Alignment checks- Demo the pose, cue for alignment and then let them enjoy it, giving small cues to get deeper into the pose with the breath. Add in reminders like “relax your face and your toes.” A favorite of mine is, “Smile and trick your mind into thinking you are having a good time.”

Motivation and Inspira-

tion – Remind your students that it’s all about just showing up. “As long as you are breathing and feeling you are having successful practice.” Adding in positive affirmations and appreciation like a simple, “good job” or “everyone looks great” always helps morale. Leave time for sharing at the end of the class. Check in with everyone at the beginning to gauge the energy and see if there are special requests or needs.

Music & Modulation— This is a tricky one. We want music, but make sure the music is not drowning out your voice. Modulate your vocal tones to match the energy of the class, in each “mountain” of the YogaFit format.

Appearance —Yes, we are living in a world of wearing our pjs all day and sweatpants sales were up 80% in 2020. But you want to look your best. It may go without saying to brush your hair, but I have seen instances where this is the case. If you like to wear make up, put on a nice lipstick and make your eyes pop with some mascara. I even shower before all my classes, it makes me feel fresher. Remember, just because you are not in person does not mean you should not look and feel your best.

Teaching on Zoom or on other virtual formats may not be your favorite thing to do but delivering the healing benefits of yoga to as many as possible right now is crucial. Keep teaching and sharing the message of health and wellness on every level.