Rocking Your Authenticity with Sadie Nardini

Today I want to invite you to rock who you are way harder than ever before. Here are three simple tips to overcome fear, live your truth, and rock your authentic self as a yoga teacher—plus a super VIP $500 discount off my upcoming in-person training in New York!

1. Know your value and share your story.

Understand that you are as qualified as anyone else—even Patanjali—to talk about how yoga has affected your life, improved your personal evolution, and helped you surmount challenges to the extent that you already have.

The next time you step into a yoga class to teach, share one short story about the way yoga has really helped you overcome some challenge or stress. When you open your mouth, know that you are valid and valuable. Your life experience has trained you, specifically and uniquely, to talk about this in your own way. No one else can teach it like you. There is no competition for your path—only you getting in or out of your own way.

Example:

Today I was walking and this rude guy bumped into me. Instead of apologizing, he swore at me and told me to get out of his way. I had a decision to make at that point: Which direction am I going to go? The road less traveled.

• The road most traveled would be to react in anger and treat him with the disrespect that he treated me. If I played into that vicious cycle, I would carry him around with me emotionally all day, toxifying myself with his negative emotions.
• Or I could take a deep breath and realize it’s not personal. I can use my yoga tools to be compassionate, to be conscious, and to know that ultimately the way someone treats you is more about the way they feel about themselves and not about you.

2. Make the personal universal.

When you share your story, don’t give too much information. Instead give the class a summary of what happened; then quickly turn your personal story into something that works for everyone in the room. Use it as a general teaching on a topic that can be applicable to everyone’s life—and then teach the class for that purpose. Everything you have to share is teaching, but it’s important to turn the personal into the universal.

Example:

In your life, I’m sure that you run into challenges, too. Every day, you have a choice of which road you are going to take. When you come to this crossroad, as we all do every day, what are you going to choose?

Tonight when you are practicing yoga, you will have a lot of choices. Can you consciously choose the one that serves you in this moment, helps you to evolve and get stronger, and inspires you to find some high reason for being here? Can you use your challenge to your benefit instead of your destruction? Sometimes yes and sometimes no—we are all human. But putting your mind and heart into it tonight will be interesting for you. Now let’s move.[/fullwidth]

3. Keep it real

The last tip I have for you is to simply be real. Don’t change your voice from who you are before you walk into the room to when you are on your yoga mat. Otherwise, suddenly you just won’t sound like you. You might start out with, “Hi guys! Welcome! Hey, what’s up?” Then you sit down and say, “Welcoooomee to your yoga classssss.”

That’s not real and it’s not you. Drop the mask. Be who you really are when you’re teaching a yoga class, and allow your voice to reflect that. This is the start to really owning and rocking who you are.

Rock Your Authenticity Training

April 13-17 in Brooklyn, New York. Take your training to the next level by spending five days with Sadie Nardini—a world-renowned yoga teacher and authenticity leader—at her next yoga immersion. This 5-day training includes yoga, discussion, techniques, and philosophy to make you a next-level rockstar teacher in your area and beyond. You will gain 50 hours of continuing education (CE) with Yoga Alliance and a ton of knowledge to boost your career.

Exclusive $500 voucher for beYogi readers

Sign up now and receive 50 percent off your Rock Your Authenticity training (regularly $1,000). For more information and details about the module, email info@sadienardini.com and put “ROCKSTAR500” in the subject line. Or send a PayPal payment of $500 to csvytraining@gmail.com.