Sisters are doin’ it for themselves..standing on their own two feet, and ringing on their own bells…

A good friend posted a question about what songs she should use for her yoga playlist in honor of International Women’s Day.  I was shocked that this song, with Annie Lenox and Aretha Franklin, didn’t come up on her feed.  But then again, this video debuted in 1985, and a few of her friends might have been in elementary school when it hit the charts.  At Mount Vernon College’s Friday happy hours in the pub, this song and “It’s Raining Men” could get us all to our feet screaming the lyrics and sloshing beers. Those were heady days.  At a women’s college, the education we received not only imparted knowledge to benefit our careers, it also gave us the wisdom to discern how strong we really truly are. We were empowered to make decisions, to lead, to inspire and…to dance together.

The DC Yoga Co-op looks to offer the same type of learning environment to yoga teachers in the DC region.  At our last meeting, we decided to focus our attention on being the very best teachers we can be, to keep our focus on learning from and supporting each other, and taking yoga to communities that need it most. Continuing education is a huge part of what we do in our lives as teachers, and unfortunately the current studio/corporate system isn’t set up to offer the education we need to make us better teachers.  There is very little time or resources for studios to offer continuing education exclusively to their teaching staff. Studio workshops have to “sell” beyond the limited market of yoga teachers and so things that are interesting to us but perhaps not interesting to practitioners are rarely offered.  Some studios focus bring in a national “name” teacher to offer a workshop, but these are pretty expensive and very rarely open exclusively to yoga teachers.

But what if we could do it for ourselves?  What if those of us who have plenty of years of teaching experience…who have received advanced training in yoga therapy… who are registered continuing education providers…who have a particular expertise… who teach a special population…what if we taught each other? 

This is what we decided we could do as a first step in the DC Yoga Co-op — empower ourselves, empower each other.  For just a small fee each year, Co-op members will receive free continuing education that is focused on elevating teaching skills. Our first event, planned for the end of April, will focus on physical assists in the era of the #metoo movement and a growing understanding of trauma-informed teaching.  Our goal is to help participants  examine, or re-examine, their own philosophy about assisting through touch.  We plan to have a panel that represents different styles and assisting philosophies to discuss this topic and time for discussion and socializing.

More details to come mid-month.  Let me know if you have the perfect person for this panel, a venue or a question to ask panelists.  I’ll write more about the details soon.