Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher

101. Smells in Yoga Class: The Room, the Oils, and the Hard Conversation

Every yoga room has a smell before you say a word of your opening—the space itself, the scent you add on purpose, and the students who walk through the door. In this epis

100. What 100 Episodes Taught Me About Repetition and Teaching Yoga

One hundred Tuesdays, and I have opened every single episode with the same five words. I never planned it that way, and I never mentioned it out loud until now, which is

99. What to Do When Your Yoga Class Goes Off the Rails

The second class I ever taught went off the rails before I said a word—and then I spent an hour making it worse by apologizing for not being the regular teacher. Two stud

98. What Most Yoga Teachers Get Wrong About Teaching Yin

My husband took his first yin class with me at Kripalu and told me afterward that I should rename the practice. He wasn’t entirely wrong: a room built on stillness produc

97. All Yoga Pants Are See-Through: What to Wear and Where to Look as a Yoga Teacher

All yoga pants are see-through. Your expensive pair, the clearance-bin pair, all of them—under the right light, in a deep enough fold, the fabric gives away a little more

96. Technology in the Yoga Room: Phones, Presence, and Consent

For years, I was the phone police. I taught with a sensitive wireless mic that glitched every time a phone buzzed, so I asked everyone to power down—and told myself I was

95. When and How to Demo Poses in Your Yoga Class

Most yoga teachers have heard some version of don't demo. Get off your mat. Cue with your words. Be a real teacher. The advice is reaching for something true—but the

94. Readings from Yoga Off the Mat: Joy, Comparison, and the Fear of the Unknown

This week is a little different. Sage is joined by her co-author and friend Alexandra DeSiato to read from their new book, Yoga Off the Mat—the book that takes what yoga

93. Yoga Off the Mat—Philosophy for the Rest of Your Life (with Alexandra DeSiato)

In this episode of Yoga Teacher Confidential, I sit down with my dear friend and longtime writing partner, Alexandra DeSiato, for a conversation about our new book, Yoga

92. When and How to Use Sanskrit in Your Yoga Class

A few weeks ago, I posted a simple carousel on Instagram in my “Here’s the Tea” series for yoga teachers: not every pose needs you to call out a Sanskrit name. The commen

91. The Five Things Keeping You Stuck: An Introduction to the Kleshas

Ninety seconds of Instagram scrolling. Five distinct forces firing inside you, so fast you experience them as a single feeling: “I’m not good enough.” But it’s not one fe

90. Restorative Yoga That Actually Restores

The first time I felt true parasympathetic rest, I was ten minutes into legs up the wall during a restorative workshop, and the entire outline for my book The Athlete’s G

89. Effort and Ease—The Balancing Act You’re Already In

You’ve cued it a thousand times: “Find the balance between effort and ease.” In this episode I take Patanjali’s sthira sukham asanam (Yoga Sutra 2.46) off the mat and sho

88. The Three Gunas Explained—Yoga Philosophy You Can Actually Use

Right now, three tracks are playing inside you. One is heavy—the energy that makes you hit snooze. One is wired—the one drafting tomorrow's class at 2 AM. And one is

87. Summer-Proof Your Yoga Teaching

If you teach in any climate with real seasons, summer attendance has its own logic. The first beautiful spring day empties the studio. A July heat wave fills it back up.

86. The Two Arrows—Why Your Suffering About Suffering Is the Real Problem

You know the spiral. A student walks out of your class early, and by the time you reach your car, you've decided your classes are getting stale, the studio is about

85. How to Teach Balance for Every Body

Have you ever had a student freeze in tree pose and apologize for wobbling? In this episode, I'm rethinking how we teach balance so every body in the room—regardless

84. Why a Private Yoga Lesson Isn't a Smaller Group Class

For over a decade I taught private yoga to Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, and somewhere along the way I realized I'd been teaching privates wrong. Not because I di

83. Stop Reinventing Your Yoga Class Every Week: What Exercise Physiology Tells Us About Sequencing

If you've ever spent hours creating a brand-new yoga sequence every week, only to wonder if your students even noticed the difference, this episode is for you. I sp

82. Studenthood Is the Bedrock of Your Teaching

The best yoga teachers never stop being students—but the longer you teach, the harder that becomes. In this episode, Sage Rountree shares how selling her yoga studio afte