How to Deliver a Great Dharma Talk

Offering a few reflective thoughts about yoga philosophy at the beginning of a class can be a great way to make a deeper personal connection with your students while helping your students feel a deeper connection to the yoga tradition. This workshop is for both new and experienced yoga teachers who want to become more comfortable, confident, and dynamic when they speak about yoga philosophy in their classes and workshops.

Starting your class with a talk about yoga philosophy may sound like a scary proposition. Maybe that’s not what your students came to class for. Maybe you don’t know a lot about yoga philosophy and you don’t want to talk about something you’re not an expert on. Maybe you’re so into yoga philosophy that you worry about talking for too long while anxious students are waiting to get moving. You could just read a passage from the Yoga-sutras but maybe your students won’t see any connection to what their doing on the mat. And what about our own insights? Even if you feel like you have something worthwhile to share, how do you tell an engaging story about your personal realization of yoga philosophy in just a few minutes?

This workshop will address every one of these concerns. You’ll learn a simple five-part structure for giving a Dharma Talk that will make it easy for you to:

• Tell a story that your students can relate to
• Speak authentically from both knowledge and experience
  overcome feelings of ‘imposter syndrome’
• Tell a complete story in just 5 minutes
• Develop a theme you can riff on for a month so you don’t have to think of something new every class
• Make your stories so engaging that your students will show up as much to hear what you have to say as for their physical practice.

After this workshop you’ll know how to consistently share your personal realizations about yoga philosophy with your students in a way they’ll enjoy and appreciate, have a system for preparing your presentations that will deepen your own experience of living the yoga you’re teaching, and feel confident in your ability to offer your students genuine wisdom from the yoga tradition no matter how much or how little you’ve studied yoga philosophy.

If you already open your classes with a Dharma talk, you’ll pick up valuable tips and tricks for deepening your relationship with the yoga wisdom tradition, expanding your thematic repertoire, and delivering your message in ever more compelling ways. Everyone will leave this workshop with tools that will help you to deliver your message with a higher level of ease and confidence.