mentoring

support with experience

I have been a yoga practitioner for 39 years and have been teaching yoga for over 30 years. I am a Level 3 Senior Teacher Registered Mentor with Yoga Australia and am an experienced teacher trainer. I have taught a diverse student base over the years and have had some students consistently attending classes with me for 18 years since arriving in Tasmania and establishing Yoga from the Heart. I have loved supporting other teachers through offering mentoring, helping them identify, develop, and shine fully their gifts, as well as develop business and personal lifestyle habits so they can sustainably thrive in the role. In yoga teaching and teacher training my particular areas of expertise include: Anatomy and biomechanics, Fascial health, Energy (pathways, points, balance, and flow), Therapeutic principles and practice, Nervous system balance (related to stress, depression, anxiety, autoimmune issues), Ayurvedic principles (pertaining to yoga practice and lifestyle choices).

If you think you would benefit from working with me, we can plan an initial session. It is important that we decide together that I can offer you what you need at this time in your teaching career. Once we know the areas of focus and our starting point, I will then propose a plan for the way forward which we will discuss and go from there.

    Really I cannot thank you enough for the thought and care you put into designing and supervising these mentoring activities for me. I really felt that each of the modules helped me to deepen and grow my understanding of those aspects of the practice that I had identified for development, and I really appreciated the focus and the rigour of the approach that you mapped out, while still keeping things light-hearted and flexible.

    Jo Hall

    Heart in hand

    why do we benefit from mentoring as yoga teachers?

    For new teachers their 200, 350 or 500 hour Yoga teacher training is a first step in skills development as a teacher. The information, inspiration, and guidance you receive during your training is assimilated in part during your training and needs to be integrated, assimilated and added to when you take the seat of the teacher. In the early stages of teaching you realise there is more that you need to flourish in the role and a mentor can help you.

    The support and feedback you receive from your teachers and fellow students when in teacher training usually ends when you graduate and begin to teach. This is right at the time you need support and feedback more than ever. Here is where developing the right mentoring relationship is so valuable.

    Mentoring is not just for new teachers. As experienced teachers we benefit from the support of other experienced teachers, particularly those who have developed skills in areas we are looking to expand into with our own offerings. We can start to feel stuck in our own practice, use of language, or aspects of our teaching. Mentoring can act as a way to identify the blocks and explore a fresh way forward. As teachers we need to continually be learning. By working with another experienced teacher, you can explore your next growing edge.

    what is mentoring?

    Mentoring is tailored to your individual needs and can include aspects of the following:

    • Guidance for your personal practice (foundational to your own offerings as a teacher)
    • Coaching in sustainable and regenerative lifestyle principles (so you thrive and avoid burnout)
    • Teaching feedback through observation and review of one or more of your classes
    • Finding your own unique voice and gifts as a teacher
    • Developing a class culture that supports everyone in the yoga classroom
    • Planning, sequencing and making classes meaningful for students
    • Navigating individual needs of students in the group context of class
    • Adapting your skills to individuals, small, large, diverse groups
    • Developing effective language to guide students physical shape, breath, and energetic action in poses
    • Clarifying your connection to and understanding of the roots of yoga philosophy
    • Scheduling your time and managing your energy as a yoga teacher
    • Exploring aspects of yoga teaching as a business that is financially rewarding
    • Broadening your knowledge base. Here is where your choice of the right mentor is key. You will want to connect with someone who has knowledge and skills in the area you are wanting to expand into.

    one-on-one mentoring

    How we work together will vary depending on your needs and after our initial session determining what you are wanting and what I might sense you are needing. If appropriate we will both agree to a contract for a way forward which includes duration, frequency, and financial exchange.

    Most frequently 1 hour meetings in person, by phone, or skype will be scheduled with written follow up specifying key points, goals, an action plan, and metrics for accountability. Review and assessment of this will then serve as the beginning point for the following mentoring session.

      Clare Raffety, Yoga Teacher

      one-on-one mentoring fees

      initial connection

      if we don’t already know one another, here is where we meet to see if I am a good fit for you and your needs

      30 minutes

      free

      planning session

      here is where we discuss your needs and come up with a plan

      1 hr

      $40

      subsequent 60 minute sessions

      one hour of focussed time together 

      1 hr

      $65

      subsequent 90 minute sessions

      90 minutes of focussed time together

      1.5 hrs

      $85

      5 x sessions package

      discounted hourly rate of $60 for 5 sessions of one hour each

      5 x 1 hr

      $300

      5 x sessions package

      discounted hourly rate of under $80 for 5 sessions of 90 minutes each

      5 x 1.5 hrs

      $400

      review and feedback of your class teaching

      It is incredibly valuable to have an experienced teacher whose approach aligns with your aspirations to review and give you feedback on your teaching. When you engage me to serve you in this way I will:

      View a video of your class or attend your class, and take notes on aspects of your delivery and how it lands with your student group as I review your teaching. If we are undertaking this by distance please be sure your video shows you and your students and that the sound quality is adequate.

      Once your class is viewed I will spend a further 15 – 30 minutes in reflection and expanding on the notes.

      We will meet either directly after, or soon after for 30 minutes (while the experience is fresh for both of us) and we will discuss strengths of your teaching as well as suggestions that will help you further develop your teaching. I will give you the written copy of your review keeping a copy of it to refer to in our future work together.

      Possible paths forward from here could be.

      You sit with and assimilate the review and suggestions and percolate it into your teaching.

      We plan a one hour mentoring session to develop your goals, an action plan and metrics for progress to develop your teaching, and set a date for an additional time when I come and review your class teaching to note how it has transformed and how you have grown in the process of honing your craft.

      review & feedback (class teaching) fees

      review & feedback

      Review of your class including video review or attendance (includes 30 min meeting to discuss)

      $95

      mentoring session

      One hour mentoring session following review (if applicable)

      $65

      mentoring at a distance

      Though ideally we will be close enough to meet in person, this is not a necessity though for the mentoring relationship to be effective and valuable. With video conferencing and recording we can work together across the globe.

      small group mentoring

      For 2 to 6 participants. Forming a mentoring kula can expand the power of the mentoring experience as you get to learn through other’s questions, insights and experience on the teaching path. Depending on the location of participants, we may meet in person or distance conferencing. Sessions are 1.5 to 2 hours long depending on group size. Groups may come together from individuals that approach me around the same time for mentoring support or you can form a group yourself and approach me to schedule sessions. Depending on timing it may be that the small group mentoring option may not be available.

      Structure of small group mentoring sessions:

      There are many ways to approach this way of mentoring.

      A few possibilities are:

      • Our sessions have an open agenda and we follow a timing protocol to ensure that everyone in the group is the focus person for a period of the session allowing their current growth edge in some aspect of their teaching to be supported.
      • Our initial session identifies areas each person would like to explore we come up with a plan for a way forward which might start with a group commitment to as many sessions as there are group members with each session having a focus determined by one of the group members. After the initial rotation, we will review the way forward and come up with a further group commitment and timeline.
      • I bring a question or “Focus” for exploration based on knowledge of what the mentoring kula is needing.
        Clare Raffety, Group Mentoring

        small group mentoring fees

        group session

        90 minutes working together as a group

        1.5 hrs

        $45pp

        extended group session

        120 minutes working together as a group

        2 hrs

        $60pp