Showing Up Authentically as a Yoga Teacher

Holding Space While Navigating Personal Challenges

As yoga teachers and guides, we’re often called to show up for our students on days when our own hearts feel heavy. Maybe it’s a recent loss, family tension, or uncertainty at work that leaves us feeling “off.” The question becomes: how can we hold space for others while honoring what we’re going through ourselves?

In this podcast conversation, we explore the practice of authentic teaching, self-awareness, and emotional integration.

We begin with the subtle moments—like waking up from a strange dream or restless night of sleep—and how easily the ego wants to create stories around our feelings. While labeling an emotion can bring temporary clarity, it doesn’t always bring release.

True healing requires something deeper: willingness to sit with the feeling without attaching a story to it.

So what does it really mean to hold space or honor the feeling? These phrases get tossed around on social media, but in practice they require nuance.

Together, we discuss:

• How to check in with yourself before teaching or guiding a class.

• The difference between suppressing feelings and tending to them.

• Why “just letting it go” can be damaging if the root cause isn’t acknowledged.

• Embodied approaches to navigating emotional heaviness in real time.

• How authentic vulnerability can strengthen the way we hold space for others.

This episode isn’t about pretending everything is okay—it’s about learning to move through challenging moments with honesty, presence, and compassion, while still showing up for our communities.

Listen to the full conversation on YouTube and join us in exploring how yoga, presence, and embodiment can help us carry our own humanity into the spaces we hold for others.

first episode is live and available to listen on youtube!