Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher
Yoga Teacher Confidential is your backstage pass to the unspoken truths of being a yoga teacher. Sage Rountree, PhD, E-RYT500, dives into the real challenges and rewards of teaching yoga, offering expert advice and secrets to help you build confidence, connect with your students, and teach with authenticity. Sage draws on her two decades of experience teaching yoga, running a studio, and training teachers to share practical insights you can use right away. You'll also hear advice from her books, including Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, The Art of Yoga Sequencing, and The Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook. Whether you’re navigating imposter syndrome, mastering classroom presence, or refining your skills to teach specialized niches like athletes, this podcast empowers you to lead your classes with clarity, grace, and ease.
Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher
65. Teaching Meditation with Confidence—Gabrielle Harris on Authenticity and Finding Your Voice
Most yoga teachers feel secretly terrified about teaching meditation. You know how to cue a vinyasa, but when it comes to that moment where you ask students to sit still and turn inward, the panic sets in. Who am I to guide someone's meditation practice?
In this conversation with Gabrielle Harris—author of Lessons in Meditation, The Language of Yin, and The Inspired Yoga Teacher—we unpack why teachers struggle with imposter syndrome and what to do about it. Gabrielle shares her evolution from hot power yoga to yin, how her daily writing practice informs her teaching, and why the simplest meditation techniques often go the deepest.
We talk about the difference between mindfulness and meditation (yes, there is one), the Daoist principle of the middle way, and why your students came for the movement but are staying for the stillness. Gabrielle also shares the Navy Seals research on optimal meditation time—spoiler: it's only seven minutes.
If you've ever wanted to bring more meditation into your classes but felt unsure where to start, this episode will give you permission to begin simply and trust what you already know.
Resources:
Gabrielle Harris: https://gabrielleharrisyoga.com
Gabrielle on Instagram: @gabrielleharrisyoga
Lessons in Meditation: https://amzn.to/4pJuo0V
The Inspired Yoga Teacher: https://amzn.to/4rDHU8b
The Language of Yin: https://amzn.to/4rDHU8b
Want to become (almost) everyone's favorite yoga teacher? Get in the Zone at Comfort Zone Yoga, my virtual studio focused on teacher development. I have a ton of Sage advice in there for you—let's chat there!
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Can I tell you something? Most yoga teachers are secretly terrified of teaching meditation. You know how to cue a vinyasa? You can adjust a warrior two in your sleep. But when it comes to that moment where you ask students to sit still and turn inward, that's when the panic sets in. Who am I to guide someone's meditation practice? What if I say the wrong thing? What if they think I'm not qualified? What if I can't even quiet my own mind? Here's the thing, your students need meditation from you. They came for the movement, but they're staying for the stillness. And if you're not giving them that container for practice, that formal, intentional space to work with their minds, you're leaving out one of the most powerful tools yoga has to offer. So what do you do when you want to teach meditation, but you're caught in your own head about it? How do you move from intimidation to confidence, and how do you know the difference between meditation and mindfulness, anyway? Today I'm talking with Gabrielle Harris, author of Lessons in Meditation about how to bring meditation into your yoga classes without overthinking it, overcomplicating it, or pretending to be someone you aren't. Gabrielle has just released her third book, a practical, reassuring guide for yoga teachers who want to teach meditation but need a little help getting started. We are going to talk about starting simply busting the biggest myths around meditation, understanding the difference between mindfulness and meditation, and remembering that you already have everything you need to teach this practice. I'm Sage Rountree, and this is Yoga Teacher Confidential. Gabrielle, welcome. I am so glad to have you here. Please tell us about your wonderful new book. Oh, hi Sage. Thank you for having me here. Um, so I've just, uh, finished my third book Lessons in Meditation. So it's a book of, collated meditations that teachers can use. So scripts. Um, some inspiration really for teaching meditation, some techniques, and things like that. So it's, it is, yeah, jam packed with ideas, inspiration, I think for teachers. It is jam packed and there are so many ideas and so many wonderful bits of inspiration for yoga teachers. I had the pleasure of taking an early look at it and giving it my highest endorsement and a blurb and like your other two books. It's so practical and it's so reassuring for teachers who I think might find themselves feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome or friction around sharing these practices that matter to them so deeply in class. So where do you suggest that teachers start with teaching meditation in the context of a yoga class? Well, that's, that's a small question, but it's a, has a really big answer, but, I guess if you're just starting out to teach meditation in class that you just need to start simply, we know that with all teaching practices and. And everything in life really just start small, start simply. Um, maybe a good starting suggestion for a new teacher would just be to concentrate on using the breath as an anchor. Very simple. Maybe five or 10 breaths, really. Um, and then go into a little bit of silence. I don't think it has to be anything more complicated than that. If you're beginning. I love it. Yeah, just break it down into the most bite-sized things that you're probably already naturally teaching in your class, but you might not consider them to be meditation yet. that's right. And I, that's a really good point. I think it's more about formalizing what you're doing as a practice, so giving it a container for the, the classroom rather than just using it sort of through the class, but really like giving it that container and, and letting people know that that's what they're doing because I think there's a lot of fear meditation for practitioners and, and teachers in some way. well, I, I know. I like the word fear. For it. For fear or, It needs to be demystified meditation's kind of a practical thing. It's, it's not really something that, you know, the classic stories of going to sit in a cave, you know, and contemplating for 20 years. It's, it's a simple it practical tool that you can use in your classroom. So once you know what the tool is, then you just use it. There, There shouldn't be too much fear around it. In terms of the student, the fear probably comes around from the myths surrounding meditation. There's many like, you know, I can't meditate 'cause I've got a busy mind. That's, that's the number one myth that you hear all the time. You need a busy mind, you need a mind to, to live and exist in, in society. If, if you, if your mind wasn't busy, you would be dead. I mean, you know, we think we, we have to think, so the way that you bust it is you normalize it. Really, everyone has it and it's, I, I have it as much as you have it, as much as the next person. So it's, it's bringing that into the classroom, I think. And I also think that that's a really good way to teach students to, to unravel some of these myths. To lead into the meditation. Yeah, to, to normalize the, the chatter. right. And you hear teachers say, monkey mind, monkey mind, monkey mind. But monkey, you need monkey mind. It's not, we, we're not trying to get rid of it. I think we are trying to, to, to make friends with the monkey, you know? Yes. To see the monkey. Yeah. To to recognize the monkey essence. Yeah. Monkey mind. I've got a little meditation in the book, Monkey Mind to Still Mind, and I move through all these animals. you know, monkey Mind is the, the one that, you know, we, we say jumps from branch to branch and that's normally our everyday life. And then it moves to Butterfly Mind, where. The butterfly lands when, um, it knows it's safe. So it's coming from that busyness to the stillness and then to elephant mind, this kind of steadiness. Um, you know, you can imagine that elephant, how they are. They're just steady and slow and then to stillness. So there's lots of other animals in our mind. Um, we're, we live in a forest of them, so yeah, making friends with all of them. I love it. So you said it could be as simple as introducing meditation into your class as two minutes of breath. At the other end of the spectrum, what would be the maximum amount of time if somebody felt like they were really loving teaching meditation in the context of a yoga class? Whatever class description you have, that's what you have to follow. You know, if you've got a Vinyasa class, it's a Vinyasa class. It's not a meditation class. If you've got a, you know, a yin class, you ha, although yin, I think does have some meditative aspects to it. You just need to follow the class description. That's the first thing. Which means if you bring in any other skill, meditation, I mean, I do acupressure and myofascial release and all little flourishes I have in my classes, they only take up a small part of the class. so unless it's called a meditation class, like yin and meditation, I, I would, I would keep it short on the shorter side. Just, just as if I would, I wouldn't have a half hour savasana in a One hour Power Vinyasa class. Yeah, use your best judgment, but I do love that reminder to read the class description. This is something that I hit hard when I'm training yoga teachers. While I think that people should have some agency and be able to express their unique voice in the context of their class, We need to understand that our students are coming because they may have read the description. They've probably seen the title of the class, and we need to fulfill their expectations if we want to be successful teachers for any length of time because they're not going to keep coming back if classes wildly different from what they were expecting. Consumer satisfaction is really dependent on what they expected to receive compared to what they think that they did receive in the context of class. Agreed, agreed. So. a little bit, give them a little bit of what they need. Every class, which is the meditation, the Shavasana, the quietness, you know, they might not know that's what they've come for, I, I think you'll find, um, that once you start doing these sort of things at, um, in these quiet still spaces, you'll find that students start to crave it and then they. Once they crave it, then you can take it a bit further, but just, yeah, Yep. Come for the movement. Stay for the stillness. Oh, yes. That's a good catch line. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. teachers that are teaching a more movement based class, I wouldn't classify, I mean, I have heard the statement that my practice, like my vinyasa practice is my meditation. I, I dunno if I fully agree with that. It, I think it's meditative. It can be, especially a vinyasa, when you are, you've got the rhythm and the inhale X out. It's very meditative. But I wouldn't call it a meditation practice because meditation is, is quite formal in some ways. You know, you need to, um, have certain parameters around what that is and it, I would call that more mindfulness when you are. In that meditative state, and I think there's a difference between mindfulness and meditation that teachers should really unravel and think about. Say more about that I think mindfulness is more to do with the activity being present to the activity, the thing that you're doing. It being a, I mean, they can be combined, absolutely. Don't get me wrong, but it's more, I'm doing something and I'm really present to what I'm doing and this is happening now. There's nothing else around me. Like I'm eating something mindfully. I'm paying attention to the textures and the, the taste and the smell. Um, meditation is, I think it's more of a, a visit to, to what your mind is doing. And I, I think it has to be done, not seated, I mean seated, lying down, whatever, but in, in a kind of stillness because it, like if you are moving you, you've got a lot of things distracting you from what's happening in your mind. Could we say that meditation is watching the mind and mindfulness is watching the body in the moment, like not just the processes of the mind, but the processes of the body. I really like it because we could call meditation the training for mindfulness and vice versa even. But I'm thinking of my own personal and professional context of training for racing endurance events and coaching athletes to race endurance events and the training and the race are two totally different things, and the way you show up on purpose is a little different between practice and performance. I don't know that that's a fully baked thought, but I'm going to chew on that because I think there's a very interesting distinction to be made there. Is it, so what you're saying is there's a difference between training and practice? Uh, training and the event. Yes, exactly. And meditation would be the training in this analogy, right? Training for mindfulness. I think it can go Mm-hmm. I mean, if you look at Patanjali, I mean, he's a, he is a psychologist. He, worked out, you know, in his eight limbs what the order of things should be, and he, he says, you know, Yama and Yama, Asana, pr, so prama to breath work. and after that, DD, uh, no Darna. Diana, Uh. oh, sorry. Pr I knew there's another one. So, so he's saying that you can't, um, I think what he is saying is you can't fully sit for meditation unless you've done these steps first. And this is the, the, the training. Until you can, you know, concentrate your awareness, then you'll be in the state of me. Well, his description means. are, you're not meditating, you are in the state of meditation. So, so yeah, I agree. There's steps towards it, but I, but with, as, with the, uh, the sutras, you can go any, any way. You know, one leads to another, but they're also all interrelate. I'm going to keep thinking about it because I teach on pratyahara and dharana and diyana, and when I teach about dharana and diyana, I move my hands. I'm moving them right now. But for, but for dharana, it's like focus on one thing and I use the word focus when I'm thinking about that, and again, I'm always trying to wedge things into my own past experience with endurance sports, dharana takes a whole lot of focus, especially if you are, if you're only competing against the clock, you need to be really focused on how much you can give moment to moment, but you don't have to be as reactive. It's really more about the. Inner work. And then for diyana, I move my hands side to side. Diyana is more like presence and awareness of many things at once. That's what you need if you're playing team sports and there's a ball and a clock and spectators and set routes. But I don't know that I could necessarily map mindfulness and meditation onto these two exactly, So I should probably stop rambling. Oh no, it's a good, it's Yeah. I'm gonna about it too. Yeah, I like it. and think about that. Come back and tell us in the comments and look for Gabrielle's next book or fourth book, which can be all about this distinction on mindfulness versus meditation and how there may be two koi fish swimming together and complementing each other, which is a segue to your Taoist teaching, and you are known now as a yin yoga teacher. I know from our previous, technologically impaired conversation that you started as a hot power yoga teacher and practitioner, so can you walk us through that transition? How long did it take? Were there checkpoints along the way where you realized things were shifting? How did you come in one door and then arrive at the other? Well, it was this glacial process. Um, and you know, when I started the Hot Power, I was much younger, so I had that energy within me. Um, and I think, you know, if you're younger, maybe you should, should still have those types of, uh, more physical practices. But, you know, as I got a little older, it didn't suit my so much. Um, I found it exhausting. I started to seek something a little bit more, um, slower, I guess, gentler. And, you know, the, the transition happened slowly. Um, I started to teach in yoga and then I started to, just, let me say this. I actually thought when I first started teaching yoga that the type of yoga I was teaching—vinyasa hot power yoga— was, was it, it was the yoga. And then I just got a little older and wiser and I started to let go of that. I think the biggest shift happened when I stopped associating yoga with exercise. Actually, once you stop it like a workout, which is what I was doing, everything shifts. Everything shifts. So now I see yoga as a communion with myself actually. Yeah. So I didn't really answer your question, but that was a pivotal moment. Was it a pinpointable moment in time or was that something that you only recognized in looking back? It was a wisdom thing, getting older, getting wiser, letting go of the need for yoga to be a certain way. I think all these things, having some good teachers knowing that it's okay, that there's many different ways, um, being able to let go of I've been brought up in and to ship, to pivot to something else. Was it. A big thing, and I think it's a big thing for a lot of teachers to move away from their you know, where they were born into yoga, their style. So all these things added up and, so now I sit here and, you know, even as I get even older and the meditation is becoming more fluent in my life, so I'm even moving kind of away from the asana. I love it. I love it. I think this is a very normal and natural progression and it's one that I'm undergoing myself and I like what you have to say about there needing to be time for yoga teachers in this unlearning that you have to in through wonder. There's going to be a beginning style that you practice and you resonate with and that you're drawn to and you probably do your first teacher training. That style, but it's just the entry point. And over time there's a whole lot of places to go inside this giant room of yoga and different doors to open that move you into other rooms still. Mm-hmm. And, and it's a hall of mirrors, you know, Hmm. it doesn't matter. That we, I, I think we need to evolve. Everyone needs to evolve as a teacher. I think that that's part of it. And, and if you've taken this on as a commitment, a lifelong commitment, good for you. And going to change and shift and morph all the way through. And, and that's, that's wonderful. You should, you should. So, so, embrace it. Embrace the change. So beautiful. I understand that you sit down every day and get all of these gorgeous, eloquent thoughts out of your head and into the computer or onto paper. Do you write on the keyboard or on paper? Actually it starts with the walk. You know, I do know. Mm-hmm. I, I heard somewhere on some podcast after 20 minutes of exercise, the endocannabinoids drop. And that's when you start being creative. And I can almost mark it on my walk when it's like, suddenly I've, I am very creative, so I take a few notes when I'm walking and then I get home and try and decipher what I've written. Um, and so I'll sit there for till about lunchtime. Researching. I do a lot of research as well. That's a big part of it. So, you know, I'll carried away by a thought, but then I need to like understand it more fully and then put it into the words that feel right for me. So, yeah. But it's a long process, you know, that, well, everything that I write, it's not just, uh, I've only written maybe two or three pieces that I've just written. Yeah. I just take the piece I've read and I spend a lot of time with it. Like I look at the words and how they go together, the flow, you know, I see it as a kind of poetry really. And then the research, you know, that's important as well to, to back up what I'm writing. So I like my writing to be practical. But also poetic. And I think that would be the two words that I'd describe for what I do. Yeah, I, I agree. As a reader of yours, yes. Practical and poetic are the two twins there, and I love how that comes back to the Daoist philosophy and to the yogic philosophy about sthira and sukha. There's actionable and doable and focused on production, and also creative and fluid and inspiring, and more about the rasa, less about the effect practical and poetic aren't we, aren't we, all those things. I mean, as teachers we do have both sides in us. And I see, like when I, I just did a teacher training, which was marvelous. And I've, I, the students, I felt like they were there because a few of them mentioned it. There was a little bit of a fear around theming and that kind of more creative side. I mean they, funny thing is they walked away not having that, but they came in wanting that, but they just needed to be reminded that we all have it already within us. All this beautiful creativity, all these beautiful words. And it's there, you know, um, maybe a few tools to implement them, but I think there is a little fear around. Moving beyond the Arsen. You've got a book like called that. Um, I have you experienced that? Because that's a big isn't it? Like you can teach asana, but then can you, what? What can you add to that? I think many people come to be yoga teachers, Asana teachers. Because they resonated with things other than the Asana in class. Maybe they came for the Asana, but they stayed for the message. They came for the movement and they stayed for the stillness. And what's elevated yoga's importance to them, to the point where they wanted to share it, where they felt the vocation to share it with other people. And then they get locked up in their own heads around it. Maybe by thinking, who am I to share ancient wisdom? Who am I to put myself forward as somebody who holds any wisdom at all? And I think we layer in, at least as women, this kind of trained imposter syndrome and shrinking. Perhaps men are more confident, you know, preaching from the pulpit. But one thing that Alexandra and I have seen when we talk to people about our books teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses and Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses volume two, is that they really want to be that teacher and they feel like there's a disconnect between the lives that they know they're with themselves 24 7 and thinking all the monkey brain thoughts and you know, cursing at traffic and eating potato chips or whatever vices they perceive that they have. And then the elevated teacher up on a pedestal that they may use their rose colored glasses to see their own teachers through. And I think there needs to be some kind of collapsing of these two and acceptance of the fact that we can be flawed individuals and still be helpful and we can feel a little bit unsure about a message, but still share it with others to benefit them in a way that's going to be useful to them. Well, I think you're, you've touched on a few things there. Um, one's imposter syndrome, right? And this is a big one for, for many teachers. And I think especially in the beginning, you, you look outside of yourself to those who have the answers. You, you grapple with everything external, the books, the teachers, you, you're searching this way. Um. And, um, but really our first teacher is ourself. So, and this is if you talk about the word guru, which means to remove the darkness, the word guru is. It's now sort of commonly known as, as the word teacher, but it did sort of mean to someone who removes the darkness from you, the darkness. Um, we are our own guru. Like we, we all have within us this inner teacher. And, and like if you talk about imposter syndrome, I think it could relate to the fact that you are looking. Outwards to others for what you want to teach or train in your classes. And you know, the, what we wanna be as teachers is, is authentic. And authentic is kind of, I love this analogy. It's based on the words. Sincere. since the Latin means to cover with wax, so. In the olden days, um, dishonest sculptors would cover their sculpture it's cracked with wax. So they were covering over the, the layers, the, the floors. And so to be authentic from it means to remove the wax, to remove the layers that you're, you are covering yourself over with. So. I think the way to help people with imposter syndrome is to help them remember that they have everything they, they need within them, to stop looking outside for the, the teachers and the gurus and the answers, and, and move from the inside out. I don't know if that helps. I hope it does. I, I, of my biggest messages for teachers, I want 'em to remember, just to remember that they have everything that they already need within them. I love it. I love it. Thank you for the etymology lesson, too. That's just, that's worth the price of admission right there. It's absolutely wonderful. So if a teacher is wanting to be sincere without the wax covering up the pock marks in the marble, and they want to start to introduce either theming or meditation in their classes, we've already given them the advice. Maybe you start with the breath. Just for two minutes. What's another quick tip or action item that could be a baby step for them? Well, you, you know, it really does help to plan. Um, and if you don't go into your class or your meditation with an intention, then you, then it's waffle. It becomes waffle. So an intention is nothing more than a pinpoint, it's a focus. So just take one word and use that as your theme for meditation, like trust a, a, and. And that will keep you focused. So, so that was another point I wanna make. You need to have a focus for your meditation because in fact, different techniques will elicit different, um, Really says you are the teacher, you're putting the stimulus in. And from the stimulus there'll be a, a reaction. A response maybe is a better word. Yeah. so choose. Choose a style or technique that suits your intention. I love it, and that's wonderful advice for theming as well, having a word that has some heft to it and that you can unpack in different ways in different segments of the class. And that might point to a concept from philosophy or a line from a poem, but it's just one word that you can turn like a kaleidoscope and see different views of over the course of the class and find stillness and movement during the meditation. I think all of your books, Gabrielle, do such a great job with this. They can do this and meditation is going to give them that same through line. You do such a fantastic job of demonstrating this, of showing how we could have one word or one concept that we turn over over the course of the class, and your books give us some ideas of ways that we could start to develop our own voices around this concept of trust or the animal mind, as you say, it's just a gorgeous model for teachers to take, maybe to pair it once or twice so that they feel like, okay, I'm saying something wise, and then start to develop their own voice with it. the, the message really is to keep it very simple because I think the mistake I made a lot in the beginning is I. Tried to overcomplicate things, but the simpler the method, the deeper you can go. So stick with one thing and and dig a dig the whole little deeper. So yeah, I'm one of those people that like dig a hole here and there and there. I'm all over the place. But yeah, just dig that one hole. Ah, that's fantastic advice. So if someone is listening and thinking, I want to get more confident teaching meditation, the first thing that they should do is pick up your book. And then maybe the second thing is to use something very simple like the breath to brand it for students as what we're doing now is practicing meditation. You might have a story about how you can't do meditation, but look, you just did. And keep coming back to the simplest version of things and know that you have what you need to offer your students already within you. And it may be a question of taking away, rather than adding on and making things more complex. What would you add to this list? If we were to talk about maybe some things to think about while you are teaching meditation, that that might help, um, keep it spacious, because I'm a believer that you, if you as a teacher, you should say, you can say something, but then that needs to be absorbed. So keep your words spacious because. It's, are dropping oil into the class and you just need to let those words land and f that would be 1, 1, 1 tip on maybe a give, um, just, just keep it a simple arc. So. You need to prepare, but in that preparation, you need to think about some stages maybe. Um, and the simple art that I give in the book is to get them into the room, onto the mat. Into their body, maybe, you know, the connection of their themselves to the, the room, the mat, the practice then centering connection to their, their core, their heart, inner self. Maybe through some little bit of breath work. then I like to, I've caught it in the book, deepening, so you just explore your theme a little bit. The theme's been introduced already in the first two stages, but now you're going to explore it a little more and then an ending. I think you, you know, it's a story. You're telling a story. Um, and, and you know, when people have finished a meditation, they're in a, you've hopefully maybe moved them to a different state. So the exit is part of it. You know, you exit with care. Um, take your time to integrate them back into themselves, their body, their world. I mean, you know, I've got lots of tips, but I think I've gotta say before any of that, you need to be meditating yourself, you know? I think the statistics show you only need to do seven minutes a day. I think they worked that out through, um, Navy Seals. They, um, Navy Seals. Is that, is that Yeah, that's it. That's, that's what they're called. they called. They worked out that in seven minutes was the optimum time to get all the benefits from meditation. Well, that's heartening to hear. That feels very doable and I think many of us are capable of doing that Yeah, I thought it was a little bit longer, but apparently that's it. So if you can just put your timer on for seven minutes and just what happens. See what arises for you.'cause that will also give you the teachings. Like this morning was meditating. I had some thoughts that weren't, you know, I wasn't that pleased with them. I thought they were a little bit, you know, they could have been a bit kinder. So that, that's the grounds for the teaching, you know, the universal teaching that, that the good and the bad will arise, but we have to love them both equally. so we've got 20 minutes of walking for the ideas to begin flowing, and seven minutes of meditation for the stillness to arrive. It's less than 30 minutes a day. Efficiency for enlightenment. Enlightenment in 27 minutes a day.. You know, the, the thing is, it's not I think consistency is. If you love something, whatever it is, you should touch upon it every day in some way. Like just put your hand in, you know, if it's, if it's cooking, you should look at some recipes, or if it's gardening, you should pull out a weed. But we just keep doing the work every day a little bit or a lot. It doesn't matter. It's the consistency.'cause that that builds the um. Does that actually what it does is it is it creates a state where we begin to have more faith in we are doing is the right path, I think. Yes. We're thinking about how even beginning the ritual for the day starts to bring us the effects that we will receive at the other end, and that's how the habits get ingrained and the new pathways are wired that's right. Thank you. That's perfect. Yeah. Oh, fantastic. I want everyone to go and pick up your new book, Lessons in Meditation, and your first two books, if people haven't read them yet: The Language of Yin and The Inspired Yoga Teacher. Gabrielle, where can people find you? so under my name Gabrielle Harris Yoga on every Instagram and just my website. I do a little bit of Facebook, but it's very sporadic. Yeah. Gabrielle is a good follow on Instagram, y'all. You'll see these inspiring graphics come through your feed and you'll get a little drop of essential oils to diffuse in your own teaching brain just by following Gabrielle. But I hope you'll pick up her books and I hope you will love them as I and so many people around the world have. Gabrielle, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your patience when we had technical difficulties in the original recording of this episode, and it was lovely to get to go even deeper with you and spend more time with you today. Wonderful. Sage, thank you so much. Have a beautiful day, everyone from wherever you are in the world. And yeah, thank you. You don't need to be perfect to teach meditation. You don't need years of silent retreat experience. You don't need to have a completely still mind. You just need to start simply stay consistent and remember that your students are looking for a guide, not a guru on a pedestal. Gabrielle reminded us today that meditation doesn't have to be complicated. Start with the breath. Give it a container. Keep your words spacious and practice yourself, even if it's just seven minutes a day. If you want to dive deeper into teaching meditation, pick up Gabrielle's new book, Lessons in Meditation, along with her other two books, the Language of Yin and the Inspired Yoga Teacher. Links are in the show notes. You can find Gabrielle on Instagram at @gabrielleharrisyoga and at gabrielleharrisyoga.com. And if you are ready to teach with more confidence, not just in meditation, but in every aspect of your classes, come join me in the yoga class Prep station. It's my membership program where we work on the practical skills that most teacher
trainings skip:how to plan your classes, How to theme in bite-sized pieces, how to show up with authority and authenticity. Learn more at comfortzoneyoga.com/prep. Thanks for listening to Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'm Sage Rountree. I'll see you next time.
