🧘‍♂️ Assert Your Presence as a Teacher!

Elodie Abadie • 3 mars 2025

🧘‍♂️ Assert Your Presence as a Teacher!

🌟 Why Is an Instructor’s Presence Essential?

A great yoga or movement teacher is not just someone who demonstrates postures or corrects alignments. 


Their presenceis what inspires, motivates, and creates a safe and supportive space for students.


Posture, voice, communication, and energy are fundamental elements that build an authentic and engaging teaching presence.


A strong and compassionate presence helps students feel at ease, motivated, and confident. When a teacher fully embodies their role, they become a source of inspiration, encouraging students to explore their potential with assurance. By understanding how to effectively use their body, voice, and energy, they can create an enriching environment that fosters student progress.


In this article, we explore how to refine these aspects to embody your role as a teacher fully and offer an enriching experience for your students.


🧍‍♂️ 1. Work on Posture and Body Language

🧘 Your body speaks before you even say a word. Your posture reflects your confidence, openness, and connection to the present moment. A balanced and grounded posture conveys stability and reassurance.


Key elements of an engaging posture:

  • Grounded stance: Stand with feet firmly rooted, shoulders relaxed, and spine aligned to project calmness and confidence.
  • Fluid and natural gestures: Avoid abrupt or excessive movements that may distract students. Controlled gestures add clarity to your explanations.
  • Eye contact for connection: Maintaining eye contact builds trust and strengthens the student-teacher bond.
  • Energetic grounding: Awareness of your center of gravity and breath helps radiate a calming and inspiring energy.


✍️ Exercise: Practice in front of a mirror or record yourself to observe your posture and identify areas for improvement.


🎙️ 2. Cultivate a Steady and Engaging Voice

🗣️ Your voice is a powerful tool to guide, motivate, and soothe your students. A well-modulated and expressive voice captures attention and makes instructions easier to follow.


How to optimize your voice for captivating teaching?

  • Clear and warm tone: A steady, warm voice fosters trust and active listening.
  • Controlled pacing: Speaking too fast may make instructions hard to follow, while speaking too slowly can reduce the class’s energy.
  • Precise articulation: A clear and precise diction improves understanding and avoids confusion.
  • Expressive modulation: Varying tone and rhythm keeps students engaged and adjusts the energy of the session accordingly.


🎤 Exercise: Record yourself giving instructions, then listen to identify areas for improvement.


💡 3. Develop Positive and Inspiring Communication

💬 The words you choose significantly impact student motivation and confidence. Effective communication fosters engagement and ensures a supportive learning atmosphere.


Strategies for effective communication:

  • Use positive reinforcement: Phrases like “You're making great progress” or “Feel your breath” boost confidence and engagement.
  • Avoid negative instructions: Instead of “Don’t hunch your back”, say “Try keeping your back straight”. Positive reformulation encourages motivation.
  • Encourage open dialogue: Allowing students to share their experiences and ask questions enhances their understanding and integration of the practice.
  • Practice empathy: Tailor your speech to different levels and needs, ensuring an inclusive and enriching experience.


📝 Exercise: Take note of phrases you use in class and rephrase them in a more positive and encouraging way.


✨ 4. Radiate Authentic and Inspiring Energy

✨ Your energy is contagious. If you're stressed, your students will feel it. If you're relaxed and present, they will be too. Your authenticity directly influences the quality of your teaching.


How to cultivate a balanced and inspiring energy?

  • Be fully present: Let go of distractions and embody your role fully to create an immersive experience.
  • Practice emotional self-regulation: Breathing and meditation techniques help maintain a calm and centered presence.
  • Adjust class dynamics: Observe the group’s energy and adapt your attitude to sustain a motivating and supportive environment.
  • Prioritize self-care: A physically and mentally balanced teacher has a more positive impact on their students.


🌟 Exercise: Before each class, take a few deep breaths, smile, and set a positive intention for your session.


🎯 Conclusion: Fully Embody Your Role as a Teacher

An authentic teacher does not just transmit knowledge; they embody their teachings through posture, voice, communication, and energy.


By refining these elements, you create a learning environment where students feel safe, inspired, and motivated to progress. You become a true source of inspiration, fostering meaningful growth in your students.


🌿 Ready to refine your teaching presence? Apply these tips in your next session!


🔗 Explore our training programs to develop your teaching skills at www.yogadanse.eu


Namaste 🪷

🪷 Yoga: Spiritual, Physical or Political?

par Elodie Abadie • 15 décembre 2025
Yoga intrigues, fascinates, and sometimes even divides.
Some see it as a physical practice, others as a spiritual path, and some as a symbol of engagement or resistance. But deep down… what is yoga really?
Is it a lifestyle? A path of awareness? A way to connect with yourself and the world? In this article, we explore the many faces of yoga — physical, spiritual, and even political — to rediscover its essence: a living, embodied, and profoundly human practice.

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par Elodie Abadie • 1 décembre 2025
What if yoga wasn’t just about postures?
What if, beyond the mat, this ancient practice became a way of inhabiting your life — acting with awareness, breathing with presence, and connecting deeply to yourself and the world around you? Through its eight branches, yoga offers far more than a series of physical exercises.
It’s a complete philosophy of life, a daily art of living, and an inner compass to navigate with balance, authenticity, and serenity. In this article, you’ll rediscover the 8 limbs of yoga — known as Ashtanga Yoga — and learn how each one can transform your life, step by step, breath by breath.

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par Elodie Abadie • 17 novembre 2025
You might think that alignment in yoga means placing your knee perfectly above your ankle, keeping your hips square, and your spine long and straight.
But what if it was so much more than that? In our culture of “doing things right,” alignment is often reduced to a technical cue — a matter of perfect lines and precision.
Yet in yoga, true alignment goes far beyond the body .
It extends into the breath, the energy, the emotions — and the way you connect to yourself. This article invites you to revisit this word we hear everywhere and rediscover its deeper meaning — on your mat and in your life.

Simple Yoga: Returning to What Really Matters

par Elodie Abadie • 3 novembre 2025
What if we practiced yoga to return to simplicity? 
Not to perform.
Not to master a thousand postures.
Not to impress.
But to come back to what truly matters: one breath, one presence, one body we truly listen to. Today, yoga is often seen as a performance discipline — associated with the image of the perfect body or the most advanced pose. 
Yet, in its essence, yoga is a practice of awareness and unity .
It’s not about doing more, but about being more present. This article invites you to drop the masks, let go of the “shoulds,” and rediscover yoga as a path back to yourself — to slowness, to simplicity, and to truth.

Emotional Release Through Movement

par Elodie Abadie • 20 octobre 2025
What if your body had messages that your mind can’t put into words?
What if free movement was a doorway to everything you feel deeply but don’t dare to express? The body remembers.
The body speaks.
And sometimes, all it takes is letting it move differently so it can finally set itself free. In this article, let’s explore the emotional intelligence of the body, the blocks that manifest through physical tension, and the power of spontaneous movement to bring back breath, clarity, and inner peace.

Dancing Your Yoga: Freedom and Expression

par Elodie Abadie • 6 octobre 2025
What if your yoga mat became more than just a space for postures?
Imagine it as an inner playground, a sacred space where you can move differently, breathe deeply, and express yourself freely. Dancing your yoga is a unique practice that blends free movement, breath awareness, and spontaneous creativity.
It’s a yoga that both grounds and liberates.
A yoga that isn’t limited to “doing it right,” but one that invites you to feel, create, and vibrate. In this article, discover what it means to dance your yoga, the benefits of this practice, and how to integrate it into your daily life.

How to Overcome the Fear of Failure?

par Elodie Abadie • 29 septembre 2025
The fear of failure affects everyone, regardless of age, background, or life path. It often prevents us from taking action , seizing opportunities, or truly believing in ourselves. Combined with the fear of judgment from others, it can become paralyzing if we don’t learn how to understand and transform it. In this article, let’s explore why the fear of failure exists, what the signs are, what failure can teach us, and above all, how to overcome it to regain confidence, serenity, and motivation.

Yoga: Why and How to Set an Intention

par Elodie Abadie • 22 septembre 2025
I n yoga practice, every posture (asana) and every breath carries a deeper meaning. But there is one tool that makes your practice even more powerful: setting an intention. More than a simple ritual, an intention acts like an inner compass. It guides your energy, directs your mind, and transforms your yoga session into a true experience of awareness and alignment. 👉 In this article, you’ll discover why setting an intention in yoga is essential , how to formulate it effectively, when to use it, and the benefits it can bring both to your practice and to your daily life.

Intuitive Dance: Rediscovering Inner Freedom

par Elodie Abadie • 15 septembre 2025
Intuitive dance is attracting more and more people seeking well-being, creativity, and release. But what exactly is it? As its name suggests, it is a dance guided by intuition rather than an imposed choreography. Here, there are no rules, no codes, no aesthetics to respect. You move freely, in tune with your sensations, emotions, and breath. Intuitive dance is an invitation to reconnect with your body and your deeper self through spontaneous movements, without judgment or performance.

Yoga and Money: Is It Worth Investing in Yourself?

par Elodie Abadie • 8 septembre 2025
Talking about money is often delicate—especially when it comes to a spiritual and ancient practice like yoga. Many people associate yoga with inner peace, serenity, and the search for meaning, while seeing money as a purely material value opposed to this quest. But the reality is much more subtle: yoga and money are not incompatible. Practicing yoga often requires an investment: studio classes, workshops, retreats, teacher trainings, equipment (mats, props…). This raises an important question: why do we hesitate so much to invest in our well-being, when we spend much more easily on things that don’t necessarily bring lasting value to our lives? In this article, let’s explore the link between yoga and money , and why investing in your practice may be one of the best choices you can make.