As a seasoned yoga instructor, we are often expected to play multiple roles at once (not including being a yogapreneur) including being a DJ, managing ambiance, sequencing, watching students and theming to create variety in our classes. Now AI is not going to steal our yoga teaching job, however, can you use AI to create a more meaningful yoga class to better show up for your students right where they are?
Now I am going to admit, my yoga teacher training was a bit underwhelming when it comes to setting up a yoga presence. I say this wholeheartedly. I can have a whole other discussion where I find that a lot of yoga teacher trainings are just ways for studios to better supplement their income, but not enough devotion and development to their students especially once they stop paying their tuition. I can have a whole discussion on my issues with yoga teacher trainings and what I would have done differently. However, you and I cannot change our past, but we can recognize where our gaps are and empower ourselves to seek better guidance to align with our needs. I hate to reveal that my yoga teacher completely ditched the yoga lesson on theming, and I thought to myself how is this not an important aspect of being a teacher?
Yoga students come to group yoga classes not just for the physical benefits of yoga, but for the experience! Now here I am, no background in music, terrible at creating dharma talks, and no training on leading meditations. Now I get it, I am not a meditation teacher, but do our students not deserve the ability to experience an audible meditation in addition to their moving meditation? Yes, I could go and get a meditation certification, and I will surely! But imagine being able to speak from the heart of what I would like my students to experience with so much eloquence and comfort? This is where AI and/or ChatGPT come in.
Now I graduated from yoga teacher training at the end of 2021, so AI was not even considered a buzz word it is today, let alone a thought on anyone's mind, especially yoga enthusiasts. So, what are we advised to seek? Yoga books, lots and lots of yoga books. Don't get me wrong they are great! However, a lot of meditations in many books were so generic and pretty difficult to customize if you are not familiar with how to create a meditation. Now imagine you want to create a specific theme that just sparked your head moments before you have to teach a class (yes, this is poor planning and I definitely recommend planning your classes in advance, but the best ideas always come last minute), now you have just a few moments to get your thoughts together before you have to lead your room. Solution, this is where AI comes along.
Now, does it feel less genuine that it was generated from a robot? Well, is it any less genuine from pulling from a book or online that cannot really connect with your lived experience to get you the meditation your students need? You see, this is really where the human experience is expressed here. You can share with AI exactly what you experienced and what you hope your students can get out from your moment of wisdom and realization. AI will literally generate a whole meditation format that you can customize that speaks your truth into the meditation. I have personally been against utilizing AI, however guess what? Students feel so much more seen and connected to me because my meditations are real and raw of what exactly I am trying to share.
Oh no! Meditation teachers are going to be taken over by AI and robots! Well... not exactly. I am only encouraging this to supplement with an additional healing modality you are offering, such as sound meditations and physical asana classes where your meditation is 5-7 minutes or less. Please go get certified if you are planning to do 15 minutes or more of leading a guided meditation. What I am trying to say is that there is so many easy ways that you can enhance your classes with these accessible tools that can come straight from the heart... you just had a little help to articulate it!
Now this does not stop at meditation, I have also used AI to create themed playlists. I am terrible at creating playlists, let alone a playlist that flows with the class. Some yoga teachers are great at this; I do not have gifted ears unfortunately. So, if I am offering a more specialized class, I invite AI to DJ. Of course, test the music before you jump into the class, but in this age of AI, we can create more personalized experiences within the yoga room, and I think we can take great advantage of just that!