I can remember many years ago, when I was just starting out as a teacher, I was asked for an interview. A local reporter was looking for people who had left their corporate job to pursue their passion and I qualified, having recently left a consulting job to teach yoga full time. On the day of the interview, I showed up dressed in yoga clothes, of course, but I was very particular about my accessories. I wanted to “look the part.” I remember when the interview printed and I saw the accompanying photo, I was pretty pleased.
The reality though was pretty different. I was a new teacher and felt pretty nervous when I taught. I’d also left a really good salary to teach yoga and because I was just starting out, I was teaching AND running a personal chef business to make ends meet. However, I had a good head on my shoulders, I had a plan and god knows, I was passionate about teaching yoga. How do I know that? Because I’m still doing it, almost 20 years later.
This brings me to the focus of today’s post: getting a fresh look on your teaching. For me, the “fresh look” that day was my outfit and even though under the clothes, I was nervous and scared, it did help to feel like I at least looked like I knew what I was doing. Over the years, I’ve taken a similar approach every once in a while, whether through updating my sequences, taking a new training or workshop, changing up my cues or yes, even picking up some fresh, new outfits to wear.
You may have noticed as you visited the blog today that it’s got a new home: a new website! Yes, it’s a full makeover for my website and it’s a long time in the making. You see, I’ve had the same website for over 10 years and while I liked it, I didn’t LOVE it. In fact, something I never even did was pick “brand colors.” Did you know there was such a thing? Think of the red color of a Coca Cola logo, the orange color of the Gatorade logo or any other branding colors that come to mind. I had never asked myself, “What colors speak to me and how can I use them in the presentation of my brand when people visit my website and social media pages?”
I’ve always been in love with anything pink, mauve or lilac so when I set about picking brand colors, that’s where I landed. You’ll see the site is infused with variations of these and when you visit my Instagram page, you’ll see them there as well. Over the next several weeks, these colors will also appear on my Facebook page, in my logo and even in my signature program, The Blueprint Learning Program. I’ve even started weeding out of my wardrobe anything outside of this color palette. Someone even said to me the other day, “That color looks great on you!” I can’t tell you how good that made me feel!
Now, I’m wise enough to know that a nice looking website and IG page does not make for solid teaching. There’s much more to it than that. And, my focus is really about helping you be the best teacher you can be by learning anatomy and how to share it with your students in your cues, sequences and conversations. But it’s a part of the whole picture and certainly makes me feel more put together, more professional and more authentic.
So, right now, think about some ways that you can bring more of YOU into what you’re doing when you teach and even how you look, come across and what you say. Once you identify these things, start to blend them in and see how you feel. I can’t wait to hear how it helps you shift in positive directions so leave a comment below!