Christina Lobe in an interview with tips for your path and about the relevance of further training
The range of yoga classes is huge: it is not easy to make a place for yourself in this broad market. Yoga teacher Christina Lobe has been teaching passionately and successfully for 20 years and, in an interview with Wina from the greenyoga team, reveals five tips to help you continue to develop as a yoga teacher. She also gives you an insight into her two advanced training courses from the YogaEasy Academy.
Dear Christina, let's start with your beginnings. What was your first encounter with yoga and what inspired you to teach yoga?
I discovered yoga in a gym. I was curious and wanted to find out more about it. I then visited a few studios and teachers in Berlin until I finally found a class and a style that I felt at home with. From then on, the hobby became a regular practice. I completed my first teacher training to learn more and to get to know yoga better in all its complexity and depth. I quickly learned that teaching itself gives me a new and deeper look at yoga. To this day, it is an absolute enrichment to be able to live and teach yoga.
What happened next for you? Did you immediately venture into self-employment or did you start by teaching yoga on the side?
While I was training to be a teacher, I gave up my regular full-time job so that I could devote myself fully to yoga. I would say I taught yoga and worked on the side. Yoga quickly became the focus of my life. After about two or three years, yoga became my profession.
I still remember very well the time when I asked myself whether I wanted to and could venture into full independence as a yoga teacher. Many yoga teachers also find themselves at this point at some point. Do you have any tips that can help you find the right path for yourself?
Today, it is actually not easy to make a place for yourself in this colorful and broad market. So I would try to take the pressure off and create financial security through a job or part-time job. At the same time, it takes a lot of time and mental capacity to shape your own path as a yoga teacher - this should also be taken into account. Orienting yourself towards the market or other teachers can be inspiring. However, in my opinion, it is essential to know your own reason and intention. The person teaching should have a deep inner need to share something with and through yoga and to bring it into the world. I am very sure that if we as teachers act from this inner connection, we will also find our place in the yoga world.
From your personal experience, what is an effective key to being successful and standing out from other yoga teachers?
I have been observing the yoga scene for a few years now and believe that there are very different approaches. I work intuitively myself and am very grateful that new ideas and projects keep bubbling up out of me. I would recommend to anyone who feels the same to give the ideas a clear structure and to make the offer visible in a simple and understandable way. It should be very clear what the students get and what they can expect.
Other teachers, on the other hand, take a more analytical approach to their offerings, observing trends in the scene and in the world in order to adapt their offerings accordingly.
In my opinion, there is no one tool that can be used to develop a successful yoga business. But I can think of a few aspects that will help you as a yoga teacher to successfully combine and spread your passion and job:
First:
Create recognition through consistent images and language.
Second:
Clearly state what your “product” is and what students can expect.
Third:
Create an (annual) plan to announce your events well in advance.
Fourth:
Be reliable and avoid cancelling or postponing events if possible.
Fifth:
Stay true to yourself. Teach what inspires and moves you. Not every trend and every niche needs to be served. Ask yourself regularly why! Your connection and your conviction are the most powerful motivation. Your work can become a magnetic force if you act from your heart. You need an honest and deep connection with yourself to give expression to your words. Feel what you are saying, then the spark will jump.
You have been successfully training and continuing to train yoga teachers for years. In your opinion, what makes a good yoga teacher and why is continuous training so important?
Further training provides a common thread. It refines the lessons and helps us teachers to continually bring clarity to our own message and teaching. The exchange with other teachers and accordingly also with other and new ideas and approaches enriches what we do. Yoga is so great and valuable that I express my appreciation for the tradition by always trying to do my best to honor and share it. That is why, even after so many years, I still treat myself to training and courses for personal further education and development.
The two training courses you designed for the YogaEasy Academy are about how we can make our lessons unique and authentic and how we can move our students on all levels. Who exactly are you addressing here and what great added value do we get from the two training courses?
This course is designed for all yoga teachers who are ready to take a closer look at their own teaching. The course covers the most important aspects and topics of teaching. Whether it's sequencing or integrating topics into the lesson: the course provides a clear structure that teachers can use as a guide. This ultimately creates more space for the magic of yoga. The more precise we become in placing poses in the sequence, in giving alignment instructions, in guiding breath and rhythm, the more the love of yoga or your intention as a teacher can unfold between the lines. In this way we can move and touch people both inside and out.
Thank you very much for your time and the nice interview.
YogaEasy Academy with Christina Lobe
Teaching Yoga – Next Level
Develop your yoga classes further! This course will help you to refine and deepen your teaching. It will support you in developing yourself, inspiring your students and being successful as a teacher in the long term. In seven modules, you will be introduced to the art of teaching yoga. You will hear your own voice more clearly and, using theory and lots of practice, learn to move your students on all levels.
Teaching Yoga – Your path as a yoga teacher
And suddenly you're a yoga teacher. But how can you convey knowledge and experience in an understandable way? And how do you find your own voice as a teacher? Christina Lobe and Maren Brand guide you through the seven keys that make up good, authentic yoga lessons. So that your lessons are as unique as you are.
No matter where you are - whether you are currently doing a yoga teacher training, have just finished it or you want to develop further as an experienced yoga teacher: This online course will help you to (re)discover and highlight your individual potential as a yoga teacher and thus follow your path as a teacher.
Christina Lobe
Christina Lobe has been a full-time yoga teacher for 20 years. Her basis is Anusara Yoga, an alignment-based yoga style that has its roots in the teachings of Tantric philosophy. In addition to the precise physical alignment, Christina creates a space in which the practitioner can experience the philosophy individually and recognize the perfection of their own heart. Her aim is to show each individual their worth. The path to the inner and spiritual heart is the foundation for a fulfilled and at the same time free life. Christina is a certified Anusara Yoga® teacher and a registered yoga teacher (RYT-500 Yoga Alliance). She teaches 200- and 300-hour teacher trainings in German-speaking countries and gives workshops and retreats internationally.