274 - How to Magnetize the Room

Magnetizing the room as a yoga teacher is an art. It's in your presence and tone, the ways you meet and hold students, how you build trust.  

Today we explore some ways to create a welcoming environment that's supports students to feel connected and empowered, and eager for more.

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The music for this episode is Threads by The Light Meeting.
Produced by: Grey Tanner

Transcript

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (00:00.558)
Hello, loves. It is good to be with you. I want to talk today about how to magnetize the room. Now this is a little bit of a nuanced topic because each of us show up with our own gifts, our own superpowers.

our own presence, our own energy. We have a different tone of voice. We speak at a different pace. We use words in different ways. We have different accents. We have a lived experience that is widely different. And so how we show up and who's attracted to us and why can be very different person to person. And that said, I think that there are some things that we can kind of learn.

and hone that help us magnetize the room and we can layer all of our personality into some of these things. And I think that this is an important topic because it kind of falls in the land of hospitality, where if we think of what are the different things that make up yoga, and if we're gonna show up and teach a room and lead a community, we have the sequencing portion of it. And we have the hospitality portion and a storytelling.

and then truly a leadership piece. And all of those have some different sections within them, sequencing, creative sequencing. It also pertains to queuing and being able to lead people. And I think, you know, side plug for Flow School, Flow School is for creative sequencing, but is also very much to lean into your queuing.

because I have found that a lot of teachers can sequence really amazing things, but then you have to say it. I have to figure out how to guide people, especially in things that are atypical, it's a whole thing, right? But really when we're thinking about how to magnetize the broom, that is falling under this hospitality realm of how do we hold people? It's also the leadership realm, it's kind of both, but it winds together all the things because...

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (02:15.444)
You want to create a class that people want to talk about. People want to come back for, people want to bring their friends to. Some of that is going to be the class itself. The things you're actually teaching. Is it interesting? And is it interesting for people's brains as much as it's interesting for their bodies? You know, there's a quote from Sarah Blondin. She has a whole bunch of meditations. I love listening to her meditations on insight timer.

And there is a quote that she says where she says, the more you connect with your body, the quieter your mind becomes. Again, the more you connect with your body, the quieter your mind becomes. And I really like that quote, especially with how I think about teaching flow yoga, because there is such an intent.

focus on what your body is doing and where it's going, that you're actually using your brain quite a bit. And when people come to your class, they are like, you got your brain on. And then if it's a really like, if it's more creative sequencing and less traditional, traditional meaning, sun salutations, traditional meanings, you have like just a seated portion, you have a standing portion, have a couple of balancing postures, you end up, you have a dancing warrior series, like there's kind of some prescribed methods or it is a...

a class that has the same sequence every time, like 26 and two, Ashtanga, Baptiste. So some of these kind of classes, correct, right? So there is a little bit of brain power that's gonna be used, but then ultimately we're trying to get people to connect with their body. And even though they're using their brain so much in creative sequencing, because there's such a strong focus on what their body is doing, that their mind is quiet.

about everything else because there's literally not room to think about the other things. And I've heard people say that they like to practice ashtanga because you know, you're the thing that's different every time the practice is the same and you're different. That's cool. I think in flow classes, we can find the middle ground. We can teach the same class for an entire month. That's great actually for the people that are practicing with us and it's great for us as teachers. And we still provide enough newness

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (04:39.936)
that people are like, wait, where's my body going? Wait, what am I doing? Wait, how am I gonna do that? So their brain has to stay engaged, which means that there's not room for any other processing. And that's such a gift because it helps people really drop into their bodies. And if you're gonna lead it and try to lead it to breath, then you go from brain to body to breath and gosh, that's a delight. Okay, so.

If we're thinking about magnetizing the room, why are we magnetizing the room? Why is that important? Well, what does a magnet do? It draws things together. One magnet is attracting another magnet and then they stick. So we're looking to magnetize the room because we want people to keep showing up with us. We want people to keep showing up for the practice. We want people to keep showing up for themselves. And we set the tone as teachers.

you're going to step into that room and you're going to lead it from the front. You are the tone setter. You're the tone setter. And if somebody is on the side of class, you look over and they have like angry face and you're like kind of questioning if they're even excited to be there. And it throws you off. You have an entire rest of the class there that is waiting for you to get back on track. You have to stay in yourself. You have to own.

the room, you have to set the tone and it is hard sometimes. It can be very hard sometimes. So we are nerdy enough to be here as teachers and that means something. Some way yoga has given us a space to be more of ourselves and now we want to gift that to other people. So we want to create an experience.

that helps people feel like they've been changed because of it. And that can feel like a lot of pressure. So there's both the same time where it's like all the things and also it's just an hour or an hour and a half of a class and people will go about their days. So it can be both important and unimportant because we know that even for us, we're not practicing yoga on the mat all day long, but that

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (06:55.84)
It does make a difference and that yoga exists off the map because yoga is the practice of paying attention. So we want to bring something to people that they can remember. And I'm to give you a couple of things, but remember that you're going to make this shit up. You get to bring your gifts to the room. And if you've been listening for a minute, you know that I talk about human design. love human design. I love like.

all self kind of exploration and the language that comes with different systems of inquiry that helped me learn more about myself. But I think one of the biggest things that we have to remember as teachers is where we end and where somebody else begins. Because we can kind of say like, they're having this experience or it's because of me, et cetera, that like this isn't comfortable. And that it's if you take the

the blame for something or feel guilty about something, it can be hard to recover. So yes, we want feedback. Yes, we're not going to do it good every time. And we can also say, okay, I'm going to hold my energy. I'm going to hold my own hand to my heart. I'm going to be responsible for myself. I'm going to hold the tone of the room and I'm going to meet this experience, whatever it is. I was talking to a teacher recently and they said that there was somebody after class that came up

and said, I'm so glad that you taught, you didn't teach the weird thing that we did last week. And it was the regular thing that we usually, like that's usually done. And this particular teacher really has been enjoying creative sequencing. And that particular day, they were just like, okay, I'm gonna just do this class because I can do this class with my current.

mental and emotional state, I can simplify this and do something more traditional." So they did. And in this conversation between me and there was a couple of teachers, one of the other teachers had told that the teacher that had this experience was like, my gosh, like, you know, it was like this whole feeling of a moment. And the other teacher said, you know what, like a cool response to that could be to that student.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (09:16.448)
They could say, you could say, it sounds like this is a fun challenge for you. Or this sounds like it's an interesting challenge for you to do, to play with your sequencing in a new way. Like, how is that feeling? And tell me more about your experience. This is exciting. And just the reframe where I think as teachers, we can take on everybody's discomfort in a room and say, it is my fault if people are uncomfortable.

And we know, we all, we know that growth is uncomfortable. We know that getting uncomfortable is important, is important in our brains, it's important because this is controlled discomfort. And we're gonna get out in the real world and we're gonna have things we cannot control at all. This is controlled discomfort. You choose how low you wanna drop in that chair and don't make people drop all the way down, let them choose, right? How low you wanna drop in that way or two, you let them choose, right? If you're gonna stay there and like,

make people hold a thing, give them the option to not hold it too. They let them choose their controlled discomfort, right? There's all these things. So they get to practice this. And that by using our words and our generosity, we don't have to take the responsibility for somebody else's discomfort. This is how we magnetize the room. But we help them be responsible for themselves and say, ooh, that sounds like it's an exciting challenge for you to do some new sequencing.

That's exciting. That's awesome for your brain and can give you a new movement patterns. Tell me more about how this is happening. How is it feeling for you? And to meet the moment with curiosity instead of with self judgment. How does that feel? How does that feel? And where you use language in an abundant way, where you use words like, that's exciting. you're playing. This means that you're playing with.

yoga shapes and patterns in a new way. That can be tricky. You can even acknowledge it. You can say that's kind of tricky. Like that makes sense that that feels kind of hard. Acknowledging a hard thing can help magnetize the room of those students to say like, this person gets it. This person knows that this is a tricky thing. This is a tricky transition. I use the phrase tricky transition all the time. Tricky transition, tricky postures, right? Tricky transitions, great alliteration too.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (11:40.142)
So you can acknowledge them. So important then, hand to your own heart, know where you end and somebody else begins. That's an important thing and you have to own it. You have to own what it is you're teaching. I had a teacher who said that one of the worst classes they ever taught was the class they taught right after flow school because they got out of flow school in person in particular, because in person we're so dropped into a whole experience that is very non-traditional.

and they took everything back and they were high on like the vibe of it all and tried to drop it on their class. They were not ready. They were not ready to teach it and hold it. So then it felt like not an awesome experience for the teacher. The students couldn't meet it, but the students can meet it if you as a teacher can hold it. So that is why you can only give what you have. You can only give what you have experienced. You can only give what you know.

And what does knowing it mean? It means you have to be able to be comfortable in holding the response to the thing. Can you teach it? Can you respond if somebody has a question? Can you respond, I don't know, I'll find out more information. like, I absolutely know, here's how we can do it. And here's some ways that you can personalize the practice. You could do this and this and this. Here's some different ways you can play with it. You have to be able to hold it. And your students, gosh, they can meet you in so many places.

if you know how to own the room and you will build trust with them when you are able to give them different ways that they can meet the practice with their body. Because I so believe in the physical practice of yoga because it helps us touch the parts of us that aren't physical and gets us out of our head and into our bodies. And when we get into our bodies, our minds still

And there's a lot of things in life that are pulling our brains and our hearts in so many directions. So be with them. And when you go into class, there's a lot of ways you can do a welcome. And it can be scary because it's very much public speaking. It's very much using your voice. It's very much letting your body be seen at the front of the room. That's not always comfortable.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (13:58.904)
but giving people welcome. And the way that I do it doesn't have to be the way you do it, doesn't have to be the way the next teacher does it in the class before, after, yours or tomorrow. You get to do it in your way. How do you welcome people? And I was having a conversation with some teachers in flow school recently and we were talking about music and how some people even for like a power class that you're gonna be moving quite a bit, they turn on chill music.

and people come in and it's dark and they like mostly laying on their mats and they kind of go from this really chill vibe and they ramp it up. That's a way. Another way, a way that I often like, if I'm gonna know I'm getting to a certain vibe, I put on a little bit more upbeat music. The lights are on enough, people are visiting, it's loud enough that people feel like they can visit and there's like a vibe of the room when it's a little bit more upbeat music. Be like, okay, this is the energy and then I'll come in, I'll welcome them.

and I will turn the music down gradually, let the song end, and have like a pause, quiet moment. Then I'm doing introductions of the class and what it is and really trying to be with them and help them and help set expectations for what's going to happen because it's really helpful to build trust through managing expectations. To say, we're gonna do a turnaround flow. Tell people you're gonna do a turnaround flow and name.

This is gonna be the front of the room. That's gonna be the back of the room. And I'm not gonna say back of the mat when we're facing backwards, because I'll be confusing. I'll say get up to the back of the room. So just so you know, the front row is gonna become the back row. Back row is gonna become the front row. It's gonna be a fun time today. So manage the expectations. Say, ooh, I have a brand new class that I've never taught, and I am so excited to bring it to you today. You might be terrified. You might be like, I might be forgetting all of this.

I teach with my notes PS, they're by my mat, easy to read. They'd be really easy to read, right? I can't be flipping pages. I need to be able to glance and like be able to pick right up where I need to be, but help them be stoked with you. Even if you're terrified, you can sell that experience so they are on board with you. So you get their buy-in. So like, oh, I want to try this new thing that you've never done before, that you've never taught us.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (16:14.21)
This is exciting, people love to be part of new things. They love to be part of new things when you own it and when you guide them. And the first time you teach it is gonna be the worst time you teach it. So teach it again and then teach it again, again and again and again. And then as always, this is, we have our own experiences teachers in this where sometimes we get derailed and sometimes we have to bring ourselves back and.

Remember that it's just helping people move and breathe and rest those three things move and breathe and rest and you can do that if in the middle of class like your brain bombs and you're like, okay What can I do? All I have to do remember all I have to do is help people move and breathe and rest those three things you can do that So even if you feel overwhelmed in a moment make them slow down you can pause them in down dog You can have them close their eyes sitting up on their mat. You can

pause them into dasana or tree and walk to the back of the room where there's no eyes and take a breath.

regroup yourself and drop back in, move, breathe, rest. Another way that it can be helped to magnetize the room is to bring a sense of humor. And I am quite serious about play. I'm quite serious about the play that can exist in the yoga room and in our words and in the ways that we show up with each other and that

It can be fun and serious at the same time. And the way that you personally bring humor is gonna land for people. And then it's really not for others. And sometimes somebody thinks they're so funny and like it doesn't hit for us. We all know that experience. So that's okay. It's okay if it doesn't hit for somebody else. It'll hit for another person. And timing it, right? Like there's a whole thing. Comedians, that's their job, right? Is learning how to do timing.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (18:12.078)
So if you're telling a joke and it doesn't land, doesn't mean you shouldn't tell a joke. It just means that you got, you got timing to work with. You're like, great. You to be a standup comedian too Bonnie. Yes. No, you don't. You don't have to be a standup comedian. You can laugh at yourself though. You can like point out things in the room that are humorous. Uh, it's like, there's like a whole, there's like so much that humor you can bring because the human experience is wild and people are wild and things.

happen in the yoga room that are interesting and bringing a sense of humor to the moment can be beneficial to both you and the students. So the whole experience, just have it be sincere. Have it be for real where you're not trying to force it. I'm not trying to force anything here. This is open palm, non-gripping, like letting things flow, but being prepared. I am so into being prepared for teaching and prepared.

with your sequence, like come with a sequence, come with something to teach. that doesn't, again, this is why it's nice to repeat your class because you can feel really burned out, especially as a vinyasa teacher, thinking that you have to create a new playlist and a new sequence every single time. Come to Flow School, I will help you learn a different way. Right, that can feel like a lot of burnout. So repeat your classes.

help yourself learn how to teach better by repeating your classes, because you're going to be able to watch the room, figure out what needs to be said, what doesn't need to be said, and how to help your people. You can move it slow and you can move it fast. You can move your flow in so many different speeds. Are you being honest and sincere in your humor, in your sequencing, in the way that you're showing up is something that's going to help build trust. And we're in the business of people, which means we're in the business.

of trust, gamifier language. And I remember both being a student who, when I very first started taking yoga, I would ask questions out loud during class. And I remember my teacher responding to them, but other people weren't asking questions. I thought that was weird because it's the teacher, right? You're going to a class, not like a lecture, you're going to class. So I love to make space.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (20:34.158)
for people to be real humans, for me to be with them, because I've also had that experience where I've been teaching and somebody has asked something and it's almost like I got surprised that they talked. And it was in that moment that I thought, I don't want to feel that. I don't want to feel surprised that all of a sudden somebody's talking to me. I want to almost come as the expectation that they will, even though people mostly don't, because I want to them to feel like I'm with them, not above them, not just in front of them.

Not just to the side of them, not just like, but that I'm with them. But I'm right next to them. And there's a deeper dive we can make in all of these. This is a little bit of brushing the surface. There's more of this in Flow School and Online Flow School is opening a membership. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I want to take Flow School with you. May 1st, 2025, Online Flow School membership is opening.

in Studio B. So my online studio, you can have a practice membership or a flow school membership. So if you're gonna be in flow school, fantastic. We will be meeting twice a month and we'll be talking about sequencing and I'll be giving a masterclass and there'll be all the lessons for flow school that you can dive into. You can take like a five to 20 minute lesson every day and then great. there's so many things to explore there. So that's coming May 1st, but really.

Again, we're trying to magnetize the room because we think it's worth it for people to find themselves, to build a home in themselves. To me, that is what this practice has given me.

And it looks like a lot of different things and different seasons and different days even what you need and what you're paying attention to and how you're paying attention.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (22:33.662)
And it truly has been a practice that because of the attention that has been offered to me through a physical practice, through meditation practice, through a breath practice, through a self-awareness, through service, through community, I have learned so much about myself. It is a gift that I get to be here and alive in this body.

and with you and with the others in the room and

It's really so damn beautiful. That's what we're trying to do is help make a space where people feel like they don't have to show up and prove anything. They just get to bring whoever they are and let it be enough and have just a little bit of discomfort, but enough success that they feel so powerful. Like they can walk out of the room and be like,

Yeah, I can. Yeah, I can. That's why we're doing this. That's why it's important how we're showing up and how we own the room and how we set the tone and how we bring humor and play with the way we say things and be willing to laugh with our students to hold the ground even when it feels tricky and when they're not understanding and sometimes when it feels really wobbly as we're going through a pass of something.

I will even say it like, well, we got through that one together, y'all, right? You can acknowledge it. And then you say, let's try that again.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (24:22.702)
Let's take a breath and then we'll go. So be with them, my loves. Be with them.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If you feel lit up at all by this podcast, I would love to hear about it. Share it, share it on the gram, send it to another yoga teacher friend. And definitely if you have the space, pop a note, pop a note, especially in iTunes and Apple, Apple podcasts, share about the podcast. It's awesome if you write a review about it, just it can be a couple sentences. It helps other people find it.

especially with the teachers who feel like they're alone in the room and wonder how they can be with their students, how they can learn and us here as a community in our conversation and comments, it helps other people find this too. So maybe they can feel a bit less alone. And remember that all you have to do is move, breathe and rest. Thank you for being with me. I am here with you.