MINDING WHAT MATTERS… 
Guiding, mentoring, supervising – supporting each other 
By Norman Blair

There’s a story called The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Of course, aloneness is very much part of human life – and working on our own (as we often are doing as yoga teachers) can accentuate these lonely feelings. I set up the group supervision project (it could be called ‘mentoring’ or ‘guidance and support’) in 2012 after having worked on the Yogacampus Teacher Training, as a mentor for several years. This work evolved from my own experience: I have been teaching yoga since 2001 and I am familiar with issues both of teaching yoga and beyond those boundaries. I was in psychotherapy for eight years and I continue to regularly see my own supervisor. 

 Since that first group supervision group, there have been more than 20 participants. Each group is limited to five people and runs for six meetings (approximately once a month with the dates being decided at the first meeting). The cost is £150 and there are slots available on Sundays 7-9pm or Mondays 2-4pm. Once the group starts, it is closed (which means that no-one else can join). It is grounded in confidentiality, openness and trust. The sessions become a space where we explore teaching yoga: peaks and troughs, the difficulties, the mechanics, the delights – the frustrations, the sorrows, the joys of being a yoga teacher. This is not group therapy and I am not a psychotherapist. This is a group of sharing and support within the context of teaching yoga. By connecting with each other in this confidential space, we can realise the commonality of our stories as teachers and thus be lightening this load. Through this mutual support, we can lessen competitiveness and the isolation of individuality. 

This is not about pretending who we want to be as can take place on social media/in the virtual world. It can be about expressing vulnerability with other people who understand – and doing this while actually seeing faces and hearing their voices. The simple sound of a human voice can be deeply connecting. In the process of speaking our stories to people who care and empathise, there is the possibility for help and the potential for healing. There is an energy in speaking long-held concerns and goals that does assist our motivation to start resolving them. 

WORKING ALLIANCE 
The group is a working alliance between the participant and myself as a facilitator. In this alliance, you are able to offer an account of your work. As a result, there is reflection on your work, you can receive feedback and, where appropriate, guidance. My role is that of enabling, supporting and encouraging participants so there is a reflective awareness of our self and of our surroundings. Participating together can help us to develop our own inner supervisor, where we are more able to review what we are doing and where we are growing our inner confidence, the confidence that is necessary for sustaining the practice of teaching yoga. This alliance can enable you to become more grounded in competence, creativity, confidence and compassion. Through this, you can give your best possible service to the people who come to your class. The group is a way of improving our professional excellence and a tool to help us work at the growing edge. It can be a process of being recognised, being encouraged – and being stretched. We all have moments of running on empty, losing inspiration, feeling flatness and becoming disconnected. Through this group, there can be an unsticking when we become stuck, aiding us to find the energy to keep going – because the reality is that many of us teaching yoga will at times be over-stressed and face the risk of becoming burnt out. There is a delicate balance between being competent and being complacent, between exhaustion and being engaged. This group aspires to help us to be better balanced and be in that ‘good enough’ centre. 

It is important to be clear that supervision/mentoring is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that we can look more clearly in our mirrors – and this is also an opportunity. Each person has their own experience during the six months and obviously there are ups and downs. Each group has its own dynamic – its own characters and their issues. Within this diversity, we are able to explore our working practices, receive different perspectives on our students, have space for emotional release and energetic recharging – to hear the music that is behind our words. This is a creative play space for the ‘what-ifs’ that we all experience.

Maybe one day this kind of supervision will be compulsory, as it is for many other professions that are people-centered like yoga teaching. I do believe that these groups are a great way of supporting us as yoga teachers and help us to avoid pitfalls and find our potential. 

This short piece began with a narrative; let’s end with the words of John Steinbeck: “We are lonesome animals. We spend all of our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say – and to feel – ‘yes that is the way it is, or at least that is the way I feel it’. You’re not as alone as you thought”. 

In the words of previous participants: 
“They’ve been great. I like the continuity and the spacing between sessions. It feels just about right…I’m happy with what I have gained” 

“I didn’t know what to expect but it has surpassed expectations… It’s been a really valuable experience for me” 

“I just wanted to let you know how helpful and supportive I am finding the sessions. I’ve also met some teachers I’d not usually have met so a very positive experience”. 

In the words of Judith Lasater: “I am so pleased to learn that Norman Blair is offering this unique group setting for yoga teachers. In this time of turmoil in the yoga world, it is imperative that we support each other in becoming the best teachers we can be. I wish all yoga teachers had the opportunity to gather and discuss the art of teaching in such a group. Thank you, Norman, for sharing your wisdom and devotion to yoga.” 

If you are interested in attending please contact me by email or call 07900 027291. My thanks to my supervisor Frankie Siddhu. This piece has been significantly inspired by ‘Making the most of supervision’ by Brigid Proctor and Francesca Inskipp. There are also supervision/mentoring groups being run by Jess Glenny in South London and Kate Hewett in Devon  – and I am sure there will be more in the future. This is an idea whose time is coming.