Embodied Leadership

Facilitating Yogasara's last 250-hour yoga teacher training alongside Sarah Harlow and Hazel Bugler was such a wild ride. Scroll down for what I learned.

Deeply grateful for the opportunity to hold this container and work alongside such heart-led co-teachers and assistants. The students' curiosity, kindness and opening was genuinely humbling. I have never seen a group hold each other with so much full power love and a sense of cheerleading each other on!

Holding the tenderbrave hearts of 26 students through a yearlong process reminded me that effective, embodied leadership involves radical presence. Really inhabiting the 'what is' of each moment as best you can. This supports:

- listening to your body to track what's happening so you can be responsive to the needs of that moment, throwing the plan out the window when you need to

- understanding our cultural and personal inheritance so that we can unlearn the unhelpful legacies we have taken on – including shame, fear and judgement

- understanding our social location, where we hold power and privilege and where we don't, considering what this means in terms of role as a leader

- noticing when we are acting from a loving, responsive place and when we are acting from a defended, reactive place

- noticing when something isn't right and bringing loving boundaries to the situation (essentially being a responsive, containing energy)

- owning it when we make mistakes, modelling that getting it wrong is part of learning, that we can fail forwards

- taking responsibility for our 'stuff' and not projecting it on to the group, even when things might be tricky!

- tending to your own needs and sense of safety so the group can co-regulate with you

- finding comfort being with the unknown / the non-binary, trusting the wisdom of now and the natural unfolding, supporting others to feel okay with 'not knowing'

- making space to reflect and feel, slowing down

- looking after ourselves, practicing what we preach!

Very much an ongoing enquiry and not a 'finished product' kind of thing! It's where I fell short of these that I realised how important they are.

I'd love to hear if I've missed anything that feels important to you.

Cannot wait to meet the next cohort!