Name: Stephanie Otter

Job Title: Yoga Teacher

Organisation: So.. yoga

Years in the Field: 5

I attended weekly yoga classes as a participant, and they were the best part of my week. Following this, I decided I wanted study yoga further, which in turn led to me teaching.

I was lucky enough to gain experience teaching yoga at the studio I attended; Emma who delivered the class invited me to teach the first 15 minutes of the session each week. This built my confidence, and I was given feedback from Emma and the class participants. Eventually, I went on to teach the full class, that was in 2020 (between lockdowns!) and I still teach the same class 5 years on.

Mentors or Role Models:

I have been very lucky that Emma, who runs Empower Fitness Studio in Alford, mentored and encouraged me right from being a participant hiding at the back of her class, through to being a member of her studio team

Career Progression and training:

I’ve undertaken several yoga courses. These include my initial 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, a 50 hour Yin Yoga CPD course, an 80 hour Yogalates CPD course, where I learnt a hybrid of yoga and Pilates, and a 40 hours menopause yoga CPD course. I have also studied chair yoga and children’s yoga.

Courses are important, however, the real learning comes from listening and observing the people in front of you. I have planned many sessions only to realise once I meet the participants that what I had in mind won’t work! So, now I don’t plan my weekly classes anymore, I wait and see who comes along then I sequence accordingly.

If there is something I feel I particularly want to offer, I plan it as a workshop and make it clear in my workshop description what the session consists of. Ultimately though, I always do my best to adapt my sessions to the people in front of me. A lot of courses these days are online, which is great, but as soon as you can, get out there in front of people and practise teaching.

Significant Projects or Achievements:

I have hosted several local wellbeing events, including a whole weekend of Wellbeing in 2024. I’ve run several yoga workshops focusing on using yoga as tool to support women experiencing peri/menopause symptoms. The feedback from these sessions often comes later, once people have had a chance to go away and integrate yoga into their life. It’s always rewarding to see yoga making a difference to people.

The thing that makes me most humble is I have people who have been attending my classes for 5 years.

Challenges and Rewards:

The rewards are ample – seeing people make time for themselves by stepping outside of their busy schedules and onto their mats is so rewarding. Seeing people arrive looking stressed and leave looking relaxed and peaceful is the best thing ever.

It can be challenging to keep classes going, I have been very lucky. But cost of living and busy lifestyles often mean people have little space in their life for yoga, often viewing it as a luxury. However, selfcare is important. I keep my classes as reasonably priced as possible to try to ensure yoga is accessible in our local area.

Not only does yoga help people to de-stress, but it makes a huge difference to their mobility and flexibility. Seeing people reap the rewards of their practice by being able to move more freely is so rewarding!

Yoga isn’t just about movement, breath, meditation. It is about community – many friendships have been made at my yoga classes. Some of the participants now meet weekly to go walking together!

Reflections: What are you most proud of in your career?

Creating yoga classes that are for everyone. People often ask me if they are flexible enough to ‘do yoga’, but there are no pre requisites in regard to flexibility! I am proud that I teach classes help people to gently become stronger, fitter, more mobile and flexible and less stressed.

Aspirations:

I would like to continue teaching my weekly classes and reach more people in the local area who would like to practise yoga. I would love the opportunity to teach yoga to more men in the local area. For some reason, far more women attend than men (although most of my classes do have male participants) but yoga really is beneficial for everyone.

Tips for success:

I would say first and foremost, do it because you love it and you are passionate about it!

Recommended resources and organisations:

Yoga teacher training to at least 200 hours will teach how to deliver basic yoga asana (postures) and pranayama (breathwork). It also covers the relevant anatomy knowledge that is required to understand the effects of yoga on the body.

You don’t need to be super flexible to be a yoga teacher, but an understanding of the postures to help students progress and develop safely in their practise is important.

Find out more about Stephanie’s yoga classes on the So.. Yoga website