How To Create Yoga Class Themes

Theming your yoga class is a wonderful way to build trust with your students, as it is letting them see more of an authentic, intuitive, and creative side to you. It allows you to expand your offering by adding value, and serves as an extra layer of growth for you as a teacher. Take your teaching to the next level this Fall, and for seasons to come, by thoughtfully theming your next yoga class with these helpful tips-

Tip #1: Use the natural world-

A good general tip to find a theme is to use our natural world. Think of the time of year, and how that can play into it. Is it a change of season? Is there an equinox? Is a holiday approaching? Identify what is going on in your community, or even globally, and speak to that in your class. Showing your students you are in tune with the world around you builds trust, enhances your class, and elevates your offering.

Tip #2: Know your audience-

Themes can be both universal, and personalizable. By knowing your audience, or pinpointing a specific group of people you would like to reach, can be used to your advantage. Tailor the theme to their style, what they like about yoga or spirituality, and a lesson that can be applied to life beyond the mat. This will enhance your students’ experience by making them feel seen and develop a sense of belonging.

Tip #3: Authentic to you-

What are you passionate about? Ask yourself that. How does your passion resonate with the theme you want to teach, and how can you share that with a conscious message? By incorporating your passion, Dharma, or a lesson you are learning or have learned into your theme, it is going to flow naturally. It will take off some of the pressure, because it is not something that you have to study up on too much, or memorize- it is coming from a place of grace and natural interest.

Tip #4: Lands in the practice-

Weave the theme throughout all elements of the experience. Have the thought be stretched and strengthened in the body and the poses. Introduce the theme, have it connect with your breathwork, with the poses, with the meditation or body scan, and all the way into Savasana. Don’t just do it at the beginning, or mention it at the end, and have the whole middle be a regular class- go the extra step and really weave the theme into the entire experience.

Tip #5: Music matches the theme-

The energy of the music needs to match the tone of the experience for your students. Maybe the music is the background, and it is there to enhance the experience by aligning with the vibe of what you are teaching. Or maybe you like music with a lot of words and the lyrics are enforcing the theme. 

*If the lyrics are in English, and you are teaching in English, just be mindful of when you are talking, and when you are wanting them to focus on the lyrics, as it can potentially be confusing for your students to listen to both your teaching and the song.

Fall Theming Pro Tips-

Going back to using the natural world- what is happening during this time of year? The leaves are changing and soon will be falling from the trees, things are slowing down, longer nights, shorter days, and cooler weather. The monthly theme for my community this October is “Letting Go”. This is a popular one to use, and from there begin to think of some elements of a practice that might vibe with the feeling of letting go.

Fall Asana-

Because this season brings shorter days and longer nights, it’s darker outside, and seems to be quieter with less hustle and bustle, I like to use poses that are more grounding and calming. During my themed classes this time of year, I am not doing power vinyasa or building too much heat, because I am working to find a slower paced and inward experience. 

Examples:
- Tree pose is a great shape to incorporate into your fall theme, talking about the leaves of the trees changing and falling.

- A longer Savasana 

- Downward facing dog. Letting your students root in, feeling the earth beneath us, but also allowing blood flow to rush down into the head.

- A gentle, easy body scan. It doesn’t have to be a full Yoga Nidra (a form of guided meditation) experience, but a simple 3-5 minute or less body scan once you have relaxed your students down, to let go, to notice the spaces within their bodies that could use tension release. 

- Yin style postures. Have your students hold the poses a little longer and soften more around the edges, instead of tensing, engaging, or firing up. 

- Pigeon pose, knee to nose, forward folds- poses that make you go inwards, as this is a more introspective time of year.

Fall Pranayama-

A great pranayama exercise for this season of transition is Nadi-Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing). Alternate nostril breathing is used to find balance, grounding, and it is more of a calming breath.

If you are teaching in a colder room, or theming around the cooler weather in Fall, consider doing more Kapalahbhati (breath of fire or skull-shining breath), or Bhastrika (bellows breath) to build some heat at the beginning of your class and warming them from the inside-out.

If you have never done pranayama in your classes, maybe now is a great time of year to introduce your students to the power of breathwork if they are open to it, and if you are open to sharing it with them.

Just go for it!

By using what is happening in the world around you, knowing your audience, keeping it authentic, and landing it throughout the entire class with energetically aligned music- your theming will make your classes next level! I encourage you to try it once, tweak it if you need to, use a different Fall theme or switch up the poses, but just go for it!

We hope these tips help! To listen to our podcast about theming click HERE.