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PODCAST

The Mentor Sessions

Francesca Cervero

With amazing guests or solo, I explore the craft of teaching yoga, as its own practice. I"m seeking answers to the questions about why we teach something the way we do, how we could be more expansive and inclusive in our teaching, and how we can continue to grow and evolve in our teaching practice. I"m so glad you are here because I believe the depth that arises in teaching comes from inquiry and relationship. Join me as I offer nourishing support to help you feel more confident in your teaching

health & fitness fitness

All Episodes

40:41

183: Teaching Asana Without Demonstrating: UPDATED

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/09/29

In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, I'm revisiting an idea I first explored many years ago: that teaching yoga asana primarily with words rather than relying on the body to demonstrate every pose is a skill many teachers benefit from working on. I demonstrate as little as possible when I teach. And while I don't think demonstrating is inherently bad, I do think it can become a habit that keeps us from developing our verbal skills as teachers. When I transitioned to teaching online in 2020, I

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38:15

182: Tailoring A Yoga Practice for Private Lessons...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/09/15

There is no cookie-cutter approach to private yoga teaching. The most effective private teachers learn to listen carefully, think critically, stay curious, and trust their ability to adapt. Private teaching is not about giving someone a customized version of a group class. It's about creating a collaborative practice that responds to who they are, what they need, and where they are right now. That requires both clarity of intention and flexibility of method. In today's episode we are looking back

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01:02:45

181: Introducing The American Yoga Council with...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/08/18

In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, Francesca talks with Andrew Tanner, founder and CEO of the American Yoga Council (AYC), about his vision for creating a healthier, more sustainable yoga ecosystem. Andrew brings more than 20 years of experience as a yoga teacher, studio owner, business consultant, technology leader, and former Yoga Alliance executive. His career has taken him from teaching and owning multiple yoga studios to working at Kripalu and Yoga Alliance, co-founding the Berkshire Yoga

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27:23

180: A Sustainable Yoga Career Needs An Ecosystem,...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/08/04

If you've ever felt like building a successful yoga career means becoming an influencer, constantly creating content, or perfecting your personal brand, this episode is for you. Today I'm sharing a different perspective—one that's rooted in the way I believe sustainable yoga careers are actually built. While marketing and visibility have their place, the longest-lasting teaching careers aren't created through algorithms or viral moments. They're built through relationships, trust, referrals,

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26:02

179: Building The Confidence To Teach Private Clients

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/07/21

Many yoga teachers are intrigued by the idea of teaching private clients but feel held back by self-doubt, uncertainty, or the practical realities of self-employment. In this episode, I unpack the most common concerns I hear from teachers who want to teach one-on-one but don't yet feel confident enough to begin. Drawing from more than two decades of experience teaching private yoga clients, I explore why confidence isn't something you achieve before you start—it's something you build through

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44:47

178: The Systems You Need to Make Yoga Teaching...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/07/07

Teaching yoga involves far more than the hours we spend with our yoga students. Behind every yoga class we teach there is a significant amount of planning, relationship-building, scheduling, administration, marketing, and financial management. In this episode, I share the practical systems that have helped me build a sustainable yoga teaching career over the last two decades. Following up on our recent conversation about the hidden labor of yoga teaching, this episode focuses on solutions. While we

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24:16

177: The Hidden Emotional and Physical Labor of Yoga...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/06/23

As yoga teachers, we spend a lot of time talking about teaching techniques, sequencing, cueing, and professional growth. But there's another side of this work that often goes unnamed: the hidden labor of teaching yoga. In this episode, I explore the physical, emotional, mental, and administrative work that happens behind the scenes of a yoga teaching career. From building a business one class at a time to managing finances, marketing, commuting, continuing education, and emotional boundaries, much

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45:15

176: Yoga Is Sold As Healing and Taught As...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/06/09

Have you ever been in a yoga class where the yoga teacher gives a long dharma talk about ahimsa, and then when the movement practice begins the teaching style feels very aggressive? Or maybe you have been that teacher yourself. I know I have! I think there are really subtle and beautiful ways to teach the movement part of yoga in a way that has the deeper philosophical teachings embedded within it, but most of us were not taught to do that, and it is more challenging to do than you might think!

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39:03

175: What's Saving My Life Right Now

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/05/26

In this solo episode of The Mentor Sessions, I'm sharing a more personal, behind-the-scenes look at my life right now and the things that are genuinely helping me stay grounded, connected, and functional during a very full season of teaching, parenting, and activism. After asking on Instagram what kinds of episodes you wanted more of, one request came up again and again: more real-life context about how I make all of this work. So in this episode, I'm walking you through the practices, systems,

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40:09

174: Yoga For Cancer with Tari Prinster

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/05/12

You may not have known it, but if you teach public yoga classes you have taught someone who's life has been touched by cancer. In this episode, I'm joined by Tari Prinster, a true pioneer in the field of oncology yoga. Tari is a cancer survivor, author, and founder of Yoga for Cancer (Y4C), a methodology that has trained thousands of yoga and healthcare professionals around the world. We go deep into what it really means to teach yoga in the context of cancer, and how this work has evolved over the

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39:33

173: Getting Your Yoga Studio Ready For ICE with...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/04/21

Yess Yoga is a yoga studio in Minneapolis one block from where Alex Pretti was murdered by Border Patrol agents in January of this year. In this episode, I'm joined by Minneapolis-based yoga teacher and studio owner Lucia Yess. Our conversation is both heartbreaking and deeply inspiring as we explore what it means to truly live our yoga off the mat, especially in moments of crisis. Lucia shares her experience running Yess Yoga during a recent ICE surge in Minneapolis, where her neighborhood became

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25:37

172: Why So Many Yoga Teachers Burnout (And What...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/04/07

In this solo episode, I'm zooming out from the quick, in-the-moment burnout strategies I shared in Episode 171 and looking at the bigger picture. I want to talk about why so many yoga teachers are burning out—and what I've seen actually work instead. My core premise is simple: the career model most of us were trained into doesn't work for most people anymore. If you're exhausted, underpaid, and questioning how sustainable this path really is, I want you to hear this clearly—it's not you. It's the

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21:22

171: Six Things I Would Do This Week if I Were an...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/03/24

If you are feeling stretched thin by endless group classes, long hours, and low pay you are not alone. In this episode, I share six simple, actionable things you can do this week to start shifting out of overwhelm. These are not big, life-changing plans—just small, powerful adjustments that can immediately help you feel calmer, clearer, and more grounded in your teaching life. Burnout doesn't always mean you need a total career overhaul. Sometimes, a few well-chosen shifts—better boundaries, a

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41:44

170: A Yoga Nidra Deep Dive + Great Advice For Yoga...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/03/10

In this expansive conversation, I got a chance to talk to yoga and Ayurveda teacher, mentor, and author Indu Aurora to explore what yoga truly is — and what it is not. We started by unpacking one of Indu's powerful statements: "The goal of yoga is yoga. Everything else is a side benefit." This conversation invites teachers to look beyond flexibility, strength, and stress relief — and into yoga as a state of realization. Indu draws from classical teachings and the commentary on the Yoga Sutras to

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57:11

169: Yoga's Role In Navigating The World with Sarah...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/02/24

In today's podcast epsiode, I sat down with a yoga therapist, teacher, spiritual caregiver and a good friend of mine, Sarah Capua. We explored what it means to practice—and teach—yoga in a time of political upheaval, climate crisis, and cultural fragmentation. In this conversation, we reflect on power, misperception, collective responsibility, spiritual bypassing, and the role of yoga teachers in supporting students who feel overwhelmed or powerless. As she always does, my friend Sarah brings deep

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46:25

168: The Yoga Teacher's Guide To Fighting Fascism

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/02/03

American yoga teachers have a unique role in fighting fascism. We are deeply practiced in the tools that help us (and our students) feel clear, steady, focused, calm and resilient. And if you read the teachings the way I do, we have a powerful directive to engage in direct social action. Lovingkindness meditation says, "May All Beings Be Safe And Free" and that is not just a nice idea, but a mandate to work for change. As you can plainly see with your eyes, all beings are not safe. But there is so

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53:33

167: We Don't Want AI Yoga with Cyndi Lee

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/01/20

I am so honored to be joined on the podcast by my teacher Cyndi Lee. As a senior yoga teacher, author, and Buddhist chaplain—Cyndi talks to us about what's being gained, lost, and misunderstood as artificial intelligence enters yoga, writing, and teaching spaces. Cyndi reflects on her five decades of practice and teaching. As the founder of Om Yoga Center in New York City, a global hub for yogis from 1998 to 2012, she has witnessed firsthand how yoga has shifted under the pressures of capitalism,

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01:08:24

166: Do We Want AI in Yoga? with Lizzie Lasater

The Mentor Sessions ·

2026/01/06

In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, I'm joined by Lizzie Lasseter for a wide-ranging conversation about teaching yoga in a rapidly evolving world. Lizzie is a designer, educator, and second-generation yoga teacher with over 20 years of experience. As the daughter of Judith Hanson Lasseter, Lizzie grew up immersed in the Iyengar lineage, while also carving out her own path as a teacher, business owner, and working parent of six-year-old twins. Together, we explore lineage, embodiment, and the

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33:13

165: The Intended Benefit + How To Remove Linear...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2025/12/16

In this episode, we dive into a concept that is absolutely transformative for yoga teachers: the idea that yoga cannot be both healing and performative at the same time. If we're still teaching from a linear, hierarchical, aesthetic-based model of asana, we're unintentionally blocking the very healing we hope to support. This conversation focuses on how teachers can shift toward a non-linear, person-centered approach grounded in the intended benefit of each pose. Francesca offers a co-creative

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53:33

164: Taking Movement Patterns Down To The Studs with...

The Mentor Sessions ·

2025/12/02

Today's conversation is a deeply layered one. I'm joined by my friend, colleague, mentee, and private student Geneva Jimreivat for a nuanced exploration of how I work with private clients who experience persistent, subclinical pain and hard-to-pinpoint movement challenges. Geneva is truly a multi-hyphenate in the movement world—she's been practicing yoga since childhood, completed her 200-hour training in 2019, taught in my studio, mentored with me, coached CrossFit and private strength clients, and

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