Mentoring – What is it and Why do it?

Mentoring has been a major part of your Yoga Therapy Training since the first complete course in 1987.   Since then some 2000 of our students have been mentored by those who took the journey before them.  We’ve learned a few things about the process of mentoring and we still offer it because it is one of the best ways of supporting a student towards a professional practice.

We’ve also learned that most of our students form an amazing relationship with their mentor.  One of our “in” jokes is to ask a graduating class “Who had the best mentor?”  They all raise their hands indicating that all the mentors (sometimes up to 10 per class) were the best.

This bond forms because it is clear that the mentor is there for you.  She or he won’t specifically tell you what to do very often but they will guide you through a process without blame or shame and help you create the place from which you can make an informed choice.  I guess for many students it’s the kind of parenting we wish we had but most of us probably didn’t.  And it works.  In the recording below, Michael Lee, our Dean of School and an Educator with almost a half a century of experience in teaching, talks about the topic and gives his thoughts on “what is mentoring?”  If you like what you hear and would like to be on our list to receive our newsletter just sign up here.