Sometimes it still hurts receiving negative feedback from participants who don’t resonate with my work, even after teaching yoga full time for many moons now. Regardless if its trainings, master classes, workshops or retreats, it can be so unpredictable when working with the public and even people we do know.

It’s important to ensure there’s a screening process in place to weed out any potential trouble makers and to ensure the people interested are signing up for something which will help the evolution of their spirit while you spin your magic and share your passion.

There’s an invested interest in both parties to be present, to show up, do the work and communicate honestly and mindfully along the way. But what happens when things don’t go smoothly, expectations were not met or a shady character slips through and you’re stuck with a sticky vibe to deal with while maintaining a level of professionalism and deliver your training to the best of your ability? Phew, it makes me feel exhausted thinking about all of this!

Touchwood, to this day I have not had that many negative experiences that have rocked my world but the handful of experiences I’ve had still left me feeling shaken, vulnerable, hurt and a little smaller inside. I question my path, overthink what I could have done differently, I kick myself for not recognising it before it happened, I shed tears and try to navigate around the frustration and not project too much on others – especially my loved ones. This experience totally triggers a negative emotional reaction and indicates to me my so-called ‘weak areas’ to work with. Yes I am an empath, perhaps a people pleaser and ultimately (call me crazy) I genuinely want people to shine doing what they love, but at the cost of my confidence? I don’t think so, so what can we do?

Here’s my top five techniques that have helped me when my world gets rocked.

1. Use the experience as an opportunity to be humble and admit to yourself that your teachings are for a specific tribe. Not everyone will relate and that is okay, as it doesn’t define you as a good person or teacher. Sit with this for a while because if you’re like me, it takes a while for the positive to recalibrate after a negative experience.

2. Shift your mindset and focus on the people who DO resonate with your work and show up with a light of curiosity and excitement in their eyes. This is my automatic go to if someone leaves in the middle of my event and doesn’t come back. I am so grateful for the circle of yogis who reflected back my passion and enthusiasm, which is a solid confirmation for me that my work is appreciated and needed in the world today.

3. Remember that the more you dive into yoga, meditation and embodied practices the more aware and sensitive to energies we become. I’ve always been intuitive and energetically tuned in, but I firmly believe that teaching embodiment seriously fine tunes your antennas and strengthens your sixth sense. Over time your funky vibe compass becomes stronger and easier to follow.

4. Reach out to people you trust and talk it through with them for clarity and support during this time. It’s not fun battling your inner demons on your own, sometimes we can find a solution but it’s not necessarily about solving a problem it’s more about having a neutral sounding board or a friendly face to speak to which helps immensely.

5. Be fully present with how you feel during this experience and acknowledge if you have a tendency to push on through, ignoring any and all triggers which begin to simmer inside like a volcano about to implode. Perhaps you crumble into a helpless heap until someone comes to smooth your ego and rescue you. Empower yourself to feel but not get overwhelmed and lost in sensations that only drag you down. Gift yourself time to feel but lift yourself up using the tools and techniques that resonate with you. Writing for me is a great release (hence this blog post) and so is movement, dance, singing, talking it through, meditating, going for long walks and working with affirmations to remind myself I am not responsible for their actions, only my reactions.

Ultimately your vibe attracts your tribe and I believe we are never given anything we cannot handle as each experience contributes to our growth and evolution in this life – so I encourage you to extract the medicine from each moment!

If you know others who struggle with the above please share this post with them and if you resonate with my work reach out for a free yoga mentorship consult here.