The information on the Yoga Australia mentoring pages will help you determine if this mentoring register is right for you. If you feel comfortable with the details in the ‘Scope of Practice for Mentoring for Yoga Teachers’ and especially the skills, qualities and responsibilities required, the next step is to make some decisions about the parameters of the mentoring you wish to offer.
Mentoring is a precious offering that requires time, energy, space, preparation, reflection and harnessing of wisdom. Yoga Australia encourages both mentors and mentees to enter into a mentoring relationship with deep respect and in a spirit of exchange, whether or not monetary payment is involved.
A mentor may choose a fee schedule for their mentoring services. Yoga Australia recommends an hourly rate between $75 – $150, a sliding scale that allows for both the mentor’s and mentee’s different circumstances. See Yoga Australia’s Mentoring Salary Guidelines.
Some mentors might accept donations or other forms of exchange. Others might be in a position, in physical or philosophical terms, to offer their service for free.
Yoga Australia has recently revised the policy on claiming Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for mentoring. It is now possible to claim 1 point for 2 hours used to initiate a one-one mentoring relationship, up to 25% of your yearly points. This is an acknowledgment of the often unpaid nature of much of our mentoring energies. As in the past, you can claim CPD points for yoga-related research, authoring and developing new workshops, seminars and so on, that may be required for your mentoring role.
Yoga Australia encourages mentors to seek a percentage of their annual professional development in mentoring related areas.
Yoga Australia encourages a wide range of mentoring relationships from structured to very open. You might choose one or the other or a range in between.
You can offer to mentor in a particular aspect of yoga, teaching or specialisation or as a more open process that responds to the needs of each mentee. Consider the particular training, specialisations experience, qualifications that you have and wish to share.
Yoga Australia encourages you to reflect on what it is you will bring to mentoring (personal qualities and professional passions), the value that being mentored has brought to you and your teaching and how you will create a safe and respectful space for your mentees.
Once your application is approved, you will be able to add these details and reflections to the bio section of your member profile page, via your dashboard.
It is important to decide upon the method of contact you can offer a mentee – face to face, phone, video link, particular technology? It is envisaged that some mentees will prefer one method over another, some will seek a mentor in their own area, others might prefer the anonymity/detachment of a more distant mentor.
An informal arrangement can be discussed in the initial contact and sessions or a formal document might be required or preferred. Mentors and mentees can create their own or use the Sample mentoring agreement/contract. NB there are specific requirements for curriculum-based mentoring of provisional members
Once you have decided on the above parameters there is an application form to fill in and submit to the Yoga Australia office. In acknowledgment of the part-time nature of our office workforce, please allow 2-4 weeks for this to be processed. You will then be notified via email if your application has been accepted or if additional action or information is required.
After accepting your application Yoga Australia will add your name, location, specialties, method of connection and any fees charged to the central register on the Yoga Australia website. Yoga Australia will also add the term ‘Yoga Australia Registered Mentor’ to your qualification section on your member profile page. There will be a link between your name on the central register and your member profile, to help potential mentees learn more about you.
Yoga Australia recommends that you ensure the following additional details are included in your profile, as well as repeating what is listed in the central register. You can add the mentoring details, through your dashboard at any time after your registration has been accepted.
Mentors are encouraged to be clear about the type, extent, and limitations of their mentoring offerings from the outset and to take responsibility for guiding the initial discussion, the decision to proceed and then negotiations about the parameters of the relationship. Mentees are encouraged to make brief initial contact with no more than three potential mentors. They are advised to have an idea about the type of mentoring they are seeking (eg. open or structured; teaching, personal practice or specialisation; skills-based or issue-based; theoretical, philosophy or reflection; a specific outcome or general process).
There are many reasons why it might become apparent that the ‘fit’ between mentor and mentee may not be quite right. In such cases, mentors are responsible for referring the mentee back to the register or to particular mentors deemed appropriate.
In addition to any contract or agreement that the mentor and/or mentee might like to utilise, some form of ongoing process/progress record is advised (NB – in the cases of provisional members upgrading to full membership or any members claiming CPD points, this is mandatory).
In order to be granted Senior Teacher status, Yoga Australia members go through a comprehensive process documenting their extensive experience and training. In addition to this our Registered Mentors have completed an application process which details their experience being mentored (at least 12 months); any experience as a mentor (not compulsory); current and past teaching, teacher training, professional development offerings; additional specialties/training and their agreement to the Scope of Practice for Mentors.
Yoga Australia understands that every mentoring relationship is unique and that not all will be a good fit. As soon as this becomes apparent, Mentors are advised to refer mentees to other mentors and mentees are encouraged to return to the register.
These extensive Mentoring guidelines and information are intended to help create mutually productive and inspiring relationships. Please read them thoroughly. In the unlikely event that an issue arises between a mentor and mentee that the two parties are unable to resolve, either or both can raise a grievance with Yoga Australia by clicking on this link. The Yoga Australia Grievance policy and process encourages parties to make all reasonable efforts to resolve the issue directly to the satisfaction of both parties before contacting Yoga Australia for assistance.
CPD Points for mentoring |
Assistance, Feedback and Grievances |
Register of Mentors |