Who Mentors?

3. Who Mentors?

A mentor has skills, qualities, responsibilities…

A mentor is an experienced yoga teacher and practitioner with well-developed knowledge and embodied experience of yoga and the capacity and willingness to offer guidance to other yoga teachers.  

Mentors on this register have many of the following key skills, qualities, training:

• As senior teachers registered with Yoga Australia, all registered mentors have completed a minimum of 1000 hours of yoga teacher training and have been teaching for at least 10 years. Some have areas of specialisation.
• Mentors aspire to embody the teachings of yoga in life. Mentors may or may not come from the same tradition/training as the mentee.  
• Well-developed communication and listening skills which include the ability to provide clear, non-judgmental feedback, and support processes that encourage deeper self-inquiry and reflection on issues arising in teaching. 
• Natural respect and honouring of others, creating and holding trust and a safe space for the mentee. A mentor meets the mentee where they are and supports them to discover their own form of teaching and yogic journey. 
• Familiarity of the nature of the mentor-mentee relationship, through having been mentored themselves.  

A mentee has skills, qualities, responsibilities and purpose…

Mentees can be either new or experienced teachers who are looking to extend and reinforce their confidence and proficiency in various aspects of yoga or teaching. There may be a specific need to fill gaps in training, an intention to embark on a specialisation or a general seeking for guidance and a safe space for reflection on their teaching or yogic journey.  

It is important that mentees take the initiative to meet the requirements of the mentoring relationship, once initial agreement on parameters has been reached. This includes payment or a negotiated exchange; observing agreements about length, frequency, focus and form of the sessions; punctuality and reliability; being prepared for, recording and following up the sessions. A keen sense of commitment and engagement is required.  

Both mentees and mentors have a responsibility to ensure that their discussions are respectful, ensure confidentiality (eg. by de-identifying student information) and generally, uphold the Yoga Australia Ethical Guidelines. All mentoring relationships are guided by the Yoga Australia’s statements on;

• Duty of Care,
• Code of Professional Conduct and
• Student-teacher relationship guidelines.