Listen to know more about Akash Karia:

In December 2011, when I taught the public speaking course for the 500hr Yoga Alliance teacher certification program, Crystal (one of the students) asked me: “Where are you from? The introducer said you were from Hong Kong, you look Indian, yet you sound British!”

I can understand the confusion I am ethnically Indian, although I was born and raised in Tanzania (East Africa). I attended a British school in Tanzania, worked with an NGO in Africa as a Public Relations Manager for several years, then moved to Hong Kong to begin my career as a professional speaker.

Michel, who is one of the main instructors for the yoga teacher training program is an amazing teacher. The students love him…they just can’t stop gushing about what a brilliant teacher he is! Michel is such a great teacher because he’s an expert at what he teaches and he knows how to share his expertise in an engaging and entertaining manner. In other words, he is a brilliant “public speaker”. In the public speaking course, we discuss:

• How to Connect with your students & build rapport with them as soon as they enter the studio
• How to open a class to get your students on the same vibration
• How to add depth and personality to your teaching to keep your students engaged
• How to fight mid-class boredom
• How to give feedback without offending students
• How to think on your feet and handle disruptive students and inappropriate behavior
• How to find your Voice and ‘Presence’
• How to close a class so that your students are eager and excited to come back
• How to announce a workshop, special event or course without sounding like you’re a salesperson

During the public speaking course (maybe a better name for this course is “Effective Communication”), you will not only pick up the tools, techniques and processes you need to engage your students, you will also get plenty of opportunities to practice these tools! By the time the workshop is over, you’ll be on your way to be becoming as good as Michel The most rewarding thing as a public speaking trainer is being able to help my students become more effective teachers and communicators. Here are a couple of e-mails I received from the last batch of yoga students I taught:

“I was scared of the public speaking course because I hate speaking in public. However, your friendly style of teaching helped me relax. The tools you taught us during the workshop, and the practice I got have made me feel much more confident about being able to teach yoga. Thank you Akash!”

“Your 2 day communication course was awesome! I took pages and pages worth of notes…I just wish we could have had more time with you. Before your course, I didn’t realize just how important effectivecommunication is a part of being a yoga teacher. I’ve now got a whole arsenal of techniques that I can’t wait to implement for my next class”

“Akash, I used your Discuss and Debrief technique to close my yoga class. My students loved it!!!”

(Wouldn’t you like your yoga students sending you similar emails about the impact your teaching has had on them?)

If you have any questions about the public speaking course, feel free to shoot me an email:
akash.speaker@gmail.com. You can also get some general communication advice from my blog: www.CommunicationSkillsTips.com

I look forward to seeing you at the Teacher training course!