By Barbara StepniakTake a leap of faith, push through your self-limiting beliefs and teach your first IET class!!
Are you feeling guided to teach? Is fear holding you back? Where do you begin?
When I taught my first IET Basic level class, I was nervous, but knew I wanted to push through all my self-limiting thoughts and just do it. I identified the steps to take, and thought that if I broke it down into smaller steps and focused on achieving each one, it would make it easier for me. And it did! I’d like to share my steps with you, hoping it will make it easier for you too. I’d love to hear more about any experiences you’ve had or would like to share at barbarastepniak@LearnIET.com.
The first step was to determine a time and location to teach my first class. Being that I am a single mother I wanted to make sure that my desire to teach would not interfere with the lives of my children. Luckily I have a supportive ex-husband who is happy to take the kids anytime I teach a class. That was the first big obstacle to overcome. Now that it was out of the way I could move on to identifying a location. After giving this a lot of thought and consideration I decided I wanted to teach in my home. I chose this for a few reasons. I am comfortable there, I have a huge room that can hold up to four students and two massage tables. I am surrounded by nature and I have a beautiful deck where we could take our breaks. Of course, I realized I did not even own a massage table, so I had to borrow one from a friend. It was all falling into place.
The second step was to review the Basic Level class material. Since I have the Study with Stevan CD set I chose to listen to the entire Basic Level class. I knew I would never have the time to do it all at once, so I set aside one hour blocks of time and went through the entire basic level audio program. Listening to Stevan teach the class eased all my fears and worries. I made sure to have my manual with me as I listened to the program so I could make notes in the manual as I followed along. Looking back this was one of the best decisions I made when it came to preparing to teach.
The third step was to advertise the class. I was already subscribed as a Master-Instructor who could list my classes on the LearnIET website, so I just started listing classes not knowing if they would ever happen or not. If I had to cancel a class due to lack of registrations, no one would know, but meanwhile, putting the intention out there helped increase my self-confidence. I put Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced level classes on the website for one day each weekend of each week starting about a month from the date I listed the first class. Once I listed the classes I reached out to all my friends and family to let them know I was going to start to teach. The creation of flyers was easy since there is a template right on the website. I just personalized and made it my own. I contacted local health food stores and businesses in my area to post the flyers. I also made copies of the flyers to have available at each class, advertising the next class. With those tasks done I put it out to the universe that I was ready for the students to start coming. I also used my blessing bowl to manifest the perfect students for each class.
The fourth step was to enroll the students. I created a very simple e-mail template that included the details of the class, location, deposit amount and cancellation policy. Once a student paid the deposit they received the email confirmation. If the student was taking intermediate or advanced levels I verified they had already taken the previous levels, with the Center of Being. A few days before each class I sent a reminder, along with final balance information. My first class only had one student who found my class listed on the LearnIET website, so I convinced a friend to take the class as well so that I would have an even number of students for the practice sessions.
The fifth step was preparing for the class. Once I knew approximately how many people would be in my first class, I made sure to order my manuals more than a week in advance, to give myself time to recover if there was a glitch in the shipping process. There is an agenda on the LearnIET website which I printed out and I even made notes on the pages of my Basic manual to keep me on schedule during the class. I practiced the attunement process each and every day so I was 100% sure of the process for attuning the students. Of course I felt classes would not be complete without the presence of the angels so I purchased the portrait set and blessing cards. The last thing I did was to reach out to my Master-Instructor to go over last minute questions I had about teaching the class. My Master-Instructor gave me a great amount of support and really helped to ease my mind about teaching.
The sixth step was to prepare my teaching space. On the day of the class I always rise early to prepare the room. I light some candles, burn some incense, and diffuse some essential oils in the air. I make sure all of that is done before the students arrive so the beautiful aromas are in the air but I do not burn candles or incense during the class in case others are sensitive to it. I hang the portrait of the angels around the room, put the blessing cards in a bowl and set up the massage tables. After the set-up is complete I reattune myself to the level I am teaching and heartlink to the angels to support and guide me through the class.
The seventh step is teaching the class. It was so much easier than I ever thought possible. The flow of the class comes naturally and I could feel the angels each step of the way. The students had questions and I had the answers, not always sure I would but the words just seem to flow as I spoke. Each class is different, each set of students are unique and I always learn something new as I teach.
The final step was to complete my class list and submit it to the Center of Being. This was the easy part since all I had to do was go to the MIs Only section of the website, then go to the graduate form, input the student information and hit submit.
My only regret in beginning my teaching path was that it took me six years to face my fears and break through my self-limiting beliefs. So, my advice to you is do not wait!! Just take the leap of faith and know that you are divinely supported on the journey to teach.