{"id":12770,"date":"2023-04-07T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yogajournal.com\/?p=110122"},"modified":"2023-04-07T11:00:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T11:00:49","slug":"pelotons-aditi-shah-teaches-online-meditation-to-millions-heres-how-she-does-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/07\/pelotons-aditi-shah-teaches-online-meditation-to-millions-heres-how-she-does-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Peloton\u2019s Aditi Shah Teaches Online Meditation to Millions. Here\u2019s How She Does It."},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Aditi Shah<\/a> started teaching meditation, she didn\u2019t leave much to chance. She spent her time in between studio classes diligently writing out word-for-word scripts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say word for word, I mean word for word,\u201d Shah says, laughing. \u201cI felt so vulnerable sharing, I had to write everything down. That way it was like I was still conveying what I wanted to say, but I was just the vehicle\u2014it felt a tiny bit less personal, which made it a tiny bit safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the past decade of teaching, Shah has grown more secure in her skills and more trusting of her intuition in letting go of that ritual. As her confidence has skyrocketed, so has her career. Shah joined the online fitness platform Peloton<\/a> in 2018 to help launch its yoga and meditation programs. When the pandemic effectively shut down in-person classes in 2020, Shah was ready to meet the virtual wellness explosion.<\/p>\n

To date, she\u2019s taught more than 1,000 online classes that span high-energy power vinyasas, lower-vibe slow flows, restorative yoga, Yin stretch sessions, and meditation practices, including an \u201cIntro to Meditation<\/a>.\u201d She feels that leading others through meditation virtually can pose unique challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found that in some ways, teaching online meditation can be easier, and in some ways, it can be a lot harder,\u201d says Shah. But she continues to believe there are benefits to practicing and teaching meditation online. Here\u2019s what she\u2019s learned as a teacher and as a student.<\/p>\n

3 Challenges and Benefits of Online Meditation<\/h2>\n

1. Ultimately, More People Than Ever Before can Benefit From Meditation<\/h3>\n

Teaching an ancient practice via a high-tech approach can be intimidating, says Shah. But it makes meditation\u2019s research-backed benefits, including stress reduction and improved focus, available to an unprecedented number of individuals. That includes those who may not have the time or inclination to attend in-person meditation but who want to explore the science of mindfulness, the power of breathwork, or the elements of metta (loving-kindness) meditation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Teaching online has also challenged her to leave behind her highly structured ways and adapt the practice in ways that suit her students. Shah\u2019s instructions are structured but not prescriptive. She invites virtual practitioners to explore their internal experience through guided breathing, inquiry, and visualization techniques, but also allows space and time for silent reflection. Her teaching, in fact, reflects many elements of her own practice.<\/p>\n

With repetition, practice, and learning to trust herself, Shah has made her relatively brief meditation sessions, some as short as five minutes, accessible to anyone.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 12 Ways to Make Sitting in Meditation Easier<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Connecting with Students Online can be Tricky\u2014but not Impossible<\/h3>\n

\u201cReally conveying a sense of intimacy and honesty through the camera can be challenging,\u201d Shah says. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve found is that the only way to do that is to genuinely be willing to be honest and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presenting her authentic self was scary at first. \u201cI think meditation IS about being an honest and compassionate reflection,\u201d says Shah. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to do that with yourself; it\u2019s another thing to share that with others. That\u2019s vulnerable and at times difficult to articulate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being vulnerable still feels like a risk in some ways, says Shah. \u201cBut it also means that maybe there\u2019s hope of connecting to somebody. I think that goes a long way in creating a sense of intimacy and honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah says her ability to show up in an off-the-cuff fashion and with authenticity comes from a commitment to her own consistent meditation practice. \u201cOne of the lessons I learned from the practice itself is that many\u2014if not most\u2014of us, are having a lot of the same shared experiences,\u201d she says. \u201cEven if I\u2019m experiencing something and I feel like it\u2019s weird, there\u2019s probably somebody else that has had some similar kind of experience\u2014or at least doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Community\u2014Online and Not Just IRL\u2014is a Gamechanger<\/h3>\n

Forging those connections has taught Shah the benefits of being part of an online community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have meditation in person, it\u2019s often in community, in a sangha<\/em><\/a>, or a class. And what\u2019s amazing about teaching it online is that you have so much more access to community because you can take the classes whenever you want,\u201d says Shah. And from wherever you are in the world.<\/p>\n

That community may look different than in-person but it\u2019s no less essential. Shah sees members befriending and celebrating one another in online groups and sharing their wins on social media. Last August, Shah was able to see just how much her community had expanded since the pandemic-induced closures. A surging number of Peloton members signed up to attend her in-person classes.<\/p>\n

Although she sees value in both recorded and live meditations for Peloton, the live classes\u2014meaning they can be attended online in real time\u2014are particularly special to her. \u201cIn some ways, you\u2019re held accountable,\u201d she says of students. \u201cIf you sign up, you show up and know you\u2019re going to do it, and maybe it motivates you to try something new. I think it can be helpful the same way having a community in real life can be helpful \u2014 you can depend on a virtual community to help you show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes a difference on my end, too,\u201d says Shah.  \u201cAs a teacher, it\u2019s nice to be able to see that there is a community forming.<\/p>\n

How Online Meditation Helps Us All, According to Aditi Shah<\/h2>\n

In many ways, taking her teaching online has allowed Shah to connect to aspects of the practice in new ways, and offer those insights back to her students. She says sharing meditation within a community<\/a> allows her and her students to see both the practice and life through others\u2019 perspectives, allowing for a greater sense of empathy, compassion, and understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows us to tune into our own humanity as we see it reflected in others, and also recognize that we are connected through our humanness even when we have different experiences,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot of my greatest lessons from people who weren\u2019t available to me in real life and face to face. And I don\u2019t think that makes what they\u2019re saying less valuable, nor do I think that makes me feel less grateful for or respectful of what they\u2019ve had to share. Those teachings are part of what I teach, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is evolving,\u201d Shah says. \u201cJust because we\u2019re doing this virtually does not mean we\u2019re not doing it together. It\u2019s really about creating community in a different way that perhaps is accessible to all of us. I think that\u2019s really important and special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Wini Lao<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

About Our Contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michelle Konstantinovsky<\/a> is a San Francisco-based independent journalist, writer, editor, and UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism alum. She\u2019s written extensively on health, body image, entertainment, lifestyle, design, and tech for outlets including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Scientific American, Glamour, Shape, Self, WIRED, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, and many more. She has also served as the health and wellness editor at Fitbit, senior health writer at One Medical, and contributing editor at California Home + Design. She completed 200 hours of yoga teacher training in 2018 and is still trying to understand the physics of hand balancing. Follow her at @michellekmedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Peloton's<\/figure>\n

Bringing an ancient practice to a high-tech platform doesn’t need to lessen its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

The post Peloton’s Aditi Shah Teaches Online Meditation to Millions. Here’s How She Does It.<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-12770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}