Jessica Fawcett
Oct 14, 2026
How to create an embodied class theme for a potent student experience.
Crafting a Theme for Every Class
Why it matters. How to create it. How to execute it.
WE START AT THE BEGINNING.
YOU set the tone for every class you teach. You are the energy of the room, the quality of the movement, and an influential force in each student's experience.
This is a big responsibility.
And, like me, you are human.
Some days, the inspiration to teach is fierce. Other days, it's a mountain you do not want to climb. Me too. And yet, class is happening. The good news…
A grounded, embodied theme is your lifeline on the harder days.
WHY THEME YOUR CLASS?
A thoughtful theme breathes life into your teaching. It sets your classes apart, keeps YOU inspired, and transforms a room of students into a space of transformative connection.
You want students to feel held. Not just…in attendance.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN THEME.
When thinking about my theme for a class, I draw from two places:
1. A well of familiar themes. Collected over years, these evolve alongside me. Some include:
Loving Your Body
Your Mothering Superpower
What is the Quality of Energy You Want to Feel During Birth?
What Do You Hope Your Child Says About You When They Are Grown?
2. My own lived experience. What have I been swimming through lately? What is asking for my attention, my contemplation, my alchemy? You answer this and use it as your class theme because:
A theme lands more deeply when you've lived it yourself.
But be discerning. Your theme is NOT a place to process your own shit. It is a place to share something you've already metabolized, offering its wisdom to your students. This will set you apart as a teacher.
Good teachers teach what they were taught.
Great teachers teach what they have learned.
BRINGING IT TO LIFE.
Here is how I do this.
Recently, parenting had been feeling hard. I was fumbling through figuring out how to address the fact that my seven year old was learning how to talk back with a size-able amount of disrespect. I wasn’t doing a great job and I was feeling so sad. Heavy. And weighted down. And I was starting to spiral.
And, over the years, and from a book called The Language of Emotion by Karla McLaren, I have learned that sadness has a purpose. It is for letting go.
And, over the years, I have practiced just that. And in that particular moment, it was a letting go of how I thought my parenting should or would look, and letting go of the idea of getting it “right” every time. A friend once told me in respect to parenting: Every day is a new day. Time to let go so I could let that in.
And, I decided to create a class theme out of it.
I invited students to consider:
In the throes of pregnancy and young motherhood. Things are so dramatically shifting in your life. They change rapidly and abruptly. This can be hard. It can create grief, sadness.
What is something that you are needing/wanting to let go of?
I offered examples of answers. Don’t skip this step. It helps students formulate their answers and gives permission for the deep, the simple, and the cheeky. All responses are welcome.
It could be the way in which you relate to or move your body
The letting go of how you do and will show up in your career
Your home office being converted into a nursery
Your most favorite snack that now makes you want to vomit
Or simply letting go of the wild life of the maiden in transition to becoming the mother
Because I'd lived this practice of allowing sadness to help me let go, I arrived to the space and opened the class from a grounded, potent seat of being in the yoga of which I was about to teach. And the room and students in it, could feel it.
TRUST YOURSELF.
It doesn't need to be earth-shattering. But it does need to be YOU.
Draw from quotes, movies, mythology, books, your teachers, or the ordinary yoga of everyday life. Give credit to your sources of wisdom. Share boldly.
The goal isn't a mic-drop moment. It's creating space for mothers to feel seen, connected, and held.
Permission granted to be brave and creative. The world needs it from you.
With Love,
Jessica
Stay tuned for information coming about my 2027 offerings.
New things are being born.
A virtual Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training is on for fall 2027 with a new format and a big discount for former students who want to re-enliven their teaching skills with my new and updated training content.
And please know, you can always reply directly to this email to reach me or email me at jessicasfawcett@gmail.com.
I’d love to hear from you!