Break the Cycle of Too-Small Classes

1. Don’t Be a Beggar.

I am a trained actor. I really liked the craft of it, the challenge and the imagination, but realized that I would always be a beggar: begging for a role in someone else’s project.

As a yoga teacher I see excellent teachers behaving as beggars, taking on projects that are frustrating and less than lucrative.

• Stop taking on crappy classes.
• STOP. NOW.
• If you don’t like the teaching situation you’ve found yourself in, GET OUT.
• If the studio doesn’t have your back and help you with intelligent marketing, DON’T TEACH THERE.
• As Liz Lemon would say, “Shut it down.”

We’ve allowed ourselves to get lulled into this new normal of terrible teaching opportunities as if “that’s just the way it is.”

Please do not accept this.

If we all demand higher standards for our work environment and categorically refuse gigs that suck, folks will know that they’ve just GOT to offer us better if they want excellent teachers. Don’t let anyone try to throw you the scraps.

Know what you want, and then move towards it intelligently, specifically and with precision. If you fill your life with unpleasant experiences, there is no room for awesomeness to move in. You can’t pour any water into a glass that is already full.

Also, don’t let anyone tell you that you need to take on an unprofitable class to practice teaching yoga. You can practice teaching your friends in your home. You can donate your time and teach free classes. But when you’re ready to take on your own class, (Your OWN CLASS! That’s AWESOME!) you should have the full backing of the studio to help you become as successful as possible.

2. Be Excellent.

Refusing to undervalue yourself doesn’t mean you can be less than excellent. There is no reason for anyone to pay for your skills if they are not excellent.

Keep learning, thinking, and pushing yourself to be the best teacher you can be.

• Get feedback from fellow teachers
• Record your voice or videotape yourself teaching
• Take classes from excellent teachers
• Read and journal about your experiences

3. Take Love out of the Equation.

We all teach yoga because we love yoga.

Don’t let anyone tell you that refusing to teach unprofitable classes means you don’t love yoga enough.

We live in a world of financial exchange. That’s just the way it is. It is no longer possible to be a yoga teacher up on a mountaintop and have the awed and grateful townspeople support your holy endeavors. (And, I would argue, it’s way better this way.)

Money is a form of appreciation and a symbol that people value what you do! Accepting money – good money – in exchange for your hard work and thoughtfulness is totally fine.

I also think that when we start throwing around the word love so casually in what is technically a business scenario, it can really confuse us. Look at your teaching schedule with a cold, hard eye on the cost/benefit analysis:

are the benefits of teaching this class greater than the costs?

There’s your answer, fishbulb.

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Appendix I: Graph (Click)

Appendix II: Teacher Trainings are More Lucrative than Teaching Yoga.

Teacher trainings are GREAT. It is a wonderful thing that yoga is enriching so many lives and that so many people want to learn to be a teachers! Teacher trainings range in cost in the $2000-$4000 range, a range I consider a bargain.  There are radpants certified teachers out there with so much knowledge to pass on to new teachers.

However.

This totally reminds me of the time last year when I went to talk to a tech college about their massage therapy program. A very nice lady told me all about how well-trained I would be if I graduated from the program. The price was very hefty, and she told me about some very generous loan programs available to me. Not  keen on going into debt and stunned by the cost, I asked her, “Will I be able to pay this back?” And this composed, coiffed, organized woman basically shrugged and said,

“Uh…I don’t know.”

It wasn’t her problem if I couldn’t pay the money back.

It’s not a teacher training program’s problem if they train more teachers than the marketplace can sustain. It is their job to get as many trainees as possible, because they’ve found something that is financially viable: good for them.

Let’s find ways for it to be lucrative to BE a teacher, not just to create MORE teachers.