our-yoga

Image via Flickr user The Yoga People

Did your invitation to headline Wanderlust get lost in the mail? Yeah, mine too.

Bill Murray isn't begging you to come to his vacation home for a $500 private yoga session? Don't take it personally. I'm sure his agent is just having a hard time finding your contact information.

That yoga studio in Paris didn't return your calls when you pitched them with your great new workshop idea? Bummer. I've always wanted to go to Paris, too. Maybe you should work on your elevator pitch?

Or maybe it's time to get creative! There are so many cards stacked against the small town, independent yoga teacher. I won't belabor the point--the brilliant Michelle Marchidon nailed it a lot better than I could in this post.  Unless you're one of the, oh, 25, yoga teachers nationally who get invited to travel the world teaching festivals and workshops, appear on the cover of yoga magazines, or teach the rich and famous, making a living as a yoga teacher these days is no easy feat. It's a nice dream, but it's time we ll came to the realization that for most of us, teaching lots of yoga classes just isn't going to be enough to pay the bills.

I 'm still figuring it all out for myself, but I've been paying attention to how some of the most financially free yoga teachers make a living. And it may not be what you think. Here are a few ideas I've been toying with.

1 - Create and Sell a Product. 
Whether it's a book, DVD, or online video course or teacher training, many teachers are supplementing their incomes by creating a product once, and selling it over and over again. Even if you're not a well-known teacher with a huge following, with a little Internet savvy it shouldn't be that hard to make enough on the project to make it worth your time. And of course, once you're a social media superstar, companies will be happy to pay you for your influence.. (But yoga teachers with that much influence, really don't need my advice, do they? So, let's move on!)

2 - Cut Out the Middle Man. 
Once upon a time, it was my goal to teach at cute, local yoga studios--then I realized that if I was lucky enough to get a slot on the schedule, the studio owner would take as much as 80% of what the students pay to take a class. If you're doing tons of marketing yourself anyway, you might as well set yourself up so YOU can pocket most of the class fees. I've done this by teaching in a public park (free!), renting stand up paddleboards for SUP Yoga classes, partnering with a painting studio to have yoga and painting classes, renting out a local dance studio, and even renting out a room in a yoga studio during their off hours. I've seen other teachers have lots of success by teaching at public beaches and even in their own living rooms! It can be a lot of work doing all the marketing yourself (and it's a liability going it alone, too), but most yoga teachers have to market themselves to fill their classes anyway. You might as well maximize your earning potential, too. You may never make tons of cash this way (I haven't yet!), but at least there's the POTENTIAL to make some if a class idea takes off. Plus, it feels good to me knowing your success (or failure) is completely in your own hands.

3 - Join a Network Marketing Company You Love. 
I admit that the first time I saw Elena Brower had become a high level "beauty ecologist" for natural skincare company Pangea Organics, my ick alarm sounded pretty loudly. Is it taking advantage of students to sign them up to be a part of a "network" and then make commission from the work that they do? (For the uninitiated, that's how companies like Pangea Organics, Pampered Chef, Arbonne, Young Living, etc. work. Person X signs on to be a consultant and works hard to get Person Y to sign up, too. Once Person Y makes the investment to become a consultant, Person X makes a small percentage on any sales Person Y does as well as her own sales.) There's a lot of money to be made for a persuasive go-getter with a lot of contacts and influence in her community. After I thought a little more about this idea, I came to the conclusion that while the way network marketing companies PAY is a bit different, being a part of one of these companies is a lot like selling your students any other product--even yoga class becomes product when you're getting paid, am I right? Why not share a product you love and make some extra income when someone you know decides to purchase it based on your recommendation?

4 - Don't Just Teach Yoga--Teach Life!
I know lots of yoga teachers who teach yoga part time because they love it. The other part of the time they pay their bills through one-on-one life coaching, health and nutrition coaching, or even business coaching. Of course, all of these things probably require a little more training (something I'm unlikely to do), but I wanted to throw it out there because coaching seems like a good option for teachers who are really gifted at helping others take their yoga practice off the mat.

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It's official: Technology is a bitch. Can't live with it. Can't live without it. And yes, I do know the irony of this pronouncement: You wouldn't even be reading this if you didn't have access to technology.

I guess I should explain this rather random-seeming rant on my part. Well, here goes: This morning, in response to a comment Claudia left on my recent post on adding Ekapada Sirsasana about the energetic effects of leg-behind-head postures on the mind/body, I dug up my copy of Gregor Maehle's Ashtanga Yoga--The Intermediate Series to get the full explanation of the energetic effects of said postures. I know that Maehle has some very interesting and illuminating things to say about the relationship between backbends, LBH postures, and how they work together in a synergistic fashion in the Intermediate Series in order to strengthen and make the spine vibrant, to prepare it for the eventual ascent of Kundalini Shakti up the spine. I had typed out the relevant passages from the book into a word document and saved it onto a flash drive, intending to paste it onto this blog to share with the entire world--well, I mean, with all of you who take the time to read this blog-- when I get to this coffeeshop from which I am now writing (My internet connection at home has been very spotty of late).

Alas, this was not to be. When I got here, I stuck the flash drive into my computer, and tried opening the file, only to realize that it had been corrupted! I got into panic mode, and started transferring as many uncorrupted files and folders as possible from that flash drive to my computer. Fortunately, I managed to salvage most of my files: It appears that the corruption has not spread to most of the files in that flash drive.

But what that means is that those passages from Maehle that I had painstakingly typed out are lost--gone forever in the abyss of cyber-corruption.

Well, no use crying over spilt milk (or corrupted files). Let me now do my best to see how much I can remember from what I read from Maehle this morning. Oh, by the way, whatever I'm about to say can be found on page 106 and pages 134 to 135 of the book (I'm good at remembering numbers :-)). So if you actually have the book, you probably should just go read these pages now, rather than read my half-assed summary from memory :-)

But here's my half-assed summary: First, according to Maehle, backbends are a very important part of the asana practice, because in the process of doing advanced backbends like Kapotasana, you lengthen the spine and release the trunk extensor muscles, paving the way for kundalini shakti to rise up from its sleep at the base of your spine. At the same time, by opening up the rib cage, which is commonly regarded as the "cage" or the "armor" of our selves, backbends tend to make us more sympathetic and accommodating to the views of others, especially those views that are contrary to our own.

However, too much opening without a corresponding "closing up" and drawing of boundaries is no good: You can't say yes to people all the time (especially to crappy people: see this post by James for more details.). Which is where the LBH postures come into the picture. The extreme forward-bending facilitated by the opening of the hip joints in these postures symbolize and cultivate the strength to draw boundaries and say "no" to things and people that we need to say no to. I, for one, definitely have issues with saying no; see, for instance, this post. So I probably should do more LBH postures :-) On a purely physiological level, the LBH postures also cultivate strength in the trunk extensor and abdominal muscles, by making them work together to support the weight of the leg behind the neck. This, as you probably notice, is the diametric opposite of the releasing action that is demanded of these muscles in deep backbends. On a symbolic level, the ability to bear weight with these muscles also symbolize the shouldering of responsibility and the cultivation of humility and forbearance in one's own life.

Well, this is my half-assed summary. Thanks for reading it, if you made it this far. I hope you find it useful. Oh, one other thing: In his explanation, Maehle also makes a lot of references to Freud and the "anal" and the "oral" dimensions of our psyches, but since I know very little about Freud, I've decided not to try to reproduce what he says here. Moreover, I'm always a bit wary of super-imposing western psychoanalytic frameworks onto yoga; I often wonder whether in the process of understanding yoga through psychoanalytic lenses, we end up distorting at least as much as we understand. But I'm way out of my depth here, so I'll stop here. Oh, and if you don't happen to own a copy of Maehle's book, you might be interested in getting a copy here :-)

         

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This morning I spent an hour looking for my iPhone. I searched in all the usual places: under the covers of my bed, the bathroom counter, my desk... I even went outside onto the back porch to see if I left it on the railing when I let the dog out and opened the washing machine to see if it could have fallen in. It was nowhere to be found. I checked all of its usual hiding places again... and again... and again.

In a near panic, I opened my laptop and sent my husband an urgent message. "I can't find my phone anywhere! Will you call me?"

I was ready to make my rounds again listening for the familiar vibrating I hear 10,000 times a day. I'd have to move quickly from room to room so I wouldn't miss its subtle buzz.

Finally, my husband answered. "Dude. I have you phone!" (Yes, my husband addresses me as "Dude" half the time. Isn't that sweet?) "I have no idea how that happened. I'll bring it to you. Give me 15 minutes." Phone thief. He must have picked it up by accident thinking it was his.

Relief.

As I was waiting for my beloved to arrive (the phone, that is... well, the husband, too), it dawned on me how completely ridiculous the whole interaction was--and how dependent I am on my iPhone. When I lose it the first places I look are in my sheets and my bathroom counters? What is wrong with this picture!? Ridiculous!

Then I panic. What if someone tried to send me a text message and I missed it? What if my daughter does something cute and I can't take a picture of it and immediately post it to Facebook? What if I wanted to walk away from my computer.. and I couldn't refresh my email inbox every 30 seconds? What if it was lost forever?!

It's true. Smartphones have dramatically changed our lives. But they also have robbed us of the ability to live our lives without constant worry. Actually, it's not fair to blame the technology--I should blame my inability to create boundaries for the use of the technology instead. It's ironic, though, that I feel like I can't be without my phone for an hour because I might miss something, when on a daily basis I actually spend so much time refreshing the browser on my phone--or computer, or tablet, or other tablet (I have one upstairs and one downstairs.. yes, really!)--that I'm missing out on things that are actually happening right in front of me. You can bet that when the day seems to get away with me and I've accomplished little it's because I was so worried about what was happening in the virtual world that I wasn't present in the real world for an entire day. It's sad. And it's STUPID.

How do you create boundaries around technology so you can enjoy your life more fully, more mindfully, and live in the present? Obviously, I could use some pointers.

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In the spirit of my brief visit to the 'first' world (land of FREE high-speed internet, waitresses with iPhones, Starbucks, fast food, and so much more), I have been playing with new toys and I have discovered... The e-book.

I know, I know, they've been around for a while, but this is my first time experiencing them, and I have discovered that I am a fan! Despite my love for ink-on-page, I am finding that there are are a few things I really like about the electronic format:

- Portability: as a frequent traveler and someone who can devour a 500 page novel in one sitting, being able to carry multiple books in one slim device is an awesome advantage for me!! Gone are the days of lugging multiple paperbacks across several continents... Or the days of finishing my book and realizing I still have 8 hours left in an airplane...

- Text size: I know it sounds silly, but I love that I can re-size the text to suit my needs. As someone with poor eyesight I am forever wishing they would print things just a wee bit bigger, so I love being able to make the text bigger or smaller as suits me!

- Paperless: Ok, I am a little on both sides of the fence on this one. One of the great joys of a good book is passing it on when you are done, well-thumbed pages and all. But how many
books have I read and then thought 'well that certainly wasn't worth the paper it was printed on'? There are thousands of stores filled with millions of paper books, most of which will be read only once and then left to fill a shelf? No, I think I like the lower paper footprint of the e-book a lot!!

- Availability: A big plus for me, and anyone else who lives several islands away from the nearest English-language bookstore, is that as long as I am connected to the Internet, I can buy books!!! After 6 years on an island without a bookstore... THIS... IS.... AWESOME. :)

- Interactive and Educational content: The number of interactive books and gsmes for kids are growing by the minute, and they are great! From music, to learning the alphabet, to interactive stories, to spelling and math games, e-books are surely going to be huge resoures for the new generation... And they are great attention-grabbers, too! (Find me another toy that can contain enough gsmes to distract a toddler for hours on end!)

- Multimedia: Some of the new e-books come with embedded audio and video content, kind of like the special features on a DVD. Personally, I think the kids books are ahead so far, but there are a few cool things out already like those create-your-own-ending books, and I bet we will see more multimedia content in time.

Overall, readers, I am a fan, especially for trashy summer novels and mindless airplane reads. Iknow that nothing quite replies the joy of handling a well-loved book... But for the 9/10 books that I will probably never read again, I am an e-book convert!! Oh, and they are about half the price of a paperback, and I never need to worry about losing my place. Bonus!

What are your thoughts and experiences with the new medium?

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