You will end up in a more creative space if
you have lots of competitors. Just love them.
Moreover, they are also helping and healing
the world by providing yoga, so you must love
them for that at least.Love the journey
There are so many ways to develop your
yoga career you may not reach your final
destination immediately. As you mature and
develop as a yoga teacher so may your
clients and that may lead you somewhere
else. What you thought you may do with your
200 hours may well be left behind within six
months as you find you ultimately prefer
a different route. Play always in your yoga
career. Nothing is forever. The benefit of not
being in a 9-5 is that you can ‘go with the
flow’ but just accept there are times when you
really are on the road less travelled. But it is
your road, so love it anyway.Love yourself
I often start with this one when I am teaching
Chakra continuous professional development
for yoga teachers – it all starts with Anahata
of course. The heart space is one many find
imbalances with. Running a yoga business can
be so physically and emotionally draining (in
addition to the teaching) that finding time to
love yourself and be kind to yourself is the
last thing on your agenda. In my own teaching
academy, I have seen so many teachers’
practice fall off a cliff when they start their
own careers. Yoga itself is so healing: it’s a
huge dose of medicine every time you roll out
your mat. So get on it as often as you can
and cut yourself some slack; you are doing
a good job. Tell yourself constantly that you
are good enough, because you are. And I’m
going to say it anyway: I love you and your
yoga business is great! What’s not to love?Michelle Nicklin is a senior yoga teacher
with Yoga Alliance Professionals, the
director of the Sandstone Teacher Training
Academy and the founder of Sandstone
Yoga & Pilates, a studio franchise model
(sandstoneyoga.co.uk)druyoga.com
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Dru third page.indd 1 18/12/2017 22:34Te acher zone
and maybe venturing into self-employment
too. Suddenly this is not quite as loveable as
it might seem.
Through experiences of developing my
yoga businesses I know at times it can seem
like there are so many barriers to moving
forward. Yet with the right mindset, the things
that hold us back, such as the tasks we avoid
doing, are the things that if we nurture and
learn to love can be the boost our careers
need. Harness the Valentine’s vibe and follow
this five point plan to unconditionally love the
bits you didn’t bargain on when you started
out in your yoga career.
Love the jobs you hate
I must confess I am a massive avoider. I am
a writer of lists with daily tasks on that I need
to complete but there are jobs that can just
stay on that list forever. More recently, with
the development of the Sandstone network,
I have just had to complete longer lists daily
and more quickly. There just hasn’t been time
to let things slide by. So I now do the things
I least want to do first thing each day. Then I
am free to concentrate on the bits of the job
I enjoy. I am completely fresh as a daisy, and
whistle through those first morning tasks now
and have a whole day ahead of me to do the
yoga stuff I just love. I have seen this work
time and again when mentoring new business
owners (and particularly our latest franchisee
who is opening a large yoga studio with a
very long to do list!).
Love your clients
Your clients are your business and you
need to keep them happy. It is easy to love
everyone when they turn up on time, pay
early, book on all your retreats immediately
and share your social media. There are some
that may be a little less predictable and
heaven knows, someone may even complain
to you about something in your business.
Know your boundaries: there will always
be some who push back, but do not take
negativity personally. Listen, respond, grow
and move on. Love your clients even when
they seem like they don’t love you.
Love the competition
Competitors are annoying, aren’t they? If
only they went away you wouldn’t have to
market so hard. You wouldn’t have to spend
so much time (and money!) on promotion.
This may be a challenging concept but love
the competition anyway: there are so many
benefits. Your competitors may give you
ideas; they give you the push you need when
you might take things for granted; they force
you to improve your products and services.