Almost eight years ago, I became a yoga teacher. I spent almost two grand and two months putting in the blood, sweat and tears-literally. There were times that I almost quit and I am grateful that I didn’t because I got to learn and teach about one of my favorite subjects: Yoga.
Once I graduated and completed my yoga training, I taught for a bit and then took a break. After my hiatus, I decided to give Yoga my all. So much so that I moved to Los Angeles to teach full-time.
Through all the joy, pain and sometimes emotional abuse, I am grateful. Even though I have decided to step aside from teaching, I have learned a whole lot. About myself, business and other people. However, just because I learned, does not mean that I should stay and continue to learn and be a part of (what I believe to be) an abusive system.
I free my space, time and energy up to healthy things, jobs, places and people.
Here are The 3 Reasons that I left The Yoga Industry:
1. The lack of boundaries.
I haven’t been full-time as a yoga teacher for over a year and in this time, I have been able to set healthy boundaries for myself. Unfortunately when I was a teacher and my boundaries were broken by a power-tripping manager, an irate student or a misbehaving colleague, there was little protection for me.
Because the industry is so new, there aren’t that many boundaries. In fact, I believe most studio owners see their teachers as dispensable because every single studio that I have worked for let’s that be known in one way or another.
Whether it be through lack of scheduling after putting forward a boundary to management, being gaslit about a serious situation or being paid little-to-nothing, teachers are constantly reminded that they are dispensable and that can deter one from setting official boundaries of protection.
2. The pay
As I briefly mentioned in the last paragraph, yoga teachers are paid very little. In fact, during the lockdown I had time to sit down and review my taxes and finances. As I looked over the past few years, I made the least amount I have made in the last ten years when I was teaching. In some cases, half.
And granted, life is not about just money. However, compensation is important. When teachers are not being paid enough, it creates a negative environment because whether we acknowledge it or not, everyone wants to make a decent living.
I have a confession to make, I speak about abundance and try to practice it in my life. However, regarding yoga and how much I would get paid, I used to accept less than I deserve because I felt afraid to release my passion and something that I had worked so hard to be able to do.
I had been groomed and trained by the abusive system of this industry to put in my all and receive almost nothing back in-return. In fact, one studio owner once sent me a text saying that she would be paying me less starting the following week because of a new California law. Something that had nothing to do with me but was somehow being punished for. I have never ever experienced this in any other job but somehow it is accepted in yoga because we are brainwashed to think we are lucky to even be able to teach.
How much we are paid for a job does not automatically equate to what we should make; however, when people are compensated suitably, they take pride in their work. Until Yoga studios start to pay teachers what they are worth, they will experience high turnover and blame the teachers for something that is not the teachers fault.
3. The lack of stability and hidden rules.
I was asked recently by a practitioner why so many yoga teachers discontinue teaching and I told her that there are a number of reasons. But, for me, the biggest reason is that teaching requires an immense amount of internal stability because it probably won’t come from the studio that you teach for.
Being a yoga teacher is mentally and physically exhausted. And, it can be worth it for some or for a period of time. I do not regret any time when I was a teacher; however, I want to be honest about what I went through and it was a lot. Mostly because there are hidden rules and secrets at most yoga studios that I have taught at.
Who you hang out with from the studio, if you go to studio parties, if you are friends with the manager or chummy-chummy with a certain group of management, you are often put on the schedule. However, that can be taken away from you in the blink-of-an-eye without you knowing why or what you could have done to change it.
As someone who has been a manager and a leader of my own company, it is very apparent that the yoga industry will suffer if they continue these practices. Teachers will be continue to be burned out, students will find out and leave or not feel satisfied by bee teachers and, overall the businesses will fail.
How employees are treated is a reflection of the outcome of a business and people can feel energy, especially in a place of physical practice that claims to be about spirituality and wellness. The Yoga Industry has a lot of work to do and it starts with releasing the need to indoctrinate teachers and students with fear and practice real abundance like they claim to do.
