Transcript - Balancing having a job and teaching yoga

Hello, and welcome to For Yoga Teachers. This podcast has been created to help yoga teachers teach with passion, avoid burn out and earn a fair living.

This episode is focusing on balancing having a job and teaching yoga; including being really honest about what happens if and when these conflict, mindfully switching roles (I talked about the importance of this last week in episode 33: balancing parenting and teaching yoga), making sure that there is actually enough time for everything that you want to do, and what yoga philosophy says to help us prioritise.

Next week’s episode focuses on how to become a full time yoga teacher; including how to work out if and when to leave your job, and creating a plan for if it hits the fan, so keep your eyes - well ears - peeled for that.

If we were yoga teachers 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago, this conversation would be very different. Now; with the inventions of the internet and smart phones, which undoubtedly have given countless benefits, have also brought with them having your office in your pocket. It used to be that when you left the office; that was that. If something happened, you wouldn’t find out until the next morning. Now, there’s quite commonly an expectation to answer emails in the evening, to problem-solve over your lunch hour, to be logged in and available for much more than 9am until 5pm. In my experience, most yoga teachers really care - about everything. So me just saying ‘turn your phone off at 5pm, 6pm, whatever it is’ is probably great advice, but I doubt many of you lovely people would heed it; because you care about your career and your colleagues and you want to do a good job.

So let’s be pragmatic, and consider real lives rather than ideal lives. Let’s go!

What to do when the day job, and teaching yoga, conflict.

This is something that comes up very commonly in mentoring sessions. Yoga teachers are so profoundly moved by how amazing it feels to share something that makes people feel so good; something that is healthy and wholesome and does right - in the main - by society. So much so, that if the day job (as it were) does not necessarily do all, or any, of these things, it can create conflict. I most commonly have these conversations with accountants and lawyers, who, surprisingly regularly, talk about their roles as making people of lots of money just get more money. I get it. I really do. It can feel contradictory to what you’re trying to achieve with your yoga teaching. So what do we do. Well one option that I’m sure you’ve already been thinking about a lot is to quit the day job. Maybe this is part of your long-term plan - don’t forget to listen to next week’s episode which is focusing on going full-time as a yoga teacher - but it’s not realistic right now. So how do you manage the conflict? First things first; perhaps your day job allows you to teach yoga; it allowed you to build up some savings to pay for a yoga teacher training in the first place. It sustains you while you’re building experience getting paid £15 a class to teach in a gym (actually hopefully not!). Without your day job, you might just not have been able to train as a yoga teacher, full stop, so there’s already some goodness in there. Also perhaps your job has taught you, and is teaching you, some very useful things that could well translate to being a great yoga teacher in the future. Like managing your workload, prioritising, dealing with tough situations, being on time, managing your time and probably so, so much more.

So - dealing with conflict between your job and teaching yoga can be combatted by finding gratitude in everything that your job has allowed you to do and learn.

Mindfully switching roles

This is something that so many of you got in touch about after last week’s episode, that it helped you get in the headspace for what was coming next - thank you so much for your comments and feed back, it really means a lot! Because the switching roles meditations have been so well received, I have created one for switching between work work and teaching yoga work - get yours from the show notes.

In essence; you know what it’s like when you’ve had one of those days; perhaps you’ve had a deadline, or a disagreement with *that* colleague again, or you’d promised someone you’d definitely get that thing done today but emails having been coming in so quickly you just haven’t been able to get to it… one of those days. You’ve got your weekly class to teach tonight, which you love but it is just starting to become a bit of a drain although you really don’t want to admit that. On the way to class you’re trying to work out what time you’ll be able to get in to the office tomorrow; actually maybe you can get a couple of tasks done when you get home after your class… You’re also juggling to resolve the dispute with your colleague or how to write that email or…. Ok, I think that probably paints enough of a picture.

I have a horrible thing to say here, and I apologise profusely for saying such a rubbish thing but I think it does need to be said, and you probably already know… so here we go. The to do list, the overflowing email inbox, the dispute with your colleague - those things will all be there tomorrow, whether you think about them all night or not. Sorry, I know that sounds really negative, but I don’t mean it in a negative way - I promise I don’t. I mean it in the way of; those things will be there in the morning, to be dealt with, in the morning. In the meantime, wouldn’t it be wonderful to use all your yogis techniques and tools to focus on, to think about, the things you love and the things that make you feel great - like teaching yoga.

Yoga philosophy can help us with this - Sutra 2:33 - the practice of pratipaksha bhavanam; when you think something negative, think something else. So, when you find yourself ruminating about work; force yourself - gently but firmly - to think of something else; perhaps something that you love or someone that you love, something that you’re grateful for, something that you achieved today, etc.

So now, using this approach with your mindful switching of roles, you can expect to be mindful and present in your yoga teaching, as opposed to having an undercurrent of ‘how will I resolve this, or get that done’ etc.

Is there time for everything?

As I mentioned earlier; I would say that every yoga teacher I’ve met really cares about most, or all, things in their lives, and so doing the bare minimum in the day job isn’t necessarily an option, or indeed very sensible. But baring in mind there’s probably enough work to keep you doing work 24 hours a day, which of course - yoga teacher or not - is most certainly not an option, how do you decide what to do and what not to do? Well luckily there’s an answer right there in the Yamas for us. Phew! Brahmacharya is often talked about as chastity or celibacy, as sex can be a huge taker of energy. I like to explain it as moderation of your resources. Remember; you have a finite amount of energy, time and mental bandwidth, so this is not saying you must use up every ounce of resources; rest, yoga teacher, is deeply important- but instead think about using these resources in the most sensible and effective way to look after yourself, look after others, do your job, teach your yoga and all the other things that are important to you.

If your to do list includes all the things for your day job, running a house, and all the yoga teacher things; planning and promoting classes, admin etc AND some self-care things, it might simply be that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. It’s very possible. So yoga teacher, let’s be pragmatic, remember we’re keeping in mind real lives not idea lives. What needs to be lopped off the list! You can’t magic more resources but you can spend them more wisely. Do you need to take off some housework tasks? Do you need to hand a project over to a colleague? Do you need to get cover for classes for a couple of weeks?

So yoga teacher, I hope that’s helped refine the balance between having a job and being a yoga teacher. And for the last time, remember that a frazzled, stressed yoga teacher is probably not the world’s most inspiring yoga teacher, so don’t feel bad about turning things down, don’t feel bad about looking after yourself.

Find, and focus on, the joys and rewards of your job, and be realistic about the time and energy demands of having a job, and being a yoga teacher, and from right now, ensure that both fit practically in to your life with all your other roles, hobbies and commitments. If there’s not enough time, be pragmatic and ruthless, what do you need to put down, even if it’s just for a week or so?

If you’d be so kind to share this episode with another yoga teacher, we’d be so grateful! And until next time, remember yoga teacher you are doing a great job. Happy teaching!