Should yoga teachers care about competition from other yoga teachers?

Transcript - Should yoga teachers care about competition from other yoga teachers?

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 looking at a niggle in the yoga teaching world; competition from other yoga teachers. We’re looking at why a bit of competition is a good thing, how to not let it get the better of you - with practical, implementable tips here as always, how to stay in your lane, how yoga philosophy can help, understanding that more than one yoga teacher can thrive at a time, and how we can build a network of collaboration over competition.

Let’s do this!

Why competition can be a good thing

Competition means that there’s more teachers than just you, which means that yoga is popular, or getting more popular, which is very very good. Having more than one yoga teacher also means that you’re not tasked with teaching every style, in every way, to all people. The pressure is off! You can focus on what you want to teach, and who you want to teach and what you’re good at teaching and leave the rest to someone else!

How to ensure that competition from other yoga teachers doesn’t get the better of you

Oh man. This is a big one! If, for example, you see an instagram post from a yoga teacher who teaches in the same locality which says ‘Absolutely loving my new corporate class, what a dream to teach up here on the 12th floor’ or something, and you’ve been trying to get a corporate class for a while and you’re feeling really skint at the moment, this might make you feel pretty down in the dumps. Well first things first, this is understandable. Let’s not just say ‘well don’t feel like that. You’re a yoga teacher you shouldn’t experience jealousy!’ That’s not very practical or realistic. So let’s be practical and realistic. Firstly, remind yourself that just because one yoga teacher is experiencing some success, that doesn’t mean that other yoga teachers won’t. At all. Secondly, try to have a chat with yourself about the context. For example if you have seen a post on instagram, remember that people only put their highlights on instagram. Maybe that yoga teacher had to get a bus and two trains to the corporate class. Maybe she had to carry 20 yoga mats and now she’s totally goosed. Maybe maybe maybe.

I shared a really great quote about jealousy on our weekly email recently:

Naval Ravikant says:

“When I was young, I had a lot of jealousy in me. I learned to get rid of it. It still crops up every now [00:03:00] and again. It's such a poisonous emotion. Because at the end of the day, you're no better off. You're unhappier. And the person that you're jealous of is still successful or good looking or whatever they are.

I realised that all these people that I was jealous of, I couldn't just cherry pick and choose aspects of their life.

I couldn't say I want his body and her money and his personality. You have to be that person. And do you actually want to be that person with all their reactions, all of their desires, their family, their happiness level, their outlook on life their self-image.

If you're not willing to do a wholesale 24 7 100% swap with that person, then there's no point in being jealous.”

So you’re chatting to fellow teachers, or scrolling instagram or what have you, a teacher lets you know of some success they’re having and you’ll remind yourself that two people (or more) can be successful and they’re sharing their highlights reel. You’ll also remind yourself that that one bit of success is part of the whole person, and would you want their whole life? And then, you’ll reflect on whether that is work you actually, really want to be doing 9stay tuned, we’ll get on to this next) and then you’ll practice pratipaksha bhavana. This is a concept from the Yoga Sutras of Master Patanjali which is essentially, when you think of something negative, just think of something else! So, when you’re thinking ‘I wish I could have a x y or z like that, or I wish a, b or c would happen to me’, all you do is think of something else. Perhaps a mantra, perhaps you focus on your breath. Perhaps you get out a notepad and start to brainstorm ideas for a new course or a workshop. Etc.

Ok one final recap about how to ensure that competition from other yoga teachers doesn’t get the better of you:

1. One person’s success doesn’t at all mean that you can’t or won’t have success

2. Remember that people - especially on social media - only share highlights

3. Feeling jealous is normal, but let’s put it in context; if you want that person’s success then you’d have to take the whole person, with their history, family etc

4. Is it even work that you would have wanted?

5. Pratipaksha bhavana, we’re not sweeping anything under the carpet, we’re not pushing feelings down, but simply focusing on something else like a mantra or your breath or a physical sensation

Boom! How about that for a plan of action!

How to stay in your lane

I actually think that this is an incredibly powerful piece of advice. It’s hard, but not impossible and very very rewarding.

Firstly, you need to know what your lane is. You need to be totally, completely, 100% clear on who you are as a yoga teacher and who you want to teach. If you’ve already taken our How to create your yoga brand masterclass, then you’ll know that hen you are as clear as a bell on who you are, and who you want to teach, then when you see other yoga teachers doing other things, you can genuinely be like ‘ooh that’s a good idea’ or ‘oh cool I’m happy for them’. For example, you’ve created your yoga brand and you’re set that you’re a reliable, knowledgable yoga teacher who teaches power flows to people who love a challenge, and you want to show them how strong you really are, then you see another yoga teacher has filled up their relaxation yoga retreat, or got a job teaching chair yoga to seniors or, or, or. You get the idea. Even if these opportunities were offered to you, you would have turned them down because they don’t fit with who you want to be as a yoga teacher.

In fact, when you have your yoga brand create and clear, you can actually refer opportunities to other yoga teachers that would be a better fit for them, and you can bet your bottom dollar that this is reciprocated.

How yoga philosophy can help

We’ve already talked about the power of pratipaksha bhavana; which is Chapter x sutra x. The full thing is:

There’s also some really interesting philosophy around staying in your lane, well sort of. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna;

“It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own dharma, but competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity.”, That’s chapter 3, verse 35.

No doubt it’s your dharma to become a yoga teacher and share the gifts of yoga, but does your dharma go deeper than that? Is your dharma, your calling, your passion, to help people recover from trauma, or to undo the impact of stress, or to manage physical pain or to be a more patient parent etc etc etc. Knowing this, knowing your dharma, knowing why you teach yoga, is one of the most powerful things to help you ensure that competition from other yoga teachers doesn’t have a negative impact on you and like I mentioned before, this is a huge part of the masterclass ‘How to create your yoga brand’ so if you’ve done that already, you might just want to revisit your notes and knuckle down on focusing on who and what you want to teach, and leaving the rest to someone else!

Build a network

I feel like I keep saying ‘this is one of the best pieces of advice for yoga teachers’ about everything. But this really is. It really, really is. Building a network of yoga teachers is really building a network of friends, the intention of a little HR department, an ethics sounding board, a constant source of inspiration, a cover list and so much more. I mentioned before that when you’re totally clear on who and what you want to teach, when people ask you for something that isn’t a perfect fit, you’d want to say ‘I’m afraid I don’t offer that, but try this person’ rather than just ‘no’ and that’s it. And you’d want people to refer in opportunities to you that are a perfect fit for you.

I’ve been finding that in mentoring sessions that I’ve been saying ‘could you link up with a yoga teacher who….’ Da di da, in order to complete your offering. Such as a yoga teacher who dreams of teaching half day restorative retreats, but hasn’t got the time or the headspace to do the logistics for setting up the retreat, doing the marketing and taking bookings. But I’m sure there’s plenty of you out there who would love to create all the branding and marketing for a half day retreat and know that a talented, reliable teacher would be there to guide people through a wonderful restorative class!

And so, with all that in mind, I really am totally, completely beyond excited to announce that For Yoga Teachers has created a membership community, in order to be that network. The intention is that you’ll be able to meet other yoga teachers and exchange advice, opportunities and just be there for each other. Sometimes teaching yoga can be lonely, well no more!

Membership includes, of course, access to the members area, as well as to some of our most popular resources, including the Set and Smash Your Yoga Teaching Goals course, Create Your Yoga Brand, Become a full time yoga teacher, as well as monthly group coaching sessions and there’s so much more coming too, including ‘Teach less, earn more’ for yoga teachers who are facing burn out, philosophy study sessions and a whole lot more. I’m really really excited about this. I just wish it had been available when I started teaching!

Enrolment will open on Monday 8th April, which is Yoga Hero’s 11th birthday so it’s a little celebration of that, and I just can’t wait to welcome you in.