The Worst Things About Being a Yoga Teacher

When I first started working in Special Education, back in 2005, I knew I was signing on for a hard job that would require sacrifice on my part, but I loved my students and their families and I felt that I was making a difference in the world. I was passionate about helping students who struggled in the traditional classroom, who needed teachers like me to think outside the box and find ways to help them learn. I could see the effect of my hard work every day as my students grew and learned and found success. I celebrated every little classroom win as if I had won a gold medal. One year, I remember rushing into my principal’s office in tears of excitement to announce that “Ryan drank out of the water fountain!!!” Over the years, I watched students who could barely read when they first came to me walk across the stage at graduation, and every year I felt a renewed sense of purpose and joy. I was excited for school to start each fall, ready to greet my new students with open arms. My students’ parents were on my side; we worked as a team to help their children. I felt respected and appreciated. I had autonomy to do what was best for my students; trusted for my years of experience and education. Things in public education were different back then.

Since leaving my teaching job last year and focusing full time on my yoga career, I have done quite a bit of healing and reflecting. I know some things have not changed about the core of me; I like to help people, I want to make a difference in the world, and I am a good teacher. Opening my yoga studio has become one of the biggest unexpected blessings of my life. I can see the change in my clients, as they drop their anxiety and find peace during class. I have watched their bodies change over time, as they become stronger and more flexible. I watch them float out of the studio after meditation, their faces glowing and tranquil. I’ve created a space for spiritual growth, for finding one’s tribe, and for honoring the wisdom of our bodies; it is a beautiful thing to behold. I feel appreciated again, I feel like I am making a difference, and I am both teaching and learning at the same time. My yoga career is a source of joy.

Now I know you are thinking to yourself, “get to the bad parts! I want the juicy details! Enough with this flowery prose!” Okay. The truth is, there are parts (teeny, tiny parts!) of being a yoga teacher that suck sometimes. For full disclosure, and to be completely transparent, here they are:

Maintaining the space

I am a neat freak, I’ll admit it. It’s super important to me that the studio is clean, clean, clean all the time. The only problem is, I was dumb enough to paint the floors black, which looks amazing, but is impossible to keep clean. Every single piece of fluff, grain of sand, and bit of thread shows up. I have to vacuum after every single class. And, as we all know, wintertime in New Hampshire means yogis are constantly tracking in salt, sand, and snow from the outside to the inside. The footprints leading from the front door to the rug where you take your shoes off are the bane of my existence.

There is no running water in the building, so I have had to get creative about how I clean the floors. I used to use a handful of wet wipes and spot mop, but the floor is textured and was shredding those to bits. Now, I am testing out a new strategy: an old hand towel that I bring up in a gallon sized ziploc bag filled with warm, soapy water. I do it by hand, I have no other choice. So, if you accidentally forget to take off your shoes and you walk into the practice space with your boots on, expect to see me sitting on my mat watching in horror as you leave a trail of salty footsteps behind. I still love you, but I might kill you. Haha!

The other chores aren't so so bad; shoveling and sanding the steps, changing light bulbs, refilling the incense, vacuuming the dust off the windowsills, watering the plants, and washing the props and supplies are just routine at this point. However, I have to admit that when I started this business, I had no idea how much time I would spend simply taking care of the space we use and cleaning up after people. Sometimes I envy those city yoga teachers who just get to show up and teach in a building that isn’t theirs!

Managing the business end of things

If I have a class with ten people in it, who each paid ten dollars for the class, I just made a hundred dollars in an hour! That is awesome! But what people don’t see is all the hours I spent behind the scenes where I was making zero dollars per hour. Aside from cleaning and maintaining the studio space, I have to actually plan the class. I spend hours each week doing research online, poring over yoga books, and planning the sequences that I teach in class. I do several run-throughs of each sequence before I teach it. I create the music playlists and design guided meditations for arrival and savasana.

I am on social media posting class updates, trying to get customers. I am constantly working on my website; I have to create my service descriptions, upload classes onto the website, post the classes onto the calendar each month so people can sign up for them, monitor my bookings and class rosters, and email with students. I am frequently helping clients book, cancel, or reschedule themselves, answering questions on different social media platforms, and doing my best to spread the word about upcoming sessions and workshops. Then there are the extra things like getting t-shirts, business cards, or stickers ordered, filling gift card or coupon code requests, and making sure I pay attention to my liability insurance, certification standards, banking, and taxes!

On average, it takes me 5-6 hours to write a complete blog post, edit it, download images for it, upload it onto my website, and share the link on several social media platforms. I also have an app which I designed and now need to maintain to keep up to date. Who knew being a yoga teacher meant so much time sitting on my ass in front of a computer! Add all these other work hours together, and that forty dollars I made on Tuesday night doesn’t look like much!

Self doubt and impostor syndrome

I am in tight leggings and a sports bra in front of an audience. They are all looking at me. I have to balance on one foot (literally) while I give instruction, keep track of the time, remember the next asana in the flow, keep one eye on my class, have one ear on the music volume, and try not to fall over or say the wrong thing. It is terrifying. Sometimes, to be honest, I have no freaking idea why I’m up there and why people think I am any better at this than they are. There are still poses I can’t do, and even more poses that I can’t do very well. I have classes when my nose is stuffed up, or my throat is hoarse, or I have a huge zit, or I have gas. And sometimes I’m just tired or have PMS! Self doubt is my biggest enemy. Every day I have a constant battle with intrusive thoughts like “you are too old/thin/weak” or “you don’t know what you are doing.” I know these thoughts are lies. I am a certified yoga teacher with years of training, yoga is for all ages and bodies, and I am a good person with good intentions. But for some reason I struggle with not practicing the exact self-acceptance that I teach in my classes.

Just know that if it’s time for you to hug your left knee to your chest and I say “right knee” by accident, I am mortified. Know that if I drop a chakra disc on the floor during meditation, I want to throw myself out the window in shame. If there is a dead ladybug on the stairwell when you come in, or the driveway is icy when you leave, I'm kicking myself for not doing better. I even stress about how hard or soft I ring the singing bowl at the end of class! Many of you have heard me tell the story of the saying “I’m still a good person,” and I do, truly repeat this mantra to myself all the time. I am not perfect, I don’t know everything, and I certainly have a lot to learn, but I am still a good person, even if sometimes I accidentally fart in one-legged dog (sorry!).

At the end of the day, there is absolutely no question that the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to this job. I’d still rather be broke and truly happy than a little bit less broke and stressed to the point of tears every day. Our public school teachers, especially the ones who work in Special Education, deserve an immense amount of respect and appreciation for the work that they do. Most people who don’t work in education have absolutely no idea what it truly entails, and if they did I think some things in our public schools would change immediately. Until that happens, I’ll be in my yoga studio, doing my best to help people find their peace and trying not to stress too much about the little details, because when it comes down to it, I really do have the best job on the planet.