There is a BIG MYTH in the Fitness Industry and the Yoga world......
What is this myth? It’s the false belief that we need a large audience to be successful. Why? Why do we need lots and lots of people before we feel success? Surely touching and changing even one person is important.
We often don't start because we don't think that we will be successful. But I beleive our interpretation of success is flawed.
We often give up because we compare ourselves to others.
A smaller, engaged audience beats a large audience every time - real connection and real community is the way to feel safe and encourage growth.
I guess we all worry that no-one will like our work or find it valuable. And for a lot of us that stops us right there.... But taking the risk and meeting one person's need IS important and IS useful.
I’ve been thinking lately how glad I am that I took the risk of becoming a Yoga teacher. It was, and still is great for me. I have learned so many things and been exposed to so much about my interactions with others….about how my mind works and how I can work on what doesn’t serve me.
And a lot of that growth happened with just a handful of students in the room. It didn't happen because I had adulation from large audiences! As well, how can we really notice and read our audience when it gets bigger. We end up reading the 'group' energy and ignoring the individual.
Teaching Yoga has done this to me. It has helped me view so much of my experience through a different lens. It has helped me step away from cultural norms and meanings of success (oh - and an amazing partner that has helped me to think!)
When I started Yoga it was NOT mainstream , 4 or 5 peple per class, the curious that lived on the border of traditional culture. Yet now Yoga has become so popular that as instructors we assess our classes from within the paradigm that we initailly sort to escape from.
Yoga teaching has become a reflective state for me. It’s become a meditation. Meditation is not day dreaming, it’s learning to focus. And in that focus I have found a kind of peace. I have found a place where I can’t be unsettled by my students or myself. I am not unsettled when only a small class arrives - I am not unsettled when someone walks out or even when their phone rings! I just calmly walk over and answer it!!
This is what Yoga can bring. An inner peace and a deeper understanding of the trivial concerns of life. It can give you meditation in action.
Meditation when teaching is the process of self-observation without judgement - Yoga teaching gives the opportunity to do just that.
As the teacher you are exposed in your creating. And, that’s both scary and opportunity.
How I talk, what I say, what I think of students, what I think they think of me! It’s all there to observe.
And I keep coming back to analysing ‘why’ I do what I do, ‘what’ governs mine and my students behaviours, ‘why’ I react the way I do.
It’s just so interesting. Yoga has kept me curious and curiosity is NEVER boring.
More than anything, I want to empower you to begin exploring your Yoga passion now.
You have permission to start exactly where you are.