Sometimes it seems like her “glow up” happened overnight or his “come up” was easy or breezy.⁣If we pull back the curtain on the person who inspires you a lot, the person who you <3 and follow and triple snap on everything they post,  it’s likely you’ll see plenty of failure, rejection, and mistakes.⁣ You will see resilience, will, and challenging choices.⁣You’ll also see a kind of discipline and devotion to their path that can’t be reflected on a two dimensional screen.⁣⁣

When I realized that I wanted to do this work, teach yoga, create  a sustainable wellness community by owning a yoga studio I desperately wanted a short cut. ⁣I wasted time looking and wishing for one.⁣I haven’t found a short cut to my dreams that I would trust. I have discovered best practices that are rooted in integrity, relationship, and commitment to actually doing the work.⁣⁣When I began teaching yoga and I’d have 0-4 students in class… I so wanted to skip that part and hoped for some fast track way to fill up my classes. ⁣

Thank goodness I never found a short cut. I would have missed out on so many honest, real, and grounded lessons and relationships if it were any other way.⁣⁣

12 years of teaching yoga and two years of studio ownership. Some of the best practices to build a class have been:

• Commit:  Most studios have a time commitment of 6-12 months for new teachers/ classes on schedule. Set your own internal commitment to align with that if not more. Gaining a class is a commitment, not a stepping stone or just something to do.

• Be intentional:  Incorporate a theme into your class. Teach with a peak pose in mind. Share stories and poems- points of connection in your class. Do everything with intention. If you use music, create playlists that support your theme or the energy you wish to cultivate in your class. Students know when they’ve experienced something especially crafted, tended to, and thought through vs thrown together at the last minute. This doesn’t mean that you doggedly stick to your plan if the real live students in front of you need something else, it means that you honor the seat of teacher by knowing why you make each choice you do when you lead a class.

• Before your class: Your yoga class doesn’t actually start when the schedule says it does. It starts when you begin preparing for it. It starts when you pull into the parking lot. It starts before and as the first student shows up to check in. Make sure you arrive at least 20 minutes in advance to greet + check in with your students before class starts even if there’s desk support where you teach.

• After class: Barring an emergency, don’t disappear to the bathroom or jet after each class. Ask students how they feel and if they have any questions. Always remember to thank your students collectively and/or individually. This shouldn’t be a huge time commitment, no more than 10-15 minutes.

• Be a student in community: This may seem redundant,yet it is really important. Practice where you teach.   

• Show up: Minimize your absences. Students and studio owners need to trust that you will show up for your classes. Consistency goes a long long way in building community.

• Social Media: If you don’t share your why for teaching, valuable content, what you are teaching and where, how will students (present and potential) know? Also, it’s not always the number of “followers” you have, it’s the quality of engagement. There’s value in small active/engaged numbers vs. big numbers of “lurkers”, especially if your goal is to build your local classes, events, and workshops. There’s so much we can say about social media… more on that soon!

Knowing your why keeps you on your path.

The first yoga classes I taught were inner anxiety festivals and truly a mess. It was bad.

I prepared and planned for years to make the shift from part time to full time yoga teacher . The reality of the work, the truth that I’d traded in my 9- 5 for a 5-9… meaning 5am-9pm almost laid me out.

The first year of studio ownership was a professionally and personally dark period in my life. Most days I truly didn’t know how I/we the business/work was going to happen or make it.

My why, my purpose. It was/is my guiding light.

It won’t always be easy, comfortable, IG worthy, or immediately fruitful. What will sustain you during the moments when you question it all? When you want to turn around?  When the thing you love seems to have led you to a dark tunnel? What’s going to sustain you?

Your why. Your purpose. That’s your light.

What’s your why or purpose in doing this work?

Start with this question, Why do I  teach yoga? If you are just starting it’s Why do I want to teach yoga? Write down the answer. Then ask why of that answer. Then ask why of the answer to the answer until you get to something that is distinct and feels exceptionally real to you.

Hint: the actual answer is rarely- because I love yoga. That’s a given for most of us  and only part of it.

Next ask yourself the following questions:

-Why does your yoga business exist (please note, most yoga teachers are independent contractors which means YOU ARE YOUR BUSINESS.)

-How do you want your teaching to benefit others? Be specific?-If you don’t teach, what will the world miss out on?

-What gifts were you born with?-What skills have you cultivated in life, through other educational avenues, or occupations?

-What  other talents do you have?-What do you feel you were born to do on this planet?

Teaching and practicing yoga allows me to access freedom in body, breath, and being. Freedom that many of my Ancestors didn’t know. I co-own a physical yoga space in honor of all that my people did not own. My work allows me to create new experiences, narratives, and legacy for my self, family,  and people.

What’s your why?

This week my “Teaching Tip” is an invitation, an inquiry.

Dear yoga teachers + studio owners :
Look around your practice spaces and ask yourself, who is not present here?Who is not represented in your trainers and workshop presenters? Look at your list of well worn books, manuals, and study tools for practice. Who’s voice is not heard here? Who does your favorite yoga apparel & accessory company not show accessing yoga?

I know we all cultivate a “brand” and that includes who our target audience is and guides a lot of what we do. Yet there’s room for the question what’s missing from our schedule or class offerings?

Stay curious about who’s not present and what we all miss out on because of that…And then, stay deeply curious about why.

Yoga exists within the context of our larger culture and many of the ills of that play out in our sacred spaces. Yet I believe that honest  and consistent yoga practice  can expand our capacity and ability to grapple with some of the most challenging of these in a mindful, necessarily fierce, and compassionate way.

Only if it matters to us.  Only if we are willing to look and see who’s not there and consider our role in sustaining that absence, invisibility, and inaccessibility. Only if we resist “band-aid”, quick fix, solutions that our minds conjure up when what we see creates discomfort or defense.

In this inquiry, if you find dissonance between what you believe and what’s represented in the spaces you teach or own- be gentle, firm, and brave- AND look deeply into that gap. It may present as a pus filled wound. Ickiness, an inclination to blame someone else for pulling off the scab, dressing, or poking it by simply asking the question.

If the question rubs you, perhaps it’s the salve.

So y’all- no tips this week- just an ask of us, yoga teachers and studio owners.

Let’s look and see who we do not see in our practice spaces. Let’s look within ourselves and question how our thoughts, words, and actions perpetuate that…Let us question ourselves and intentions.

Let us ask for honest answers.

Many days of being the only one.
Many choices between vacation or more yoga training.
Many nights “in”-In meditation. In study. In more practice. In preparation. In quiet. In stillness.
Many mistakes, challenges, triumphs… later.
Many real connections nourished, a small and honest circle drawn around me.
16 years of yoga practice.
12 years of teaching yoga- (7 part time/ 5 full time).
2 years of yoga studio ownership.

To create a space, a place for what’s happening in this picture to thrive, live, and flouris

Do you see it?
The generations, “at home-ness”, love, the true depth.

This is Sacred Chill West.

Do you see these fierce women who’ve centered themselves, well-being, and joy in this moment?

Do you see it?

Where ever you are on your path, dear one, be consistent, persistent, be kind to yourself AND be patient.

16 years ago I didn’t have the capacity to hold the space for what’s happening here and now.
12 years ago I hadn’t actually done the work and was wasting time looking for a hack or short cut to where I am now.
2 years ago I wasn’t totally ready for the magnificent intensity unfolding.

But I started.
and that’s what matters. that I started and kept going. and kept choosing my own vision through many dark nights.
even now, I am deliberate in my choosing.

Dear one, start. Draw a tight circle around yourself.
Keep going.
Celebrate the truth that the real, beautiful, life-changing thing you are here to birth in the world, is too incredible to grow overnight.

TRUST.

How do I balance it all? I don’t.

Being a wife. Mother to a toddler. Studio co-owner. Teacher.  Yoga Student. Creator. Director of Yoga Teacher Training. Retreat leader. Writer. Mentor. Responding to all of the things, usually in 48 hours or less…

When I think of balance, I think of holding multiple things at once and hoping nothing drops. Honestly it’s anxiety provoking.

These days, I work at holding only one thing at a time while staying clear that I am many. I cultivate harmony. To me, harmony means that all of the things within my life play together in a way that creates a sound that I can flow to.

Some ways I cultivate harmony that may be useful for other yoga teachers who navigate many responsibilities daily:

1. Center what matters the most to you and stay focused on what genuinely supports + appreciates that vs. subtracts from it.

2. One of our most valuable assets is our attention. We become  more of what we pay attention to. What deserves your attention in this moment? Can you practice holding one thing at a time?

3. Place practice high on your list.  As a yoga teacher practice supports your capacity, creativity, and authentic connection to self and the work. It’s necessary.

4. AND— also- give yourself permission for your practice to evolve and truly serve your real life, now. In the first 9 months of my son’s life, I’d practice yoga nidra for 15 minutes at least 4 times a week during his nap time. And that was it. I savored it and it saved me.

5. I recently read an article that said the average mother works 80-90 hours a week if you take career, child care, and household duties into account. I know this is true for many complex historical, systemic, and varied reasons.  And— If you are in partnership and there’s a pronounced lack of equity in the distribution of housework and child rearing, be empowered to shift it. It will benefit your whole family.

6. Lessen the “all.” Say no when you need and want to.

Fortify your true “all.” Say yes when you mean it.

I don’t balance. I tend to one thing at a time.

Yoga Teachers, every Tuesday I’m answering your questions about doing the work. Head over to my IG @octaviaraheem and leave your questions there!

After completing a 200 Hour Training, there are many paths to teaching yoga if you decide you’d like to.

If you decide you want to teach in a studio setting (this is ONLY one route) here are a few things I’ve learned over 10 years of teaching yoga as well as 2.5 years of owning Sacred Chill West.

1. Consider if your home (training) studio) offers a pathway for their graduates to become weekly/regularly scheduled teachers.

2. If you know you want to teach in a studio setting, yet
don’t feel quite ready to jump into teaching real folks, consider a mentor program.

3. If a studio interests you and you haven’t been, purchase the new student special and go practice+ be in community there. If the owner teaches on a weekly basis, take their class.

4. Go practice where you think you want to teach. Yes, I know that was #3. As a studio owner I always check to see if someone inquiring about teaching has been to Sacred Chill West. Here’s why, we build community, not simply classes and schedules. Additionally, our offerings at SCW (and most studios) are specific, so is the vibe. If you’ve never been we might not be your jam. Practicing where you want to teach FIRST gives you a chance to check studios out to! The studio isn’t simply “choosing you” you are choosing to be in relationship as well.

5. If you take classes at that studio who’s rep or IG you’ve been eyeing and think “yooooo this, all of this is my set!” Email them, say that. Say “I’ve been practicing in your community and I feel it’s MY community and here’s why” (specifics are good) or whatever version of that is real for you.

6. In that same email ask if they are hiring (or filling sub list) and what the process is.

7. Engage the process- fully and completely. AND keep practicing there.

8. If they say no, or not now, and it’s really your jam, continue to practice, keep showing up, keep building authentic + organic community.

. . . Trust it never goes unnoticed.

I’m carving out Tuesdays to write about and share what I’ve learned both about teaching yoga AND the business of doing the work.

Teachers- (new, not new, and in training) what questions do you have? Follow me on IG at @octaviaraheem and I’ll choose some and respond to them in the Tuesdays ahead.