by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat
Oh yes loyal Lunchboxers, after weighing up what I need in my life right now, I’ve decided to forgo trying to earn a living wage as a yoga teacher and website publisher, and instead head back into the workplace.
I’ve been sprucing up my CV, writing cover letters, and getting in touch with recruitment agencies. It feels GREAT!
Normally the story we hear is about people getting disillusioned with working for a living, with being in the corporate world, with having a job… and making a brave leap to follow their heart and their passion and become a yoga teacher (musician, artist, novelist…).
This is a different story. This feels like me coming full circle, right back to where I always was, but different. And I’m excited!
Here’s why:
1. I’ll no longer have to hustle to make a dollar
Teaching yoga isn’t just about teaching yoga – it’s also about marketing, advertising, accounting, taxes, training, planning and practice.
I love teaching yoga, but all the work that goes in before a class and after a class is beginning to wear me down. It’s going to feel like such a luxury to just get paid for the work I do, rather than not know whether I’m going to get paid at all. I can drop the hustle and focus on the things I do best.
2. I’ll be able to independently support my son and I
If it was just me on my own, I may have continued to do the yoga teacher hussle. I would have been free to teach those busy and lucrative 5pm – 8pm class slots. Plus I wouldn’t have had to earn so much money to stay afloat. But with a toddler depending on me to be there at the oh-so-important dinner-bed-bath-storytime hour, and depending on me to pay his living costs… suddenly making a living wage as a teacher gets more difficult. I’m excited about earning money again and being able to save too.
3. I can stop attempting to make money from The Yoga Lunchbox and just enjoy writing articles
Back when I launched YLB, two weeks after my son was born, my intention was to create an online income which meant I wouldn’t have to go back into the workplace (I wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, for at least the first few years). I’ve failed miserably.
Ideally, now I’ve built a media channel, and an audience, the next step would be to launch some kind of product that I could sell, and there would be my income. However, I’ve got gun shy. I don’t trust my instincts enough right now to pour hours of work into creating something that may or may not fly.
Besides which, the cynical part of me feels like the world’s already got enough info-products, do we really need something else? I’d rather just write articles for the love of it.
4. I can break out of the yoga & meditation bubble I’ve been living inside
Doing the solo-gig while looking after a toddler, mixing with my yogi and meditation friends, and running a yoga website… my entire world is about yoga.
I don’t watch TV. I don’t read the newspaper very often. I didn’t even know it was an Olympic year until I went out on Saturday night with some non-yoga friends. I’m sooooo ready to get out there and see what’s going on in other people’s lives, what’s making them excited, what’s making them fearful, what they’re hoping for, and what they’re dreaming about. The bonus of this? Better articles!
5. I can take my yoga off the mat and into the workplace
All this yoga stuff I’ve been immersed in for the last eight or so years is really about one thing – what it means to be a human being. And part of what it means to be a human being, is what it means to be a human being in connection with other people.
I’m so looking forward to being able to apply everything I’ve learned about being a human being – all that stuff about witnessing the mind and being non-reactive and seeing what truly is… in a corporate situation. I’m excited to go into high pressure situations that require discernment and risk assessment and the ability to set aside one’s own reactivity. I even suspect that my self-imposed yoga immersion will serve me just as well as an MBA. Maybe better.
6. Teaching yoga doesn’t require a mat or a studio
Once I’m out there in the world, being me, as I am, it’s going to impact everyone I come in contact with, one way or another. If I can hold my centre, and stand tall as an undercover yogi (no preaching or evangalism required here), I will affect other people. In fact, I may affect more people than if I was hiding away in a studio in the yoga world. It’s likely too that some of the people I will impact will be the kind of people who would never walk into a yoga studio.
7. There comes a point when one stops walking a spiritual path and just starts living
I’m at that point. I am sooooo at that point. All that intense suffering that made me question and look within and wonder why and seek answers… it’s gone. That which propelled me on to the path, gone. I can let go now and just let it all be. I’ve found whatever it was I was looking for and that feels good. It’s time to step back into the world and just live.
8. Teaching yoga is something that is an innate part of who I am
I may be going back into the workforce, but I will always teach yoga. I’m still going to keep my dedicated one-on-one students. I’m still going to practice. I may guest teach the odd group class here and there. I may teach the occasional workshop for fun. But because I don’t have to make a living from doing any of this… my energy will be freed up around teaching. Once again, I’ll be doing it for the love of it.
9. I’ll have the financial resources to deepen my understanding of yoga
Setting aside the challenges of doing more training when you’ve got sole responsiblity for a a toddler, right now I also have no money for such things. And I feel a profound need to go and learn more from the very best. The more I teach, and the more I practice, the less I feel qualified to teach. I feel like I know less and less sometimes! So I would dearly love to go and spend some time with serious yogis and imbibe of their goodness. Going out and working means I can save the cash and time necessary for this very thing.
10. I’m damn good at what I do and I love being me
I’m a communications specialist, and I love what I do. So much so that I’ve been doing it for free for years now… it’s going to be exciting to take my passion for communications and go back into the world and get paid to do what I love. Plus, I spend a lot of time at home on the computer. I miss interacting with real live people! It’s going to be awesome to be part of a team, part of a company, part of a world again.
Wow! I so needed to read this. I too decided that I need to get a job and let the yoga hustling wait until it’s its time. It is so encouraging to read reason why this is a good idea, rather than ignoring my “dreams”
Hey Paula,
It really helped me too… writing it all out and realising that this is just a part of my dreams. That making a choice makes it MY choice.
It’s a Hero’s journey.
WOW.
Me too!
Life is for living and as gorgeous as my experience was teaching yoga in my lovely studio overseas I am more than excited about progressing my career and having regular funds to make lifestyle choices, including my own home practise space! All in all having this abundance allows me to function in a higher vibration and stay more positive. I eat better food and can also give to others more generously. It makes me a better teacher because I can access teachers in the form of yoga immersions and workshops. I figured I am pretty good at what I do so why not do my post grad in it as well.
Lets be honest the yoga scripts have much sense, Yama and Niyama – bottom line stuff, and so do the others, however they are time and situation dependent and written often by solo men supported in a community, not exactly duplicating our lives today.
We all get one life this life, and the decision to go back to work means I can live, rather than exist!
I absolutely agree with you. AS a full time mum I am trying to incorporate my family around the yoga, so evening classes are out of question for me as my youngest is 3 and even my eldest groans when I say I am off to a class….. I also want to better my understanding so I have decided after speaking to someone last night about doing Finance again but only 2 – 4 hours a week for small businesses. This means no long hours which are not conducive to a family. To me it sounds great as I can now pay for my continual training, keep plugging my classes and keep my family happy with all the food that I make….
Remember yoga is with you all the time, whether you are on the mat or not…..
Dont forget the medical benefits that often come with a corporate job. That more than wages keep me in a corporate job 🙁
I honor your choice. Om Shanti!
Might wanna “hustle” and check your CV for spelling errors 😉
Oh… great spotting! Thank you!
Firstly, congratulations on uncovering your treasure and making the decision to go back into the workplace. Its exciting news and you look very happy which is great.
I found that 2nd video blog “After the stuff… uncovering the treasure” insightful and very helpful for what I am going through right now. I haven’t uncovered my treasure yet but I am less scared of the feelings that are coming up and more willing to be with them. I’m at the point where meditation and ‘being with’ the more challenging emotions/thoughts is still very very hard but starting to be more doable. Hmm, I wonder if it gets easier with practice!
Anyways, watching your video blog as given me an extra bit of courage to fight the urge to take quick reactive action and given me more courage to explore what is bothering me. With a bit of luck I will find some treasure too.
So thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
Oh and best of luck with re-entering the workplace, have fun ! 🙂
I just watched the 1st one… (trust me to jump to the end)… “Yoga brings up ‘Stuff’, and that ‘Stuff’ needs facing”. Another wow. Thank you so much for your honesty. I’ve been rather harsh on myself of late, esp regarding the resistance towards a regular daily practice, something that I know is good for me. Something I know I NEED for my physical well being.
I have no idea how yoga works, but it works and it will be a lot easier if I just let it do its thing. Your video blog reminds me there is a process that has to happen, its normal and its going to be ok.
Thanks! 🙂
Hey Julia,
Love that you watched the second video before the first video… Yeah, mostly we just need to get out of our own way eh? Drop the stories, drop the resistance, and just whole-heartedly accept what’s right in front of us.
Blessings,
KL
Hey Kara-Leah,
Good for you – being in a similar place to you – having to do the hustle for global yogi (except not the hustle as a yoga teacher) I really understand where you’re at. I also love the creative side of my website but find the hustle difficult at times. I am lucky to have regular freelance (corporate!) writing work that pays well and supports global yogi at least for now. And I am often overwhelmed with the number of things on my ‘to-do list’, doing the juggling act with paid work and the web hustle! But am learning just to be with whatever comes up every day and be open to the possibilities of change rather than fixed to any specific outcomes…
Best of luck with the job hunt 🙂
Hey Michelle,
Great reminder about staying open to possibilities of change… since letting go of the fixed idea of making money through teaching yoga, or through The Yoga Lunchbox, I feel so much freer and more relaxed. Now I’m seeing all kinds of opportunities… exciting times!
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!
Still have same sentiment? Just curious as is an old post but you just referred to it.
In 2016 I reckon possible to have both possibly.
Ha! Back then, I applied for a bunch of jobs and didn’t get a single interview. So I moved to the mountains and wrote a book. That was Forty Days of Yoga.
Then four years later… same thing happened… over the hustle, not sure where my next dollar is coming from, feeling under-utilised… so applied for a bunch of jobs. Didn’t get a single interview. So started leading retreats and they are going great.
Seems every time I ‘almost’ give up and go corporate… I have some kind of big break through…
Who knows what might have happened if I’d got an interview though… I can spin any situation into a positive after all, as evidenced by this article!
I can totally understand this perspective. I think often in the spiritual community we think financial security is irrelevant but in reality, you need to be solid before you can help others! Maybe your future company will offer yoga in the workplace, and you can get your little hit there. Teaching corporate yoga can be a secure and reliable source of income– I’ve taught a lot of corporate yoga classes, and also used to work at a company where they offered corporate yoga – so I’ve been on both sides of the equation. .If you’re looking for your class to be a slamdunk success and renew your contract, here are 7 TIPS FOR SUCCESS! http://catherinetingey.com/how-to-hire-a-corporate-yoga-instructor-2/