There is something special when we take folks out of their own lives and to a new place.

This week on the podcast I got the chance to talk with The Himalayan Institute’s Ransom Hare, who runs their retreat program, and we had the best time chatting.

Ransom talks to us about what they do to get alleviate all those travel worries and jitters that folks have when they travel, what our role is in their experience, and so much more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

*When traveling, you are creating an experience for your students who come with you.  So thinking about how you build that for folks who are traveling with you is key.  As Ransom said, the Himalayan Institute utilizes tech before their trips to get through the awkward conversations that happen with folks where they don’t get to know each other, and this is just one of many ways you can do this.  It could be encouraging people to write everyone else a letter, meeting online, or having some “get to know you” questions passed around before the trip.  

*I love that the HI uses online platforms to connect people who are coming together for a travel experience.  This is so innovative, and I think we can all take note of this idea and find our own version of it for travel and conference experiences we are creating.

*Energy exchange is something I talk about a lot in real life when I am chatting with people about business.  In an ideal world, we are putting in the same amount of energy as our clients & students–so we put in effort to get them into our business and on our retreats, and they meet us with your financial resources, time, and effort.  Keep this in mind when you are doing “customer service” in experiences.  Have you put in the appropriate amount of effort to match your clients or students?  Is the reverse true?  

*Figuring out how to manage tension is a big topic in yoga, business, travel, social justice, and other spaces.  How are you able to be the calm and manage your own tension in times when your students are feeling frustrated or ill at ease?  This is something I actually think we don’t train for enough–can we respond to our clients, students, and co-workers with calm and ease; or is our habit to offset our tension to make other people feel badly?  

RESOURCES

Working In Yoga Website

Working In Yoga Newsletter

Himayalan Institute’s Website

SPONSOR

Sunlight Streams Blog

Sunlight Apothecary