Splendid Yoga: Manage Your Money Yogically

Kelsey Delane worked for Corepower Yoga for over 7 years. As she describes it, the practice of yoga is learning how to increase joy and decrease suffering by learning how to master the mind. With a background in psychology, she is uniquely qualified to guide her students through that. Eventually, she couldn’t put her name to the business practices she witnessed and live in her integrity. It was relatable and accessible for her in spite of the name making her suspect of how yogic the practice would be. A friend of hers invited her to class, and she appreciated how accessible the yoga class was. Her background in psychology helped her understand the intrinsic value of yoga. She taught for several years before getting into management. As a working single mom, she wanted to streamline her life, and working full time in the yoga world was the best way to do that. In management, she loved being in the studio setting wearing “glorified pajamas.” It felt like her work life and spiritual life could be one of the same, but the culture of overworking was difficult to navigate. The salary, of course, was low enough that she couldn’t afford an apartment. Because she was on salary, she couldnt work more than 40 hours a week without bringing her daughter to work, so she set boundaries around her work life. That brought in pressure that she wasn’t performing because she wasn’t willing to sacrifice her home time. She developed a program studying the yoga sutras, generating income for the studio the knowledge she’d received outside of the studio, and when she sought due compensation for the additional value she was bringing, she was told it wasn’t in the budget. The pressure of enrollment was intense for Kelsey. The expectation was to hit quotas whether someone was ready for or could afford the program. She was explicitly trained to encourage students to go into debt to afford teacher training programs. In fact, her trainer told her, “I lie to people all the time to make them feel good.” Pure manipulation, huh? When I asked her what needs to change, she said, “Honest dialogue.” When she brought up manipulative and unethical sales practices, she got pushback and accusations that she wasn’t practicing gratitude or being a team player. As she says, “They receive the feedback and do nothing with it.” Nowadays, she offers yoga therapy to increase prana and mitigate suffering. 

Get in touch with Kelsey at www.kelseydelaneyoga.com or Instagram @kelseydelaneyoga

For more information about Morgan:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here's the link for the Splendid Money Mastermind: 

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Tami Lane found an incredible resource in Corepower Yoga when the Seasonal Affective Disorder that comes with living in Portland led her to the hot yoga studio. She made her way to LA and into CPY management, and that's where the sanctuary shifted. Because of the high turnover, the massive growth, the lack of clear leadership and expectation, she found herself struggling with managing the CPY studio while still needing to hold down a job as a hairstylist to make enough money. Good news though: she's making her way to Ecuador, where she and her partner are hoping to offer the teachings of yoga through retreats and trainings.

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Here's all the info on the Business Bootcamp VIP Day:

https://www.splendid.yoga/businessbootcamp

For more info about Morgan, check out:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Nicole Syverson is an empowerment coach for women. She helps heal emotional and sexual trauma to heal the relationship between your body and your bank account. Yay! Her yoga world started when she was in massage therapy training, and after a particularly opening trikonasana, her intuition guided her to her first 200 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India. Even though she was terrified of public speaking, she went on to do her 300 hour training in Bali, and then got into the Corepower world through their extensions mentorship program.  She loved the foundation of knowledge that Corepower gave teachers, especially how to cue, and the intelligent sequencing. The community and homogeny that makes it the "Starbucks of yoga" is what made it feel like home for her no matter where she traveled. The flexibility of getting classes covered also served her wanderlust heart. She ran into similar problems that other teachers and managers have had: there was a lot of pressure on the financial side, she was specifically discouraged from having another job even though she couldn't afford to work fulltime for Corepower, and she was not allowed to promote her own services as an empowerment coach, removing a valuable resource from the students. She was made to feel ungrateful for asking for a raise. Her biggest message now is: know whatever happens in your past, it doesn't define your potential. 

Get Nicole's free BETTER SEX + MAKE MORE MONEY meditation bundler here! 

https://mailchi.mp/4f3a47f64e38/sacred-sexy-shameless-money 

Nicole's website: www.nicolesyverson 

Nicole's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmdV7SupYhgb3yTqvb0Jlww 

Nicole's Handle for Facebook and IG @nicole_syverson

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Here's all the info on the Business Bootcamp VIP Day:

https://www.splendid.yoga/businessbootcamp

For more info about Morgan, check out:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

You might know Joe's voice if you're an avid gamer (he's a voiceover actor!), or you might know him from teaching at CPY. He loved the teachers, the sense of community, and the fact that he got stronger and more flexible the more he practiced there. Because he didn't rely on CPY for a primary source of income, getting paid wasn't an issue for him, but he did see it become an issue when the most popular teachers weren't incentivized to stay. The corporate yoga community in general needs to be more open to receiving and acting on the feedback it receives, and he felt the managers didn't have the authority or training to make decisions that would make the studio a better place.

You can check out Joe's work at his web site:

http://www.joecapvo.com/

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Here's all the info on the Business Bootcamp Mastermind:

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

For more info about Morgan, check out:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Tony Baker was able to use the marketing skills and community to build his own fitness business, FitGroupUSA. He eventually grew out of the model with his entrepreneurial spirit, but had a lot of gratitude for the family he was able to cultivate from the CPY community. He differentiates himself from the CPY lineage by listening to his community and acknowledging their feedback with a reason for why or why he can’t take their suggestion. Like everyone I spoke with, the low pay for managers and teachers was a problem. It’s a systemic problem: we as a culture don’t value education. Tony’s business contracts with fitness professionals at a rate 3-6 times what CPY pays its employees. They offer everything from chair yoga to qi gong to hula-hooping. 

Register for free as a fitness professional at: fitgroupusa.com

For more information about Morgan:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here's the link for the Splendid Money Mastermind: 

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Anushree walked into the studio for her first C1 and was humbled, like so many of us are, by her first yoga class. She used the practice to heal her PCOS (Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome), and now works as a PCOS coach with women around the world to help heal their bodies. Coach Nush loved the management at the Atlanta Corepower Yoga where she worked, and experienced and incredible breadth of community that encouraged her to take a teacher training, try out, and coach two teacher trainings herself. One of the best parts about CPY is its ability to give students the support network through these big transitions. 

Here is Anushree's instagram:

Www.instagram.com/coachanush

For more information about Morgan:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here's the link for the Splendid Money Mastermind: 

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Kari Cowell worked for CPY for 4 years under both the franchise and the corporate studios. A bit of a nomad, she loved that she knew she could get a job teaching yoga anywhere she moved, and she had the comfort of the familiarity of corporate branding.  The pay structure was frustrating, as it was for many teachers, for the level of work and experience, but ultimately, it fed Kari's desire to be her own boss. She's taken advantage of lockdown, took a bunch of business courses (including one of mine!) and now offers her work online as a spiritual healer, yoga teacher, and dating coach - yay! 

You can check out here stuff here: 

www.instagram.com/kariluyoga (wellness) 

www.instagram.com/kerbuhbuhbear (writing) 

For more information about Morgan:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here's the link for the Splendid Money Mastermind: 

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Aliza worked for CPY for 3.5 years. She loved that the training she took made her feel equipped to teach, and the community that allowed her to look forward to her time behind the desk bonding with teachers and students.  She also had to work 3 other jobs to support herself while working nearly 40 hours a week at Corepower. The toxic positivity - the "attitude of gratitude" - was used as a reason not to give her a raise for the work she was doing, and she found her requests for a more reasonable working wage fell on deaf ears, which was frustrating for a company rooted in feedback. It was also frustrating when the teacher trainings moved into quality over quantity. In order to support the expansion, CPY had to train and hire a lot of teachers - quickly. This led to a generation of teachers that were not well-educated in anatomy and how to safely direct students. Aliza now teaches online at privateyogaathome.com. 

You can also find her at her social media homes: 

Facebook.com/groups/healfromheartbreak  

Instagram.com/healfromheartbreak  

Facebook.com/AlizaPowerYoga 

 Instagram.com/AlizaPowerYoga

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Here's all the info on the Business Bootcamp Mastermind:

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

For more info about Morgan, check out:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

Elyse Pancheri, mother of Eagle, Master of Crow, worked at CPY for 7 years and loved the community and the students. When I asked her what changed, it was all the things that have been recorded in lawsuits against the company, including the unpaid wages lawsuit for which the plaintiffs were awarded $1.65 million in a class action lawsuit. (A quick google search revealed two other lawsuits in which Corepower Yoga is currently embroiled: backing out of a M&A deal, and continuing to charge its members for classes after they have canceled their accounts). (Lawyers like to get involved in businesses with big investors.) 

You can hang out with Elyse for nerdy, body positive yoga at Hawt Mess Yoga on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCopJoaUymG8wGi_n0XqaVHg

For more information about Morgan:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here's the link for the Splendid Money Mastermind: 

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast

The corporate yoga model is emblematic of systemic problems that we as a patriarchal, capitalistic culture are realizing needs to change. On this season, I chat with a few Corepower Yoga teachers to figure out what we want that change to look like. Please reach out if you’d like to be interviewed for this series!

Here's all the info on the Business Bootcamp Mastermind:

https://www.splendid.yoga/mastermind

For more info about Morgan, check out:

https://www.splendid.yoga/

Here’s the Manage Your Money Yogically FB group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/splendidyoga

Here's the main podcast page.

http://www.splendid.yoga/mymypodcast