This week on the podcast I am flying solo and talking about a complicated and (sometimes) emotional topic for yoga professionals.  The idea of selling yoga.

What is it we sell as we share the practice and discipline of yoga in the West?  Can we even discuss yoga and “selling” or commodification together effectively?

Well this is the first attempt to do so (of many, I suspect).

One of the greatest mistakes I believe our yoga industry has made is not clearly separating the discussion of business and yoga from the discussion of the practice of yoga.  Somehow in many folks’ minds, they are synonymous.  And that creates great restrictions, and great gaps that opportunistic folks can slide into to create an industry that is not aligned with the morals and values  that most yoga practitioners consider the benchmark of a good yoga practice.

So these are my thoughts on the subject.  We’ve got to stop selling yoga.  Yoga isn’t a commodity, and isn’t ours to sell in the first place.  

Well then.  Now what?

Take a listen and you’ll hear my thoughts.  I believe we need to get crystal clear on what we are selling in order to balance what we gift our students (the yoga) and what we sell them.

PS. There is a free download for this podcast! Grab the link here. It is an email catch, so you’ll need to enter name/email and then you get access to my Working In Yoga Google file, while has this download and any other resources I add to it.

This week I am talking to the fabulous Jo Bregnard about yoga teachers incorporating true self-care into their lives.  Jo mentions that we are all caregivers, as we hold space for people to breathe, move, and connect with themselves.  Often we forget that.

So Jo gives us four incredibly valuable self-care tips to take into our yoga teacher lives.

Why talk self-care?

Because often times we say placid phrases like “fill your own cup” but don’t really give people steps on how to do exactly that. 

Let me tell you, her first tip I really could have used 10 years ago when I was teaching 18-25 classes per week. 

There is so much I know now that would have been incredibly valuable to me at that time.

I thought self-care was for other people, not for me.

Catch Jo on her social accounts:  IG @jobregnard, and YouTube @jobregnard 

And if you are in the Vermont-y area you should definitely go and do an in-person retreat with her. 

Enjoy!

This week on Working In Yoga we are welcoming Stephanie Tencer from StudioPo, an Inyengar yoga studio in Toronto, Canada. 

Stephanie and I are talking all things studios during COVID, moving our businesses online, the joys of the creative part of running a business, and So Much More.

Did you want to get into the heads of other yoga studio owners who have worked through the last 15 months?  Well this is your opportunity.

My favorite parts of this discussion:

-talking about being a “yoga teacher” vs. doing something that aligns with the degree you have trained in.

-all things creativity.  Stephanie talks about “curating a message” and the enjoyment she (and we) can get from that process.

-online everything.  It was a tech struggle for some, but also a joy.  Listen for some gems about gifting our students with a practice that is wholly theirs.

So don’t hesitate to listen, and Stephanie provides two self-care tips for us at the end of the episode.  So stay tuned for the end.

Find Stephanie and all her offerings on www.studiopoyoga.com, on IG at @studiopoyoga and check out her amazing YouTube videos on her channel @stephanietenceryoga

Welcome to 2021, where so many of us Working in Yoga get to reflect on how our businesses shifted during the last 17 months.

This week Rebecca is joined by Carri Uranga, a travelling yoga teacher trainer, who had to shift things around and rethink how she and her business partner shared yoga teachings with the world.

We talk about our really amazing job of teaching yoga (it’s rad, friends), and how the virtual shift changed our perspectives and offerings.

We talk travel (don’t you miss it?), and the intimacy of our jobs.

Take a listen.

Then go find Carri at www.drishtiyogateachertraining.com, or online @drishtiyogattc. Maybe go find a challenge or virtual retreat with her?

At the end she gives the best self-care tip.

Here is more about Carri:

Carri Uranga is ERYT-500 and has been teaching yoga and fitness full time for 14 years.

She has thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, traveled 1 year in Central & South America and visited 17 countries while living in Austria for 18 months. In addition to Co-Founding Drishti Yoga Teacher Training in 2012 she has a degree in Anthropology, loves food & wine and thrives on every day outdoor adventures.

(don’t you wanna hang with her? I do!)

Take a listen and what it was like for a yoga teacher and yoga therapist six months into owning a yoga studio before the world shut down.

Make sure you stick to the end of each episode, because our self-care tips are always worth taking and filing away to help make your life more whole-hearted.