A few things for context –
Prior to becoming a yoga teacher at age 19, I had worked a myriad of teenage jobs.
Everything from selling tea in shopping malls, being a dishwasher in a donut shop, making choc tops at my local cinema, babysitting, doing paper rounds and even selling lingerie in an airport (another story for another time).
I started working when I was 13 years old (illegally no doubt), and said goodbye to my weekends at around that same time.
Then I discovered yoga and fell so head over heels in love that I did teacher training after having practiced less than a dozen classes.
Fast forward 16 years, and I’ve had such a fulfulling career, and had the good fortune to teach and travel, and continue to study with my teachers.
One thing has remained – I never did get my weekends back.
In this industry that’s just a given.
Weekend classes are part and parcel of the gig, and always have been.
But I started to ask myself – just because it always has been, does it mean I have to keep doing it?
I was starting to get so burnt out from teaching 6 days a week, and only having 1 day off to recover.
I’ve been inspired by Chappell Roan, whose recent rise to stardom has seen her setting boundaries about what she will and will not tolerate from her industry (which in her case is to not be harassed by her fans). She’s done what no pop star has done before her and said “no, I won’t play by those rules”.
Brené Brown says the most compassionate people have the strongest boundaries.
So two weeks ago I did the scary thing and said adiós to my regular Saturday class.
The last fortnight has been a wonderful insight into better rhythms, more garden time, and feeling refreshed on a Monday morning (like right now! I literally woke up this morning and thought “I want to write a newsletter!”).
Work-life-balance is a real doozy, and definitely not something I’ve mastered, but something I am actively dancing with, exploring and tweaking as I go along.
This is one of the reasons why I decided to stretch out the 2025 teacher training course, so that instead of being compacted into 3 months (which is the industry standard), we will have 6 glorious months to savour the teachings.
After the opening immersion, we’ll only meet every second Sunday and every second Thursday night.
It will actually fit into your life; compliment your life, and be something you look forward to, rather than dread.
We start in January. Wanna join the slow learning movement?
Check out Teacher Training here.
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