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Yoga + Lifestyle
One of the biggest learnings I've had during my first couple of months teaching yoga full-time is learning how to say no. When I first stepped into full-time teaching, I told myself I would say yes to everything. I haven't yet read Shonda Rhimes book, Year of Yes, but I was trying to emulate that idea without really understanding the nuance behind it. So stepping into this new role, I decided to say yes to every opportunity that came across my plate.
For the last five years or so, I have thoroughly enjoyed everything festivals have to offer; from the food, to the people, music, art, and activities. Festivals are a great opportunity to really step outside of the ol’ comfort zone.
My festival experience began with Wanderlust, a pretty well-known yoga festival hosted in ten different locations across North America.
As with any career, being a yoga teacher presents its own challenges. Some of the biggest challenges and frustrations that I’ve encountered in my eight years of teaching is about knowing the right people and being the right place at the right time. Which can feel like so much happenstance. I used to be really frustrated at this, the idea that people were getting ahead because they knew someone or because they’re friend knows someone. It wasn’t until I began to realize that I have the same opportunities available to me and that while another yoga teacher might have their network, I, too, can have my very own network and community.
I can vividly remember having a conversation with my momma in 2011 when I first told her I was enrolled in yoga teacher training and how I might be able to combine my love of travel and yoga into offering yoga retreats. My husband and I both love to host get togethers, creating experiences for our friends and family to commune and spend time together. With all of this, leading retreats feels like such a dream come true. We learned a lot leading this first retreat, and I can't wait for many more to come.
Our first retreat was a wild success by any measure, but every event offers its own learnings. Here is what I’ll be changing up a bit for our Coastal Glamping yoga retreat in the fall.
Check out my learnings below.
I knew I wanted to teach yoga since the very first class I took way back in 2005. There was something so healing about the experience. Rhonda Martin, my first yoga teacher, will forever be with me. She quite literally set my life on a trajectory that wasn’t even on my radar. I had big plans of going into architecture and designing sustainable and beautiful homes. Flash forward fourteen years later, and here I am quite literally living a dream that was born out of those first weeks of learning about yoga at a community college. I’m most afraid of losing this passion to teach.
