Seattle Yogini

Yoga Business and Busy-ness

Wow!  What a week!  We wrapped up our inaugural 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training on Memorial Day.  I had a class of three which was awesome because each of "The Ladies" got to really dig deeply into her practice and life.  Purna Yoga Teacher Training, at any level, is such a great opportunity for growth and personal assessment & change.  The assigned readings, the philosophy discussions, the amount of personal asana practice involved and the need to reassess many things that constitutes one's concept of "self" all work together to make a life changing experience...for the better!

The next teacher training will be in the fall, and my plan is to offer a completely different schedule.  This first one was two weekends/month plus one week-long intensive.  That works really great for some folks, but many who work full time and have children weren't able to take weekends for the training.  For the fall training, we'll do a four-hour module on Monday afternoons, another one on Tuesday mornings and one 8-hour weekend per month (four hours on Saturday and four on Sunday afternoons).  That will get 'er done in four and a half months, which is pretty good for a 200-hour program.

In the Purna Yoga system, the 200-hour teacher training is a first step.  It is, of course, enough to qualify for a 200-hour RYT status with Yoga Alliance.  For Purna Yoga Certification, however, we have a rigorous training of 2000 hours (yes, that's an additional zero...not a typo).  So, 200 hours is just the start!  I'm so happy to be able to offer this program to people who want to go deeper into their personal practice.  For those that also want to teach, it is wonderful to see their confidence build as they learn the basics.  In another year or so I should qualify to teach the 500-hour level, which would be an interesting addition to the teacher training I currently offer.

So, a lot of plans for the future are rolling around in me right now, even as I make efforts to stay in the NOW.  My studio, Maple Leaf Community Yoga, will start its summer session of classes this coming Monday.  I'm in the process of creating a job description for the assistant I need to hire.  I'm in negotiations with my landlord for our next lease.  It's basically business as usual!

This will be the first weekend I've had at home...with almost no appointments (there is a staff meeting on Sunday, but that counts as "fun") in about six weeks.  May was full of traveling and teacher training on every weekend.  It was a great month, but I am certainly feeling it.  Thankfully the summer will be a slower pace.

How to Create a Yoga Workshop

I dedicated my morning to work on my upcoming "Free Yourself from Hand, Wrist and Carpal Tunnel Problems" yoga workshop.  When it comes to creating and presenting a yoga workshop, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work required, and it was just that sort of work that I settled in for today.

I'd been telling my students for a couple of weeks that sometime late in January I would offer a wrist workshop.  I like to do this pre-advertising to gauge interest.  At first I just said I'd give a workshop, then I asked a few classes if they preferred a wrist workshop or a knee workshop.  People got excited about wrists (it isn't done as often as knees, I suspect) and so I had my topic.

Thankfully, in my teacher training our final project was to give a workshop.  We had to not only design and teach the workshop, but also create flyers, advertising materials, a marketing plan and handouts for students.  We wrote up an outline, a description, and a proposal for the hosting studio.  It was tedious, and not the kind of work that we who are passionate about teaching get excited over.  It is a necessary component, however, to the work.  If I want to share my teaching with a lot of people, it is imperative that I understand how to make classes and workshops go - and go smoothly.  I need to be good at this part of the job so that the part about which I am passionate can run in an organized, professional and heart-felt manner.

As I've directed Maple Leaf Community Yoga for almost four years, I have developed a workshop-production system that streamlines my efforts.  I know that I need the following things as I develop my workshop:

• a description which includes title, day, time, cost, and description that I think is accurate (and which I hope is also enticing)
• an outline, from which I will teach the workshop
  • this contains everything from "Who is my target audience" type questions to the actual items I will teach, from introductions to Savasana
  • the outline could also serve as the proposal, were I to offer it at someone else's studio...it shows the amount of thought and preparation I have already put into the workshop
• flyers
• updates to the website
• list of potential marketing aids (including web-oriented tools such as craigslist.com and teachstreet.com), places to post fliers, professional colleagues who may help spread the word
• an enthusiastic shout-out to my e-mailing list
• handouts for the workshop participants, as appropriate

I have templates for some of these items, such as the description page, outline, flyer and handouts.  All I have to do is customize it with the workshop's pertinent information.  Coming up with that information can take some time, but for me it is a vital part of the creative process.  It is like creating a storyline for a movie or novel.  I list the important parts, pivotal aspects, and fill in the details from there.  It can be daunting to sit down and plan a 3-hour workshop.  "How on earth am I going to fill three hours?" is what I used to think, until the first time I taught my Pelvic Floor workshop.  Originally it was a 2-hour workshop but I had to rush to fit in as much of my planned content as possible (some content had to be left out entirely).  Now I'm thankful I have three hours to fill, and experienced enough to know how workshops tend to play out...and fill out.

So how do I go about creating these helpful items?  I start with deciding on a day and time for the workshop.  Logistics out of the way, I move on to the description.  Sometimes I make a working title first, but I find that it usually changes as I re-write the description.  From there, I have the beginnings of my advertising materials, website information and flyers, because I can just copy the details and description and drop them into place.  I try to keep things standardized so that as students become familiar with my website and the studio flyers their eye knows where to go for pertinent information such as topic, day/time and cost.

Next I start on the outline, because the handout (if I am giving one) will grow from there.  I lay out my outline in the same way I used to draft research paper outlines in college:

1. Intros
   1. me
   2. them
   3. why we're here
2. Anatomy of the hand, wrist and carpal tunnel
   1. use Mr. Bones
   2. show diagrams or photos
   3. discuss the basics of the anatomy and if/how it lends itself toward issues
3. Root causes of hand and wrist pain
   1. energetics
   2. posture
   3. repetitive stress
   4. nutrition (i.e. how one's diet can cause inflammation)
4. Exercises to alleviate, prevent and heal hand and wrist pain
   1. You didn't really think I was going to give it all away right here, did you?
   2. You'll have to sign up for the workshop, like everybody else.  :-)
5. etc., etc., etc all the way through the wrap-up and thank yous.

The outline helps me clarify what I want to cover, get a feel for any gaps in knowledge or information (i.e. where can I get a really good diagram of the inside of a wrist and do I need copyright permission to use it?, etc.).  It clearly marks any further preparation I'll need to do.  Once my outline is completed to my satisfaction - as in, I could use it to give the workshop today - then I decide if this is a workshop that needs a hand-out or not.  Generally, I base that decision upon whether the workshop is meant to be experiential or educational.  If I just want them to experience it, then offering a handout helps them let go of the need to take notes.  If it is educational then I would probably still have an outline but it would be more abridged, as I would also expect participants to take more notes.  After all, they are ostensibly there because they want to learn something and/or make a change.  It is in their best interest to retain as much of the material as possible.

I'm really thankful for my years of work as an administrative assistant, both as a civilian and while in the Air Force.  I tend to be organized and process-oriented anyway, but during those years I really honed some important administrative skills that serve me well as I run my business(es).  Also, I learned how to confidently make my way around Microsoft Office Suite, so I am comfortable with Publisher, Excel & Word - programs that I regularly use in the day-to-day operations of the studio.

So, here you have an inside peek into what I do when I'm working but not, necessarily, teaching.  I would say that I spent about two hours preparing this workshop today.  That included deciding for sure on the day/time/etc. through the first draft of an outline.  I got it posted on the studio website, and made a flyer to put on the door.  Next time I sit down to work on it, I'll need to do a craigslist write-up, e-mail a shout-out to my mailing list, and continue working on the outline.  It's been awhile since I came up with a new (to me) workshop, and I feel enthusiastic about the topic and the teaching.

My goal is to develop a library of workshop topics so that in the future I have already-prepared workshop from which to choose.  All I will have to do is decide on a topic, day and time (assuming I made any changes/updates I want after receiving feedback from the first presentation).  My workshop library is building, and it feels great to have another solid, important topic to add to it.

Yoga & Community

Ahhhhh, the end of another first-week-of-the-session at the studio.  The week of getting reacquainted with the yoga practice (for those who took a hiatus right along with me!), and meeting new people.  The week of announcements, arrangements, and taking care of payments.  The week that ensure that the next nine weeks can go more smoothly.  Such a great week!

One of my favorite parts of the first week of a new session is having everyone introduce themselves.  It's always intriguing to hear what additional information (to the basics: name, yoga experience) students offer when discussing their yoga practice.  I feel privileged to hear students' reasons for coming back, or coming in the first place.  I feel humbled by their graciousness as they continue their practice, and the newcomers' willingness to embark on a new adventure - one that can bring as much personal challenge as it does revelation and joy.

In my own introduction I take great care in introducing the studio as well as myself.  Its story is as much a part of my yoga practice as all the years spent "on the mat".  You see, aside from wanting a walking (rather than driving) commute, I decided to open up a small studio in my own neighborhood because after a single year in the city I had already made a somber observation:  we are surrounded by people, and yet many of us are very, very lonely.  How can this be?  What is this isolation we experience in spite of our proximity to one another?

I decided that I would create a studio that not only provided me with a venue to teach from my heart, but that offered an opportunity for people to make connections.  That's what yoga's about, after all, connection.  Individually, we practice to "connect" the mind, body and spirit.  In the bigger picture, however, the practice helps us see how we are all integrally connected to each other, indeed, to all of creation.  Ultimately the yoga practice breaks down our self-imposed barriers to wholeness, and we feel unified...all aspects of our being working harmoniously, our relationships smoother, our environments healthier, our connection to the Divine stronger...our understanding that we are "the Divine" solidified.

It is from this desire to build more "we" than "me" that I do this work.  My practice, and my business, are not really about "me" at all - they are the tools with which I travel my path toward wholeness.  Of course, from a yogic perspective the answer to the above question about loneliness is simple:  when we reconnect with the Divine, recognizing our true nature, there is no loneliness.  I have found, however, that as we work on establishing that connection, it is very helpful to be part of a community of like-minded people.  What better way to find those like-minded people than working side-by-side with them during yoga or meditation class?

As the studio grows, so does the possibility of more people coming to it - both teachers and students.  This is an exciting prospect, and one that offers me the opportunity to consider how I can nurture that growth while maintaining my integrity as a yoga practitioner.  How do I nurture the growth of this community/business and maintain its "we-ness", rather than slipping into the often self-centered perspective of modern business models?  What are the teachers' and the students' role and responsibility in this community?  How can we come together to support each other without feeling as if a burden has been placed upon us?

As I learn to see and honor myself as a community leader, my responsibilities become more and more clear.  And yet, I am learning, and growing, and asking questions...questions for which I don't have the answers but, hopefully - together with my community - we can start to understand the answers.

Yoga Teachers Targeted for Fraud Scams

This message is to warn my fellow yoga teachers about a scam that is going around.  I wouldn't be surprised if it is more widespread than yoga, because really anyone in alternative health care fields could be a target.  Heck, people with small on-line stores (fellow knitters) could even be approached by such a fraud attempt!

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail inquiry that was a little odd, but not overly suspicious.  A woman calling herself Mrs. XX, a massage therapist in Italy, wrote to ask about my yoga therapy practice, and if I would be available to provide a month's worth of 3-times weekly, hour-long private instruction sessions to a client of hers.  This client, Mr. XY, would be in my area on a modeling job, and since she could not come along she offered to set him up with a therapist here.

Now, it is strange that he would want yoga therapy, if what he is accustomed to is massage therapy - very available in any major city in the U.S.  Still, it is not unusual for language barriers and general misunderstanding of the work I do to confuse otherwise simple matters, so I responded.  I told her that while I would be happy to provide private yoga instruction for Mr. XY, I would be on vacation for most of August and therefore unavailable to do so.  Depending upon his dates of travel, I might be able to offer my services during a portion of his stay.

This morning, I got a reply that made so many red flags go up that I made some phone calls.  Mrs. XX said that all sounded great, and that Mr. XY would be in contact with me with his flight information, etc. and could I send them the total and some other information  (Note:  I'm not his personal assistant, I don't really care what his flight arrangements are.  If I were to do private instruction, then he'd make his appointments for said instruction at my studio for whatever dates work for him.  How/when/he arrives and where he stays is none of my concern).  Then, the kicker:  he wanted to pay up front, had money orders for this purpose, and wondered if "he could trust me to do him a favor" (????).  It seems that he is having trouble getting some of his equipment from Dubai (for a job in the U.S.?  As if there aren't models here with whatever "equipment" he might need?).  Would I please accept $4, 880 in U.S. money orders, deposit it all, then send Dubai a wire transfer for the portion not allocated for my services? 

Ummmm, lemme think.....NO!

I called my colleagues and friends, the ladies who make Yoga Centers go.  They are fabulous business women, savvy and informed.  I said "this smells fishy, I think I'm being scammed".  They said, "Yes, it is fishy.  You are being scammed."  Sigh.  They have had similar things attempted:  someone wants to make a large package purchase (say, a year's worth of yoga classes), then "accidentally" overpays and wants you to refund the difference.  In the meantime, their check was fraudulent, and you end up out hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Please, if you are contacted by someone with a roundabout issue such as this, do NOT engage them!  A simple "Thank you for your message.  I have forwarded it to (my local) Police Department as well as the FBI, who may be contacting you regarding your fraud attempt." should work.  Remember, just because we are in the business of helping people relax, feel good, etc., does not mean we should be lax in our business practices or let our guard down.

Keep looking for the good in people, so that when faced with the bad...you'll recognize it for what it is.

Added later, same day:  take a look at this link.  There are some great tips for double-checking the veracity of inquiries.  Thankfully, my interaction with these scammers was short-lived, but clearly I am not alone....

Yoga Therapy, a Purna Yoga Approach

Sorry I've been out of touch for a few days.  I am in the beginning days of a long-anticipated teacher training.  It's the Intermediate Intensive & Therapeutic Teacher Training, with my teacher, Aadil Palkhivala.  I've been signed up since August.  This is my first teacher training since finishing the College of Purna Yoga (last August).  A lot of my friends from school are back for this training, too, so it's really fun to get so much time with such good, fun friends.  :-)

So, what do we do in a training such as this?  Well, grasshopper, many many things arise in such trainings.  The set-up this year is different than other trainings:  we're doing a practice & review session first thing in the morning, during which time we go over therapeutic techniques learned the previous afternoon.  Then we have a short break, followed by the intermediate asana intensive portion - basically 2 - 3 hours of intermediate level asana class.  (Side note:  When I speak of intermediate asana in the context of a teacher training, I'm not talking about a "level 2" kind of class at your local studio.  I'm talking about a practice for people who have the practice deep in their bodies already.  As in, we practice, explore, and work the asana regularly...daily...and have been for years.  Just as in the far eastern arts, yoga practitioners are considered "beginners" for a very long time, and every tradition has a slightly different take on what it means to be a beginner/intermediate/advanced student.)  We get an hour for lunch, then we re-group for the therapeutics training portion.  We started on Wednesday, with only a half day.  Today was 8 - 5, tomorrow we get a late start, but go late (11:30 - 8pm) and then Saturday, Sunday and Monday we go from 9 - 7.  We really pack it in, but it's necessary if we hope to cover even a portion of the material we'd like to learn.

I've been looking forward to this training specifically because of the therapeutics portion.  In the college, we learned a great deal about the therapeutic application of asana (yoga poses/sequences), pranayama (breath work), meditation, lifestyle choices, nutrition and more.  I want to do more private/therapeutic instruction in my studio, and continuing education is a very high priority for me, so this workshop was an easy choice.  Many of my colleagues have noted that once they make the conscious effort to develop a specific aspect of their teaching, students who need that aspect start popping up.  That was certainly the case for me during and after Doula training - pregnant ladies are popping up all over the place, asking me about prenatal yoga!  Hopefully this trend will continue as I work to develop the private instruction aspect of my teaching.

So, what is Yoga Therapy?  There is no single, easy answer, but essentially it is the application of yoga asanas as a tool to help clients recover from injury, chronic pain, disease, etc.  Some therapists focus on psychological health, while others focus on physical health.  Like yoga teaching, there is currently no national or statewide standard for training or certification.  This means that clients must do their research in order to determine if the yoga therapist they've chosen has enough training and experience to be of service to them.  Many people with chronic pain, recent injury and those seeking to avoid surgery (i.e. fusions of the spine, hip replacement, shoulder or knee surgery) can benefit a great deal from private yoga instruction/yoga therapy with a well-trained, experienced teacher.

As a Certified Purna Yoga Instructor, I use the same underlying principle in yoga therapy sessions that I use in my classes:  humans are more than bodies, and our health is affected by many things.  We must take into account the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual "bodies" if we want to achieve balance and harmony in our lives.  Through this harmony, we find better health and increased vitality.  So I teach what the student/client is ready to learn, and when they open to that, I offer more.  When someone is in pain, for example, what helps them the most is learning ways to ease that symptom...they want out of pain.  I teach them gentle, basic asana sequences to ease the pain of their specific condition, and once out of pain they will (hopefully) want to learn how to heal the actual root cause of that pain. That's when the juicy work begins!

The NY Times recently ran an article about Yoga Therapy in which one client points out that in [the  average] class setting, the instructor may not know that you have a particular ailment or injury and/or may not be trained in how to individualize their teaching so that everyone can practice safely and effectively.  This is why understanding the difference between teacher training programs, and what constitutes the bare minimum in training, can really help yoga students and yoga therapy clients make informed decisions about their teachers.  I posted tips on choosing a yoga teacher here, but you may also find this chart helpful - especially if you're looking for help with a specific condition (narrow your search to teachers of a style that requires more training).  I am sure that as the Yoga Therapy profession grows, we will develop specific standards and scopes of practice to help clients navigate their options with confidence.  Until then, use the same care in choosing your yoga therapist as you use in choosing your yoga teacher, massage therapist, MD or any other healthcare provider.

Please remember that yoga teachers and yoga therapists use our expertise as a tool for healing, not for diagnosis of disease or injury (physical or mental).  For a diagnosis, seek medical attention.  Then, if you'd like to explore a yogic treatment plan, find a yoga therapist near you!

Ode to my Studio

Today is the first day of a new session at my studio.  That means that for the last month or so a lot of my work (aside from actual teaching) has been focused on putting together the new schedule, advertising (such as it is - most of my students come from referrals), trips to the printers, and taking payments.  This is the kind of "behind the scenes" work that keeps a studio running.  In my case, it is my not-so-favorite aspect of running this particular small business.

I never dreamt of owning a yoga studio; I just wanted to teach!  Shortly after moving to Seattle - where yoga studios are almost as prolific as coffee shops - I realized that in order to teach what really speaks to me, I needed to open my own place.  I also wanted to condense my teaching...rather than running around all over town to teach a class here, and a class there.  I much prefer to put my energy and love into one small (but thriving) studio, rather than being just another face in a line-up of "up & comers" at a large studio.

To me, being a professional yoga teacher means running a small business - whether it's an actual studio or not.  We have to have business licenses, most of us work as independent contractors, we have to get our names/faces "out there" to attract students.  It is very much a business.  How I choose to run my business, however, is completely up to me.  So, even though my dream was to be a yoga teacher, by stepping up and creating a space in which to plant that dream, I have learned - and grown - a great deal.  I understand the value of staying small, especially when so many places are going corporate (I kid you not - corporate yoga studios - sigh).  I know all of my students by name, face, and disposition (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual).  I am learning to let go of the fear of failure, and enjoy this creation as it is, each and every day.  My passion is teaching, but by putting all of my effort into the building of a studio, I have sparked a flame that glows beyond my wildest imagination.

So, anyway, that's what I've been up to.  This week is lots of teaching, and making sure the payments are in order, etc. so that we can all get down to the nitty gritty.

Oh!  Here are some pretties for your perusal:

In the background we have Barney (still needs some finishing and blocking, but almost done!).  On Barney's shoulder rests the beginning of Clapotis, and over the torso, the skirt of Anouk.

It's Official!

My business, Maple Leaf Community Yoga, has had a website for a little over one year.  It is a lovely site, designed by my dear friend Kerrie.  For technological reasons that are WELL beyond my understanding, try as we might we could not get the site to show up on Google searches.  We tried many tactics, heeded a ton of advice, but to no avail.  If someone was looking for my business, they would only find it by going to other sites where I had cleverly listed it, such as the Maple Leaf Community Council list of businesses.

Well, my friends, as of tonight you can Google (I just love that "Google" is a verb now) my studio and it will pop up as - drumroll please - the number one result!  Yes, after a year in existence, my website is now official.  We are very proud.