How I Quit My Day Job

"Don’t quit your day job,” with this statement my yoga teacher training instructor broke my  heart.

Shit, I thought, beneath what I like to think of as a very serene face. I just paid $3,000 and spent every single weekend of the past three months slaving away over homework and sitting through lectures to become a yoga teacher. Within ten months I wanted to be a thin, glowing, bubble of enthusiasm with freakish strength that allowed me to balance on my hands while sprouting poetic and inspirational speeches as my students sweated in admiration.

And I was being told this dream wasn’t just within reach?

Why the hell not?

During the next hour of the lecture, this is what I gathered:

1.   Yogis don't actually make money silly goose!

 Right. Someone MIGHT have mentioned this earlier. 

2.    If you teach too many classes you will get burn-out and hate yourself, your students, yoga, and the universe.

But I LOVE yoga! I argued. Still, my teacher INSISTED burn-out happens to ANYONE, and all my naïve enthusiasm couldn’t convince her otherwise.

3.    It is entirely possible to realize that teaching complete strangers downward facing dog for years on end is not really your thing.

OK, had not really considered that one. Could be good to know…

I let the lessons from this talk simmer for 9 months, just long enough to get a few yoga classes under my belt and more importantly, to relegate the downhearted but entirely realistic lecture to a faded and distant memory.

In my forgetfulness I decided to forsake the thoughtful advice of my teachers and quit my day job in order to be a full time yoga teacher.

Which is funny...because I am still totally green and I don't really know what I'm doing (do we ever??). Further, I tend to doubt the wisdom of this move with questions such as, “If no studios hire me will I end up eating dumpster food before begging my boss to take me back?” or, “Will I successfully land teaching gigs only to get attacked by the burn-out monster in the first month?”

I’m giving myself the winter season to find the answers to these and other yoga related inquiries. I look forward to telling you what I find out and if you see me on the street, please give me a cookie.

Hugs and Namastes!