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You’re teaching a fraction of the students you were reaching few weeks ago. Your income has been decimated. You’ve tried taking your classes online but it’s not paying the bills. What can you do to fix things? Plenty.

There are two things you need to do right now:

1. Build your classes right away to earn some income 
2. Get ready for the future - business as usual is not coming back and you need to prepare for the new opportunities waiting for you.

Here are four proven ways to get your classes humming and your future looking bright. 

How're you doing? I mean it. Gently check in with yourself and see how you're feeling. In this COVID-19 world, many of us are overwhelmed and stuck in survival mode. I get it. It’s happening to me too. But staying in survival mode will stop us from serving our students and building stronger communities. As we deal with the new challenges we are all facing, here are 5 things yoga teachers can do right now to support themselves, their students and each other.

This is a scary time for everybody, including yoga teachers. Many of us rely on group yoga classes for our income. What happens if (when) the studios you work for close? What happens if (when) your students just stop coming as they self-isolate?

Then there’s the overwhelming desire to support your students. It’s not just the money. You want to help people manage their health, deal with the stress, feel connected and loved, especially during uncertain times. So what should yoga teachers be doing about COVID-19?

Who do you trust?

Let’s face it, the yoga industry is full of ‘experts’. 

If we’ve learned anything from the scandals that have plagued almost every yoga tradition in recent years, it’s that ‘experts’ are not always trustworthy. 

Then there’s the mangling of traditional yoga teachings. I’ve heard a LOT of yoga teachers saying stuff in class that is just plain wrong . 

Sometimes they get it wrong because they were taught by somebody who didn’t really know that much themselves (not all yoga teacher trainings are equal).

Sometimes they’ve simply interpreted yoga philosophy to suit their own personal views. Either way, there’s a lot of BS out there masquerading as yogic wisdom. 

So, who do you trust?

'I'm not an authentic yoga teacher'

Have you ever worried that your students will find out you aren’t the real deal and desert you? Have you wondered if they'd still come to your classes if they knew what you were really like behind the mask? If you’ve ever felt like this, you’re not alone.

A frightening number of yoga teachers live with 'imposter syndrome' every day. And I, my friend, am no stranger to it.

 When it comes to helping people heal with yoga, there are tonnes of effective techniques. You'll study them all in a yoga therapy training - asana, pranayama, mudra, meditation, Ayurveda and more. But what is the MOST important technique? Turns out, it might not be yoga at all.

I recently ran into Joanne, an old friend and an experienced yoga teacher. She wasn’t feeling very yogic.  “Why can’t yoga teachers just teach from what they know?” she said, exasperated. “If one more teacher quotes Rumi at me, I’ll scream!”

Now, Joanne wasn’t suggesting that we have nothing to learn from Rumi or that yoga teachers shouldn’t find inspiration in spiritual texts. That’s clearly not true. Her problem, as she explained, was the use of cookie-cutter scripts in yoga classes.

One of my early yoga teachers, Buddhist nun Anipema Chodron, gave me an important piece of advice about choosing a yoga teacher. Make sure you ask your prospective yoga teacher who THEIR teacher is. Then ask them who their teacher’s teacher is.

I’m about 20 minutes into a yoga class. The large male teacher appears from nowhere and puts his hands on me while I'm in three legged dog. He hasn't asked for consent. He hasn't asked about injuries. He hasn't even made eye contact during the class. I flinch involuntarily. He says "Whoa". I say " please don't adjust me" he says, "What?", still with his hands on me. "Don't adjust me please" I repeat more loudly.

So, yoga changed your life. It shook you down, cleared your head and turned your whole life around. Naturally, you want to share that with the world, so you decide to become a yoga teacher. Now you’re qualified help others experience the mind-blowing power of yoga that has given you so much. Excellent!

But is more yoga what the world needs?