Driving around town to run group classes is physically demanding, but have you been feeling over-tired lately? Or, do you think your job is taking too much of your time? 

If you said yes to the two questions, you could find yourself trapped in the vicious cycle of teaching yoga. 

When teachers don’t find a balance between personal life and work, they may get close to fatigue. Being on the edge of burnout can negatively affect their lives. 

According to Healthline, “burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion that can zap the joy out of your career, friendships, and family interactions.”

What most teachers don’t consider is that they may also end up resenting yoga later on. To know more, you can read the article: “it’s time to talk about the yoga teacher burnout.” 

Ryan Rockwell has worked with thousands of yoga teachers over five years. He took the time to talk to his clients and identified some patterns in their routines. 

He then created a timeline to help yoga teachers understand how easy it is to get caught up in these repetitive events. Here it is. 

1 – Go all over town, teaching close to 20 classes every week to make enough money to pay the bills. Teachers don’t often realize how much it costs to drive from one place to another two to five times a day. Petrol, energy, and time are all part of the deal. What they earn doesn’t cover all the expenses. 

2- No time for personal practice or to plan classes. After moving around studios and standing on the feet all day long, how can someone have the strength to do any other work or wake up early feeling renewed to practice yoga? 

3 – Teach superficial classes due to lack of inspiration or groundedness. The mind, body, and spirit won’t respond well without getting all the essential rest. The brain needs some time to recover from all the work. Fresh air and free time has everything to do with creativity and productivity. 

“Thinking is one of the crucial benefits of stepping back. Just as quality time off fuels energetic resources on the job, reflective time is critical to producing solutions and creative breakthroughs,” said INC

4 – Get home and have no time for reflection, fun, recreation, or family. Movies, scientific articles, news, even social media explore this topic over and over again. Evidence showing what happens when people don’t make time for those they love the most or for self-care is everywhere. Even though we know it all, we still take these moments for granted. 

5 – Get to the next day with even less inspiration and teach a large number of students. In the beginning, complaints, frustrations, and lack of commitment may not bother much. How about after a few classes, when we start to feel tired. Can we still be patient and kind with the students? Can we listen to them? We all have a limit, and we are the ones who need to respect it. 

6- Make insufficient money to pay bills, for necessary continuous education, or to go on needed holidays. We are our best investment. What we know, no one can take from us. When we see how crucial it is to build a smart business, money won’t seem so bad anymore. We accept and welcome it because we can use it for our studies and wellbeing. Then, we will be able to help more lives. 

7- Repeat all over again. 

 

How to break free? 

The best way to break the cycle is to step back and rethink our business model. The following are some questions we can answer to have a clear vision about what changes we should make to work smarter. 

  • How can we use better our time and energy?
  • How can we create a method to make more income?
  • Are there any beliefs we have to switch to become successful? 
  • What investments should we make to grow our businesses?
  • Are there any unwanted feelings we have to deal with to expand our limits?

What are you going to make to avoid burnout and live a more balanced life?