This is Part One of my Teacher Schedule Series. How to Know When It’s Time to Drop a Yoga Class. I will be sharing Part Two: When to Add a Yoga Class to Your Teaching Schedule, soon.
If you’re a new teacher and have your schedule set or have been teaching a room full of regulars for awhile, chances are the schedule is going to adjust. We are human and our schedules shift in yoga studios. Sometimes it’s our own choice but it can also be because of low attendance and the studio cuts the class.
But sometimes things shift and we just don’t know it’s time to drop a yoga class. Here are a few situations I’ve experienced over the years when it was time to drop and I trudged on blind to the signals.
How to Know When It’s Time to Drop a Yoga Class
- Life needs you elsewhere. Home life, new job, other responsibilities come calling and it’s time to let something go. When my youngest son started to struggle with his OCD and needed therapy, the appointments landed on my evening Yin class. It wasn’t something I wanted to release, but I needed to let go. This is an easy decision to make, but of course I tried to juggle both. It caused more stress ping pong driving around town, barking at my son to “hurry up and get in the car” as I sped by the house hoping he’d jump in the front seat, stunt man style. I was clinging to this class because I wanted to teach it, but life needed me to let it go. Eventually I did, and my son still appreciates that years later.
- You allow a student’s continued bad attitude to bring you down. Sometimes the newness has worn off for regulars and they now feel familiar with you enough that they start sharing everything that’s wrong with the studio. One student felt the need to complain about my boss and the membership issues she was having, every single week a new passive aggressive comment. I pulled her aside and encouraged her to have a conversation with the boss – not to air it out in class. Especially since no one in the room had any authority to change her situation.
Sadly, she kept trying to rally the troops to her side by complaining. Each class she was whispering in the corner to someone. She wasn’t leaving and I allowed her sulking to drain my excitement to teach. I was hired specifically to teach that Wednesday class. And it was that Wednesday class that eventually had to go for me because I did not guard my heart. I felt like a traitor. After two months of defending the studio I finally left that class. Thankfully, there were other places for me to pick up and another teacher handled the situation better (plus a direct conversation with my boss to inform her no one appreciated her slandering the staff). If something feels off and you can’t bring it back around, it’s better to let it go. - Your own healing bubbles up demanding attention. Yoga is a beautiful practice, but it’s also for us. Not long after my son finished his therapy I realized I needed my own. My classes offered a tiny appetizer of what I was missing and I wanted it for myself. As teachers, we also have to remember to be students! It might be time to allow someone else to teach as you embrace your own healing. It might be time to give up teaching a class here or there to embrace your own self care.
- Balancing Yin & Yang. If you’re teaching too much power or too much Yin, you might need to adjust your schedule. An old schedule included 4 Yin Classes and 2 Gentle Classes. I started carrying too much yin energy! I felt lethargic and melancholy all day long, all week long. I needed something else to balance that slow, dark, releasing energy. I asked if one Gentle Class could change into a Slow Flow. The students were definitely ready for it, but the studio owner didn’t want to remove the option from the schedule. I kept overstretching my body and eventually pulled my hamstring. I didn’t just drop one class I lost them all for a few weeks.
Drop One or Loose them All
My teaching goal from very early on was to teach 1,000 classes as fast as possible. I really wanted to be a teacher of teachers, and an E-RYT needs to teach 1,000 classes. I was teaching 6 classes regularly and subbing every absolute moment. At this point in time I was also teaching new sequences every class. Sometimes this looked like creating 10 new sequences each week. Plus being my son’s sole care-giver at home. Which was a huge responsibility. I wore myself out. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Instead of listening to my body, I broke it down. It finally got so bad one night when I couldn’t decide what to have for dinner because I just couldn’t make another decision. I could not plan one more thing. In my house, definitely not on the mat.
I told my boss I had to take a break, completely. Not give up one class – but my entire schedule needed to be unloaded. I hated myself because I felt weak. My goal of 1,000 classes would be put on hold. But I stepped away from the studio for 3 months.
You do not have to push yourself to the point of breaking everything for the sake of yoga. Friend, that isn’t honoring your body. That isn’t listening to yourself. That’s forcing and bullying. And most likely the complete opposite of what you’d tell your students! I was being a hypocrite.
Now, every summer I make sure I take off for at least 2 weeks to unplug, reset, and restore my soul. I promise myself as soon as I feel it’s time to let a class go, I let my boss know. I trust that intuition. Just so I never see that crazy burnout again. I also check to make sure my body is happy with the class styles so I’m not overwhelmed in one style.