Below is a snapshot I took of myself the first month of teaching yoga -- inside a giant fitness studio -- during one of my class time slots when no one showed up. I can remember that day so clearly. Rather than let feelings of defeat or rejection creep deep into my heart, I put my rose-colored glasses on and decided to have myself a field day doing yoga all by myself in a beautiful brand new studio. I seized the opportunity to utilize the space to get myself ready for the students who would love the energy and yoga that I have an abundance of. The students whom I knew in my heart would show up for my classes and discover new things about themselves or revisit hidden layers of themselves they hadn't embraced in years. Someday they will show up, I told myself, even if it wasn't that day or at that studio. And lucky for my courageous little heart, eventually those students did show up :)
It is difficult to describe the feelings I had that day,
after all of the time (7-months),
the money (equivalent to 5-months rent),
the sweat, tears, and determination
that I had devoted to learning how to share the incredible healing powers of yoga in a compassionate and nurturing way
-- and remembering every one of my critics and doubters lined up
with a list of reasons why I was going to fail,
and how teaching yoga is not a real career.
I have included a powerful quote by Theodore Roosevelt (recently reminded of by Dr. Brene Brown and her amazing take on vulnerability and courage) explaining why I never threw in the towel, and why you never should either :)
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