The Money-Making-Yoga-Teacher Paradox

Is it ok to want to make more money as a yoga teacher? The question arose after returning from my sunny idyllic island teacher training and receiving my first paycheck from the local gym. The idyllic calm and connection of my training felt very far away as I started to feel this rift between my yoga ideals and this thing called reality, more specifically- money-making. After years of experience, this awkward rift still lingers in my thoughts and has taken the form of the great money-making-yoga-teacher paradox. Maybe you’ve been in a similar place? 

The strange tension between money and yoga continues to pop up after years of teaching and still seems to demand more than a simple yes or no answer. It beckons to a bigger picture questioning the role of money and transactions in the wellness world, but also can hit deep, bringing into question your personal relationship to yoga as a private practice.  Making sense from the distance between those two scales of extreme personal to the big, international, and perhaps political context can be confusing and leave one slightly uprooted.  

Why exactly does it feel like such a clash? Though the development of practicing Yoga has branched off in countless directions, unlike other fitness and active practices it began rooted in a traditional spiritual practice holistically valuing the connection to body, mind, and spirit. Introducing teaching into your yoga lifestyle brings clear interaction with systems that are bigger than what used to be just a personal practice; call it capitalism, call it modernization, call it commodification … it's present. While there are yoga practices outside of that sphere, the fact that you are reading this article presumably online, means you are also living in a situation connected to these structures in some way, and giving them thought can only strengthen your yoga ethos. 

Going back to the Sutras

If we look at some of the oldest yoga texts, the Sutras are pretty vague in talking about money as a tangible thing. It never mentions that material goods should be totally excluded from the practice. However, they do mention non-stealing (Asteya), moderation (Brahmacharya), and non-attachment (Aparigraha). Between these three it seems clear that in an ideal world, money wouldn’t be the primary motivation for teaching. So we ask the question: is making money overshadowing your connection and care for practicing yoga? 

A mindfulness exercise: Why do I teach yoga? 

Write down a list (or just think really hard) of all the reasons you teach yoga. Be honest with yourself (another yama; Satya) and try to remember what that initial impulse to teach was. If your reasons have changed, observe that too and write that down. 

Next create a list asking yourself : Why do I do Yoga? 

Then look at your lists, how do they compare? Do you relate to them? How do you feel about it? Is it imbalanced? Is it surprising?

Referring back to the yamas of moderation and non-stealing/not being greedy, see how many material and immaterial reasons are on your lists from. If the material reasons fluctuated would the immaterial reasons fluctuate too? I write full well knowing that your relationship to yoga will fluctuate and mean different things at different times. 

This exercise is not supposed to seed guilt or frustration but rather search for clarity and reflections. Whatever observations you have, accept what you’ve written and then see if there are changes you would like to make. When the money-making-yoga-teacher paradox gets to be too hefty, here are some tips to help navigate that inner struggle : 

Make it an outer struggle

I don’t mean have a horrible time and wrap guilt in all of your biggest classes. What I mean talk to people and open the discussion; with the teachers in the same spaces or even friends that can hear whats up. Your community will know you in unexpected ways and can help point towards clarity if adjustments need to be made whether big or small. 

If that feels so intense, there are other resources available to you to point in the right direction. From personal experience, reading has helped me immensely in defining my relationship with money (Happy Money by Ken Honda), yoga (Light on Yoga is a nice return to yoga study), and the combination of the two. 

Take a break 

In my long career of teaching it has happened twice that I’ve intentionally decided to take a break from teaching. The first time I stopped teaching entirely. It was right after my first year when I realized that churning out classes and traveling to obscure and difficult locations made me wary of ever intentionally approaching my mat. The second time was less dramatic and I asked to downsize my teaching commitment, a decision that brought less stress and more joy back into my practice. 

If it isn’t financially viable to take a break from classes, explore taking a break in another aspect of your teaching duties. Repeat a few sequences, set clear “off” hours, say no thanks to sub requests, or squeeze in a morning meditation before your day begins. 

Do Yoga

No really, try it out on the mat and off the mat as well. Go to classes, meditate, walk in the garden, float in a tank, whatever space and time and yoga you need to find the clarity that you need. 

After more than seven years of teaching, I can safely say that the first appearance of the money-making-yoga-teacher paradox did not scare me away. Instead it pointed me towards the frustrations I have with aspects of the modern world, and helped clarify what practicing yoga means to me. At the end of the tangled thoughts, making money from teaching yoga is a happy symptom that keeps me sharing the practice with sustainability and space for ease and joy. The paradoxical thoughts are my companions as I continue my yoga journey. One to keep me honest, authentic, and always have me coming back to my mat.