I came across a recent study on Yoga practice in the US, it was a worldwide study and survey. I focused on the insights from the study in the US. The findings did not surprise me. The study states that women of color form anywhere between 5 to 15 % of the community. Yoga scene in the US initially brought in, led, and guided by Indian male gurus is now largely practiced and taught by white female teachers. In the recent past there has been focused efforts and initiatives for diversity and inclusion in the yoga community. I have been practicing yoga for the past 13 years and have been trying to teach for the past few years. Though my student circle has been very small, and my efforts have been on and off I have already got a sense of what a great deal of difficulty is waiting for me in my pursuit of becoming a yoga teacher full/part-time.
I used this study to figure out the true challenges I am up against. I am a woman. I have 13 years of experience as a practitioner. I have completed my YTT teacher training requirements. I have a good amount of teaching experience. I hold a master’s degree. I pretty much fall under the teacher/practitioner/studio owner demographics but only between the range of 5 to 15%. Does this mean I am up against white women? If you look at it superficially yes, you guessed it right. I come from the world of yogic teaching that asks me to be more curious and dig to see what’s hiding under the surface. From my personal encounters as a practitioner and teacher I can tell you that white women have given all that they can to keep the practice of yoga alive in their community. I am amazed at their open-mindedness to explore and experiment. If anything, I am thankful for their tireless effort.
I believe the real problem here is the stereotype that was an unintentional consequence leading to misconceptions. I am trying to make sense of what and why of these misconceptions from my lived and learned experience. I try here to explain them in a question-and-answer format just like my self-inquiry process.
- What can yoga offer?
- Who is yoga really for?
- Why is yoga expensive?
- Can teaching yoga be a sustainable career?
What can yoga offer?
Yoga is a philosophy. It offers foundations, guidance, and tools we expect a philosophy to offer. Yoga sutras are ancient scripts, parts of which got lost in translation, interpretation, and literally with time. What caused the misconception I think is something like the below.
White women in the west did their best to spread the knowledge of yoga based on what they learnt from their gurus. For a long time, yoga was marketed for its physical benefits. It is the easiest form to practice without getting deeper, it can be a surface level practice if you want it to be. We are not strangers to body image issue, almost all women go through it at some point in their life. Hot yoga and other forms of innovative yoga asana practice offers the kind of intense body work which makes one feel exhilarated after good practice. I am certain from my experience that most if not all teachers in the due course naturally discovered the holistic yoga approach. However, they might have found it hard to change the mindset of their community. To keep their business running they probably stuck with the offering based on physical fitness.
Who is yoga really for?
Yoga philosophy originated in India, its teaching overlaps with many other western and easter philosophies. I can tell you with confidence yoga is for the whole of the humanity.
What rather happened is again an unintentional consequence. The physical fitness part of it played in here as well. The movements of yoga asana have both feminine and masculine energy. We all have both energy in us. Back in the days, gym where the go to place for male fitness. Yoga asanas use body weight as a primary source for strengthening that probably was not attractive enough to draw men to the studios, at least in large number, hence the disparity in numbers between gender. For women of color, it is particularly hard to walk into a yoga studio and not feel vulnerable, especially if we can’t find someone we can identify with. If I don’t see a practitioner or a teacher that looks like me, I am not going to believe I fit in that space or that I can do the asanas twisting myself into a pretzel. And I am not indifferent to the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community, we bear witness to much deeper issues that consumes their life.
Why is yoga expensive?
As I said before yoga is for the entire humanity. It can help people in all aspects of their material and spiritual world. YouTube has made yoga accessible for anyone with internet connection. Of course, if you don’t have a good reference from a friend, you can easily end up lost in the hundreds of thousands of videos.
Studios on the other hand are an expensive deal. Some studios offer community classes and promotional first class and first month offers. Yoga organizations offer annual membership and benefits at nominal cost. Most studios will be able to offer better rates if they have a good number of classes, workshops, and customers. The price markup can be a result of marketing for the studio and its offering, expensive initial studio setup that can only hold up to 10 or 15 students. Nearly all yoga teachers are part-time contractors, which can impact teacher availability even if there is a good student community for a studio. In recent times studios have found innovative ways to offer more promotional classes to expand its community and it is still not cutting it. And for multitude of other reasons that I have not covered here, the price factor does play a huge role in making studio experience of yoga inaccessible for everyone.
Can teaching yoga be a sustainable career?
As a yoga teacher there are limitations one must come to terms with. It is hard to sustain even a minimalist lifestyle with yoga as the only source of income, unless you are a studio owner, not that it is easy for them. As a teacher one must be mindful of the load, i.e., the number of classes per week to avoid exhaustion. A clear understanding on one’s purpose of being a yoga teacher can help to sustain themself in the community, seeing it as a career can end up being an expensive learning.
My takeaway
In knowing and acknowledging the real issues that could challenge me in my journey as a yoga teacher I find the power and perspective on why I must pursue this path.
- There is a purpose here for me to create a space that barely exists for people like me.
- There is reason to believe that my presence can make people question their deeply conditioned mindset and stereotypes.
- I commit to teaching yoga through a holistic approach with self-compassion and self-inquiry in its core.
- I am grateful for the opportunity to share my practice with the community.
I hope you will support me in my journey. I offer in-person classes on Wednesdays at 10 am in Stillness Yoga and Meditation center, Marietta, GA, and online classes on weekdays (check the home page) under my own practice. I would love to hear your thoughts on how I can make yoga much more accessible for you.
Warmly,
Lakshmi
Reference: The study referred to in this blog