How mastering crow pose (or any pose you find challenging!) can help you build your yoga business (As we stretch our bodies – do we stretch our minds?)

Anyone who’s been following me or reading my articles for a while will know I’m BIG on the importance of mind-set when you have set yourself a goal which massively takes you out of your
comfort zone – and building a yoga business, or indeed any kind of business, particularly if you’ve never really done any sales or marketing in your life before can be hugely daunting.

There is, I believe, a parallel with mastering challenging yoga poses, such as scorpion, crow, handstand or any of the yoga poses we see plastered on Instagram these days.

We all have a pose (or two!) we aspire to: that we have this hankering to master – and if we do, the sense of satisfaction is immense! I remember the first time I did a totally controlled headstand just feeling SO immensely proud of myself……and somehow it seemed to have a deeper effect too – a sense that – if I could accomplish this, what else could I accomplish?

Because, as I’m sure you know, what we learn ON the mat – we take OFF the mat. If we “give up” mastering a pose, do we “give up” in other areas of our lives too? If we say “it’s too hard” or “I’m too old” when we’re ON the mat, do we say those things OFF the mat too?

The truth is, setting goals which are challenging us as individuals is scary stuff – but that’s exactly the place we are likely to grow the most.

I began my real journey of setting BHAGS (big, hairy, audacious goals!!) over 17 years ago at the age of 50, when I quit a highly paid career to start my own business as a coach – and it’s fair to say it’s been a roller-coaster of a ride.

There have been times when I’ve been in despair – thinking I would never make the business work. There were months when there was no sign of any money coming in, and I was genuinely afraid I would have no choice but to give up my dream of quitting the rat race and being my own boss, and go back to the job I’d come to hate with a passion.

There are times when you are building ANYTHING new from scratch that it’s easy to find yourself feeling like you’re up against a brick wall: when you doubt your ability and when you are tempted to give up:

And then you justify giving up by believing it’s “too hard” or you’ve just not got what it takes to make it work.

I want to let you know those brick walls are what will be the making of a stronger you.

I want you to know that, on the other side of that effort, lies a massive sense of self-esteem, pride, growth of self-confidence and absolute joy!

And the growth never stops: because once you realise the fear, the set-backs and the failures are all just part of the process, you develop an internal sense of your own ability; your own courage and your own potential, which makes stretching your comfort zone just that little bit less uncomfortable next time.

In my yoga teacher training courses, surrounded by youngsters at least 30 years younger, if not 40 years younger, all doing handstands, scorpion and crow like it was easy, I used to believe poses such as crow were simply not possible for me – that I was “too old” to even think about attempting them.

But, at the age of 67, I’ve managed crow pose!

Not perfectly – and I can’t hold it for long – but that limiting belief of what’s possible for me has just been shattered!

The yoga teachers I work with to help them build their yoga business understand why I put having the right mind-set as the first of the 7 key steps to building their yoga career and business.

Without the right mind-set – none of the other stuff is possible.

Without the right mind-set – you’ll continue to tell yourself you “can’t” do something – instead of asking, “How can I do this?”

Without the right mind-set, when you wobble or fall over (and believe me I’ve almost smashed my nose a few times trying to master crow pose!), you’ll give up. And yet you know that quitters never win!

Mastering challenging yoga poses can be a great foundation for helping you with the mind-set you’ll need to build your yoga business.

So pick a pose that’s challenging for you – and get to work!

Then take that determination, that consistency of practice and that curious mind-set that says: “I wonder if I could do this?” – and watch your progress!

And here’s the final thing to say about this: most human beings will NOT do what it takes; will NOT put in the effort, the consistency or the focus, to make things happen. They will take the easy route, and say it’s not for them, or they just can’t do it.

So actually – you have less competition than you think!

Whilst yoga teacher training schools are churning out literally thousands of new yoga teachers – most of them won’t develop a personal practice which pushes themselves – and most of them will find their efforts to build a yoga business mirror that same unwillingness to master a little more of themselves every day…….

So – what are YOU teaching yourself ON the mat which is challenging?

And how can you bring those qualities and behaviours into developing your yoga teacher career?

Good luck!

Namaste,
Shona

Actions you can take:

• Check out other articles around the topic of getting the right mindset to be a yoga teacher, on my blog which might be helpful around this topic. You’ll find a few mindset article here: https://yoginiors.co.uk/category/mindset-of-a-successful-yoga-teacher/
• Join our FB group; share your thoughts on this article and your own experience of mastering a challenging pose – and how it made you feel. You’ll also get additional tips and answers to any questions you have on any topic around building your yoga business and developing your yoga career as well as free Facebook live trainings. So do join us!