To be a Yogini or to not be a Yogini

Recently a major hot yoga franchise opened about a block or so from my studio, I have known for a while that there were coming.

In the U.S. major chains are wiping out the small owner operated type studios, so there is definitely a need be be smart and stay focused.



Yoga would teach us abundance for all so I choose to believe that if I run my studio as a business and serve my customers well, I should be okay. I also work very hard at bringing new ideas to my studio.

I am a highly trained teacher, I love what I do and I hope to be around for a long time, if this is what the universe has planned for me. But I am open to change, I am not without the realization that I need to allow myself to change, if the fact that we now have 3 yoga studios within 2 blocks in a small community of around 8,0000 starts to affect my business, I need to make decsions that protect me and my family.

Yoga would teach us that change is inevitable, like a flowing river we will always be changing, to stay the same is really to become stagnant. Picture yourself with the same hairstyle for 40 years, or the same knowledge and thought patterns.




Yesterday while sitting at my reception desk, in walk 3 young girls, at first they don't look at me, then they say hi and ask for some brochures...they turn their backs to me and whisper. So, I ask if they have questions...one finally steps forward to tell me they are from the new yoga studio that just opened up, while I knew that when they walked in, I had decided to wait for them to introduce themselves to me ...they asked a few questions and shared their surprise that Brooklin now has 3 yoga studios in 2 blocks....it was interesting to observe their body movement and language. I am not sure why in the end they dropped in but they did.

It is in these moments that I must be a yogini, if I only teach postures in a room night after night I am a fitness instructor, which would be fine, but I have chosen to embrace yoga as a lifestyle, it is not always so easy.

They choose to begin our relationship with a lie, then the truth came out and so I sat before them in that moment breathing and waiting. I decided to show them my studio, we talked abit about yoga then they left.

I made a decision to react out of love rather than fear, I always have a choice and I choose assume this meeting was for the highest good of all. The more yoga the better, and I hope that in the end they do well, I know that things have always worked out for me in the long run.

So today I will head out on my bike to enjoy this great day, and not worry about business.