3 years in business as Rachelellenyoga.
Rachelellenyoga was officially born in September 2018,
right before I began my first 200 hour YTT.
I began the official business side of Rachelellenyoga in May 2019.
My first ever 1-1 session.
I was so excited and also slightly nervous of what I would say, how would I teach the flow, what would they think etc. etc.
This was during my training as we needed a certain amount of contact hours to gain our qualification.
Here are some of the INCREDIBLE beings that I completed that first training with in south east London. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we sweated. It was the most mind blowing five months of my life.
A very special thanks to my two teachers on that course, Imir and Minica. I am so glad they were on my first course.
I graduated in March 2019. I thought that would be me now setting up my career and yoga classes in London. However the universe had other plans (it often does) and in Summer 2019 I ended up in Edinburgh. Not knowing a single soul. No idea what yoga studios I wanted to go to, never mind where I would start figuring out how to teach.
After a tumultuous few months, I began to find my feet with the support of some epic people. I found Calm on Canning Street where I still proudly teach today. I taught in my previous dance home Dance Glasgow. I began covering every class I could to gain as much experience as possible. I was working part time to help support me but I knew my passion was leaning more and more towards yoga and I knew I needed to make a decision soon.
INSERT GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
Just when I thought I was finding my groove and it was time to make moves on my yoga career, I lost every class in the space of 24 hours. All the hours of cover, hours of training, early morning and late lock ups felt like they were for nothing. Within those 24 hours, I packed up my life as I knew it and escaped back to Ireland to my mammy.
Those first few weeks were bleak. There were many tears, many moments of loss, many moments of pretty much EVERYTHING. But what transpired in that space was actually beautiful. Hours and hours to delve deep and figure out what I wanted to do, what would my next steps be, Zoom - what the fuck is that? I downloaded Zoom like so many other teachers and off we went, attempting to navigate this new working environment.
It was lonely but also deeply comforting.
It was a lot to learn but those familiar faces popping on to the screen week after week made it all worth it.
Once I had gathered myself, I knew the next move was to return to Edinburgh. I had left some pretty epic people there that I knew in my heart I needed to return. So I did.
And here I am today.
Still teaching, still training, still with a deep passion for yoga and movement.
Here are some musings that I wanted to share from the last three years:
It is NEVER too late to change your mind. To course correct. To choose a different way.
What you have to offer will reach the right people at the right time always.
When you stop doubting yourself and your capabilities, your doubters will go away.
There will be times of major creativity and thriving and times of stagnation and WTF am I even doing?!
No one will do it your way so go and offer what you want (even if you think there's not enough space in the industry and ESPECIALLY if you think there's not enough space in the industry. Bring YOU to it).
Look after yourself deeply and tenderly as the more resourced you are the more you have to offer.
Sustainable box thinking is your friend! (Take it from someone who loves a deeply unachievable to do list, learning how to sustainably create a list and move things onto next weeks list or the next days will save a lot of negative self talk.)
Not everyone is going to like your style, your voice, your way. If you're lucky these interactions will be few and far between. Take the ego hit, nurture your wee soul and turn towards the people that are ready to learn from you.
There are many other things I could say about running a business and being self employed but that is enough for now. I hope that if you are reading this, there is something in it for you. Maybe you are a yoga teacher starting out or maybe you are someone who needed to hear some of these words today.
There have been many disappointments being in this job from not getting the class you wanted/not getting paid what you know you deserve/a sticky industry that at times stands behind "love & light" instead of encouraging people to own up to their wrongdoings but at the back of it all is a community of people wanting to connect.
To move.
To breathe.
To laugh and cry together and that is what I will always be here for.