Founded on the principle of abundance and that the universe will provide what you need.
One of the best things that has ever happened to me has been teaching donation yoga at the famous Bryan Kest’s Power Yoga studio. Bryan was the first major teacher to bring donation yoga to the USA. Power Yoga in Santa Monica, California was founded on the belief that anyone should be permitted to practice yoga no matter their ability to pay. A suggested donation kept people honest and it attracted all types of people from all walk of life, poor to wealthy. Diversity in all ways imaginable was and still is a result of the donation system and what transpired was one of the most amazing melting-pot studios in the world. Many of the world’s most influential teachers have served at Power Yoga and most likely expedited their teaching skill level by having been there.
Teaching there, from a business perspective, you are required to pay rent for the room (a monthly fee) and are allowed to collect all donations from the students. If you were consistent enough and had a carpe diem mindset, you could earn 5x’s what other studios could offer. Or on the other hand, you could go broke. Basically, this investment was a bet on yourself.
I learned through teaching at Power Yoga that when fear was an underlying tone when teaching classes then the result would be less earnings. Possibly even losing money. But if an attitude of abundance was your vibrational set-point, then more than enough money would be there. In essence, this lead to bringing out the best possible teacher that one could be when fully embraced. Think about it. If there is a base rate that you get paid to do something with very little incentive to earn more, then what is your motivation to give your full self to that vocation with consistency?
As times have changed with technology and marketing, so has the popularity of donation yoga. Gyms and workout facilities everywhere have learned that including yoga on their long laundry list of services and classes offered makes business that much more profitable. Most yoga studios opt to sell you on buying into their studio with an “unlimited monthly” plan and have single classes priced at unaffordable rates for most to sustain. Unfortunately, this contradicts the yogic philosophy.
The problem is that the way yoga is “packaged” in this day and age forces people to consider their budget when joining a studio. And in the case of the “unlimited monthly” options they become married to that studio until they decide to cancel. What if the studio down the street has the perfect class for them? Sadly, they may never know. Also, by paying in advance for the class, expectations have subconsciously been set and the potential impact of the class has already been limited. Instead of valuing each experience and donating according to what it was worth to you, we are forced to look at our bank account which can limit spiritual growth. After all, practice makes presence. Or at least that’s what we preach.
This article was written for us by our fantastic Brand Warrior Byron De Marsé, based in Santa Monica USA. For more information about Byron, including links to his website and social media pages, please visit his page here
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