The Yamas & Niyamas of Owning Your Own Yoga Studio
At the end of March, I will close my beloved U Studio Yoga. For nearly a decade we were perched on the fifth floor of an art deco building in LA with views of the Hollywood sign and a wonderful devoted tribe who practiced together regularly. But before you grab my baton and run to open a place of your own, allow me to hip you to some of the ways your love for yoga might be tested if you do. I don’t mean whether you’ll still be fond of bakasana after you hang your shingle… I’m talking the eight-limbed flippin’ tree.
#1 Saucha (Cleanliness)
How are you with hair and fingernails? Just asking, because you’re going to be cleaning up a LOT of them (along with chewed gum and used tissues). Think: housekeeper to a Neanderthal campsite where BPA-free water canisters, sweaty creepy towels, and abandoned shedding mats abound. Welcome to your new role as janitor and CEO.
#2 Ahimsa (Nonviolence/Non-harming)
The tricky part here is that ahimsa includes our thoughts. Sure, at first you’re just excited that you have an email account for your new business and look! people are writing to you! But, when you realize your inbox is basically a flytrap for solicitors, you may have a bit more trouble seeing the spark of divinity in everyone. Yelp, Groupon, Gilt, and Class Pass hound you, using your first name as bait as if they’re buds that just want to help you out. Everyone on the planet now makes “cool” yoga clothes, bags, and T-shirts and they want you to sell them. Endless requests for free classes, free weeks of classes, and deep class discounts wrestle with emails pleading to be the exception to every expiration date you try (unsuccessfully) to enforce. Meanwhile, your landlord raises your rent, MindBody sneaks another $5.00 increase to your monthly charge, insurance and city taxes are past due and ASCAP threatens to send you to collections for using music in your classes… OM…
#3 Satya (Truth)
Everybody’s an expert and and a critic who can publish to myriad social platforms in an instant. Whether or not there’s any actual truth to what they’re saying (good or bad), you will be held accountable.
#5 Asteya (Non-stealing)
You find yourself stealing other people’s clever quotes and smart marketing ideas, as it seems you no longer have any of your own.
#4 Aparigraha (Non-greediness, Non-possessiveness)
Because you can’t afford anything, there’s nothing to be greedy or possessive about.
#6 Tapas (Perseverance/Austerity)
Soul Cycle workouts are replaced by trips to Smart & Final.
#7 Brahmacharya (Celibacy)
You’ll think about sex again after your lease expires. Right now you need to make another Smart & Final run.
#8 Svadhyaya (Self-Study)
No teacher training will enlighten you more to the true nature of Self than owning a business.
#9 Santosha (Deep sense of Contentment)
Somehow, despite it all, you’ve never known a sense of fulfillment quite like this.
#10 Ishvarapranidhana (Surrender to God/humility/modesty)
Your mind is blown, daily, by the community which blossoms organically from your studio. It’s the most humbling evidence of God (the universe, or something greater or higher) that you’ll ever witness. And, you know in the whole of your being that yoga is a conduit for the only currency that truly matters: Love.
And so I pass you my baton… and my Swiffer.
Andrea Marcum is an LA-based yoga teacher: andreamarcum.com
