Do You Believe In Financial Balance?

[liztronica]

<Yoga teachers don't have unions to fight for salaries, benefits, and job retention which means we need to be our own union>

Great point!

[julesintahoe]

Yes, I do believe in financial abundance for yoga teachers, and there are many reasons for it. We live in a society that barters. That is how we get bills to pay. There is no way to get around that. Like Douglas said in his response, above, "having to pay...gives the class subconscious value," which is part of the expectation of the barter. Think about the last time someone gave you a lot of their time, or something else of value, and said "Oh, don't worry about it." Did you feel "funny" about not paying for the time or item of value? I think that if you are like most people on the planet, you did feel "funny" about it and then just chalked it up to a random act of kindness for which you should feel grateful. I don't think that attending a regular yoga class makes people feel like they've been the recipient of a string of random acts of kindness. It makes them feel "funny" about going at all!

Secondly, if we don't market our classes any way we can, how can we help the most people possible? We can't help people if they don't know: (1) that we exist, and (2) that we CAN help them. By giving the students we care about (and, as has been said previously, if we don't care we shouldn't be teaching them) a token of appreciation, be it flowers or a coupon on their birthday or something else, we increase the likelihood that our students will tell their stories about how wonderful they feel after yoga class. Then, we will get the privilege of helping someone else. How on earth can this be a bad thing? It is a win/win situation.

Harlan, I appreciate your input. Thanks!

Namaste,
Julie