Yoga with Ms. Brandon: the lost year
In the Fall of 2021, I took an unintentional break from teaching yoga to children, website development, creating lesson plans and social media.
Why?
No good reason really, life just got busy. I was going through a separation period from my at the time husband, and had to work 2 jobs just to make ends barely meet. One of the jobs was working for the best after school program in Asheville, NC, Evergreen Community Charter School. A place where I had taught children’s yoga pre-pandemic in the afternoons and summer camps. The other job was with a local yoga and hiking guiding company called Namaste in Nature. We guide tourists that visit Asheville, NC on hikes to waterfalls and mountaintops to enjoy yoga and meditation in nature. Both jobs are wonderful, but kept me busy leaving no time or energy to teach or create yoga for kids.
I still tried to keep up the creative process, but inspiration was not forth coming. So, I stopped forcing it and took a few steps back. I was still able to teach children and yoga with the other 2 jobs, and my heart and soul was being fulfilled, so the children’s yoga teacher business turned into a side gig/hobby.
Then in the Summer of 2022, the Swannanoa Library contacted me to teach a Tiny Tots Yoga class for them. I had taught this class pre-pandemic with much success and enjoyment. I was hesitant at first because of the added time to an already busy schedule. However, we began it anyway because it would be nice to have the additional income. It was slow going for a while, and then it began to grow.
In addition, I began to see a long time yoga student of mine that began Baby Love Yoga classes when she was 4 weeks old! We had private sessions outside at the library in nice weather and this went on for a good many months. So 2 sources for additional income, yay!
And then…
The bookings for the 2022 yoga hikes dropped in number and size. We had a slow tourist season in the summer and an even slower fall compared to the previous season. The Tiny Tots Yoga class at the library and the private session were not additional income, but supplement income I was depending on to be in place of the decrease of guiding yoga hikes. And I thought, “I can’t depend on guiding yoga hikes as a consistent source of income, I need to generate some more income on my own.”
So back to the Children’s Yoga Teacher business I go!
Ms. Brandon, RCYT, RYT500, holds a Master's degree in Special Education from Western Carolina University, is a highly qualified educator, and has 20 years' experience working with children and children with special needs. Information for the kids yoga blog come from Ms. Brandon’s 95 hour Children’s Yoga Teacher Training RCYS, and is approved by Yoga Alliance.
