When I opened up my yoga studio many years ago, I expected the people to come to my classes in masses because there was no other yoga studio around. However much to my surprise, there were only a few people who came. Wow, how disappointing! It seemed like the others were skeptical about this new thing and had no idea what yoga was.
In the beginning there were quite a few classes where I only had one or two students show up. I questioned myself and had lots of doubts about my idea of opening up a yoga studio. At that point I was offering all kinds of classes: Yoga for kids, Yoga for seniors, Yoga for pregnancy, Yoga for beginners, Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga and so on… and still only few people came.
Starting a yoga studio required lots of time and I was working hard, doing all I could to find a way to bring the community yoga classes because I knew that they were very helpful in many ways. I would prepare for several classes and saw pretty quickly that it was not worth all the effort, which was disheartening to say the least! Instead of closing down and abandoning my vision for a yoga studio, I decided to narrow my classes to just a few different styles, reduced the amount of classes and stayed patient. After about six months, the classes slowly started to fill. Two years later all of my classes were packed, and I’m very thankful to say that those early students stayed and practiced with me for many years.
I was so glad that I did not give up early because one never knows when success is going to come, it might be just around the corner. I felt grateful for this experience because in this way I could slowly grow as a yoga teacher and had many important experiences because I was working very closely with the people who came to my classes.
Once I specialized on one topic, which was Yin Yoga in my case, people came from all over the country to my teacher trainings. Of course, it was helpful that I wrote several books about it and produced DVDs at a time when there was no Yin Yoga in Germany. Eventually I knew without any doubts that I had found my niche.
It takes courage to stick with our dreams and visions when we don’t see an immediate response—and that’s hard—because we do not know if there will be enough people who like what we are doing—but again, how will you know if you don’t give your dreams a try?
What was most important to me was to be authentic. I realized that I did not feel authentic with some of the styles of yoga I had been offering, but once I focused on Yin Yoga—which I felt absolutely comfortable with—the waiting lists for my trainings got longer and longer.
Therefore I recommend that you ask yourself what feels right to you: what can you really feel in the depth of your heart? And once you find that, stay authentic and bring it out to the world. Surely there will be enough people who were waiting exactly for this!
