June 10, 2025 • 28 mins
Yoga Teacher
Thinking about making a career change into the wellness world? Meet Linda Winnick—she went from a fast-paced fashion industry job to owning not one, but two successful yoga studios. In this episode, she gives us the inside scoop on what it’s really like to turn your wellness passion into a full-time career.
Linda shares honest career insights, including the nuts and bolts of running a yoga studio—think class pricing, teacher pay, and the not-so-Zen side of managing overhead costs. But what shines through most? Her love for the job and the way it’s grown with her. “I can grow old with this,” she says. “I’ll be considered wise by that point.”
Whether you’re dreaming of becoming your own boss, curious about the business side of wellness, or just exploring career options with more heart and flexibility, this episode delivers practical tips and real-deal inspiration. Namaste to that.
Shakti Yoga website - https://www.shaktiyogawoodstock.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAafPg5OlsJKxeH12NHHRpTxdWopHGjSg6E3Ve0TDdXmleyGkozYGv0d58ACGeA_aem_VhcEItovjODpMNHdAUJAfA
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Music credit: Kate Pierson & Monica Nation
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
What has to do with the way you move and the
breathing muscle tone, but Ithink stress is like the hugest.
Sometimes it helps peopleregulate sleep with their
digestive disorders and sothere's so much that comes from
there, so it could be likeweight loss weight management.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hi and welcome back to how Much Can I Make.
I'm Erav Ozeri.
I was always interested in theprocess of the entrepreneur.
How do they become successful?
What does it take?
So today we're going to stretchinto the world of yoga with
Linda Winnick.
She's a longtime teacher inWoodstock, new York, runs her
(00:41):
own studio studios I should sayplural and she really built her
career by helping people findbalance, stress-free life,
healing and other great,fantastic things.
But how does that translateinto a paycheck?
Let's find out.
What does it really take toturn a yoga passion into a
profession?
Linda, thank you so much fordoing it and giving us your time
(01:05):
.
Thank, you, yaraf, first of all,so when I met you, I took
classes in your studio and youhad a bunch of studios.
I want to know how did you getinto teaching yoga to begin with
?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I used to work in the fashion business and I worked
in big design houses like RalphLauren and Calvin Klein and
Daryl Kay for about 10 years infashion In New York City, in New
York City.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I was a mother and my son was about a year, year and
a half, and I had lost one of myjobs due to downsizing, and it
was a pretty miserable way.
They were trying to get me toleave and I wouldn't leave.
They were trying to get me toleave and I wouldn't leave, and
so I'd write letters.
I'd write letters to humanresources all day long, and
(01:51):
because of that they gave me aseverance package.
So I took that money and Iinvested in something really
bizarre, which was a master'sdegree in Ayurvedic medicine and
yoga philosophy, because Ididn't know what to do with
myself.
So I tried to figure out whatto do.
Next.
I started to study herbs,herbology, started to look more
into Ayurvedic medicine, becauseI was very intrigued not just
(02:12):
by medicine but also bypsychology.
But Ayurveda and yoga resonatedmore because of the
multidisciplinary approach tohealth and healing.
I was looking at differentprograms and I found a program
in Vermont called GoddardCollege and they had a healing
and health artsinterdisciplinary program, and
so that's, I was able to use themoney that I got from my
(02:34):
severance package and investedin a master's degree of
something that was not really athing for a job.
It wasn't like a viable careerat that point.
It was just something I wasgoing to study.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And how long was the studying.
So that was about a year, and ahalf.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You studied to be a practitioner.
I just studied it.
I wasn't studying to be reallyanything, I just studied the
philosophies and the medicine,and I studied with different
Ayurvedic doctors.
So when I did graduate I woundup going to get my yoga
certification as a gift tomyself.
So I guess the answer would beyes, I wanted to be an Ayurvedic
(03:07):
practitioner, but it wasn'treally a job yet, so I didn't
know how that would play out.
And then I became a certifiedyoga teacher and then I wound up
being more needed because uphere in Woodstock there weren't
any real yoga studios.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
so there was one that started how many years did you
practice yoga as a studentbefore you became an instructor?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I practiced.
Yeah, I started when I was 18.
And so I became a teacher, Iguess when I was 30.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Oh, so 10 to 12 years .
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, 10 to 12 years.
So I did practice it and then Ialso practiced other.
I did martial arts for a while.
So that was like also part ofmy story my understanding of
movement.
I've always been a big fan ofmovement and exercise, since I
was probably eight years oldokay.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So you became an instructor.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You got some sort of a certificate yeah, I got a
certificate, and then Nandathat's what it's called.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, okay, so you got your certificate.
Now how do you get your firststudents?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
my first students was so from a part of my master's
degree was to use ayurveda andyoga to treat addiction.
So my first quote-unquotestudents were uh people.
I worked at this rehab, I wasworking at first step in
kingston, and so on saturdaynight at eight o'clock at pm I
was their uh recreation.
So they were basically heldcaptive for me to teach them
(04:25):
yoga, which was perfect, whichis also part of how I teach
other teachers now that youreally want to start on people
who really don't know yoga, soyou're kind of gaining your
chops, and so they didn't knowany better.
Most of them were highlymedicated in withdrawing from
drugs, so whatever I was doing,they couldn't really understand
100% either.
So I was able to work out myteaching yoga, and then a yoga
(04:47):
studio opened up, and everybodyneeded a yoga teacher.
At this time, though there was,it wasn't like a viable income,
so I would go back and forthbetween New York City and here.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So it wasn't that popular then, right, it wasn't
that popular?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
no, so I would go back to New York City and
freelance.
So I still almost got suckedback into the fashion business.
But then by that point I wassort of the yogi, the
residential yogi in the fashioncompany.
This one was Nautica, so Iwould teach all the designers
yoga.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
But wait a minute.
How did the recovering addictstook yoga, took to yoga?
Did they like it?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Some of them liked it and it didn't matter because
they had to do it.
I mean, I found it was going tobe very useful for the
recovering addict to do yoga,because you don't need it, to
have any money, you don't reallyneed much to do it, and just
the profound effect that yogahas on your body, on your mind,
for relaxation, for clarity.
So that was the whole 225-pagethesis that I wrote was on that
(05:42):
subject matter what kind ofissues yoga can solve?
Well, first, the main thing isstress.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Really.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, stress is like the main thing.
Well, it has to do with the wayyou move and the breathing, and
sometimes it's like if thephilosophy could sort of
resonate with something thatmight actually bring something
that you might bring home withyou, so muscle tone.
But I think stress is like thehugest.
Sometimes it helps peopleregulate sleep with their
digestive disorders, and sothere's so much that comes from
(06:09):
there.
So it could be like weight loss, weight management.
It doesn't necessarilyeradicate cancer but it can
accompany, like helping peoplefeel calmer about the process of
the healing.
I've somehow or anotherspecialized with people who have
had joint replacements, so Ihave a lot of people with hips
and knees.
I work a lot with athletes soI'm kind of helping them balance
their body off from doing theirathleticism.
(06:31):
I also became a personaltrainer because I also needed
more tools to help, so I'm sortof like somebody who weaves yoga
and with personal training Ialso do sort of what would be
considered physical therapy.
Quote unquote stuff.
Whatever I've learned?
Again, I keep researching andtrying to find what helps my
clients.
I realized that a lot of peoplecan't actually do the quote
(06:53):
unquote textbook style yogaposes, so I've learned how to
modify everything for differentbody types using props and
chairs.
I've studied a lot about bodiesbecause that's the medium Right
.
As much as there's a verystrong spiritual component and a
mental component, the physicalpart is where I can destroy you
if I don't know what I'm doing.
So I really needed to learnabout anatomy, physiology,
(07:15):
kinesiology.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The whole shebang, and then I also studied body
works.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Okay, so you got the addicts as a first client.
Yeah, and how did you grow fromthere?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So it was really funny.
So people have these weird waysof describing the different
methods of yoga, so they wouldcall me a Hatha yoga teacher,
even though I was pretty muchwould be considered a much more
power yoga kind of a teacher.
But it was great because Iwould start to teach, mostly
like women in their 50s, and atthat point I was 30.
Now I'm in my 50s, so now I'mone of them.
But so I learned a lot aboutwhat it was going to be like to
(07:48):
be 50 and menopausal, and so Ilearned how to work on older
bodies and I realized how poorlytrained I was, and so I
actually had to search outdifferent teachers, and at that
point I had access to moremasterful teachers.
So I got to study with reallygreat teachers to learn how to
sequence better, how to do moreof a medicinal or therapeutic
(08:11):
yoga, how to work with all theinjuries and the ailments that
all human beings have to dealwith at some point of their life
.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So when I met you, that was many years ago, you had
like four or five studios inthe Woodstock area, correct?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, isn't that crazy.
Yeah, I know, because now we'resitting in my first studio,
which was my living room.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So tell me the process.
How did you grow and what didit take to grow from the living
room we're sitting in to allthose studios.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You know, it was just all I can say is I, you know,
looking back, it was like whoa,because I know I had like a lot
of I didn't have this likecertain game plan of doing this.
I basically started teachingout of my living room because I
wasn't sure if I could surviveas a studio, like having a rent
and all that, since I was like asingle mother, or how me as a
(09:00):
teacher would actually work out.
So I moved all the furnitureout after working for another
studio and I started with twostudents on a Friday morning at
9 or 9.30.
And then I think people kind ofthought it was kind of sweet
that I was teaching out of myhouse.
I'm not sure exactly why peoplestarted to come, but I went
(09:22):
from one class to two classes,to three classes, to five
classes and I was teaching aboutnine or 10, 12 classes a week
myself at my little living roomstudio.
And how many people in eachclass I started to grow to like
15 to 20.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Whoa.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So I kind of like people would be in my kitchen
and they'd be kind of in thefront porch, yeah, and I'd have
had dogs and cats coming through.
My cat kind of would come andpoop on people's mats and my dog
would steal their socks my dog,simi, and it was this it was.
There was something very sweetand grassroots about it and it
(09:54):
was an alternative, becausethere was a you know another
studio that had been establishedin town.
It was just a different attitude, so people just felt like this
was a more supportive place fortheir practice.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Because I know people love coming to your place.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, I'm very, very happy about that because I've
been able to do this for 25years.
So what happened was is that Ithink it was 2004,.
I decided that I needed toactually have a house because
this was in the middle of myhouse, and so I built the studio
, and that was when George Bushwas getting reelected.
So what happened was I justremember I had this very
expensive hole in the ground$100,000 hole in the ground
(10:24):
because people were like theywere terrified, they were shut
down.
They weren't using yoga to helpcalm them.
I just remember people in myhere crying.
They were just sad.
There was like four of themreally upset that that happened
and I was like, oh no, I don'tknow what I'm going to do,
because I wasn't sure anybodywas going to practice yoga my
privates I had a lot of privateclients at that time and they
were like, oh, I'm going toreduce it, I'm going to reduce
(10:46):
the amount of privates.
Classes got kind of quiet and Iwas like, okay, well, I, I
guess I could still go and buildthe studio and rent it out as
an apartment, but no, then youknow, each time I have a you
know, a really full class, Ilook around and I'm like I can't
believe this is still working.
It's really kind of magical 20years later.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, 25 years, 25 years later.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, it's really, it's pretty amazing yeah yeah, I
know and it's, and I still havesome of the same students To
get back to.
How do I have so many studios?
How did I have so many?
Oh yeah, because I started totrain teachers, because I was
teaching a lot.
So between the 20-somethingyears ago I was teaching as many
classes here and then I hadprobably 20 different privates I
(11:26):
would teach a week.
So that was like 30, 40 hoursof teaching a week.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Wow, I was teach a week.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So that was like 30, 40 hours of teaching a week.
Wow, I was teaching a lot.
And then I was working at theOmega Institute and then they
wanted me to go and teach.
I was teaching on theirRhinebeck campus workshops.
So I teach three to five ofthose a year and then they would
send me off to Costa Rica orsomewhere else.
They had places for two minutesin Austin and I didn't have
anybody to sub for me.
So I started to train teachersand so because of that, I sort
(11:50):
of I don't know if I'd call itin reverse I felt like I had to
give them a place to teach.
I started in Saugerties and thatwas pretty grassroots.
Also, it was a really funky.
It was a funky, funky space,but it had like a New York City
vibe to it.
Another place I started workingwas in Kingston, where it was
somebody else who came under theguise of being a student but he
owned the shirt factory and hewas like we want you to put a
(12:11):
yoga studio here, and then itwas just at that point Kingston
wasn't like what it is now, solike that area was pretty not
comfortable for people to bethere.
There was like a lot of needlesin the bathroom and whatnot.
I don't know if it's the samethere anymore.
So we were there short livedand then the mac fitness.
I went from there, mac fitness,who I was, a which is a gym
they the owner, he he was umreprimanding me because he
(12:34):
thought I was training somebodyin his gym which I wasn't and I
was like saying I you know, Ihave other places I could train
people.
So that in that same kind oflike conversation he and I were
having, uh, he asked me to opena, a studio in his spot and you
did and I did, I did so.
I had one at Mac Fitness andthen I had one in Boyceville,
and then from there I went toKate and Monica's and we did the
(12:55):
Lazy Meadow.
I was teaching in a teepee.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, that was fun.
Teaching in a teepee is alittle rough because it's hot
For all their guests that cameto the motel.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah or whoever showed up.
What?
Speaker 1 (13:11):
kind of capital will it take to build a studio and
grow to two or three studios inan area you know?
It's such an interesting thingbecause the biggest expense
you're going to have is rent andwhat your employees will cost.
So like that's always going tobe based on where you live, what
the rents are and what level ofemployees you're going to be
able to hire.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You mean the teachers , the teachers Right.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Teachers, some people need staff.
You might need a receptionist,bookkeepers, people to clean the
studio.
Other than that, it's not likea lot of money because you
already have the mats, you gotthe props, you pay the heater,
the utilities, so everythingelse is pretty much set.
I always think when it's been aslow week I'm glad I'm not a
(13:51):
restaurant.
You know the by food.
I don't have the cooking staff,I don't have the dishwasher,
all that and the perishablestuff I don't have the
perishable, so I'm like I don'thave perishables and so yeah so
if somebody starts in the studioin their living room, let's say
yeah, how much money can theymake?
yeah, it depends how good theyare.
I hate to say it.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It really let's say they're good, let's say they
they know yoga they practice andthey're good teachers okay.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
So if they're good teachers, the next thing is how
much do you want to work like?
For me, I had a good amount ofenergy, like I used to work, you
know, in fashion, so I used towork long hours.
So for me, teaching eight hourday, I taught an eight hour day.
Some people can't teach eightclasses a day how much each
student pays you?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
what's the going rate ?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
so well.
The going rate back then it waslike 13 per person if you
bought like a 10 class card.
So if you have a class card, itcan be anywhere from, like you
know, 15 to like 24 here.
If you get an unlimited, it'syou know whatever that is.
So I think for people, if theywant to, it really has to do
with, like, if you're going toparticipate, if you're just
owning a yoga studio and all ofthe money, the possible profits
(14:55):
are going to other people, andthen the rent, then I don't
necessarily seeing it being aviable business.
If it's New York City, I meangosh, it's so much different.
The scale there is differentbecause your rents are like
really expensive there.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
And you have to pack them in and you have just a
whole nother vibe.
But I've seen a lot of studioscome in and out because they
don't realize that again you'regoing to have some lean months
and if you do not own thebuilding or you don't have some
sort of other way of makingmoney, I don't know how they're
going to make their ends meet.
My whole idea about doing thisis I didn't want to go insane
doing this Like.
I didn't want to feel fear.
I didn't want to be anxious.
(15:34):
I didn't want to startpandering to keep students.
I wanted to teach how I felt Ishould be teaching, based on how
I learned and watching otherpeople.
I didn't want to make thistrendy.
I didn't want to be the flavorof the month.
In the beginning I was like ohno, this isn't going to last.
This isn't going to last.
25 years later, I've teachedthe same amount.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So you said before the slow months that you will
have slow months.
What are the slow months inthis business?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You know okay, not not to sound like any, they're
not that slow here, like whenyou they could be slow.
They could be slow Like, like,because I was thinking about
that like when do we have slowmonths?
We might have a slow week.
The only reason that we're wedon't have that is we're very
steady here.
I don't change things a lot.
The schedule that I've had haspretty much been the schedule.
We get people seasonally in thesummer so we might get bigger
(16:24):
classes, like up to like 30 40people wow, yeah, they get
pretty large.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
What is the most lucrative?
Is it the private lessons, theclasses, owning a studio?
What's the most lucrative partof being a yoga teacher?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
all of it, all of it all of it, yeah, but like you
know, like if you, if you doteach classes, those are, I
guess, more lucrative becauselike you can mean you could do
the math if you get like 40people in a class and they're
all paying like anywhere between13 to 4 dollars right you know,
minus whatever you could doreally well in the summer, right
yeah, you could do really well.
And then, um, you know, theprivates are sort of steady and
(16:59):
those are my known quantity,like I know that they're showing
up for how much can you charge?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
what's the going rate for private class?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
you know probably like, oh, like 125 150 and how
long is the class?
Uh, it could be from 40 minutesto 50 minutes, 45 minutes
that's fair.
That's fair, yeah they get aconcentrated, like very much
focused class yeah and eachstudent that I have.
I have, like again, a lot ofdifferent private clients with
different needs.
I also match their personality.
(17:27):
Some of them like to chat withme which can you imagine?
So we chat and we do yoga.
And Some of them like to chatwith me which can you imagine?
So we chat and we do yoga, andsome of them are quiet and I'm
quiet with them.
I have a lot of very highprofile people that I work with
and I have like a lot of CEOsand high powered humans, so I
adjust based on what their needsare.
I don't need to chat withanybody, I don't need to not
chat with anybody, and so Ibecome their person.
(17:49):
So I'm also their confidant andso I hold a lot of energy for
people who are going throughsome serious stuff in their life
and I very much value therelationship.
So the privates have that goingon and I get to know them,
whereas, like students, I wish Icould know all every single one
of their stories.
But it's hard.
When it's a little, there's anelement of anonymity.
(18:10):
It's a group and I try to breakthrough the anonymity or the
boundary Because, again, yoga tome is very intimate and I like
today I had somebody.
I'll never see them again, notbecause it was bad, or maybe it
was for them, I don't know butlike they come through town and
like I'm like hi, you're in myyoga class and we're doing these
things and I don't know whatyou're like as a student and it
always it just finds me.
I find it really interesting,like this is a very intimate
(18:33):
experience that we're sharingand I have I'll never see you
again.
It's like anonymous sex.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, what happens if you are injured or you are sick
?
What do you do then?
Oh, I know.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Isn't that awful, because I do get that way.
Could you imagine, likeactually, that's when I bought
my.
I bought the property in themiddle of town because I had
actually had gotten some bodywork done and they kind of
disabled me, where I kind oflearned what like core strength
was, where I was like, wow, Ican't even pick up my wallet.
They had kind of like twistedmy pelvis and I just had no, I
had no core.
I was like everything went andI couldn't move.
(19:08):
I remember I was actuallyteaching and all of a sudden I
went to go demonstrate atriangle pose and I was like, oh
, I can't move.
And so I realized thateverything is invested in this
whole being here.
I mean, I have teachers thatwork for me.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But the reality is, I'm, you know, I'm the one
that's the financial situationhere.
I'm the person.
So I bought an Airbnb.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
So did you not teach yoga?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
at that time.
No, I did, I kept teaching.
I know how to teach withoutmoving I'm like a big talking,
blah, blah, blah.
So you put the coin in and thenI could shoot out uh sequences.
No, because even with my hiprepair now, I basically taught.
I started teaching after 10days and it's interesting
because I feel it when I'mtalking about it, so I can
sequence from my, my, my mind,feeling, my body doing, even if
(19:51):
my body isn't doing it.
And I've done so much yogawhere I'm like, okay, I'm going
to combine this with this andI'm going to add this and then
I'm going to throw this in.
It's almost like a chef beingable to cook, knowing the
flavors of food, withoutactually having to taste it.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
What would you say is the biggest challenge of being
a yoga instructor?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
no-transcript.
The career made itself right.
I was working in fashionpart-time, like doing freelance
work in the city, and then allof a sudden, this started to
take off, and so then I was ableto be like, oh, I guess I could
do this now and I had somereally great gifts, like the
person who co-founded Omega,elizabeth Lesser.
(20:55):
I didn't know who she was andshe walks up to me after a class
and she asked me she goes youknow who I am?
And I'm like no, but you looklike.
I didn't say it out loud, but Iwas like you look, like you
could be, you're very smartlooking, a professor, like a
lawyer, psychiatrist orsomething.
You're very intelligent looking, and she's like I'm a
co-founder of Omega and I thinkyou'd be great to start teaching
workshops.
Wow, and this was afterprobably my ninth month of
(21:18):
teaching.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
So it was like, and then she started hooking me up
with all her wonderful friends,so I started teaching all her
friends yoga and I didn't knowwho these people were either and
a lot of them were pretty.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You know high fluid.
She just happened to go intoone of your classes.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, she was in one of my classes when I was
teaching, and oh, you know whatit was she was crying.
I hope she doesn't mind thatI'm telling.
This is a very beautiful story,which is more about her than
about me, or maybe it's about us.
She was crying and it wasaround 9 to 11.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I didn't know why she was crying.
And I walk, I'm holding herwhile I'm teaching, I'm just
hugging her as one human toanother.
I was like, oh no, she's crying.
I'm like.
I was like I don't know what'sgoing on with this woman.
And then that's how she told methat, because I did that,
that's how she fell in love withme.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
You see, I was going to say before it's a matter of
luck.
She walked into your office.
But it's not.
It's how you use that luck.
It was a very beautiful.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It was very beautiful and then like all of a sudden
I'm doing all these things.
That was like what and like itwas a dream.
But it wasn't like a dream Ihad.
It was a dream that washappening.
So I didn't have an idea.
I wanted to work at Omega.
I was just really honestly insurvival mode.
Everything I did was like, oh,I gotta make this work because I
have a child to support, I got,I bought this house.
But I think also I was justalways curious, right like
(22:31):
there's a certain level ofcuriosity about every person who
walks in.
So I'm like who are you andwhat can I do for you?
There was a strong belief in inyoga and technology of yoga, if
I was to call it something didyou have to advertise?
spend money on advertising youknow, not so much like
advertising, like I still have apretty big word of mouth.
(22:51):
And it was so cute because whenI first started it was all
about making a flyer.
And I remember like when I knewI was like going to probably
get fired from this one place Iworked at, which again I wound
up owning later down the line.
I remember like looking at theguy because I had like two
students and I look at him andI'm like, oh my God.
I said he said he goes well,why don't you open up your own
thing?
And I was like, well, I don'tknow how to make a flyer.
(23:12):
That was like my biggestgrievance.
I really don't know how to makea flyer.
He goes well, I do, I'm agraphic designer.
And then Shakti was born.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
All it took was someone telling me, they knew
how to do graphics what advicewould you give somebody that
want to start?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
teach a lot before you open a studio.
Teach a lot friends and familyand stuff yeah well if you want
to teach yoga, definitely Iwould suggest going to a program
that's more than a month,because you can't really learn
anything in a month to thedegree of what you need to know
for this, if you want to makethis a full-time job.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Like I've had two people last week, two friends'
daughters for some reason oneweek we're like, oh, I'm going
away to like Mexico or CostaRica.
I'm going to become a yogateacher and I'm like you're
gonna have such a greatexperience doing that.
I doubt you're gonna get theskills and the knowledge Right,
but I'm like you're gonna lovedoing it and you're gonna feel
really empowered.
But it takes a long time andyou need a support group, right?
(24:05):
You need somebody who's goingto be with you for the long haul
you know, to guide you, becausethis is you know, it's.
There's a lot to know.
I'd say you know, kind of have agood idea of what it means to
you.
Teaching yoga and doing it arenot the same.
You have to really know bodies.
You have to know that the gainisn't to push yourself and do
wacky wild things.
A lot of times when I see yogateachers having like phenomenal
(24:28):
poses on a flyer I guess no oneuses flyers anymore and their
like phenomenal poses on a flyerI guess no one uses flyers
anymore and their Instagramaccount.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I'm like you can almost guarantee you're not
going to get that many students,because most people don't want
to do those poses and you'regoing to intimidate them, right,
of course, that's me, that'syou.
Well, that's most people.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And you know I know this because people have talked
about yoga to me for years likefor years, what they fear, what
they like?
People want to feel good abouttheir bodies.
They want to feel safe.
There are people who like to upit several notches and you have
to teach them how to progressinto that, these wild poses, if
we were to call those that,those crazy poses.
Your mind has to be incrediblycalm.
(25:01):
You have to be more meditativebecause you regulate your
breathing.
You have to learn how to usedifferent components in your
core body you know because it'snot so much upper body strength
sometimes it is but it's yourwhole body, and so that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Are there any special skills somebody need to have
besides doing, besides knowingyoga and practicing yoga?
Do they need any other skillsin order to open their own
studio, their own classes?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I believe you need to have so many skills.
I think like to teach it.
That's just teaching alone.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Now to be Like what Well.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
You have to know about bodies.
You have to know aboutphilosophies.
You have to know how to vary it, you have to.
The sequencing is essential.
You have to.
You know, deal with pregnantpeople.
People walk in.
They're like I have a kneereplacement.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I just had, like glaucoma.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I had open heart surgery.
I've had cancer.
I've had a baby.
I'm gonna have a baby.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I have a lot of babies at home and I'm stressed
out and I'm a mom.
So what you read aboutdifferent conditions and then
you adjust your well if you sawmy library.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
But I mean I actually do study and I and I and I
learn a lot from studying onpeople, but it's like, yeah, you
have to know.
I believe you have to know alot.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Have you seen a demand from students changes,
wanting something different thanwhen you started?
Yeah, like what?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
I think what happens for some students not all of
them is that they want to knowmore of the spiritual dimension,
like they might come in for thephysical.
But then they start to see like, oh, what's the philosophy,
what is all this ayurveda thatyou're talking about?
So sometimes they start toinquire about that and that
helps their yoga practice.
Yeah, it helped.
I mean it helps their life.
I don't know if it helps theiryoga practice, but it definitely
helps their life because, likeyoga is there to support life,
(26:38):
like when you're really in it.
It kind of makes you a littlebit I don't want to say more
agreeable, but it allows you toaccept things a little bit more.
Right, one of my favoriteteachers.
He's an ayurvedic doctor.
He accepts everything.
It's amazing.
He's just like oh, that's good,divine plan, divine plan,
divine plan.
He doesn't have any rifts inhis psyche because he just sees
(26:59):
whatever happens as what it'ssupposed to be.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
What's the biggest reward of being a yoga teacher?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Oh goodness.
Well, all the wonderful.
Honestly it's going to soundtrite, but all the wonderful
people I get actually get tomeet, all the different
relationships, I mean a lot ofthe people that we both know.
I met them through yoga.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I got to, you know, have a lot of people, meet other
people that I've met.
So we like have this wonderfulnetwork of wonderful human
beings.
Yoga is pretty portable, so Ican kind of do it anywhere.
Right, right, I can go on theroad and go and teach.
But rewarding is that like Ican grow old with this, I don't
ever have to stop.
Like I can be an old, cragglyyoga teacher in the front of the
room or sitting in a chair.
(27:37):
Probably at that point, I don'tknow, maybe I'll still be
moving, I will still be accepted, I will be considered.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's a huge plus.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
I will be considered wise by that point Right, I'll
be a sage of some sort, becauseI will have done it for a long
time, because I'm aiming to be avery happy, peaceful older
woman, so I'm hoping I will beable to help other people get
that great, that was going to bemy last question, but you
answered it your hopes anddreams for your future well,
(28:03):
that's some of them, but that'sone for this career, right so on
that note, this is well.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I learned a lot about yoga myself today.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Well, there you go.
Hopefully other people caught alittle something and I'm sorry
if I forgot anything.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
I know If I left anything out.
I don't think we did.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
They can always ask me ShockedyogaWoodstock at
gmailcom.
That's LaNita.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Okay, that's a wrap for today.
If you have a comment orquestion or would like us to
cover a certain job, please letus know.
Visit our website athowmuchcanimakeinfo.
We would love to hear from you.
And, on your way out, don'tforget to subscribe and share
this episode with anyone who iscurious about their next job.
See you next time.
What has to do with the way you move and the
breathing muscle tone, but Ithink stress is like the hugest.
Sometimes it helps peopleregulate sleep with their
digestive disorders and sothere's so much that comes from
there, so it could be likeweight loss weight management.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hi and welcome back to how Much Can I Make.
I'm Erav Ozeri.
I was always interested in theprocess of the entrepreneur.
How do they become successful?
What does it take?
So today we're going to stretchinto the world of yoga with
Linda Winnick.
She's a longtime teacher inWoodstock, new York, runs her
(00:41):
own studio studios I should sayplural and she really built her
career by helping people findbalance, stress-free life,
healing and other great,fantastic things.
But how does that translateinto a paycheck?
Let's find out.
What does it really take toturn a yoga passion into a
profession?
Linda, thank you so much fordoing it and giving us your time
(01:05):
.
Thank, you, yaraf, first of all,so when I met you, I took
classes in your studio and youhad a bunch of studios.
I want to know how did you getinto teaching yoga to begin with
?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I used to work in the fashion business and I worked
in big design houses like RalphLauren and Calvin Klein and
Daryl Kay for about 10 years infashion In New York City, in New
York City.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I was a mother and my son was about a year, year and
a half, and I had lost one of myjobs due to downsizing, and it
was a pretty miserable way.
They were trying to get me toleave and I wouldn't leave.
They were trying to get me toleave and I wouldn't leave, and
so I'd write letters.
I'd write letters to humanresources all day long, and
(01:51):
because of that they gave me aseverance package.
So I took that money and Iinvested in something really
bizarre, which was a master'sdegree in Ayurvedic medicine and
yoga philosophy, because Ididn't know what to do with
myself.
So I tried to figure out whatto do.
Next.
I started to study herbs,herbology, started to look more
into Ayurvedic medicine, becauseI was very intrigued not just
(02:12):
by medicine but also bypsychology.
But Ayurveda and yoga resonatedmore because of the
multidisciplinary approach tohealth and healing.
I was looking at differentprograms and I found a program
in Vermont called GoddardCollege and they had a healing
and health artsinterdisciplinary program, and
so that's, I was able to use themoney that I got from my
(02:34):
severance package and investedin a master's degree of
something that was not really athing for a job.
It wasn't like a viable careerat that point.
It was just something I wasgoing to study.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And how long was the studying.
So that was about a year, and ahalf.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You studied to be a practitioner.
I just studied it.
I wasn't studying to be reallyanything, I just studied the
philosophies and the medicine,and I studied with different
Ayurvedic doctors.
So when I did graduate I woundup going to get my yoga
certification as a gift tomyself.
So I guess the answer would beyes, I wanted to be an Ayurvedic
(03:07):
practitioner, but it wasn'treally a job yet, so I didn't
know how that would play out.
And then I became a certifiedyoga teacher and then I wound up
being more needed because uphere in Woodstock there weren't
any real yoga studios.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
so there was one that started how many years did you
practice yoga as a studentbefore you became an instructor?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I practiced.
Yeah, I started when I was 18.
And so I became a teacher, Iguess when I was 30.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Oh, so 10 to 12 years .
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, 10 to 12 years.
So I did practice it and then Ialso practiced other.
I did martial arts for a while.
So that was like also part ofmy story my understanding of
movement.
I've always been a big fan ofmovement and exercise, since I
was probably eight years oldokay.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So you became an instructor.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You got some sort of a certificate yeah, I got a
certificate, and then Nandathat's what it's called.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, okay, so you got your certificate.
Now how do you get your firststudents?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
my first students was so from a part of my master's
degree was to use ayurveda andyoga to treat addiction.
So my first quote-unquotestudents were uh people.
I worked at this rehab, I wasworking at first step in
kingston, and so on saturdaynight at eight o'clock at pm I
was their uh recreation.
So they were basically heldcaptive for me to teach them
(04:25):
yoga, which was perfect, whichis also part of how I teach
other teachers now that youreally want to start on people
who really don't know yoga, soyou're kind of gaining your
chops, and so they didn't knowany better.
Most of them were highlymedicated in withdrawing from
drugs, so whatever I was doing,they couldn't really understand
100% either.
So I was able to work out myteaching yoga, and then a yoga
(04:47):
studio opened up, and everybodyneeded a yoga teacher.
At this time, though there was,it wasn't like a viable income,
so I would go back and forthbetween New York City and here.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So it wasn't that popular then, right, it wasn't
that popular?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
no, so I would go back to New York City and
freelance.
So I still almost got suckedback into the fashion business.
But then by that point I wassort of the yogi, the
residential yogi in the fashioncompany.
This one was Nautica, so Iwould teach all the designers
yoga.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
But wait a minute.
How did the recovering addictstook yoga, took to yoga?
Did they like it?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Some of them liked it and it didn't matter because
they had to do it.
I mean, I found it was going tobe very useful for the
recovering addict to do yoga,because you don't need it, to
have any money, you don't reallyneed much to do it, and just
the profound effect that yogahas on your body, on your mind,
for relaxation, for clarity.
So that was the whole 225-pagethesis that I wrote was on that
(05:42):
subject matter what kind ofissues yoga can solve?
Well, first, the main thing isstress.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Really.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, stress is like the main thing.
Well, it has to do with the wayyou move and the breathing, and
sometimes it's like if thephilosophy could sort of
resonate with something thatmight actually bring something
that you might bring home withyou, so muscle tone.
But I think stress is like thehugest.
Sometimes it helps peopleregulate sleep with their
digestive disorders, and sothere's so much that comes from
(06:09):
there.
So it could be like weight loss, weight management.
It doesn't necessarilyeradicate cancer but it can
accompany, like helping peoplefeel calmer about the process of
the healing.
I've somehow or anotherspecialized with people who have
had joint replacements, so Ihave a lot of people with hips
and knees.
I work a lot with athletes soI'm kind of helping them balance
their body off from doing theirathleticism.
(06:31):
I also became a personaltrainer because I also needed
more tools to help, so I'm sortof like somebody who weaves yoga
and with personal training Ialso do sort of what would be
considered physical therapy.
Quote unquote stuff.
Whatever I've learned?
Again, I keep researching andtrying to find what helps my
clients.
I realized that a lot of peoplecan't actually do the quote
(06:53):
unquote textbook style yogaposes, so I've learned how to
modify everything for differentbody types using props and
chairs.
I've studied a lot about bodiesbecause that's the medium Right
.
As much as there's a verystrong spiritual component and a
mental component, the physicalpart is where I can destroy you
if I don't know what I'm doing.
So I really needed to learnabout anatomy, physiology,
(07:15):
kinesiology.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The whole shebang, and then I also studied body
works.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Okay, so you got the addicts as a first client.
Yeah, and how did you grow fromthere?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So it was really funny.
So people have these weird waysof describing the different
methods of yoga, so they wouldcall me a Hatha yoga teacher,
even though I was pretty muchwould be considered a much more
power yoga kind of a teacher.
But it was great because Iwould start to teach, mostly
like women in their 50s, and atthat point I was 30.
Now I'm in my 50s, so now I'mone of them.
But so I learned a lot aboutwhat it was going to be like to
(07:48):
be 50 and menopausal, and so Ilearned how to work on older
bodies and I realized how poorlytrained I was, and so I
actually had to search outdifferent teachers, and at that
point I had access to moremasterful teachers.
So I got to study with reallygreat teachers to learn how to
sequence better, how to do moreof a medicinal or therapeutic
(08:11):
yoga, how to work with all theinjuries and the ailments that
all human beings have to dealwith at some point of their life
.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So when I met you, that was many years ago, you had
like four or five studios inthe Woodstock area, correct?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, isn't that crazy.
Yeah, I know, because now we'resitting in my first studio,
which was my living room.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So tell me the process.
How did you grow and what didit take to grow from the living
room we're sitting in to allthose studios.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You know, it was just all I can say is I, you know,
looking back, it was like whoa,because I know I had like a lot
of I didn't have this likecertain game plan of doing this.
I basically started teachingout of my living room because I
wasn't sure if I could surviveas a studio, like having a rent
and all that, since I was like asingle mother, or how me as a
(09:00):
teacher would actually work out.
So I moved all the furnitureout after working for another
studio and I started with twostudents on a Friday morning at
9 or 9.30.
And then I think people kind ofthought it was kind of sweet
that I was teaching out of myhouse.
I'm not sure exactly why peoplestarted to come, but I went
(09:22):
from one class to two classes,to three classes, to five
classes and I was teaching aboutnine or 10, 12 classes a week
myself at my little living roomstudio.
And how many people in eachclass I started to grow to like
15 to 20.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Whoa.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So I kind of like people would be in my kitchen
and they'd be kind of in thefront porch, yeah, and I'd have
had dogs and cats coming through.
My cat kind of would come andpoop on people's mats and my dog
would steal their socks my dog,simi, and it was this it was.
There was something very sweetand grassroots about it and it
(09:54):
was an alternative, becausethere was a you know another
studio that had been establishedin town.
It was just a different attitude, so people just felt like this
was a more supportive place fortheir practice.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Because I know people love coming to your place.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, I'm very, very happy about that because I've
been able to do this for 25years.
So what happened was is that Ithink it was 2004,.
I decided that I needed toactually have a house because
this was in the middle of myhouse, and so I built the studio
, and that was when George Bushwas getting reelected.
So what happened was I justremember I had this very
expensive hole in the ground$100,000 hole in the ground
(10:24):
because people were like theywere terrified, they were shut
down.
They weren't using yoga to helpcalm them.
I just remember people in myhere crying.
They were just sad.
There was like four of themreally upset that that happened
and I was like, oh no, I don'tknow what I'm going to do,
because I wasn't sure anybodywas going to practice yoga my
privates I had a lot of privateclients at that time and they
were like, oh, I'm going toreduce it, I'm going to reduce
(10:46):
the amount of privates.
Classes got kind of quiet and Iwas like, okay, well, I, I
guess I could still go and buildthe studio and rent it out as
an apartment, but no, then youknow, each time I have a you
know, a really full class, Ilook around and I'm like I can't
believe this is still working.
It's really kind of magical 20years later.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, 25 years, 25 years later.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, it's really, it's pretty amazing yeah yeah, I
know and it's, and I still havesome of the same students To
get back to.
How do I have so many studios?
How did I have so many?
Oh yeah, because I started totrain teachers, because I was
teaching a lot.
So between the 20-somethingyears ago I was teaching as many
classes here and then I hadprobably 20 different privates I
(11:26):
would teach a week.
So that was like 30, 40 hoursof teaching a week.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Wow, I was teach a week.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So that was like 30, 40 hours of teaching a week.
Wow, I was teaching a lot.
And then I was working at theOmega Institute and then they
wanted me to go and teach.
I was teaching on theirRhinebeck campus workshops.
So I teach three to five ofthose a year and then they would
send me off to Costa Rica orsomewhere else.
They had places for two minutesin Austin and I didn't have
anybody to sub for me.
So I started to train teachersand so because of that, I sort
(11:50):
of I don't know if I'd call itin reverse I felt like I had to
give them a place to teach.
I started in Saugerties and thatwas pretty grassroots.
Also, it was a really funky.
It was a funky, funky space,but it had like a New York City
vibe to it.
Another place I started workingwas in Kingston, where it was
somebody else who came under theguise of being a student but he
owned the shirt factory and hewas like we want you to put a
(12:11):
yoga studio here, and then itwas just at that point Kingston
wasn't like what it is now, solike that area was pretty not
comfortable for people to bethere.
There was like a lot of needlesin the bathroom and whatnot.
I don't know if it's the samethere anymore.
So we were there short livedand then the mac fitness.
I went from there, mac fitness,who I was, a which is a gym
they the owner, he he was umreprimanding me because he
(12:34):
thought I was training somebodyin his gym which I wasn't and I
was like saying I you know, Ihave other places I could train
people.
So that in that same kind oflike conversation he and I were
having, uh, he asked me to opena, a studio in his spot and you
did and I did, I did so.
I had one at Mac Fitness andthen I had one in Boyceville,
and then from there I went toKate and Monica's and we did the
(12:55):
Lazy Meadow.
I was teaching in a teepee.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, that was fun.
Teaching in a teepee is alittle rough because it's hot
For all their guests that cameto the motel.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah or whoever showed up.
What?
Speaker 1 (13:11):
kind of capital will it take to build a studio and
grow to two or three studios inan area you know?
It's such an interesting thingbecause the biggest expense
you're going to have is rent andwhat your employees will cost.
So like that's always going tobe based on where you live, what
the rents are and what level ofemployees you're going to be
able to hire.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You mean the teachers , the teachers Right.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Teachers, some people need staff.
You might need a receptionist,bookkeepers, people to clean the
studio.
Other than that, it's not likea lot of money because you
already have the mats, you gotthe props, you pay the heater,
the utilities, so everythingelse is pretty much set.
I always think when it's been aslow week I'm glad I'm not a
(13:51):
restaurant.
You know the by food.
I don't have the cooking staff,I don't have the dishwasher,
all that and the perishablestuff I don't have the
perishable, so I'm like I don'thave perishables and so yeah so
if somebody starts in the studioin their living room, let's say
yeah, how much money can theymake?
yeah, it depends how good theyare.
I hate to say it.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It really let's say they're good, let's say they
they know yoga they practice andthey're good teachers okay.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
So if they're good teachers, the next thing is how
much do you want to work like?
For me, I had a good amount ofenergy, like I used to work, you
know, in fashion, so I used towork long hours.
So for me, teaching eight hourday, I taught an eight hour day.
Some people can't teach eightclasses a day how much each
student pays you?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
what's the going rate ?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
so well.
The going rate back then it waslike 13 per person if you
bought like a 10 class card.
So if you have a class card, itcan be anywhere from, like you
know, 15 to like 24 here.
If you get an unlimited, it'syou know whatever that is.
So I think for people, if theywant to, it really has to do
with, like, if you're going toparticipate, if you're just
owning a yoga studio and all ofthe money, the possible profits
(14:55):
are going to other people, andthen the rent, then I don't
necessarily seeing it being aviable business.
If it's New York City, I meangosh, it's so much different.
The scale there is differentbecause your rents are like
really expensive there.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
And you have to pack them in and you have just a
whole nother vibe.
But I've seen a lot of studioscome in and out because they
don't realize that again you'regoing to have some lean months
and if you do not own thebuilding or you don't have some
sort of other way of makingmoney, I don't know how they're
going to make their ends meet.
My whole idea about doing thisis I didn't want to go insane
doing this Like.
I didn't want to feel fear.
I didn't want to be anxious.
(15:34):
I didn't want to startpandering to keep students.
I wanted to teach how I felt Ishould be teaching, based on how
I learned and watching otherpeople.
I didn't want to make thistrendy.
I didn't want to be the flavorof the month.
In the beginning I was like ohno, this isn't going to last.
This isn't going to last.
25 years later, I've teachedthe same amount.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So you said before the slow months that you will
have slow months.
What are the slow months inthis business?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You know okay, not not to sound like any, they're
not that slow here, like whenyou they could be slow.
They could be slow Like, like,because I was thinking about
that like when do we have slowmonths?
We might have a slow week.
The only reason that we're wedon't have that is we're very
steady here.
I don't change things a lot.
The schedule that I've had haspretty much been the schedule.
We get people seasonally in thesummer so we might get bigger
(16:24):
classes, like up to like 30 40people wow, yeah, they get
pretty large.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
What is the most lucrative?
Is it the private lessons, theclasses, owning a studio?
What's the most lucrative partof being a yoga teacher?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
all of it, all of it all of it, yeah, but like you
know, like if you, if you doteach classes, those are, I
guess, more lucrative becauselike you can mean you could do
the math if you get like 40people in a class and they're
all paying like anywhere between13 to 4 dollars right you know,
minus whatever you could doreally well in the summer, right
yeah, you could do really well.
And then, um, you know, theprivates are sort of steady and
(16:59):
those are my known quantity,like I know that they're showing
up for how much can you charge?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
what's the going rate for private class?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
you know probably like, oh, like 125 150 and how
long is the class?
Uh, it could be from 40 minutesto 50 minutes, 45 minutes
that's fair.
That's fair, yeah they get aconcentrated, like very much
focused class yeah and eachstudent that I have.
I have, like again, a lot ofdifferent private clients with
different needs.
I also match their personality.
(17:27):
Some of them like to chat withme which can you imagine?
So we chat and we do yoga.
And Some of them like to chatwith me which can you imagine?
So we chat and we do yoga, andsome of them are quiet and I'm
quiet with them.
I have a lot of very highprofile people that I work with
and I have like a lot of CEOsand high powered humans, so I
adjust based on what their needsare.
I don't need to chat withanybody, I don't need to not
chat with anybody, and so Ibecome their person.
(17:49):
So I'm also their confidant andso I hold a lot of energy for
people who are going throughsome serious stuff in their life
and I very much value therelationship.
So the privates have that goingon and I get to know them,
whereas, like students, I wish Icould know all every single one
of their stories.
But it's hard.
When it's a little, there's anelement of anonymity.
(18:10):
It's a group and I try to breakthrough the anonymity or the
boundary Because, again, yoga tome is very intimate and I like
today I had somebody.
I'll never see them again, notbecause it was bad, or maybe it
was for them, I don't know butlike they come through town and
like I'm like hi, you're in myyoga class and we're doing these
things and I don't know whatyou're like as a student and it
always it just finds me.
I find it really interesting,like this is a very intimate
(18:33):
experience that we're sharingand I have I'll never see you
again.
It's like anonymous sex.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, what happens if you are injured or you are sick
?
What do you do then?
Oh, I know.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Isn't that awful, because I do get that way.
Could you imagine, likeactually, that's when I bought
my.
I bought the property in themiddle of town because I had
actually had gotten some bodywork done and they kind of
disabled me, where I kind oflearned what like core strength
was, where I was like, wow, Ican't even pick up my wallet.
They had kind of like twistedmy pelvis and I just had no, I
had no core.
I was like everything went andI couldn't move.
(19:08):
I remember I was actuallyteaching and all of a sudden I
went to go demonstrate atriangle pose and I was like, oh
, I can't move.
And so I realized thateverything is invested in this
whole being here.
I mean, I have teachers thatwork for me.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But the reality is, I'm, you know, I'm the one
that's the financial situationhere.
I'm the person.
So I bought an Airbnb.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
So did you not teach yoga?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
at that time.
No, I did, I kept teaching.
I know how to teach withoutmoving I'm like a big talking,
blah, blah, blah.
So you put the coin in and thenI could shoot out uh sequences.
No, because even with my hiprepair now, I basically taught.
I started teaching after 10days and it's interesting
because I feel it when I'mtalking about it, so I can
sequence from my, my, my mind,feeling, my body doing, even if
(19:51):
my body isn't doing it.
And I've done so much yogawhere I'm like, okay, I'm going
to combine this with this andI'm going to add this and then
I'm going to throw this in.
It's almost like a chef beingable to cook, knowing the
flavors of food, withoutactually having to taste it.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
What would you say is the biggest challenge of being
a yoga instructor?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
no-transcript.
The career made itself right.
I was working in fashionpart-time, like doing freelance
work in the city, and then allof a sudden, this started to
take off, and so then I was ableto be like, oh, I guess I could
do this now and I had somereally great gifts, like the
person who co-founded Omega,elizabeth Lesser.
(20:55):
I didn't know who she was andshe walks up to me after a class
and she asked me she goes youknow who I am?
And I'm like no, but you looklike.
I didn't say it out loud, but Iwas like you look, like you
could be, you're very smartlooking, a professor, like a
lawyer, psychiatrist orsomething.
You're very intelligent looking, and she's like I'm a
co-founder of Omega and I thinkyou'd be great to start teaching
workshops.
Wow, and this was afterprobably my ninth month of
(21:18):
teaching.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
So it was like, and then she started hooking me up
with all her wonderful friends,so I started teaching all her
friends yoga and I didn't knowwho these people were either and
a lot of them were pretty.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You know high fluid.
She just happened to go intoone of your classes.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, she was in one of my classes when I was
teaching, and oh, you know whatit was she was crying.
I hope she doesn't mind thatI'm telling.
This is a very beautiful story,which is more about her than
about me, or maybe it's about us.
She was crying and it wasaround 9 to 11.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I didn't know why she was crying.
And I walk, I'm holding herwhile I'm teaching, I'm just
hugging her as one human toanother.
I was like, oh no, she's crying.
I'm like.
I was like I don't know what'sgoing on with this woman.
And then that's how she told methat, because I did that,
that's how she fell in love withme.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
You see, I was going to say before it's a matter of
luck.
She walked into your office.
But it's not.
It's how you use that luck.
It was a very beautiful.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It was very beautiful and then like all of a sudden
I'm doing all these things.
That was like what and like itwas a dream.
But it wasn't like a dream Ihad.
It was a dream that washappening.
So I didn't have an idea.
I wanted to work at Omega.
I was just really honestly insurvival mode.
Everything I did was like, oh,I gotta make this work because I
have a child to support, I got,I bought this house.
But I think also I was justalways curious, right like
(22:31):
there's a certain level ofcuriosity about every person who
walks in.
So I'm like who are you andwhat can I do for you?
There was a strong belief in inyoga and technology of yoga, if
I was to call it something didyou have to advertise?
spend money on advertising youknow, not so much like
advertising, like I still have apretty big word of mouth.
(22:51):
And it was so cute because whenI first started it was all
about making a flyer.
And I remember like when I knewI was like going to probably
get fired from this one place Iworked at, which again I wound
up owning later down the line.
I remember like looking at theguy because I had like two
students and I look at him andI'm like, oh my God.
I said he said he goes well,why don't you open up your own
thing?
And I was like, well, I don'tknow how to make a flyer.
(23:12):
That was like my biggestgrievance.
I really don't know how to makea flyer.
He goes well, I do, I'm agraphic designer.
And then Shakti was born.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
All it took was someone telling me, they knew
how to do graphics what advicewould you give somebody that
want to start?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
teach a lot before you open a studio.
Teach a lot friends and familyand stuff yeah well if you want
to teach yoga, definitely Iwould suggest going to a program
that's more than a month,because you can't really learn
anything in a month to thedegree of what you need to know
for this, if you want to makethis a full-time job.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Like I've had two people last week, two friends'
daughters for some reason oneweek we're like, oh, I'm going
away to like Mexico or CostaRica.
I'm going to become a yogateacher and I'm like you're
gonna have such a greatexperience doing that.
I doubt you're gonna get theskills and the knowledge Right,
but I'm like you're gonna lovedoing it and you're gonna feel
really empowered.
But it takes a long time andyou need a support group, right?
(24:05):
You need somebody who's goingto be with you for the long haul
you know, to guide you, becausethis is you know, it's.
There's a lot to know.
I'd say you know, kind of have agood idea of what it means to
you.
Teaching yoga and doing it arenot the same.
You have to really know bodies.
You have to know that the gainisn't to push yourself and do
wacky wild things.
A lot of times when I see yogateachers having like phenomenal
(24:28):
poses on a flyer I guess no oneuses flyers anymore and their
like phenomenal poses on a flyerI guess no one uses flyers
anymore and their Instagramaccount.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I'm like you can almost guarantee you're not
going to get that many students,because most people don't want
to do those poses and you'regoing to intimidate them, right,
of course, that's me, that'syou.
Well, that's most people.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And you know I know this because people have talked
about yoga to me for years likefor years, what they fear, what
they like?
People want to feel good abouttheir bodies.
They want to feel safe.
There are people who like to upit several notches and you have
to teach them how to progressinto that, these wild poses, if
we were to call those that,those crazy poses.
Your mind has to be incrediblycalm.
(25:01):
You have to be more meditativebecause you regulate your
breathing.
You have to learn how to usedifferent components in your
core body you know because it'snot so much upper body strength
sometimes it is but it's yourwhole body, and so that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Are there any special skills somebody need to have
besides doing, besides knowingyoga and practicing yoga?
Do they need any other skillsin order to open their own
studio, their own classes?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I believe you need to have so many skills.
I think like to teach it.
That's just teaching alone.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Now to be Like what Well.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
You have to know about bodies.
You have to know aboutphilosophies.
You have to know how to vary it, you have to.
The sequencing is essential.
You have to.
You know, deal with pregnantpeople.
People walk in.
They're like I have a kneereplacement.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I just had, like glaucoma.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I had open heart surgery.
I've had cancer.
I've had a baby.
I'm gonna have a baby.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I have a lot of babies at home and I'm stressed
out and I'm a mom.
So what you read aboutdifferent conditions and then
you adjust your well if you sawmy library.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
But I mean I actually do study and I and I and I
learn a lot from studying onpeople, but it's like, yeah, you
have to know.
I believe you have to know alot.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Have you seen a demand from students changes,
wanting something different thanwhen you started?
Yeah, like what?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
I think what happens for some students not all of
them is that they want to knowmore of the spiritual dimension,
like they might come in for thephysical.
But then they start to see like, oh, what's the philosophy,
what is all this ayurveda thatyou're talking about?
So sometimes they start toinquire about that and that
helps their yoga practice.
Yeah, it helped.
I mean it helps their life.
I don't know if it helps theiryoga practice, but it definitely
helps their life because, likeyoga is there to support life,
(26:38):
like when you're really in it.
It kind of makes you a littlebit I don't want to say more
agreeable, but it allows you toaccept things a little bit more.
Right, one of my favoriteteachers.
He's an ayurvedic doctor.
He accepts everything.
It's amazing.
He's just like oh, that's good,divine plan, divine plan,
divine plan.
He doesn't have any rifts inhis psyche because he just sees
(26:59):
whatever happens as what it'ssupposed to be.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
What's the biggest reward of being a yoga teacher?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Oh goodness.
Well, all the wonderful.
Honestly it's going to soundtrite, but all the wonderful
people I get actually get tomeet, all the different
relationships, I mean a lot ofthe people that we both know.
I met them through yoga.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I got to, you know, have a lot of people, meet other
people that I've met.
So we like have this wonderfulnetwork of wonderful human
beings.
Yoga is pretty portable, so Ican kind of do it anywhere.
Right, right, I can go on theroad and go and teach.
But rewarding is that like Ican grow old with this, I don't
ever have to stop.
Like I can be an old, cragglyyoga teacher in the front of the
room or sitting in a chair.
(27:37):
Probably at that point, I don'tknow, maybe I'll still be
moving, I will still be accepted, I will be considered.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's a huge plus.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
I will be considered wise by that point Right, I'll
be a sage of some sort, becauseI will have done it for a long
time, because I'm aiming to be avery happy, peaceful older
woman, so I'm hoping I will beable to help other people get
that great, that was going to bemy last question, but you
answered it your hopes anddreams for your future well,
(28:03):
that's some of them, but that'sone for this career, right so on
that note, this is well.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I learned a lot about yoga myself today.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Well, there you go.
Hopefully other people caught alittle something and I'm sorry
if I forgot anything.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
I know If I left anything out.
I don't think we did.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
They can always ask me ShockedyogaWoodstock at
gmailcom.
That's LaNita.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Okay, that's a wrap for today.
If you have a comment orquestion or would like us to
cover a certain job, please letus know.
Visit our website athowmuchcanimakeinfo.
We would love to hear from you.
And, on your way out, don'tforget to subscribe and share
this episode with anyone who iscurious about their next job.
See you next time.
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