Doesn’t quite sound right? Well, the burnt out yoga teacher is more common than you think. One of the main problems is that not many within the community are prepared to speak openly about it.
Packed studios, crammed schedules and an excessive focus on high intensity yoga asana (the physical poses of yoga) are very much the picture of your average urban yoga environment in many modernized societies.
(Check out my blog post 5 Tools to Reduce The Effects of Stress Now)
Injuries and Tough Schedules
According to Yoganatomy (www.yoganatomy.com), experienced yoga teachers are the group of people who sustain the most injuries. This seems almost nonsensical. It has been suggested that part of the reason for this may be that teachers often demonstrate things while not being fully warmed up, as well as tending to demonstrate more on one side of the body, leading to imbalance. Whatever the reason, these figures indicate an unhealthy trend.
The intense focus on the physical aspect of yoga in the modern world has been known for a long time. It is not an issue in itself to focus on the physical aspect of yoga. This is the recommended way to begin the journey of yoga, as yoga asanas are considered the most basic form of yoga. From here we prepare the body and build the foundation, before we progress into more advanced work like Pranayama (breath work) and meditation practices.
(Check this article out on The Power of Breathing, for a reminder of, well, the power of breathing!)
Yet, one challenge appears to be in the delivery of yoga. What was originally an elaborate master-student system involving many activities apart from physical yoga, has turned into an exercise instructor day job. Today, as a teacher, you are instructing back-to-back classes, most, or all of them physical. This can result in energy and motivation starting to whither, and disappointment and disillusionment with the practice setting in. All of which may increase risk of burnout.
From my own experience I can only concur with the unfortunate picture I am seeing in the modern yoga world. As a physiotherapist of eleven years, and having already personally experienced the effects of unhealthy stress, I knew that teaching classes in this way would likely be too physically intense to be be able to keep up over a longer period of time. Having already been close to burnout in my job as a physiotherapist, I had no intention of repeating the pattern in another profession.
The Helping Professions
As more and more people gain teaching certificates with limited foundational training, the risk of ending up practicing in a way that is not sustainable goes up. I believe there is a lack of education about how to practice sustainably in this industry. As a yoga teacher you fall into the category of ‘the helping professions’. People working in the helping professions are at higher risk of job burnout simply because the ratio of who is giving and who is receiving is naturally skewed. This is not an issue in itself, yet it requires full awareness AND the ability to know how to recharge the batteries on a regular basis.
Honesty and Sustainability
This development in the modern yoga world is unfortunate for many reasons already stated. It creates a misleading picture that is effectively built on dishonesty. Dishonesty about how this practice can and should be carried out. Yoga teachers who experience burnout tend to stay quiet about it, because of the obvious paradox of this scenario.
It is completely ironic that the very teachers who pass on words of wisdom about balance, awareness and healthy training end up with the most injuries and loss of energy. And staying quiet about it only makes it appear more shameful. By being open about it, we help to highlight potential issues in the culture, and instead increase our collective awareness and ability to address these issues.
Yoga is a fantastic life and movement science (and a great way to manage stress and/or burnout). The whole point of it is to develop a healthy and aware Self, so it is paramount that it is delivered in a way that is healthy and sustainable. And if we are to do this, we must decide to do it with honesty. Otherwise we risk being part of misleading people, and this is not yoga.
Happy health,
Kirsten Louise