Too often I hear from Yoga teachers who finish a retreat feeling exhausted and only just breaking even. Group dynamics, over-stepped boundaries, pricing snaffoos, over-giving: these can trip up newbie retreat organisers as well as more seasoned hosts.
I taught my first ever Yoga retreat in 2013. Since then retreats have been a fun part of my own business as well as an important component I work on with my clients.
As the world begins to open back up, I’ve put together a series of 3 common mistakes to avoid as you plan your next Yoga retreat.
In this series I’m sharing three of the common mistakes Yoga teachers make in hosting retreats. Be on the lookout for next two instalments.
Your Yoga Retreat is NOT Your Holiday!
I had a client a few years ago who shared with me that it took her months to recover after hosting a 2-week retreat in Japan.
She took a group of people overseas to a place she adores.
She taught them meditation, movement. They toured important and beautiful places.
My client thought it would be a ‘dream job’. Getting to spend time in her most favorite place in the world all while sharing it with others.
That’s not what happened.
Rather than having a break with friends, she returned home exhausted, emotionally drained, anxious and — perhaps the worst part — reluctant to return to her retreat location ever again.
Oh, and she lost money, too.
Often, yoga teachers choose their retreat destination because it is somewhere they’d like to visit for their own vacation.
If your intention is that retreats are a prosperity-generating part of your business it is critical to separate your holiday dreams from your business deliverables.
As an abundant Yoga teacher, you get to teach retreats AND take vacations.
They are not the same thing.
Teaching a Yoga retreat is not your way to having an all-expenses paid holiday. Have an all-expenses paid holiday because you have an abundant yoga business, generating prosperity from hosting wonderful retreats!
Remeber:
1. There is nothing ‘on holiday’ for you about leading a retreat.
2. If you are serious about your vocation as a Yoga teacher, you require to go on retreat as a participant at least once a year
You get to have your OWN coconuts!
Yes your retreat gets to be absolutely from the heart. Yes, you get to do it and be filled with passion and excitement about the idea. Yes, you get to do it because you know that your students would love to go somewhere gorgeous and spend a week with you.
But no, you do not get to propose that you’re going to teach a retreat because actually what you want to do is go to Hawaii for a week of hammocks and yoga and coconuts.
You get to have both of those things, the degree to which you merge them represents the degree to which you are making chaos in your life, struggle in your mental space and confusion in your nervous system.
When you take a stand for abundance, you get to teach a retreat such that you make a beautiful income, such that you can reinvest it in yourself and go on a holiday right.
Keep Your Business Retreat Separate from your Personal Retreat!
My Thailand Retreat is one of the greatest pleasures I have in business.
A week with a wonderful collection of Yoga teachers from all over the world.
Great conversation, insights, sharing, ah-ha’s. Amazing food. Gorgeous location. Deep sleep. Yoga. Meditation. New friendships. Afternoon bike rides through small villages.
It really is heaven.
AND it’s also work.
Seven days is fulltime work and it’s not just eight hours a day. You’re on. You’re on like 24 hours a day even when you’re asleep. You’re still there. If someone needs you, you still have to be there. You still have a duty of care for people. You’re still holding space. You’re still responsible for the energy container.
My job as the facilitator of my retreat is to run the program and address everyone’s concerns.
Make sure the special meals are kept separate for the person with a peanut allergy.
Check that the equipment is ready each day for class.
Rearrange the transfer for someone who has to leave early.
Organise someone to remove the snake from one of the guest’s suites (yes, that really happened).
So while I’m absolutely in love with teaching the Abundant Yoga Retreats every year, I know that by the end of the week I’ll be looking for rest and rejuvenation myself.
By the end of those seven days, I’m going to be looking forward to some time by myself, some body work, some refreshing time in a pool and probably a glass or two of wine.
That’s what I’m going to be looking forward to.
Good Planning will Ensure Your Retreats Fund Your Holidays
I remember a past client of mine who was shocked at the idea of actually making money on her Retreat.
Because she was so grateful to have a week at a luxurious destination in Spain, she figured she was happy to do it for free.
Mistake!
A well-planned, well-thought through retreat should be abundant for you while also being a fantastic, nourishing experience for your participants.
It is important to plan for both.
After looking at her retreat plans it was obvious there were a few problems.
· She wasn’t charging an additional fee for people wanting a room to themselves, thereby halving the income available to her as a result.
· She was ‘overstuffing’ the days, with too many inclusions that she was paying additionally for, rather than giving her participants the opportunity for free time by the pool, reading, going on hikes etc (all free for her AND delicious for her participants).
· She was paying an additional teacher to offer Yoga Nidra for her participants, believing that having more staff on hand would make the experience appear richer, despite being a talented Nidra facilitator herself.
Some simple tweaks and the retreat went from breaking even to being the income generator for her to take a week-long trip to Ibitha afterwards.
And the best part?
The participants didn’t even notice a difference. They had an incredible time, with their favourite teacher and lots of extra free time and fun activities.
In Summary:
As a Yoga teacher, the retreats you offer are work, not play.
Enjoyable work, for sure. But not a quasi-vacation for yourself.