Dear Homegrown Yogis,
A wise man once said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But is this adage always true? This past month has not only made me doubt these words but also has me betting against them.
I have always studied and taught one style of yoga, and to this day I love the philosophy and the physical practice of it. Baptiste Power Yoga was what made me fall in love with yoga and I have spent countless hours in study and practice of it. To show you just how much this style of yoga means to me… my daughter’s middle name is Baron after Baron Baptiste – the creator of Baptiste Yoga. A little crazy, right? =) This month I attended a Rocket Yoga teacher training (a style of yoga that branched off of Ashtanga Yoga) and since returning from it, my classes have shifted from a Baptiste flow to a Rocket flow. The reason isn’t because I stopped enjoying Baptiste Yoga; I still love to teach and practice it; the people attending classes were still challenged and engaged by it. There was absolutely nothing “broke” about it.
Similarly if you asked me last month about how both the Warner Robins and Perry studios were doing, I would say so amazingly well. I felt like we were in such a wonderful place with our teachers and schedule – classes were doing well and people were happy. And yet last week, we rolled out a brand new expanded schedule in Perry with new teachers, new class times and new class formats. Changing up something that works really well … a little crazy, right? =)
Maybe it is foolish to change things when they are succeeding. Maybe I’ll look back in a few months and my class numbers will have gone down because people liked Baptiste Yoga better than Rocket Yoga. And maybe our new class schedule in Perry will be a total bomb and we’ll lose money and we’ll have to cut classes back down. But if yoga has taught me anything, it has taught me that my growth as a human being depends on stirring things up. I can definitely exist by playing safe and doing what always seemed to work in the past but nothing changes or grows in doing so.
This month I invite you to come along in mixing things up even if, and especially if, you’ve been coasting along pretty smoothly. Sounds a little crazy (but a lot exciting), right? =)
With love,
Rachel