130: How To Make Six Figures Teaching Yoga with Brett Larkin

Namaste. It's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. This episode is brought to you by Uveda. Yuveta is a modernized ayurvedic supplement company that takes certain issues that we have, such as mood joints, immunity, digestion, and creates these custom little packets exactly for us, infusing ancient ayurvedic herbs with modern vitamins and minerals. I take the mood formula daily. It is great if you work a stressful job, had adrenal fatigue, ever suffer from anxiety or even depression, and it really heals you from a fundamental and holistic level. So if you want to try it out, head over to Uveda. Y-O-U-V-E-A.com, use the code Sahara and you'll receive 35% off your first order. And they now ship to almost every country globally. So check it out, if you live internationally, they may be shipping to your country too. And they just added India. Guys, I am so excited to have my dear friend Brett Larkin back on the High Self podcast. And this time we're going to be talking about how to make a business teaching yoga. So a lot of people, myself included, have believed in the past that you can't be abundant and teach yoga. It's almost like one or the other, you either choose a lifestyle that creates money or you, you do something like teach yoga, but why not have both? So this episode is all about how you can create a six figure business teaching yoga.

A multiple six figure or a seven.

Figure business if you want teaching yoga. And we teach you how, we talk about the different avenues that you could teach yoga.

It's not just going to a studio.

Though, that's a good place, place that you can start, but creating YouTube videos, creating online programs, creating retreats, doing corporate wellness events, all sorts of things that you can do teaching yoga. So I'm really excited to have Brett on this podcast because she is someone who's killing it in this space. She's the founder of Uplifted Yoga, an online yoga and meditation community empowering students to personalize their practice and ignite their best life on and off the mat. She's instructed at top studios, companies like Google and Pinterest, and leads the world's most interactive online yoga teacher training program. She teaches to a social media following of over 300,000 people and her content on YouTube is streamed for 3 million users each month. And we are going to be offering a special hundred dollar off tuition off her online yoga teacher training. So you will be able to get not only $100 off, but I'm also throwing in my E your mind body type E course for free which is a $285 program. So you are getting $100 off plus.

My eat right for your mind body type program free.

I'm actually one of the guest teachers in her online yoga teacher training. I teach the Ayurveda module and it is incredible. It's very interactive. She has you do make videos and take pictures of yourself doing the yoga poses all online so you're getting that same feel the interactive touch and the feedback as you would in a as an in person yoga teacher training. But let's say you live somewhere there's not a good yog studio around where you don't really resonate with the kind of yoga that is being taught in your neighborhood. Or maybe you want to learn how to create YouTube videos and build a massive following teaching yoga. Well that's what Brett does and she actually teaches you all about the yoga business and the mastery of creating this entire empire truly. But if you want to make an empire or not, she teaches you how to bring yoga to the online space and there's no other yoga teacher training doing that, which is why I thought it was really interesting.

I want to have her back on.

The podcast to talk about it. So again head over to the link in my show notes to sign up.

For her online teacher training.

She also has a continuing education program which is if you've already done a yoga teacher training but you want to bump up your hours to get to that next level, she has a bridge program that you can do as well. So again mention Sahara at registration or click the link in my show notes and you will be able to get a hundred dollars off tuition plus my eat right for your mind body type program for free. I also want to share with you that I am launching my brand new Abundance Mindset masterclass. This is for you. If you are interested in changing your relationship around money, if you want to be abundant, if you want to break past your blocks that are holding you back so you can live a life of freedom, so you can have the time to do what it is that fills up your cup. You don't have to worry about bills and finances and stress anymore that you can surpass that. And more importantly you can serve the world and help others and be so generous and you know, tip that person 50% and sponsor a child in another country like I do in the Cambodian children's fund and travel the world and do those things. So we talk all about shifting your relationship with abundance and money. And this is actually a really good thing to do with her teacher training as well. Because as you learn and you become certified in yoga or if you go to iin, you can become a health coach. Head to my website, iamsaharrose.com I have a link that you can get $500 off to become a health coach. On my website, I have a link you can become an Ayurvedic practitioner and get a thousand dollars off. So I have all of these incredible avenues that you can take to change your career and you can be doing this stuff, yoga, health coaching, Ayurveda, full time, but you still have to change your mindset around money. Otherwise you're going to do the teacher training, you're going to do this, you're going to do that, you're going to end up stuck in square one. So we have to be shifting the mindset as we gain the credentials. They have to go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. So I'm really honored and really excited to be bringing this conversation to you with abundance, with yoga, with all of these things and saying that it doesn't have to be one or the other. You don't have to be broke or be spiritual. You can be abundant and be spiritual and imagine how you can serve, imagine.

How you can help people.

Imagine someone's gonna chop down a rainforest. You're like, hold up, I'm gonna buy that rainforest. Like, imagine that. And you don't have to just imagine it. You can embody it and people are doing it. People are making a thriving income, saving the planet while doing what they love. So wrap your head around that because it's the truth and it is coming for you. So head over to the Show Notes as well, or my website, iamsaharose.com, the abundance mindset masterclass. You can also learn about health coaching, Ayurveda, and then also head over to the Show Notes and you'll see all about becoming a yoga teacher with Brett Larkin. I can guarantee you her teacher training is going to change your life. I'm so excited to have her share her wisdom with us all about creating a thriving business teaching yoga. And I know it's going to totally blow open that third eye chakra of yours. So without further ado, let's welcome Brett Larkin to the Highest Self Podcast.

Welcome Brett to the Highest Self podcast. It's so great to have you Back.

Thanks. I'm so glad to be back. Yay.

Well, the first question I would love to ask you again is, what makes.

You your highest self?

Yoga and meditation. I know it's such a cliche answer, but honestly, without my morning yoga practice and my med meditation practice, I don't know where I would be right now, especially with having a small child and my dad's quite ill right now. It's my everything. I love yoga so much. That's my answer.

So good. And it's so great that you get to teach and truly live what you love the most.

It's such a blessing. I mean, I'm sure you feel the same way, but it's literally like you pinch yourself sometimes at just how amazing it is to be able to make what you love, your life's work, and make great money doing it and impact so many people. And I know you're impacting so many people through your books and your podcast, and I feel blessed every single day.

Yes. And I mean, it's not that you fell into this, it's that you created this. And that's what I really want to talk with you more about, because you really created this incredible, like, yoga empire, massive YouTube following, online yoga retreats. You taught in person retreats and in person classes for years and have tackled yoga on so many levels, but kept it authentic and true. And this is like such an accomplishment. So I just want to acknowledge you for a moment there and then ask you how you did this.

Well, I'm someone who never thought I could make a full time living teaching yoga. This was just a belief that I had that was so deep. I probably, like many of your listeners, worked a corporate job. I mean, I worked a corporate job for years and at one point I loved that corporate job. I was using my movement skills and some of my dance background. I used to make movement and dance games for Ubisoft, which is one of the largest video game companies in the world. And it felt very aligned. But then things shifted in my career and I didn't have that passion and I was so insanely obsessed with yoga. And I always thought, well, oh my gosh, it would be so amazing if I could be a yoga teacher. But yoga teachers are poor. Yoga teachers are lazy. Yoga teachers are hippies. Yoga teachers have no money. I had all these stories really firmly held thought patterns or beliefs or what we'd call in the yogic tradition, samskaras, like, really deeply ingrained ideas about what being a yoga teacher meant. I had to do a lot of inner Work to shift that perspective, number one. And then two, I had to hustle and work really hard and get out of my comfort zone. And that's a big message I want to share with your listeners. I think, because yoga is something that is relaxing, and our goal in yoga is to shift into parasympathetic nervous system and sort of unplug and de stress. It doesn't mean that when you're building a yoga business, you get to be in Shavasana all day, you have to hustle, and you have to push yourself a little bit. I like to tell people who come to my masterminds and my trainings. Right. Like, if you are not a little bit uncomfortable in your life or your business right now, pushing yourself a little bit, you're not moving forward towards your life's work. Right. That discomfort and fear, that's the same energetic vibration as excitement. Right. And momentum, if you just shift your perspective. So to answer your question, I worked night and weekends building my YouTube channel once I figured out that YouTube was something I really wanted to build. At the time of recording this podcast, I just hit 200,000 subscribers, which completely blows my mind because I recorded my first video. Well, we can get into that story later, but basically with a camera that I stole from my office, and I had no idea what I was doing. And I think bottom line is, just because it's yoga or just because you're in the wellness or healing field, it doesn't mean that there's not that hustle and discomfort to build your business. Does that make sense?

Totally. Yes, absolutely. And I think that we need to get to that level of, like, okay, I'm willing to do anything for this and that drive. And when you take one little step forward, you maybe you started with 10 subscribers, 100 subscribers, just that little bit of feedback was enough to continue to propel you.

Yeah. That positive feedback loop of, you know, more subscribers, more views is great, but I think for someone listening to this, you also really need to connect to what your inner mission is. Right. Because at the beginning, you might not get a lot of feedback. Right. It might be crickets. At the start, it definitely was for me. I kind of stumbled my way, way through all this. And when we talk about it, you know, being hard or, you know, gaining that momentum, I always like to just share that I wasn't like a YouTube genius. I didn't know anything more than anyone. I just had a higher pain threshold for dealing with discomfort. Right. And moving forward, despite fear, despite technical problem and all that kind of thing. So getting in touch with your deep why and what success looks like for you is really important, especially at the beginning when, as you said, you are going to get that feedback and things are going to start to snowball and all these doors and opportunities that you couldn't even imagine are going to open. I mean, I never thought I'd have an online teacher training. My community told me they wanted it. That's something I never would have dreamed of that people would have wanted or been interested in. And now I've graduated hundreds of people. So getting into action and getting that feedback from the community is going to snowball. But at the beginning, you need to be connected to your deep why, which if you're into yoga, is probably that you've had the experience of yoga changing your life. So you want to share that with others.

Absolutely, yes. And it really is such an honor and privilege to get through something personally and find those tools and then be able to share those tools with someone else. I really think there's no other place form of fulfillment like that.

Yeah. And people should know that. It was a very slow journey, you know, to pick up on the story. Like as I said, I was working nights, I was working weekends. I had a full time job for maybe two years while I was sort of hustling on the side to build the online community. I was teaching in studios all over the city while having a full time job. I think anytime you're making a transition, there's unfortunately a little bit of a period of imbalance that has to happen. And I know you've talked about this, Sahara, like when you were writing your idiot's guide to Ayurveda, like you were staying up all night, you were not in balance. Right. But that book propelled so much of the amazing career you have now. So it's like sometimes you have to step on the gas pedal a little harder than you'd like to for short periods in order to kind of get where you need to go. And I think it's important we talk openly and honestly about that because otherwise people are like, I don't feel imbalanced, I feel stressed and exhausted. And it's like, yeah, so did I for a period while I was getting this started. But then it evens out. That was your experience too, right? With writing that book?

Oh my God, for sure. I would be up to like three in the morning every night. I would like drink coffee at midnight just to stay up. And I'm like, oh my God, this is so not Ayurvedic. But I did it for two months and got the book done and then got back to my life. And I'm so grateful for that time. And, you know, the more and more I sink into it, I believe in seasons more than balance. I feel like balance makes us feel like everything needs to be in place all the time. Whereas seasons allow us to say, right now I'm just in a place of rest and I'm not really doing as much, and you're in a place of motherhood right now. And then other times you're in a place of pushing that gas pedal. But the world is always moving in seasons.

My favorite mentor, one of them, she has this thing where she talks about how work life balance is for people who don't love their life's work. For me, definitely I need to go offline and shut down the business on weekends more than I do. My husband would definitely tell you that. But that work life balance thing, for me, that's actually not really a goal. Right. Like, my goal is to just be so fully engrossed in my passions. And, you know, those passions are generating income, which I know we want to talk about, like some concrete business strategies and things we want to share with your listeners. And I'm so happy doing it. Right. It's like, same thing. When people tell me they don't like doing sales, it's like, well, if you love what you're selling, you're just selling love. It's that simple. So there's nothing skeezy about it for sure.

Yeah. No. I went to this amazing conference and they put sales is giving someone what they need but may not want. For example, you know, maybe they don't want to spend that extra money on the organic food or to buy the essential oils or to do whatever it is that would actually make their lives better. But once they do it, they feel really happy about it and they wonder why they didn't do it earlier. Of course, this is aligned sales, which anything related to yoga, health and wellness industry is aligned. We're not telling you to sell anything to anyone. But a lot of people feel shame charging for their practices. And I want to talk about. Because a lot of people listening, they feel like they're not ready. They feel like they're not an expert in something yet, and who am I to teach yoga?

So imposter syndrome, right?

So how do you get over that.

Feeling of, I'm not a yogi, I don't have a good practice, I'm not flexible enough, I'm too old. That keep people from really signing up for teacher trainings.

Well, the first big thing I think people need to realize in terms of the physical practice I have, people come to me and they say, well, my heels don't touch the ground when I do Down Dog, or I don't know how to do sirsasana headstand. So I could never be a yoga teacher. Some people have the block with the physical, and to them, I want to say being an amazing yoga teacher is not about being an incredible athlete. Not at all. It's about cueing. It's about cueing being able to successfully talk people into posture safely. It's about cueing and it's about compassion, right? Creating a safe space, a safe atmosphere for everyone. And then other people, their block is less about the physical and it's more like, why would anyone want to hear what I have to say type of voice. And I had that voice big time until I got connected with a teacher and mentor who helped shake it out of me. And now I'm dedicated to shaking it out of everyone I come in contact with, whether they're in my programs or in the street. I don't care, because your voice matters. If you're listening to this the way that you're going to teach yoga, you're unique. You are a unique DNA specimen here on our planet. And how you say something and teach something is going to be completely different from how I teach it or someone else teaches it. And I think we've all had the experience where we've been in a class and a certain teacher has said something in a certain way, right? Maybe we've heard we've been cued how to get into Warrior 2amillion times or how to take a deep breath a million times. But one day it comes out of one teacher in a particular way, in a particular moment, and you're like, whoa, I just had an insight, right? So you're going to be able to do that for someone else just because you're unique. There's no one like you. And then the other thing I really want to share about this is a lot of times that thing that you think is preventing you from being like a yogi, like, maybe you are overweight, or you secretly eat junk food, or you're obsessed with, like, tech and you're kind of a nerd. That was like me, or you do work a corporate job, or you are an accountant or you are a lawyer. My big message there is whatever you think that block is, that's sort of preventing you from being your full yogi. Self. That is actually the unique thing that you need to blend and fuse with yoga. It's actually your superpower, it's actually your strength that's going to make you so incredibly unique. For example, people who maybe have physical limitations in the postures or they've been through a terrible accident and that's blocking them. I'm like, no, like you bringing your knowledge of your injury, your accident, and fusing that with the teachings to help other people in that situation, or just, you know, have that come through you in a new way is your superpower. For me, you know, I kind of felt like I wasn't spiritual enough or yogi enough because, you know, I really love technology. I'm nerdy. I also really like money. Right. I wanted to make good money and I felt so ashamed of all those things. And actually fusing technology and yoga and my business savvy has been my superpower. It's what's given me so much strength and this opportunity to train teachers and help millions of more people than I ever could have touched in a physical yoga class. So it's often like our shadow selves, our darkest sides, our darkest blocks that are actually that epiphany, if that makes sense. Like that super strength that you need to actually incorporate into the yoga.

So true.

And it goes with everything in life.

I was actually just saying this on another interview I was on earlier, but my shame point was I'm too young to teach Ayurveda. I'm not an old Indian male doctor who's gonna listen to me. And that's actually why I have the people who are listening to this podcast right now. They like that I'm not a 60 year old man who has no idea what it's like to live in today's world. That is actually my strength and it was the thing that I thought people.

Would hate me for 100%. If someone's listening to this and you feel called the first, like one of the first slides in my online teacher training is this amazing slide and it's called you are. This slide just says you are a healer. If you identify as a healer and you're interested and you love yoga, these teachings, these ancient teachings want to come through you in a new, fresh way. I just want to empower as many people to be able to have that experience and then pursue this dream if that's what they're looking for. And then honestly also to have financial success with it. Because a lot of in person yoga teacher trainings are wonderful and I've done a Lot of them. And I also run my own in person trainings, of course, and it's fantastic. But one thing about the online format that I love is I'm able to give a lot more information about the business side. Right, like how social media works with your growing yoga business, how to do YouTube, if that's something you want, how to record videos of yourself. It's actually a requirement in my online teacher training that everyone records a video of themselves for their final productum and they have to record pictures of themselves in every single yoga pose that's in our manual, which is like encyclopedia level thick. And a lot of people have discomfort with that. They're like, oh, I don't want to. And it's again, so we can give them feedback and discuss things on live calls and look at alignment and anatomy together. But their resistance. I'm like, well, if you go out there and have a yoga business, you're going to have to take pictures of yourself. So this is just, it's just like prepping you for what's to come, if that makes sense. And I'm really wanting to empower people with the business side of things because the business side was sort of like shameful and never talked about in my in person training when I originally trained. It was a great training, but no one talked about money, no one talked about how to make a career. It was all just kind of ignored.

Oh, for sure. And I think that that's what keeps so many people from like diving into more alternative careers because they're afraid that I'm not going to be able to afford the lifestyle that I want to live and, you know, eat organic food and go on trips, etc. So they end up not doing that thing that they want to do. And really it's because they feel like some people have created the story. You can't charge money for yoga, you can't charge money healing. Well, you know, we live in this.

World where things cost money and just.

Like we pay money for our homes and our taxes and all of these things and we don't question it. People also would love to pay money to come to you for your healing. So this is like a major block I've talked about a lot on the podcast, but a major, major healing that I think we're all going through right now and especially the spiritual and yoga community.

I know. And it's such a disservice to not talk openly about money, I think because like, just as you said then, those people don't pursue their dreams right then we have less healers, less conscious businesses. And one thing that I have a lot of people who take the online teacher training with me who've actually done an in person training and they can take the training for a big discount. And one of the things, they're all coming to retake their 200 hour online and I try to make it really affordable and accessible to them, but it's usually because they were disappointed in their first 200 hour. The 200 hour didn't give them this empowerment mindset like you should be taking action and going out and teaching. Like, it gave them maybe a lot of information, but it didn't really give them the confidence piece and it didn't give them the business piece. So in addition to all the information, because there's so much amazing ancient teachings that I pass through. But in addition to that, I want you to take action. I want you to feel empowered. I want you to like, for my students, it's like your success is my success. So I want my students to like exceed and surpass me in like what, what they're doing. That's just something that I feel is so important and missing totally.

And I'd love to talk about just.

The various ways that people can teach yoga. We've kind of brushed upon them, but most people think, oh, a yoga teacher just teach at a yoga studio. So can you share with us kind of different avenues that people can now like monetize their yoga business?

Oh, I would love to. I was like, let's start a list. So same for me, right? Your first vision of teaching yoga is going to be in a studio, probably because that's the place that you've experienced yoga. It makes perfect sense. But teaching in studios is just the tip of the iceberg when you're beginning to explore yoga. Something I tell my students, and I'm happy to share with your listeners, is they want to explore corporates. Right? Teaching yoga in a corporate setting, privates, teaching yoga one on one and selling packages of that. I also really focus on myofascial release, which is a huge passion of mine since I also went to massage school and used to do bodywork. There's ways that you can make a yoga private, incredibly high touch, literally high touch, and charge quite a lot for it because it's sort of like a fusion of yoga and massage. So there's corporates, there's privates, there's retreats, there's workshops at studios. Those should usually be like a 60, 40 split between you and the studio, which is a lot higher than you'd make for a typical class. So that's a great option. Festivals, right? Not a big moneymaker, but a great way to just get your name out there and start connecting with folks. We haven't even started now, so that's five that I just counted right there. We haven't yet talked about online, right? So online courses, online programs, YouTube videos, and ad revenue from that, it's never been a better time to actually be pursuing all this. I just got contacted by Facebook for their new program where they want to pay for videos on Facebook now. So online just really enables you to diversify your income, which I think is really important. I have a mobile app, right. I have a private membership community called Uplifted Yoga, where it's sort of just people who really resonate with this message of, like, getting on your mat every day and being completely obsessed with yoga. I've just kind of created a community around that, and I have subscription revenue from the people who are in that community. And there's an app that goes with it. Ebooks, training plans and guides about what classes to do in what order. That's something else that, you know, people in my membership get. And podcasts, right? I mean, at the beginning, your podcast might not make money, but it's a great way to connect with with new folks and eventually get sponsorships. And above all, above anything else, my golden rule is just collect people's email addresses because you want to be able to get in touch with your tribe to tell them that you're hosting an amazing retreat, that you're doing a really cool workshop, that you have a new online course to sell. So really cultivating a relationship with your true tribe, like, the people who resonate with you, is important, and it's definitely great to do that on social media. I know you've, like, you're so successful, and I love how your Instagram is just blown up. And it's like one of my favorite accounts to follow Sahara. But I think you'd agree with me that it's not enough just to be kind of big on social media. You want a direct connection to your. I don't really like the word fans and followers, so I'm gonna say like community or fellow tribes people. Right. And the best way to do that is to have their email address. So I'm a big fan of marketing to make sure that you can stay connected to folks in that way, whether it's a weekly newsletter or giving a free gift or something like that. I think that's something that yoga teachers just tend to be uncomfortable with and it's the backbone of what's going to be a strong business for you regardless of which option I outlined you want to pursue.

So very true.

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You know, so many people think if you just have a big Instagram following you're gonna be successful, but it's where do you take them? You cultivate the following so you can take them somewhere else. And I think that a lot of people, they start posting up the yoga pictures, but they're just missing that element of having their own classes available or something like that to make it into a business. So a lot of people listening, they're probably already posting yoga pictures of themselves, but they just need to figure out how they're going to turn this into like their full time gig.

Now they need to drive people to some sort of like website or offer or offering where they can enter the email. Because what I tell my students is Instagram could shut down tomorrow or change its algorithm tomorrow or your account could get hacked. Happened to another big mentor of mine and all of a sudden all those followers, all those relationships are just gone. So even just for basic insurance purposes, I would say get people's email addresses as much as you can so that you can really be connected with them and not be reliant on Facebook or Instagram or even YouTube for dialoguing with your audience and sharing with them for sure.

So I'd love to talk about what are some kind of tips that you have for yoga teachers out there to build their online following specifically for yoga.

I think yoga videos are awesome. I mean, obviously, but even in my own personal practice, I do go to a studio occasionally for the community feel and also just to get out of my house. But I think practicing yoga at home is so powerful. So if you can empower someone to be able to practice at home by creating a video. And it's literally never been easier to create a video because we have phones and cameras like they're merged. Right. It's pretty easy. I would say think of developing some sort of video offering. I have a teacher that I'm close to and he's very focused on local. Right. And he has an incredible retreat business. He's not so interested in an online platform per se, or doing something to the extent that I am. But I still encouraged him and he developed sort of a travel sequence, like a travel yoga sequence so that people who come to his in person classes, he lets them know like, hey, I have this little travel sequence. So like if you're not able to come to the studio and practice with me, you can get it on my website. So just through that one video, he creating community, right? And getting in touch with people and able to stay in touch with them, giving them a reason to stay in touch. And that's such like a beautiful example, I think. So it's like you don't need a thousand videos on YouTube like I have or a video with 2 million views. You can just use video very simply to enhance a local offering, if that makes sense.

Totally, yes. There's so many avenues for it and it just gives you the option because when you are working, you know, hour to dollar, you're limited. You know, you can only have so many hours in the day. So a certain amount of money you can make in the day. But when you have something that's pre recorded, that's automated, that people are continuing to buy, your teachings not only get to help more people, they get to be more affordable because it's not your time and you can go on to make new content and travel and do whatever it is that you want to continue to do. I do recommend continuing to spend that time on your business. But a lot of yoga teachers get so burnt out. Especially I see them here la because they're driving all over the city, teaching yoga, teaching yoga, teaching yoga when one video could have gotten all of that and more.

Yeah, completely. And I think it's really important. And this is a big tip, I think get clear on what success looks like for you in yoga. Because I think what happens is a lot of people just have a very vague notion of what success in yoga looks like. And it looks something like teaching the prime slot at some studio that they went to and just magically making six figures or something like that. Right? And that is not specific enough. First of all, the universe can't give you what you want unless you're super, super, super specific. A B, success looks so different for so many different people, right? So for some people teaching in studios, right. And having large public classes, that's their definition of success. And that's awesome. If you do some journaling work, get really clear on that. For someone else, a definition of success might mean leading two really intimate high ticket, maybe high price retreats a year for women that each only have six people. That's it, right? Success for someone else might mean teaching at a yoga festival in front of thousands. If that's your definition of success, I'm a failure because I've never done that. This is just. I'm trying to show. Get clear on what you want because. Because for me I sort of looked and I saw, wow. The traditional. Because I taught, I was that person too. Right? Between my corporate job and then leaving after I left, still, oh my gosh. At this little. You're gonna laugh, Sahara, it was like a little electric bike and I would bike it all over, right? Like teaching in a million different places. And I just knew I Was like, I want to have a family. I don't want to travel. I'm not someone who enjoys travel. I know that's really weird, but, like.

I feel the same way. I actually just said that recently. I've traveled. I traveled so much in my life. I'm like, I honestly don't want to travel. I love being at home.

I love routine. I love routine. I love practicing in the yoga studio I've built in the back of my house now that's also a film studio. Every morning. At the same time, I just love being at home. And especially now that I'm a mother. I mean, it's just. I feel so blessed to be at home with my son. Obviously, I still have help because I'm working a lot, but I don't have to commute or leave. And I just got really clear that that was my new goal, right? So I started suddenly investing a lot more time and energy in my YouTube channel than I did with sort of the studio circuit, because I got clear on what success looked like for me. So that's something I just really encourage people to think about. Because also, you're going to be so mean to yourself all the time if you're not clear on that. Because you'll just. Because I could be like, well, I've never taught at. I've never headlined Wanderlust, so I'm not successful, right? Like, I could be. I could say that to myself. So it's so important to come back to, like, no, this. I do this. Why it fits me and my lifestyle and the unique way and modality that I want to share, sort of fusing yoga and tech and all this stuff. So if you're listening, get clear on what success actually means. Be realistic and then journal about it, talk about it, affirmations about it, all the good stuff that you know, if you're a listener of Highest Self podcast.

Yes. And also just to know that you didn't know the end goal before you started the teacher training. I'm sure people are like, oh, my God, I don't really know what I even really want. It's like you learn what you want from doing what you don't want. You learned. You didn't like to teach at all these studios and traveling because you tried that and it didn't work out, but you started to take action.

100%. Second slide, that intro. Intro. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. Because you and I are just so aligned. Like, the second slide is take action, right? It's all about Taking action. Like, I think I said this at the beginning of the show, right? If you're not doing something that makes you a little bit uncomfortable, I would really encourage you to get out there and put yourself out there. Because just like Sahara said, it's only by taking action and sort of, like, blundering your way. I mean, blundering has a negative connotation, but it's like. It's just like you said, it's only through direct action and experience that we learn what we like and we don't. Like. Like, I have people in my trainings and masterminds, and they just want to talk and hash out, like, well, should I do this or should I do that or should I do this? And it's very, like, heady and, you know, to them. Or if you, like, relate to that, just pick something and do it. Because right away you'll figure out, like, this is working, I want more of this, or, like, I don't want this. And it'll just. It's so much more efficient to get into action. Even if it's the wrong action, you then find out right than it is to just sit and, like, wish that you could figure it out or try to intellectualize your way out of it. Every reason you have right now for not doing whatever ideas you have, it's excuses. It's excuses holding you back. So just get into action around whatever it is you think you might be interested in. And then you're going to connect with someone and write a blog post for someone, and they're going to introduce you to someone else. And then all of a sudden, there's going to be enough people watching your YouTube videos that you can create an awesome Facebook group around it, and then maybe a paid thing around it. And then all of a sudden, these people are telling you they want this kind of training plan. They want more beginner videos, they want more Kundalini videos. They want a teacher training that they can take full online. And you're like, whoa, okay, I got a bunch of stuff to do. I think a lot of people, when they look at my business now, they're like, how did you mastermind all this? And I'm just like, I didn't mastermind any of it. I just kept getting into action, kept moving forward despite my fears, kept believing that the way I talked about yoga mattered to someone and just kept moving forward.

So many yeses. And I totally, totally resonate with everything you're saying. And another thing that hit me, and it was actually recently when I was defining My own defin definition of success. I was doing some like, local news TV stuff and you have to get up super early in the morning and you have to have your hair done and bring all this food and set it up. And then I realized, like, this is so not what my definition of success is for me. I want to wake up and not have to put on makeup and be able to like stay at home. And, you know, that's why I love podcasting or, you know, have one day where I shoot out all my video content and then just kind of roll that out for the next month. That to me is the ultimate sense of freedom. Where some people may love getting up super early and putting makeup and, you know, or going to a bunch of studios, but I would have only known that if I had actually tried it and seen it wasn't for me.

And that's such a big thing for people to know too, is like, your definition of success changes. I think people often feel like a failure if they're like, oh, you know, my dream was to do XYZ or to, you know, teach in this format. And, you know, I failed. It's like you can revise your def. In fact, if you're not revising your definition of success, I'd say like every.

Couple months you're like, I want to be a ballerina. Still.

This isn't a static thing, right? Everything is moving and in flow like yoga teaches us. Nothing is permanent. Everything is changing, right? So your definition of success will change over time and being accepting and open to that is part of the practice.

So true. Now I want to talk about this specific way of teaching yoga which I think is going to be a huge business opportunity for people, and that's in corporate settings like doing wellness days at different businesses. And I know these corporations have the budget. So what advice do you have for people maybe who already are working in a corporate job, but they can come in with a yoga teacher wellness angle.

Such a great question. It makes me think of this wonderful woman who was in one of my most recent masterminds and she basically had the opportunity to teach yoga at work, but she felt so ashamed and that people would judge her or wouldn't take her seriously at her job if she did it. And I'm happy to report back that I worked with her and she got into super aligned action and she now teaches at her work and it's opened up all these doors for her. All these co workers now are connecting with her. People just think she's the coolest, basically. So Again, so many fears are just in our head. But to go back, which I think was really your question, for people who want to teach corporates, I would suggest targeting the HR director of some of these companies. That's kind of the person you're going to want, who's going to ultimately be the decision maker. I would definitely suggest maybe offering like a sample class. Right. Again, we definitely don't want you not charging for your work, but at the beginning, sometimes it makes sense to offer a free 30 minute demo or offer to come in and give a free class if you think there is a future business relationship there. Another thing that I'm really going to encourage people to do and I think people are going to like gasp, but is work your personal connection, right? Work your personal connections. Again, I think because yogis, we think it's like dirty or skeezy to kind of like ask someone we know to help us out. I mean, you've got to get rid of that mindset right away, right? Like everyone wants to help you manifest your dreams. And there's nothing wrong with, you know, most things in life, most deals, most even in big corporations, like, it's usually like someone knows someone, right? Like that. That's just a lot of how the world works. Is it fair? No. Do I agree with it? I don't know, but I just know that's reality. And so if you know someone who works at a company who could vouch for you, right? Or maybe just say like, hey, could you email me to the HR director? Having someone from within the company kind of intro you or just like get you connected to the right person, because that can be the hardest part is invaluable. And I think a lot of people feel weird about asking for that. And I did too at the beginning. And then again, just like bulldozing your fears, you do it, you get over it and all these amazing doors open. Like, if I hadn't been comfortable doing that, I never would have got to teach at Google, which was like probably one of the coolest experiences ever. And I did that for months and months and months and it was all through a personal connection that I sort of leveraged. So I think people just knowing that, like, that's okay, that's how this works, right? It's okay.

Of course. And I think we've had a guest on the podcast who speaks specifically on like networking and meeting influential people. And he wrote a book on this and he says it's always, always, always through friendship. And instead and not like become friends with someone to get something out of them. But, like, by genuinely showing up and being a friend to people, they want.

To help you back.

It's just the natural, like, law of reciprocity. And think about all of the people we already know.

It's like you.

Every person has a business, a yoga business ready for them, waiting if they just step up to the call, just from the personal connections they have 100%.

And that's where they need to get clear. Like, if you're listening, get clear that you. You have something to share, right? You've got to own it. And I'm like the biggest believer. And fake it till you make it, right? Because if you ask the personal connection, you're like, well, I've kind of started doing a training and I've never taught anyone before and I'm really sorry to ask, but I'm wondering if you'd like, you know, like. No. Right. You need to sort of, like, fake that inner confidence or. And if you don't feel that confidence, like, get connected with a mentor or a program who's going to, like, lift you up and get you there, whether it's me or someone else else, because you need to be energetically aligned with what you're asking for. And when you are, all those personal connections and friends are going to feel that, even if it's through email, you can feel stuff through email. I firmly believe that. And things are going to happen for you.

So very true. And I also want to talk about. I see a lot of yogis, they do these challenges and they take pictures of themselves doing all these poses and they team up. Can you explain with us, kind of like, why this is done and how this helps grow your business?

I sure can. And the challenge will be over probably by the time this podcast airs, but I'm doing a really big Instagram challenge starting very, very soon. How this works is it's basically just a network effect, right? In challenges, how it works is if people partaking in the challenge, they're supposed to follow you on Instagram. And also the other co hosts, which are usually other yogis or yogi teachers, and then they're also supposed to follow the sponsors. And it's just a natural, organic marketing effort, right? Like, you get introduced to so and so's audience, right, because you guys are hosting a challenge together. It's very similar to doing YouTube collaborations, right, where I film a video with another big YouTuber and they get introduced to my audience and, you know, vice versa. So that's really what that's about. So, again, if you're looking to build your social media following, I think challenges are great. Partaking in challenges is great. But just know, like, why are you doing this? Right. If you're just doing it for fun, that's awesome. But if you're doing it sort of with your business hat on, I think you want to have an offering or again, an offer, something where you're taking people to your website, maybe collecting that email attached to the challenge or what you're doing so it makes sense for your business. Does that answer the question for sure?

Yes. Yeah. Because I see people do them and I really think that that's why a lot of yogis grow really big on Instagram, because there's so much sharing of each other's lists, which is a really great thing and honestly something I wish people in other industries would do more of. That's the only way you can really grow. It's, again, it comes down to friendship. And I think a lot of people have this like, weird fear of like, oh, well, if I share other people, they're going to like, unfollow me and like, like this person more than me. But no, when you come together with other aligned people, it's just the more the merrier and that person finds more people who are similar to you and comes even closer to your tribe 100%.

I mean, I've done some awesome collaborations with big other yoga youtubers who are I for sure could see as my competition, quote unquote. And that's just a mindset that I don't adhere to anymore. Like I've just killed that thought pattern because it's ridiculous. It's not true. Right. When we collaborate and come together, it's like they get exposed to my audience. If my audience resonates with them, that's great. I don't like, my goal isn't to be like my students only teacher ever. That's insane. People naturally grow and develop and need different teachers at different times. And then if their audience resonates with me, I mean, that's a huge win. So a lot of this is mindset work. And again, yoga is really helpful. Yoga and meditation is really helpful at getting you aware of the fact that you're not your thoughts. And if you need help doing that again, get a mentor, get in a program. My uplifted community is awesome and there's so many awesome offerings, whether it's online or in person. But mindset work is huge.

So very true. So do you think it's possible for a yoga teacher to comfortably make Six figures, just teaching yoga.

Definitely, definitely. If they have the mindset that they are open to that. Because I know that sounds crazy, I know that sounds crazy, but if you don't believe it's possible, you're definitely never going to make that income. Does that make sense? Right?

For sure.

So I do a lot of work on my. Not just my mindset, but my money mindset, affirmations, journaling, revenue projections, all sorts of things. So if you really believe it's possible, which again and again, the best thing you can do if you're like on the fence is get close to someone who's done it. Right? So it's like if you want to be an ayurvedic practitioner, but you don't know anyone who's ever done it, it's like, get close to Sahara, like, get in one of her programs or like locally find someone. Because once you're like connected, plugged into that tribe, it kind of like makes all your excuses have to die quick deaths because you have like physical proof in front of you or virtual proof like that. It's possible, right?

So we're here telling you right now, you can be an ayurvedic teacher or yoga teacher and make multip six figures.

Multiple six figures, and multiple seven figures too. 100%. So A, you have to have your mindset set up and then B, Right. You have to do the work and you have to be willing to get uncomfortable. Most people aren't willing to deal with discomfort and do things that are scary. I mean, on my podcast, it's like every expert that I talk to, they all tell me about this moment that was so scary. I mean, a woman I had on recently, she invested 8, $85,000 in an event that she didn't know if it would like.

Was it Jen Sincero?

No, it wasn't Jen Sincero, but I know her book is great. By the way, she did $80,000 in coaching. This person spent $85,000 putting on an event. Okay, that and I think she made like $15,000 in ticket sales. And it was kind of like on her to. To offer something at the event. And she said that was terrifying. And every person I've talked to has that moment. It's so scary. So just know it's normal. I'm not saying do it at that scale starting out, but if you're someone who doesn't deal with uncertainty and discomfort very well, you're going to want to work on that. And the best news is, Woohoo. Yoga is designed to Help you with that. Whether it's pursuing a teacher training or getting into action locally, whatever it is, the yoga is going to complement all of this work. That's the best thing part.

So true. And I love how you talk about all of these things in your yoga teacher training because this is really like the new paradigm of yoga teacher trainings. Not just, you know, you speak so much on alignment and all of that, but also how am I going to actually create a business out of this? And I think this is not only missing in yoga teacher trainings, but in colleges and in high schools all across the world.

Yeah, I know, I couldn't agree more.

It's like a vocational yoga teacher training and it's online so people can be anywhere. So can you tell us a little bit more about your teacher training training?

Sure. So it's an online right now, it's around 18 weeks. It's the most interactive online training out there. There's not that many online yoga teacher trainings out there. And mine is when I say it's so interactive, I mean we are on live calls up to three times a week. Me and my TAs are looking at photos of you, videos of you giving you feedback. You guys are practice teaching one another, looking at photos of each other. It is so hands on and it's so intimate. Honestly, I run in person trainings too and I love those. But with online it's like I'm seeing you in your home like once a week or multiple times a week and I just feel like I get to know you and your family and there's just this incredible sense of community. I also split everyone up into these mini weekly study groups so people really get connected to the fellow yogis in their class, which is, I just think, I don't know, like we're talking about like you don't believe it's possible unless you get connected. So it's super, super, super high touch, I think is the, the biggest thing that I'd say about the training. And then the format is basically there's videos you watch, right? So incredible training videos. And Sahara teaches the Ayurvedic module. I snapped her to do that way back when, before Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda. Before so much I was like, this girl's amazing, she needs to be in this world. Authority on fascia. Tom Meyers is in the training. I mean there's just incredible guest stars, I guess you'd say tons of anatomy information. Oh my gosh, subtle body chakras, the sutras, philosophy, Sanskrit I mean it goes on and on. So it's really, I'd say it's a Vinyasa Hatha based tradition. We look at Tantric philosophy a lot and I'd really say that it's like, it's not this dogmatic style where it's like everyone needs to look a certain way. It's very much about celebrating the individual and how we can best help these poses. Like instead of people having to fit into the poses, how can we adapt these poses to fit all of our students? And it's just, I love running it. There's a huge focus on meditation as well since I really think I know a lot of yoga teacher training programs out there. Just because there is so much you can go into in terms of the alignment and anatomy. And I do do that, but I think meditation matters. I think it's so, so important. So there's a lot of detailed information on Pranayama, the Bandhas, the koshas, just very deep dive into meditation and yeah, so people can get the information on my website and you can take it and be certified and get insurance and everything at the 200 hour level or you can take it as what I call a bridge student and for that we give you a huge discount on the training. So you basically get to take it, you get access to everything and we ask you to supply your certificate to us to prove to us that you, you know, you've done a 200 hour teacher training in the past. So if you're already a teacher and you just, you don't feel like you have that confidence or you want more business knowledge or more anatomy or just to get more yoga infused into your life, it's a really, really great option. So I'm really happy that we're able to offer that to people who. And you get continuing education credit for that as well.

We also have a special discount and bonus for the program. $100 off the online yoga teacher training or bridge programs and you will be able to participate in my Eat right for your mind body type 12 week program absolutely free as my bonus gift to you so you can dive deeper into your Ayurvedic studies while becoming a certified yoga teacher. All you have to do is just say that you were referred by Sahara or head over to my website or click on the link in this episode and you'll be able to click on my link and you'll be able to get the discount and my bonus.

Yeah, so for just listeners or, you know, Sahara family, I don't ever discount the training, but just for Sahara folks I really like. I just feel like our tribes and our vibes are so aligned. I really want people in it who are from your community. So yeah, if you enter Sahara at checkout, when you put your deposit, it'll get you $100 off and then the Eat Right for your mind body type program. It's so great because I run the training live and and depending when you're listening to this, it might be a couple weeks before we begin. It's so awesome because in the interim, because I think people sign up and they're super excited and then it's like sometimes it's like you don't get to start right away. You can take the Eat Right for your Mind Body type program in the interim, totally free as a bonus. So I'm really glad we teamed up and are offering this.

Oh yes. Well, I absolutely love what you're doing. Totally. Well, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us, for inspiring us to really uplevel our gifts, our businesses, our careers, and for being a shining example and teacher in that.

Thank you so much for having me. Sahara. Love you and love your podcast.

Namaste.

I hope you totally loved learning all about creating a six figure or more business teaching yoga with Brett Larkin. It's so refreshing to hear hear people doing what they love and creating abundance with it. I love, love, love hearing about it. So again, remember, you can receive $100 off her teacher training by mentioning Sahara or head over to the Show Notes and click on that link over there and you'll also receive my Eat Right.

For your mind body type program for free.

I also recommend signing up for my Abundance mindset masterclass which is all about unlocking you your unique money mindset type and how that is related to your dosha. And we're going to go through all those limiting beliefs, all those blocks so you can live an abundant life. So again, head over to the show notes or iamsaharose.com and you will see it there. So honored. So excited to be on this journey with you and I can't wait to see where it takes you. Namaste.

Sam.