When No One Shows Up
When no one Shows up
Picture this: You grab your keys, yoga mat, and journal and head out the door. You arrive to the
studio 30 minutes before your class and review the plan you wrote earlier in the week. You set
the studio and perfect the lighting. You log into MindBody and sit at the front desk ready and
excited to teach class. Minutes pass. You scroll Instagram. You take out your journal to write a
grocery list.
But no one comes.
If you’re a yoga teacher, you can probably relate to the scenario above. Maybe you feel a pang
in your stomach remembering times when you locked up way sooner than you anticipated
because your class was empty.
As a yoga teacher, how do you take care of yourself when no one shows up?
First, take a deep breath. Your worth as a teacher and a person is not determined by the size of
your class. Whether you have a class of twenty-five, two, or zero, you are a whole, worthy
person.
Second, ask yourself if there’s a way you could use that time in a way that would feel
nourishing. For me, if I teach a class that no one shows up for, I use that opportunity to practice
in a quiet studio. But, maybe for another it could feel really good to go to a coffee shop and
read. Or, maybe it would feel just as nourishing to go home and take a nap. The point is to fill
the time you had planned on filling with teaching in an intentional and fulfilling way.
Thirdly, come back to your why. Why are you teaching yoga, anyway? If you’re like me, you’re
teaching yoga because you want to share its life changing practices and path with others, and
because our hearts are built for sharing, that’s why it stings so much when no one shows up for
class. However, yoga wisdom reminds us that we are only ever promised the work, not the
reward. As teachers, then, we have to be willing to show up excited and willing to do the work.
Lastly, take some time to get curious. Is there a trusted mentor you can troubleshoot with? Was
this a one off or a consistent pattern? Depending on the situation you might seek out guidance
from your community or studio to ask if the time just isn’t a good fit or if the students would
respond better to a different style of yoga. Be willing to listen and seek out feedback from
trusted friends and mentors. Take everything in and then sit with it for a while. It will eventually
become clear what changes would feel good or if it would be best to simply let the class go in
order to create space for something new.
During seasonal shifts and holidays, it’s very, very common for class attendance to dip. Knowing
this doess’t quite take the sting out, but it does provide context. Teachers–especially new
teachers–need to take care of themselves and keep their spirits up even when attendance is
dipping because even though no one showed up to class, you can still show up for yourself.