Transitioning To Retirement From Your Full-Time Career
There are many steps to planning for retirement. From the time you start working full-time in just about any industry, our culture warns us to prepare for our future retirement – financially. We are offered 401Ks and 403Bs. We learn terms like Roth IRA, and taxable versus deferred taxed retirement funds. I am not criticizing this plan or doubt that a financially secure future is key to living a comfortable life in our advanced years, but shouldn’t we consider more than finances when planning for our future?
To my delight, more and more employers are at least including wellness programs in their benefits. They may have walking groups, weight-loss coaching, and even gym memberships or on-site exercise equipment. Some include yoga and mindfulness in their wellness programs – which is how I began my yoga journey! Employers have learned that investing in the health and wellness of their employees benefits them in terms of fewer absences, less sick time-off, and higher productivity.
Take Responsibility
You may find it’s your responsibility however to plan for health and wellness in your retirement years. You could argue that the employers offering these types of benefits are planting seeds for your future, and I will admit this worked for me! But when considering your retirement years, also consider what BIG changes you’ll be making emotionally and mentally when you arrive at that time.
- You may not have the same daily social interaction you had while working full-time.
- Your gym membership or access to exercise equipment and wellness programs may no longer be provided.
- The satisfaction of accomplishing projects, meeting deadlines, using your creativity and business skills may be diminished. Therefore, your feelings of self-worth may be compromised.
- The psychological satisfaction of receiving a paycheck in return for your hard work each period will be gone!
- Will you be an empty nester? Being home full-time without a busy active home is a BIG adjustment.
It’s Not All Doom And Gloom
It certainly is not all doom and gloom and retirement CAN be the best years of your life! You’ll finally have complete control over your schedule. You can do what you want when you want without work taking up your whole day! You can explore new things you never had time for before. Discover new passions and live your life to its fullest! IF you plan correctly, your feeling of accomplishment can be even more rewarding than you felt in the previous chapter of your life – this time it can be on YOUR terms!
Enter – Yoga Teaching Career!
Leaving class one day, my yoga teacher told me she thought I’d make a good teacher. It was quite an eye opener to me because I’d never even considered it. I was working 40-50 hours a week at the time with one kid in college, the other about to graduate high school. Spending my newly found free time practicing yoga was such a treat for me. It was a reset, a break from the constant busyness of my daily life and I became passionate about it.
At the same time, I knew my kids would be leaving home permanently before too long and I’d have even more free time. This is the normal, natural progression of raising children, but it doesn’t make it any easier when the time comes.
A few years later, when discussing yoga teacher training in more detail with my teacher, she told me how it “changed her life.” I wasn’t sure what this meant but I remember thinking I didn’t want or feel like I needed my life “changed!” But knowing the inevitable changes that were coming, I decided to investigate it in more detail.
It started making sense to me and I developed a plan. I could deepen my understanding of my yoga practice, obtain my certification, and have a side gig for my future retirement. What I didn’t know was it would actually “change my life!”
Putting The Plan Into Action
While learning and growing in ways I never imagined, I nervously began practice teaching to prepare for my final teaching practicum. My certification program met one weekend a month and in between I was busy learning everything I could about yoga history, philosophy, and the physical postures. I began practice teaching to my friends, family, and co-workers. I started teaching short classes during our lunch break at work.
I was completely caught off-guard when the HR department called and asked if I’d want to teach a few classes after work to employees (and get paid!). Without much thought, I agreed to start teaching regularly – even before I completed my certification. This gave me lots of teaching experience, that not only helped me with my final practicum, but also to put on my new yoga teacher resume.
It wasn’t long after I graduated with my 200-hour teaching certificate that I landed my first week-end job at a local studio. Still working full-time and teaching very part-time was the perfect balance to start my transition to retirement in a yoga teaching career.
Taking The Plunge
I was loving my new teaching jobs after work and on the weekends. Things were moving along swimmingly in my part-time yoga career. I dreamed of a full-time career in yoga, but the reality was – and still is – that it’s challenging to earn a substantial income teaching yoga. Of course, you can be successful at it – but in my case matching my full-time salary with a yoga instructor salary wasn’t an option at the time.
According to Indeed.com the current average yoga instructor salary in the U.S. is $33.43/hour. The highest paying cities are: San Francisco, CA; Arlington, VA; and New York, New York. Overall highest paying states are New York, Washington, California, and Virginia.
Here are just a few possibilities to earn a full-time income as a yoga teacher should you decide to pursue that path:
- Teach many classes and privates per day/night at studios, gyms, corporations, and other organizations and venues.
- Open, or better yet purchase a thriving studio in a supportive community, and offer yoga teacher trainings.
- Host yoga retreats, workshops, and series, on a regular basis.
- Start a website and/or YouTube channel and teach online.
- Start a blog and monetize it selling your knowledge, products, and courses.
For me, my plan was to continue teaching part-time until I was ready to retire. When that day came, I would have more time to devote solely to teaching yoga. It so happened that day came sooner than expected.
“I don’t believe in age, I believe in energy. Don’t let age dictate what you can and cannot do.”
~ Tao Porchon-Lynch was the world’s oldest yoga teacher when she passed at age 101. She spent 93 years practicing yoga.
It’s Not All About The Money
I made the decision to leave my full-time job and devote all of my time to teaching yoga earlier than expected. I was fortunate to have another income supporting me and for that I am grateful. My yoga teaching career technically remains part-time and supplements my retirement income.
Aside from finances, my yoga teaching career fills every gap I listed earlier.
- I have a social network and a strong yoga community of students and teachers.
- Yoga keeps me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually fit.
- I have creative freedom in my classes and blog, I get to use my business skills, set my own schedule, deadlines and reap the rewards in big ways – (not always the paycheck haha).
- I get out of it, what I put in. The more I invest in each of the above, the bigger the return!
How I Do It
- I teach 4-6 classes, workshops, or series classes per week (including subbing & private sessions).
- I coach new yoga teachers just starting their careers.
- I host a blog, write, and sell products – See Themes and Sequences Workbook, and Yoga Class Planning Template (more to come!).
- I have a niche and teach equestrian yoga classes & workshops and lead yoga hikes.
- I live and breathe yoga! It’s an absolute pleasure to share my knowledge of yoga with my students.
I’m not saying it’s easy – life isn’t supposed to be easy. Before deciding to pursue a yoga teaching career consider if it will fit into your lifestyle. Maybe your retirement dream is to travel the world, or you have another passion you’d like to pursue. By all means, live your life to its fullest. Celebrate each day of your journey, each moment, each breath in the passage of time. This is the path I have chosen, and I’ve never been happier!
Do you have any questions for me? See the Teacher Resources page on this website for coaching options or the Contact Us page to reach out!
Useful Resources:
Yoga Business Mastery: Earn a Great Living Doing What You Love by Lucas Rockwood
Become a Yoga Teacher: How to Build a Career Teaching Yoga by Sunshine McAlister
