Reflections on the reasons people choose teaching as a vocation, even when easier paths exist.
It was a few years ago, during a conversation with some elderly relatives, that I first began to ponder this question. I'd just made reference to the fact that one part of my ‘career’ consisted purely of ‘bullshit jobs’. (For clarity not all of my blog posts use this particular word. I didn’t know it at the time, but this phrase had been previously coined by the now late David Graeber in his 2018 book of the same name).
By way of background, I have spent the last 10+ years running what is commonly known as a ‘portfolio career’. Rather than having a ‘normal’ job, aka: a regular 9-5 salaried position, I’ve held 2 distinct yet parallel income streams. On one hand, I jump between different short term contracts, freelance work, and other joe jobs etc, as part of what remains of my ‘professional’ career. On the other hand, I’ve followed my passion as a yoga teacher.
This is not an uncommon scenario within my cohort since for most, yoga teaching alone provides little more than a subsistence living. I have covered this subject in detail in a previous blog.
Anyway, once the shock had subsided following my moment of mild, albeit inappropriate profanity, I realised that (as one might expect), my relatives all assumed that by ‘bullshit jobs’, I meant teaching yoga. To them, the real-world career that I still semi pursue, the one which largely pays my way and provides a modicum of credibility in conservative circles, was anything but what one might consider to be 'bullshit'.
Now, I can appreciate that this life setup might appear somewhat complicated and non-sensical for someone over the retirement age (it often does to me!). However, I have always viewed this in a different way. At the time, I struggled to convey to them exactly why I held teaching yoga to be a wholly more worthy pursuit than professional services. And this is what made me really start wondering about exactly why I teach. Why, when I have had many opportunities to walk away from it, do I keep coming back for more?
Well, the simple answer is that I teach because I love teaching. Bingo. Easy. Done. Blog post over……
Alas, while I wholeheartedly believe this answer is correct and complete, like a stereotypical yoga sutra, it needs to be unpacked. On its own, it’s too broad and floaty. So, to break it down further, let’s look at why exactly I love teaching.
All about the money
Those who have read some of my earlier work will know already that teaching for me is not about the money. I’m lucky enough to have held moderately successful careers in both financial services (ok so the insurance industry…. yes, I know, it’s a great conversation killer…….) and latterly in the technology sector. Materially at least, I could live a much more comfortable life by sticking to that, whether financially or in terms of life balance. And while I am not averse to a comfortable lifestyle, somehow this doesn’t take away the desire to teach.
Pure altruism
At the same time, for me teaching is not specifically an act of service – at least not completely. I highlight this since it's a common reason given for many pursuing this journey. While I do often joke that teaching is my ‘charity work’, I won’t pretend that I’m motivated to teach purely as an act of altruism or pursuing some spiritual or holistic path.
People pleasing
In the end what I determined was that I love teaching yoga because it makes people happy. I realise to some, this may sound like an odd answer. It’s hard to describe the personal joy I feel at putting a smile on other people’s faces. This feedback mechanism is something we all feel in our everyday lives. It’s part of what makes us human.
And being able to offer this consistently is one of the most fulfilling and desirable feelings one can imagine. A Mysore room offers a unique opportunity to experience this – teaching a regular group of students on a daily basis. Even though this means getting up at an unnatural hour (another blog plugging opportunity), to me at least, the feeling is amazing.
A good friend of mine, and globally recognised Ashtanga teacher, recently admitted to me: ‘I’m such a people pleaser’. I responded ‘Natürlich! That’s why we teach.’ In my mind, if you are going to teach, then you have to want to please people on some level.
The term 'people pleaser' carries such negative connotations. While it can be a problematic personality trait if it gets to out of hand, if used in the right way by more people, it would lead to a much nicer world for us all no?
That old chestnut
Obviously, how each teacher then applies this to their teaching will vary, and like any emotion, it risks becoming problematic if it takes on a too dominant position.
This makes me wonder if it may be at the core of the classic conundrum within the Mysore teaching community of how quickly one should give a student new poses. Some take a more ‘old school’ and liberal approach frequently giving students new posture no matter their ability, while others, typically those who came out of Mysore during from the early 2000’s onwards, are typically far stricter. In the past I always thought this was a reflection of teaching confidence, however, I now wonder whether those who offer new postures readily, might also do so in order to fulfil their own desire to people please.
For the record, I don’t hold a right or wrong view on this subject and my teaching evolves all the time. Over the years though, before handing out new poses, I have learnt to ask myself the question first as to whether I am giving the pose for the benefit of the student or the benefit of myself.
Other rationale
Finally, I must caveat that although I would like to think that all teachers must teach for this reason, I realise this may not be accurate. My experience with teachers from other disciplines make me question whether this is true. For example, I know some in academia who became lecturers because they were unsure what to do with their lives after university and opted to remain within the safety of their university bubble.
Similarly, I know many yoga teachers who became such because it was something they were good at, and they didn’t know what else to do. While I don’t categorise either as ‘bad teachers’ it does make me wonder if they get the same joy from teaching.
There are many other reasons why people teach, to many for me to review in detail here. Some, for example, are attracted to the power it affords. This dangerous side has been well documented in recent years, particular within the Ashtanga community. My time teaching in China was an early warning on how intoxicating this can be.
Others may do so out of boredom and/or be lured by the charm of the seemingly instagram perfect lifestyle. Whatever the reason, I still feel that giving joy must be involved, at least in some small way.
Two sides of the same coin
Now don’t get me wrong, I have no wish to criticise people following careers in whatever discipline you choose. Ultimately so long as how you make your living isn't detrimental to the world, then do what you do and enjoy it. And to be clear, while frequently disenchanted, I broadly enjoy my professional work. While it doesn’t exactly fill me with inner harmony, it does provide a level of intellectual satisfaction that I don’t generally get from teaching. And so far at least, it has provided me with a level of income stability that has meant I have not been totally reliant on teaching to pay the rent.
I still remember one teacher saying to me may years ago how beneficial it can be to remove the financial relationship with your students. While I recognise that this is not feasible for most, I do understand this sentiment. I recognise that despite teetering on burnout at times while trying to manage both, I have been truly lucky on this score.
However, despite its plus points, I consider this element to be ‘bullshit’ because fundamentally if I wasn’t there, it would not matter to the world. The projects would still get completed (all be it - not as well) and the companies I work for would still continue to operate (perhaps mildly less profitably), and the Earth would keep on turning. I do not wish to discredit the value that I bring in my non-teaching career but ultimately this value does not compare with the satisfaction of making others happy.
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