Colin Hall Answers The Question “Why So Serious?”

Working in Yoga

It isn’t often you have a guest on a podcast who doesn’t mind a Joker reference in the title. In fact, I didn’t even ask Colin if it was okay that I called the podcast this, because I know he doesn’t take himself so seriously that he would cringe at the reference to a morally dark character from a comic universe.

And that’s the theme of today’s podcast. Why are we so darn serious? Is there some reason why we can’t have fun, in our classes, in our language, in our hearts?

Colin and I tackle this topic while laughing a lot and come up with some serious thoughts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

*The first few generations of yoga teachers here in North America had to fight for credibility within the professional space. I will never forget when I first started partnering with local medical pros there was a PT in my area who was astounded at the results her clients were getting when they saw me. I made her job easier. So she said to me “I am just going online and grabbing a yoga teacher certificate so I won’t need you anymore”. That comment divorced me from the 1000s of hours of professional training I had up until that point and the 1000s more hours of skillset development I had from doing the work.

And honestly, I don’t know how much better our credibility is as a profession today. There is this joke that Marc Maron did on a comedy special that lives rent-free in my brain. He chooses to not make fun of yoga teachers (while making fun of us) because we are too sad to be mean to. Check out this Marc Maron clip and see what I mean. (the yoga teacher bit is 2 minutes in)

*Our culty-adjacent and deep-crunchy behavior within the industry is something we need to address. While I am never going to tell you that sunning your perineum doesn’t give you benefits–I am not a medical professional, just a woman who wants you to use some sunscreen on that area first; but that needs to exist separately from our everyday professional lives. Colin’s theory that we over-compensate for those kinds of activities that exist within our spaces is spot-on. And when that happens, nobody wins.

*Who speaks for yoga? THIS. This is the issue. Pop culture and social media represent us in a very different way than our normal working lives actually manifest.

The loudest voices seem to be winning right now, but I believe that we can change that if we reframe and rethink how we interact within the online spaces, and how we represent our profession.

*Colin & I both agree that we weaponize the philosophical aspects of the Yoga Sutras against each other within our spaces. Let’s stop doing that, okay? I think that we need to unpack our attachment to moral superiority; and for many of us that can slide back to why we started our yoga practice in the first place. While I don’t think most of us started practicing yoga because we wanted to feel superior to other people–I do think if we are honest with ourselves it is a little like why we feel passionate about recycling. We do it both because it is good for the planet and because we can smile just a little more smugly at Aunt Martha who uses all plastic everything at the dinner table.

This can sound harsh, but trust me, when you take a deep wrestle with this idea it becomes so much easier to laugh at your flaws in a loving way. OF COURSE, we like feeling better about ourselves in comparison to others. Life is hard, even during the best of times, so give yourself and others grace that this internal motivation doesn’t make us bad. It makes us human.

*”In Your Hot, Naked, Goat Yoga Craft Beer class are you establishing consent?” That is my favorite quote of Colin’s on this podcast. That, to me, is a vitally important question. Let's focus on the importance of the last part of that statement more than we do on vilifying the first.

*Getting clear about what is marketing is an incredibly enlightening process. Remember, if you are a business, be it a brick-and-mortar, an online teacher, or an IC yoga teacher who travels around…everything you post online is marketing. Again. If you present as a business of any kind online, everything you post is a form of marketing. So saying what yoga “is” or what yoga is “for” are marketing statements first and foremost. Consider talking about yoga online in a way that doesn’t mean you need a definition OR a prescription to sell it. We will talk more about marketing with the incredible Tristan Katz later this season. You are gonna love what they have to say.

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