This episode contains occasional profanity.
Peg Mulqueen began practicing yoga 17 years ago, after her kickboxing class and she would leave before savasana because taking a break in life didn’t make sense to her. She started teaching yoga because the regular teacher was pregnant. After that, she began studying yoga sequences and only then did she look for a teacher training program. Two years later, she opened up a yoga studio. She emphatically states that this is the wrong way to go about it, now that she knows. But, that was her path.
Peg speaks frankly about her frustration with the present yoga system: churning out teachers in packaged programs. She gives a new idea for a business model for yoga studios that could replace the teacher certification program; it is an on-going relationship between students and the teacher or studio. People crave knowledge and that is often why many of enter teacher training. This business model is not really new, it is based on the old way of study; one on one.
Being a yoga teacher is not a great business model because it is about the people, not about the money. And so many people now think big and that can be their downfall. Peg encourages teachers to start small. Students care more about relationships. Invest in people, not in overhead.
Peg explains that Ashtanga is a breathing method, not a physical practice.
On a whim, she and her daughter created a magazine called Ashtanga Dispatch. From the magazine, the podcast soon followed with the help of Chris Lucas. There is also a blog that Peg occasionally writes in. All these can be found at the website, AshtangaDispatch.com.
Blog Post: Why (Almost) Everything you Learned in Teacher Training is Wrong
She mentioned Samantha Lucas, a woman who practiced Ashtanga Yoga and is missing the lower part of one leg. You can learn more about her on her Facebook page.
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Special Thanks to Zo Leroux for the introduction. A big thanks to 13 Hands for allowing us to use the song, Big Love in the musical opening and closing of this episode.
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