One of my favorite books for children is KnuffleBunny by newly minted Pioneer Valley neighbor Mo Willems. This book has nothing to do with this post other than that when I was thinking of how to explain my recent moment of clarity, I was reminded of my favorite illustration in the book. The heroine Trixie is depicted with a face of eye-popping terror when she REALIZES that she has lost something – in this case, her beloved stuffed bunny. I wish I could have found the picture to post, but alas, the internet has failed me on that one.

But I digress. Back to the non sequitur at hand….I had a Trixie moment. I REALIZED something. I am not having as much fun anymore as a yoga teacher. I was asking people to pay for yoga, but after a while, this began to seem misaligned with how I spent the rest of my professional and volunteer time. I am a fundraiser. I am loud and proud about asking people to give money for causes I love, and I work professionally as a philanthropic advisor to help people figure out the best way to give their money away for good causes.

In my free time, however, I was running a for-profit enterprise bringing yoga to corporate and private clients at quite a nice rate of pay. I felt no qualms about charging appropriately for my time as a professional. After all, I had excellent training and unique experience as an organizational psychologist that made me very well-qualified to help people and companies with work life balance.

But I was losing my passionate connection to the yoga practice that had saved me from burnout and imbalance. I was not psyched about helping the investment guy get his downward dog on.

So, I am going out of business. And into the business of giving it away for free. The great thing is that I can be very choosy about whom to share my yoga teaching with now that it’s a part of my seva practice, or my selfless service.

So, for anyone reading this who works with organizations whose employees serve the greater good and who are probably underpaid and stressed, call me. I will be glad to bring them some workplace yoga. Or, if your organization wants to bring yoga to women and girls who would not have the chance to take yoga otherwise, call me. My Spanish is OK, and I could probably muddle through a bilingual class if needed.

I have no fear about closing this chapter of my business life. I have some new projects that I am involved in which will take care of the livelihood thing, and this will give me a really cool, fun way to give back to others.

Pay it forward today and find a way to bring your unique talents to someone who needs them.

Love, jai!