The job of a “meditation teacher” sounds straightforward enough to an outsider, yet as teachers we know that due to the myriad of possible techniques, styles and traditions from which to choose, every meditation teacher is in fact unique. As if the range of techniques didn’t provide enough diversity, our personality, needs, life experience, training, the mentors we follow, what we have read and particularly our conditioning flavour our particular style of teaching.
Understanding this opens up exciting potential for the reach of meditation teachers. Getting to know ourselves as people and exploring how our personality interacts with our meditation practice and teaching, allows a unique blueprint to unfold of potential pathways that can place us to be effective in helping others.
Clarifying our unique identity enables us to move forward with confidence and a sense of purpose. Once we are clear, then everyone around us can more easily understand what to expect and we can find where we belong and fit in this meditation and mindfulness-scape.
Identifying through our common humanity.
The first question for meditation teachers is what drew you to meditation? For many it is some kind of difficulty or struggle. If you map out your life experiences, the great ones and especially the not so great ones, a picture emerges of what brought you here. Taking the time to acknowledge all that you have gained, learned and how you have grown from what you have experienced can build confidence and help you own your strengths. You can also think about the particular strategies and techniques that have been effective in helping you overcome difficulties. These are the methods that you can teach most powerfully from a place of passion and felt experience.
It is here that the first opportunity lies for connection with your students. Honouring and sharing the salient parts of your own journey gives students permission for vulnerability and connection; dissolving the idea that the teacher sits above the student, and replacing it with that of the teacher as a fellow traveller.
If your introduction to meditation was a simple decision to begin a practice, then how does it serve you in your life? What does it bring you? The process of clarifying this answer also means diving a little deeper and uncovering what it is that makes us vulnerable; the key to connection.
Either way, connecting to your needs and your own humanity connects you to your students, as you will be able to meet them where they are at with compassion, experience and authenticity.
What are the other talents and skills that make you unique?
As well as being a meditation teacher, are you also a naturopath, counsellor, carer, yoga teacher, parent, teacher, scientist, volunteer? Wherever you have been, you can recycle skills and reinvent a path that brings forward the best of who you are. Meditation does not stand on its own as a practice: emotions, physical and mental health and spirituality all affect and are affected by our meditation practice. Having expertise and experience in other areas can only enhance your meditation teaching and it can be valuable to find a way to incorporate that expertise into some aspect of your teaching.
This can take place formally or informally. For example my background is in counselling so every group I run has a therapeutic lean to it. It’s just part of who I am and it would feel unnatural to divorce myself from that. You can also run workshops or classes in other modalities alongside your meditation teaching that complement the services you provide. For example, a workshop might contain a segment on nutrition or intervals of yoga practice or tai chi. Those of you with a coaching background may bring life enhancing strategies into your retreats or groups or practical goal setting activities related to setting up or maintaining a meditation practice. It is all useful and provided that you have the qualifications and insurance to practice these other modalities they can only add to what you offer.
Your business can become a reflection of your personality and interests and an ideal vehicle for self-expression, clarifying what makes you different in the marketplace.
Hobbies also provide great clues for new and unique pathways.
Do you love art, music, sport? Rather than diluting your teaching, finding a way to bring your passion into your teaching can open you up to wonderful possibilities…mindful creativity or cooking, playing a musical instrument for meditation or meditation for fitness or competitive sport. Once we connect to the possibilities, it can be exciting to embark on new areas of research or study or to explore and document our own valuable experience. Maybe you are a pioneer?
One teacher found a way to combine her love of music with her yoga and meditation teaching by writing and pre-recording the music for her yoga and meditation workshop. She was on such a high after delivering it and who wouldn’t be?
Meditation teaching is ancient, yet we are just at the beginning of all its possible modern applications.
Think about what you loved to do as a child. Here you may find some clues as to some hidden treasures that may help define your unique presence. When I was a child, I spent a lot of time alone making recordings, writing and developing ideas; exactly what I do now as a writer of courses.
Utilising our strengths in our teaching opens us up to a level of creativity and self-expression rarely found. It is an ideal way to:
* infuse your career with energy and vitality,
* recognize and share the wisdom of your life experience
* celebrate and accept who you are
Nothing is wasted
Even the old job you may want to leave behind can play a part in your new career. Skills in marketing, accounting, administration, business, event management or simply organisational skills can make a huge difference in creating a successful meditation teaching business. Just ask those who struggle with balancing the books, setting up a business and the range of skills required to operate a business.
Staying in your job or connected to your old workplace whilst you begin to develop your meditation teaching business can keep the doors open for opportunities. You will have a fine understanding of the:
*areas where support may be beneficial in that workplace
*unique struggles of the people working there
*language and dynamics of the workplace
*kinds of practices that have helped you in your time there
*kind of teaching and support that could be effective for others
You will also have contacts and strong rapport with the organisation, which may enable you to gain your first position or work opportunity as a meditation teacher. Many of my student meditation teachers are invited to provide support to their workplaces during or shortly after their studies.
Harnessing your anger energy to feed and inform your direction
A useful question may be “What do I see or what have I experienced that fires me up and makes me feel angry?” Was it the lack of support that was available through a health crisis in your life? Was it your child’s experience at a school? Whatever riles you up may inform a direction for your work or highlight a need that is not currently being filled; perhaps a place where a potential niche may exist. Turning your anger into a driving passion for change and being part of that change can be a tremendously healing and liberating process.
I have heard some inspiring stories of courage and passion from meditation teachers: people who have experienced chronic illness that want to support those suffering in the same way, prison officers and police who have experienced the benefits of meditation in their own lives and want to share it with the people in their workplace who are ready to learn. I have seen a teacher with drug addiction in her own family make remarkable progress in the area of introducing meditation and holistic lifestyle practices into drug rehabilitation. These are passionate people excited about the potential for change that meditation can bring in places where they see a dire need.
Finding ways that work to bring your whole self to the table
Embarking on a new pathway that feels authentic and wholehearted can bring our insecurities and fears to the surface. Apart from the obvious means of support through meditation and mindfulness, here are some ideas to help:
*Look for role models – find someone who is doing what you want to do or is doing something comparable or similar. Analyse their approach and allow their example to guide your own direction, even if it’s a recognition that you would do things differently. Don’t spend too long here, it’s just a starting point.
*Once you have begun, don’t compare yourself to others – do things your way if it feels right and works for you.
*Let people know what you are doing (who are likely to support you) so that they can help you spread the word.
*Be prepared to educate yourself further or receive mentoring; we all need support.
*Spend time in meditation and with your journal, reflecting on and contemplating your experience so that you mould and develop your creation (or the first version of it).
*Prioritise your self-care so that you have the stamina to see the project through and so that you stay clear and energised in your thinking and actions.
*Keep a clear work-life balance, even if this is your passion you still need time for fun and restoration.
Know yourself, create your brand
Branding is not just a marketing concept; it is a holistic journey of developing and celebrating our identity; something that takes time to mature and develop. Like the search for identity in our teen years, it’s an evolving journey of trial and error. Don’t get too caught up in getting your branding or unique position right from the start. It will evolve just as you do. Just make a start, and allow the unfolding.
It’s beneficial to both you as a teacher, and to those who are considering becoming your students to communicate your uniqueness in your marketing communications. You can do this through your choice of images, your logo, the wording of your copy and the mix of services that you offer. Students will be looking for resonance between their own interests and needs and the offerings of the teacher. The clearer you become, the quicker the match can take place. Doing this in a balanced and professional way can build confidence in your services.
So who are you?
It’s not really enough to say that you are a meditation teacher. Students want to know if you teach from a particular tradition, who you are influenced by and where you have come from. They want to know if they will be able to relate and connect to you.
You don’t need to be a juggling act of skills and talents either. Meditation teaching is more than enough in itself! However do let your potential students know with whom you have studied, what brought you to meditation and how it has helped you.
As a meditation teacher you can potentially bring your whole self to your teaching if you wish to. You can bring a range of experiences and perspectives to the table in order to offer a unique package that honours who you are and that allows you to shine. What you end up with may be something completely new and original.
The process of honouring your unique journey can inform your work in rich and exciting ways, allowing you to bring greater creativity and energy into your curriculum as a meditation teacher.
Lisa Forde
Principal – Australian Centre for Holistic Studies