For Future Teachers

It's just three weeks away now Spring 2012 Teacher Training. That has come around quick. Perth is being represented by four students this time. Three from North/South Perth and one from our very own Scarborough Beach. 

I would say from my observations a lot of people go to TT to change their lives. Most are stuck in a job they hate, usually a corporate one. By becoming a yoga teacher gives them an International ticket to teach the Bikram series any where in the world. It is the best job in the world. Assisting in healing broken bodies and screw loose minds. It's very rewarding.

It is also very scary the thought of giving up a solid, weekly salary with benefits & go into the unknown realm of teaching. Will I be good enough, will studios hire me, how will I make ends meet? Endless questions. Like with all jobs of passion some sacrifices have to be made. At the end of the day what you make of it is what you'll get. 

Me personally didn't want to give up my corporate job, I like what I do as a day job very much. Plus I like having my finances secure. If I hated my job then I would get out, even if it meant taking a huge pay cut. I've done it before, I can live like a povo if needs be. My teaching learning curve is probably a lot slower than most but I had a good solid dialogue foundation to start with & great mentors to show me the way. I get three regular, consistent classes to teach & have kept up my personal practice. (not as much as I'd like!) I do feel a little behind my peers who are all reaching their 100 class mark, I'm still around 50 ish, lost count! Quality not quantity hey, hahahaha!

For those who want to become full time teachers take a read of the two posts from The Dancing J. J has made teaching full time work for her and has never been happier. It goes to show you can make it work both ways. 

Teacher Training spending totals

Finally I got around to totting up the HUGE pile of receipts I accumulated from TT today. Purely for my own interest I kept every single receipt for anything I bought whilst in LA. After doing the sums I wasn't too shocked at my findings but one area I did do a double blink...did I really spend that much?!! 

It is a burning question for future teacher trainees how much to budget on spending after shelling out the BIG dough on the course. So I thought I would share my experience. It can be kinda weird talking about money, it's very personal, everyone is different, some people eat more, some people eat less, some shop, some don't so please take these sums lightly, it's a rough guide.

Firstly I'll say I am GOOD at budgeting. I can be very frugal when needs be, cut back on luxuries etc. Then I can go polar opposite & have a blow out. Very all or nothing type of person I am. One thing, I did not use a credit card once at TT, I was very cash only, no debt. Some people will have to though, again personal.

Here it is my spending for nine weeks in LA...*drum role please.....*

• Food shopping - mainly in Trader Joe's, odd few things from Whole Foods & Fresh N Easy; $790.11
• Eating out & foody treats (coffee, cupcakes, ice cream etc.) mainly on a weekend only. I ate in the hotel about 5 times as it was expensive, boring & not that great; $234.70
• Room set up when I 1st got there - George Foreman mini grill, kettle, toaster, plastic plates, cutlery, food storage boxes, Britta Filter, clothes drier etc. $200 ($30 of this was the car service I hired to drive around the shops) My room mate gave me $30 towards things that would be shared, but most of what I bought was for me & my comfort.
• Trolley tickets to Manhattan Beach - $25 ($5 each go, round trip)
• Miscellaneous - Random things like toiletries, medications, gifts, the odd book, stamps, postcards etc. ; $226.98
• Clothes - yoga clothes, a new teaching bag, Vegas shopping treat trip; $975.77 ($200 was for Graduation dress & shoes)
• Random unaccounted for stuff - dollar here & there, tips, taxi, bus tickets which I didn't have a receipt for; roughly $150
• Hair stylist for graduation & 1 massage - $147
• Grand TOTAL: $2,749.56

The biggest shock was the amount I spent on clothes, more than food!!! I honestly thought I'd been good, apart from in Vegas. I spent more towards the end of the course on treats when I knew my budget was good & I had extra to play with. I didn't actually buy that much, more quality rather than quantity, that adds up. Not included is my Vegas plane ticket as that came out of a totally different stash of cash.

Over all I'm happy with this. My budget was $3000 for the total ten weeks (including the week I had at home after). I came home with money too & I didn't have to touch my 'emergency money' that I had just in case. (This is totally personal so not sharing that) I did have to scrimp & save for nearly a year to have a tidy budget. I raised money by selling cards, doing car boots sales & ebay as I like to be financially independent of my partner & family. Anyway why should they give up their hard earned cash for me?!

Don't forget on top of this & the course fee's there are plane tickets and insurance. Please no one who is not a citizen of the USA enter that country without medical insurance. It is not worth it. $500 on 9 weeks insurance is nothing compared to a hospital fee in the States. 

Hope this has been useful!