In the age of social media, it's easy to get caught up in the curated versions of people's lives that are seen on Instagram and Facebook. While I am sure there are some Yoga teachers whose lives are filled with sunrise meditations, beautiful organic, vegetarian meals, time spent journalling and making vision boards between classes, and bedtime self care rituals everyday, that is not my reality as a Yoga teacher (if this is your life - show me your ways!!). There is a lot of work, hustle, and non-instagram worthy stuff that goes on behind the scenes and since I believe in capturing real life on this blog (check out my other real life series post here) I thought I would give you a little peek into what a fairly typical week looks like for me as I try to balance work, Yoga, and life. This life may not always be filtered to perfection, but it is mine and I am loving what I am creating and living everyday.

Monday:

7:00am - Wake up with my alarm - check my emails, and social media on my phone. Get ready for the day and pack up my breakfast, lunch and vitamins to take to my day job.

Bagel, cream cheese and apple for breakfast, mini meatloaf and mashed potatoes for lunch

Go to the computer to publish the blog post for the week that I worked on and finished over the weekend and then get out the door and head to work by 8:30.

I get home from work around 5:00, quickly make some dinner - often I make food on Sunday that I can easily reheat and this week it was individual meatloafs. While I eat, I review my classes that I will be teaching this week.

6:45 - I leave to teach my class at Dakota Community Centre

I get home around 8:30 and usually shower, relax while watching some netflix and am in bed by 10:00.

Tuesday:

Tuesday and Wednesday Morning's are the same as Monday as I work during the day.

I leave work at 4:30 on Tuesday and head down to the rec centre in St. James where I teach. I usually get there a bit early so I spend time in my car listening to podcasts, sequencing classes, going over my budget or watching youtube videos.

After teaching I am home around 8:00 and was greeted by home-made BBQ burgers for dinner - yum! I take some time to prep and pack things up for my classes tomorrow and spend some time with my bf before heading to bed by 10:00.

Wednesday:

After work on Wednesday I come home by 5:00, have a quick snack, and pack up everything I need for the Your Best Yoga classes. I have more prep to do for these classes as I run this program and am not just a contracted teacher.

All the props and mats packed up and ready to go!

I teach a Beginner Class from 6:15-7:15 and a Flow Class from 7:30-8:30 this night and get home around 9:00 to prepare a late and easy dinner of perogies and salad. I spend some more time with Netflix before heading to bed around 10:30.

Thursday:

Today is a day off from my day job - I recently went to part time for a term to allow myself more time for teaching. I sleep until 8:30, get ready for the day, and head to breakfast with my mom at Marion Street Eatery - their Mexican breakfast is my favourite!

After breakfast I head home to change and then have a gym date with my bf - it was leg day :(

I get home and settle in to work mode from 1:30-4:30. My to do list included setting up for the new Your Best Yoga Session (Starts February 24th - sign up now!!), writing a blog post, submitting teaching time sheets, and setting up my February Goals.

Writing class descriptions for the website

After I conquered that To-Do list, I relaxed for a bit and made myself some dinner - Roasted Sweet Potatoes and broccoli with chicken fingers and homemade honey dill sauce.

I finish up this evening sipping my favourite Celestial Seasoning's "Sleepy Time" tea and am in bed by 11:00.

Friday:

Day off from my day job and day off from Yoga work. It's a real day off!!! I sleep in until 9:30, have a slow morining watching Kelly and Michael Live (I seceretly Love Kelly Ripa haha), get ready for the day and then meet up with a friend for Pedicures - because when you walk around barefoot for a living, it's always pedicure season :)

After the pedi I stop to pick up groceries, head home and make dinner and then I leave to get to an Advanced Teacher Training workshop. This weekend the workshop ran Friday from 7:00-9:00 as well as Saturday and Sunday from 1 - 4:30 and was a practice based workshop that included a silent day on Saturday.

After Teacher Training I went home and was in bed by 11:00 - very exciting Friday night :)

Saturday:

Up around 9:00 - make a big breakfast to set me up for the workshop ahead. Take some time to post on social media on my Yoga accounts and make some notes for this blog post. Then off to teacher training.

This day of silence was pretty intense for me. It included three 20 minute meditations that were dispersed between active and passive Asana practice as well as pranyama.

When I got home I was starving so I had a quick snack and got ready as we were heading to the "Great Ice Show" at the Forks! We went with another couple and then headed to dinner after.

Sunday:

Honestly, Sunday the exhaustion was setting in. I was tired, a bit sore from the gym and the practice yesterday, and still had things to get done before Monday. I was feeling overwhelmed but still headed to the Teacher Training for more Asana practice and meditation.

After teacher training I came home and ended up giving myself a break in the "get things done" department. I had put some soup in the Slow cooker before I left for teacher training so I came home to cozy up to a big bowl of that and some homemade garlic toast, did some laundry and watched Grease Live.

Then it was off to bed in order to rest up and do it all again next week!

If you are a teacher, I would love to hear about your experiences trying to balance it all - leave me a comment below!! :)

I took this selfie right before going to get photos for my website - My first step toward following my dream.... I had no idea what I was in for ;) — I took this selfie right before going to get photos for my website - My first step toward following my dream.... I had no idea what I was in for ;)

The Dream – my dream – is to transition from my current career into a full time Yoga teaching gig and start my own Yoga program. A bit of background on that dream… I have been teaching part time, a couple classes a week, for a few years now after getting my 200 hour certification in 2012, and I love it! Now, that’s not to say that every day that I teach I am feeling the same level of passion or inspiration – this is real life - however, the way that teaching, practising, and taking Yoga off my mat makes me feel has shown me that this is something I want more of. When I look forward 10 years, I see my life as a Yoga teacher, creating classes and workshops, building community and moving my body every day as part of my career. So how do I get there? Some social media, books, articles etc. would have you believe that it is as easy as visualizing the goal, quitting your job, making the leap, and riding off in to the sunset. Well, in my experience, in real life it takes a lot more work. Continue reading to see just some of what it takes to follow your dreams - in real life.

It takes… Planning, baby steps, and safety nets.

It takes… Long and longer days of work at your day job so you can bank the time you need to take off to teach, because this is real life and in real life you have real bills.

It takes… Learning as you go and not having a hot clue what you’re doing for a while. (But then you figure out how to get that pay pal button set up on the webpage and you feel like you could conquer the world!)

It takes… Computer skills.

It takes… Hitting the pavement with the flyers you spent hours formatting so that you can promote your classes.

It takes… Networking skills.

It takes… Signatures on rental contracts before having enough people signed up for your classes to even cover the cost of rent.

It takes… Feeling like you are failing, a lot, and not letting that discourage or disappoint you. (Edit: This is real life – in real life we get discouraged and disappointed, so it’s about feeling that and moving forward anyways)

It takes… Amazing support from your loved ones, especially when you want to quit and they won’t let you.

It takes… Being vulnerable and sharing your deepest wants, passions, fears, and failures with others, because this is real life and in real life we fail some, we want a lot, and we must go after what we are passionate about.

It takes… Guts. Courage. Cojones. Whatever you call it, it takes a lot of it.

In the end, (or should I say beginning - because that is where I am), it’s worth it. You can look at what you have done and are doing and feel really accomplished. You can redefine success in your own terms and no matter what the outcome is, you can always look back and say you tried your best, because this is real life, and in real life that’s all anyone can do.

Real Life: A week in my life