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| Hi, my name is Kerry. I am 17 and looking to dedicate my life to yoga and other holistic practices. I'm planning on moving to Columbia, South Carolina in the summer of 2005. Does anyone know how I can get a good yoga certification and get a job with decent pay down there? I'm attracted to the area because it has a growing holistic community. Also, if you are a teacher, anywhere in the world, would you be so kind as to tell me how you got on your feet? Thank you so much.
Namaste
Kerry |
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| Kerry: If you wish to be a good teacher, try my certification. www.authenticyoga.org and look for testimonials from previous teachers. To get good pay is not possible in the beginning. With your age (sorry, but this is true) and background, you may be working at fitness clubs for a while. As of now, you shall get between 20 and 30 per hour. Of course, if you are an exception, like Bill Gates in Micro Industry, I am not a person to suggest anything to you. I wish you all the best. |
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| Having lived in Columbia, I can attest to the fact that there's not too much happening down there. It is getting better, but sloooooooowly (like most things down there - and I can say that after 5 years of the slow lane). Chances are you will be working primarily at a gym simply for lack of studios. From doing internet searches to find studios for when I visit friends in Cola, I've found that the majority of studios are located in Charleston and Greenville. Have you looked into those areas at all? Or are you also headed to the area to go to USC? What is your yoga background? Are you in that area? You might check out the Ashville Yoga Center. I'm not sure off the top of my head waht the website is, but google Stephanie Keach and you should be able to find it pretty easily. They offer classes as well as teacher trainings and may be able to get you in touch with other teachers in that area. Let me know if you have any trouble finding it and I'll try and track down the site for you. Good luck!
Lora |
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| Thanks for your replies! I'll keep what both of you have said in mind.
However, I find it hard to believe that there isn't much in Columbia for yogis. I just went down there and there were so many holistic places that I saw, and ads for them as well. They even have a holistic paper you can pick up in coffee shops.
I currently live in Buffalo, New York, but I am looking to go to the area because I have a couple friends down there and it looks like there is a lot for me personally down there. I'm trying to avoid 4 year college unless I can find a holistic college like Naropa down there, but I don't think there is one.
I looked up the Asheville Yoga Center and I'm keeping that in mind.
Thank you so much for your advice. |
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| Well, like I said, it is changing. Haven't lived there in a couple years (and admittedly was a little too busy partying to pracitce yoga) so much of my research is based on what I've found online for the occasional visit to friends down there (non of whom practice and give me blank stares when I start discussing the benefits of various asanas). The large holistic communities that exist in both Asheville and Charleston are more than likely starting to spread into the area, along with what seems to be a genuine if misguided attempt to create a certain hip quality to Columbia. After five years of living there, I don't think it can be done. 
That being said, it's a decent place to live, and since you have friends down there it will definitely help in the acclimation from Yankee to Southerner. It's a bit like moving to a foreign country - fun, but confusing at times. It's also a relatively cheap place to live, with reasonable rents. The presence of stores like EarthFare (corporate holistic grocery store - Whole Foods for the south) and Rosewood Market (a Cola staple for the holistic crowd) does make a difference. It takes a pretty big commitment, though, as the prices are extremely high, and with the pay scale down there it can be tough to do all or even most grocery shopping at either. Even working full time and cutting back on partying towards the end didn't help when trying to fund the shopping. This was my experience, and you may be in a different position to afford it - they're just things to keep in mind. Good luck! |
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| Hehe, I understand Lora. I share some of the same feelings you do toward Buffalo, but it's all a matter of opinion, I guess. The prices on organic foods are very high here as well, so I'm already creating techniques to save money, like making my own exfoliators and such instead of buying them. Anyway, thanks for your insight.
namaste
Kerry |
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| No prob...Man, kids today are so much smarter than I was at that age (please don't take offense - it's really meant in a good way). What do you make the exfoliators of? I use oatmeal and brown sugar - the standards. Starting to get into soaps and such as well. A good site for ideas is craftster.org, but you probably already know that. |
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| Actually, I didn't know about crafster.com. I'll have to take a look. And I haven't actually made an exfoliator in a long time because my mom and I share the same one and she always buys it, but when my facial exfoliator runs out, I'm going to try to make my own. I used to go to modeling school way back in the day (like 7th grade) and we learned to make some. Ah, that was an interesting experience, modeling school. Still, it was the first place I ever learned about good posture.  |
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| I just found this website and your question by accident. I 'm currently in Stephanie Keach's Asheville Yoga Center Teacher Training Program. My program completes on 10/31. It is an excellent program and we have students from all over the southeast, serveral from West Virginia, Virginia, Tennesse and Georgia, even one from the Outer Banks in NC. The program is 10 months and approx. once a month weekend (friday evening sat, sun) 260 hrs of instruction. She is starting a 500 hr instruction training program soon, creating it as we speak. I have been through Columbia on my way to Charleston and searched for yoga centers and I didnt come up with any. As Vetern said "Columbia is in the slow lane" and I would agree. And if you did AYC teacher training program you will be trained in opening your own yoga studio! Given that you work hard in finding people who are interested in yoga, might be hard at first being that your from NY and your 17. AYC class homework might be difficult to do without lots of yoga studios close by to do class reviews will have to travel to take a class. Sounds like you have lots of spunk and enthusiasm to do what you love. With AYC training might want to look for areas with an Organic Grocery store, yoga training really changes the way you think about health and your body. The youngest student we have in AYC teacher training program is 20 and has been doing yoga for 3 yrs. Namaste |
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