January 20, 2015

Have your Yogi Cake & Eat it Too.

0 Boost Score Dee Reynolds (1,375,390)

The best yogi-cake recipe ever!

Plus the ingredients that make up a day in the life of a yoga instructor and studio owner.

After yoga the other day, when everyone was leaving, someone rather loudly commented that it must be a pretty cool life to teach one hour of yoga a day and then spend the other 23 hours a day swanning around drinking coffee and eating Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn Cake.

As the studio owner and teacher of that student’s class, it made me smile! Laugh in fact, not at the person, but in reference to this innocent comment made by a yogi.

The truth is I love Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn Cake (the other stuff that I do besides teaching one hour on the mat). I love it and I feel lucky too, because I “eat” it every day. It’s soul nourishing, it brings me joy. It is fat free, gluten free, sugar free and calorie free!

Here is the recipe, for those who wonder what a yoga studio owner actually does all day, besides eating cake and drinking coffee.

Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn Cake

Preparation time required.

Experience:

20 plus years working in the industry plus at least 500 hours of Yoga Teacher Training. Two years in business college and 30 plus flights interstate for training and many weeks away from family and friends while attending education and training courses. (Remember to put aside approximately $30,000 for training and travel expenses.)

A daily dose of the following:

Unlock the yoga studio and switch on salt lamps, speakers, air conditioning, open windows, curtains and blinds.

One to two hours cleaning and setting up prior to each class.

Vacuum the floor before participants arrive.

Check there is enough tea, coffee, water, toilet rolls, soap, towels, coffee cups and other products for your yogi’s and staff, for the day ahead.

Check batteries in microphone are good to go and ensure all computers are on and ready to scan in the yogi’s when they arrive.

Check attendance list for the day and ensure you have enough equipment on hand and ready so as to cause the least amount of disruption to the class

Lay out mats, blocks, straps, blankets, bolsters for the participants.

Prepare essential oils for diffusers, have massage oil ready for participants during savasana and ensure music volumes are creating the perfect ambience.

Light candles.

Yogi’s arrive for class.

Teach class:

Ensuring you catering to newbies, intermediate and advanced, giving plenty of options. Make sure you’re giving an equal amount of Sanskrit and plain English, that anatomical terms are all correct and alignment is spot on, while checking everyone’s technique and pose execution.

After class:

Engaging in general chit chat and answering questions. Allow a couple of hours to do all of the above.

One to two hours cleaning up after each class:

Cleaning bathrooms and toilets, mopping floors, wiping sweat off of walls, mirrors and windows.

Take the old towels from the bathrooms and replace with the fresh towels you’ve washed and dried at home the day before.

Steam clean carpets after class when needed.

Once you’ve ensured everything is clean, tidy and locked up, head back to the office to get started on the paperwork and promotions for the next class or event.

Ingredients:

Lots of passion and love.

Commitment to a life long practice.

Teaching skills.

Knowledge of asana, Sanskrit, anatomy, physiology and the skeletal system.

Impressive business skills.

More passion and love.

Add to taste: have enough cash on hand to buy all of the incidentals listed in the preparation list, not to mention savings or working capital to pay rent, stay current with business registrations, music licensing and other operating expenses.

Method:

Mix all ingredients together, add a splash of happiness and a few Namaste’s, mix and stir.

Baking Time:

The 60 minutes actually teaching asana in class.

Final Note:

It is vitally important that I mention here, that this is the best recipe ever! I love every second of preparation, gathering ingredients and baking.

Serve it up:

Yummy! Gobble it up and nourish your body with all the benefits that Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn Cake offers. After gobbling it up, please remember to thank the person who prepares, bakes and serves you your yoga classes each day (yoga teacher, studio owner).

I do love coffee with my Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn Cake! Because it truly is the best job ever I can giggle about the innocent comments made by yogis after class.

Yes yogis, I think I will have my cake and eat it too, 23 hours each day.

Namaste