I am always amazed at how much effort goes into being ‘liked’ these days.

I understand how we all need to feel valued, appreciated and ‘seen’ for what we do, but the lengths some people go to to rake in the likes these days is absolutely mind-blowing.

Take yoga teachers for instance. I am aware of how our online following impacts both our agendas and our incomes. Simply put: the greater our online popularity the greater the odds of that ‘engagement’ flowing into our classrooms. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s called marketing and it’s what makes the world go round.

The same applies to sponsoring deals and ‘collabs’, whereby brands go looking for the best suited candidate to team up with. There are fantastic people out there who truly benefit from being supported by bigger, more established household ‘names’ who can pave the way to success. Again, my issue is not with influencers or the tricks of the digital trade.

What baffles me is the extremes some people will go to in order to get noticed. I really truly don’t understand how a self-respecting yoga teacher would somehow find it ‘ok’ to buy fake followers in order to make their online status look more appealing. Surely pretending to be something you are not is in DIRECT conflict with what yoga is all about?? It’s like running a vegan restaurant, boasting about the benefits of plant-based food but actually selling sirloin steaks because it’s what ‘brings the people in’.

Right??

The longer I teach, the more I realise that doing a ‘good’ job often requires saying things or behaving in a way that goes against being ‘liked’. Asking people to not take their phones into the classroom for instance, is often met with tremendous resistance these days. And no matter how politely I request people be on time and stay until the end of class, i.e after Savasana, it rarely lands well.

As my job increasingly involves reminding people of the difference between self-care and selfiesticks, I find myself saying ‘no’ more often. It’s a well-meant no, but it’s a no nonetheless. 

As teachers we need to give our students something they can safely fall back on, by providing them guidelines that come from a good place. We’re like conductors making sure all the musicians are on the same page, so whatever comes out of the joint effort is at the very least melodious. It’s an ongoing exercise that has very little to do with ‘likability’, let alone with what a bunch of online nobodies do or don’t make of me.

So here’s my message to teachers passing themselves off as something they are not:

If 90% of your followers inhabit a country that has yet to be discovered, rethink your sense of ethics. When the laws of marketing, geography and integrity no longer align, you might need to find another way to bring home the bacon. Window dressing is for pleasers. Reels will only ever be as real as the service you’re providing.