Top Tips For Teaching Yoga In Schools - Tip #8: "No" Doesn't Always Mean "No"

Welcome back to Top Tips For Teaching Yoga In Schools.

This week, I want to touch on what to do when you hear the word “no” from a school administrator.

It can be disheartening, but this doesn’t mean you won’t ever land a job teaching yoga in schools.

In fact, quite the opposite.

Read today’s tip to find out what I mean!

Tip #8: “No” Doesn’t Always Mean “No”

In the world of education, “no,” doesn’t always mean “no.” 

I heard it a lot when I was interviewing with principals: “This is great, but we don’t have the funding, so no.”

“No” is not “never”. In many cases, it simply means “not now” or “not in the way you proposed.”

It is not a sign or an invitation to give up on your dream.

Instead, it’s an invitation to get creative and ask questions. If a principal says “no, we don’t have the amount of money you need,” ask where there is money and how much they do have, and see if you can get grants or donations to cover the rest.

If you hear “no, this won’t work with our schedule”, get creative. See if your program can fit into the school’s schedule in a way you hadn’t thought about. Instead of 6-weeks after school, maybe a grant allows you to teach for 6-weeks during the school day. 

So often the “no'“‘s we get from administrators are simply because they can’t give us exactly what we asked for, and this is where knowing your costs, having grant and external funding options, and a flexible implementation plan can come in handy. It IS possible to turn a “no”, into a “yes”, you just have to ask why and get creative.

Tip Takeaway: If, in conversations with principals, you keep hearing “no”, ask why, and take notes! Explore other options with principals that might work both for you, and for the school.