Open to your calling: living your mission as a yoga or spiritual teacher | Om Yoga Magazine

There comes a point when your practice no longer feels like something you keep just for yourself – it begins to call you into service. This invitation can feel beautiful, but it can also reveal hidden fears and emotional resistance. These experiences are not barriers; they are part of your initiation. Many teachers go through them, and each shapes who they become.

Below are seven inner challenges that often arise on the journey toward a goal, along with a new way to see them as growth.

1. The belief that you must be perfect first
   Many people feel called to teach, but hesitate because they believe they must achieve a certain level of mastery, emotional balance, or enlightenment before they can mentor others. Waiting for perfection delays tangible results. A teacher is not defined by impeccable performance, but by embodied sincerity, honest practice, and a willingness to grow with others.

2. The pattern of self-sabotage by quitting too early
   Some people take their first steps and then quietly retreat as soon as doubt, discomfort, or inconsistency arises. This can manifest as losing momentum after initial excitement or giving up if results are not immediate. The mission unfolds through perseverance. Seeds do not become a tree overnight. Commitment transforms potential into tangible success.

3. The fear of real success and visibility
   While many fear failure, an equally powerful fear is the fear of success. Visibility can feel vulnerable: more responsibility, more authenticity, more leadership, more alignment. Success requires expansion, and expansion requires identity growth.

4. The tendency to give too much, help too much, or sacrifice oneself
   Many helpers, healers and teachers naturally have an empathetic heart, but sometimes this turns into emotional overload or taking responsibility for the transformation of others. Healthy service delivery honors both sides: the desire to support and the need to have sufficient resources. A teacher is most powerful when he teaches from inner nourishment, not from exhaustion.