Career Changers-Yoga Me Happy

Drinking in the sun high on a café terrace in the hilltop Village of Casperia in Italy, Eliza and I had a session to look at Eliza’s ideal career life. In her personal life, Eliza was deliriously happy. However, her work life left her feeling unfulfilled. On paper it looked like Eliza had everything going for her, a well-paid job in London as a marketing manager of major shopping centres and retail property clients. In actual fact, she loved the clients and the team around her and yet there was a gaping hole within her in terms of work satisfaction.

We took the time together to tease out what she really wanted in her working life. It emerged that she wanted to make others feel happy in a way that made her feel happy. We explored art therapies and other alternative therapies. Most importantly, we looked at what was stopping her. The revelation for Eliza was that the need for financial security and the family belief system that you need a regular pay check held her back. Despite the recession, fears and wrangling with her emotions, Eliza decided to prepare for change. She made financial provision to give herself a cushion to retrain. In addition, she chose a relatively faster track option to train as a yoga teacher.

In February, Eliza took the plunge; she decided to choose happiness by leaving the corporate rat race in London. She packed her bags and headed to Kerala, India to train to be a yoga teacher. Having reflected on her life, she saw that yoga classes gave the most happiness and peace and “not in spiritual whacky way!”

In the past year her Dad passed away suddenly and that give her a jolt to really embrace life and to be true to herself – to stop living life for the future that may never come and be 100% present in whatever she does. Today she says her mission as a qualified yoga teacher is to help the corporate people of London forget their stresses through the practice of yoga and is now seeking “bums on mats!” in her London studio. Her first, regular client cannot stop talking about the benefits she is experiencing as a result of classes. Such feedback really puts a smile on Eliza’s heart.

Eliza feels that she is much more present and happy in her new business, Yoga Me Happy. She urges those who want changes to “Reassess your career, take time to reflect, talk to a Careers Advisor – they really can help to put things into perspective. Try out your ideas for size in a safe way, take a break / sabbatical. You can always go back to your old job if it does not work out. Work takes up a massive chunk of your life and life is too important to waste away doing something unfulfilling!”

In terms of making career changes, Eliza had no children or childcare commitments when she left her lucrative job. I realise that when people have family commitments that one cannot easily up sticks and change careers.

So then, how can people build in more happiness into their career lives? How can working people stressed in the corporate world slowly make changes to move towards a happier working life?

If you are reading this and shoulders and neck is stiff from straining over a computer check out her individual, group or corporate classes at yogamehappy.co.uk or you can be in with the chance of winning a FREE yoga session in North London, by liking her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/YogaMeHappy. She is inviting you to come along for an espresso shot of happiness!