We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rene Eder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rene, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I feel very fortunate, my parents did a lot of things right. In particular, my dad taught me to love what I do every day.

My dad loved flying airplanes. After 27 years of flying for an airline, he was “forced” to retire. I knew he didn’t want to. He still wanted to fly airplanes. I remember in grade school, he would come to “Career Day” in his uniform and talk about being a pilot. The passion he had for airplanes and the physics of flight was palpable. Sometimes, in his excitement, a swear word would slip onto his presentation. As a kid, in front of my friends, I would blush with embarrassment.

Now I understand his utterances were an expression of love for what he did. In turn, he taught me to love what I do.

After 22 years, I still love teaching yoga. Sometimes, I swear when teaching or talking about it. I am still passionate and continue to explore my relationship with the practice. In the future, I can only hope to embarrass my kids the way my dad embarrassed me. I am so grateful he showed me the way.

Rene, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a yoga teacher, wife and mother. My husband convinced me to take my first yoga class in 1999. I was working in a high stress field, law enforcement, he encouraged me to try it. Within just a few weeks, I was hooked.

I continued to take a lot of yoga classes and connected with the peaceful feelings that came after practicing. Fast forward a few years, 9 to be exact, I signed up for my first Yoga Teacher Training Program. Upon completing it, lots of offers to teach came my way. I made the difficult decision to try teaching yoga full time. I haven’t looked back since.

Yoga with Rene is my way to share the gift of yoga. Whether I’m leading exceptional yoga classes, working one on one, creating memorable workshops and retreat experiences, facilitating yoga teacher training courses or writing books they are all infused with a love of yoga. I especially appreciate some of the ancient teachings of yoga and transforming them, making them relevant in our modern life.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Being dedicated. I feel that some take on yoga teaching as an extension of a “hobby”. Something they love and want to do more of. That is wonderful, but it takes more effort to transition from being a part-time yoga teacher to a full-time yogi.

So much of what I do is done behind the scenes. Daily practice and meditation, reading and research. Connecting to my teachers, continually learning and honing my skills. It takes a lot of dedication and discipline to show up every day and have a conversation with yoga.

More than once, I have had a conversation that goes something like this:

“So what do you do?”

“I’m a yoga and meditation teacher.”

“You are so lucky to be a yoga teacher, your life must be so peaceful and relaxing”.

“I am very fortunate, indeed.”

What goes unsaid is luck has little to do with being a yogi. This path chose me years ago. Being self-employed is amazing, but it has special challenges. Yes, I lead people towards transformation and relaxing experiences. There is a lot of hard work that goes into holding space for that to happen.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes! Through the practice of yoga, my atman was revealed. Atman is the seed of the soul. A deep well of bliss, peace and love that exists within me. Once I found it, I stopped looking outside of myself for approval or validation. I realized all I needed was within me. As I continued to practice and study yoga, I felt my atman expand. As I blossomed as a teacher, all of my outward action became an expression of this inner knowing.

When I became a yoga teacher, everything aligned. The beauty within me had a way to radiate outward towards others, connecting everything. I cannot imagine doing anything else.

Contact Info:

• Website: yogawithrene.com
• Instagram: @Rene_Eder
• Facebook: @ReneEderYoga
• Other: My favorite way to share is via my monthly-ish newsletter, sign up on my website.

Image Credits
@kellemacphotography