When Leanne McDermott was driving home from her then corporate career in analytics, her eyes happened to drift toward an advertisement for a new yoga studio that had just opened in the area. Eager to quiet her mind and curious to see if some of the benefits she heard about yoga would help, she gave it a try.
After just one class, she knew she wanted to become a teacher and help spread the mental and physical benefits of yoga to as many people as she could.
What started as a vision has become a reality for the now full-time yoga instructor, who teaches throughout Manhattan and Long Island City from a floating studio, bringing the gift of mindfulness to as many people as possible.
“I took one class and immediately I was hooked, and I knew after my first class that I was going to become a teacher because I couldn’t believe what an impact it had on me in such a short time period,” said McDermott.
While working full-time in a corporate career, McDermott began to explore yoga as much as she could. For the first few years she took classes five days a week, sometimes doing multiple sessions a day. When the city shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McDermott used the spare time to get her teaching certifications. Once things went back to normal, in 2022, she gradually began teaching classes at Performance Lab in Long Island City while still working in corporate.
When the fitness center permanently closed, McDermott had built a following and began teaching private and group yoga classes in various spaces, including corporate offices, gyms, parks and private homes. As her client list grew, McDermott slowly shifted toward her goal of leaving her corporate job to teach full-time, and in 2023, she became a full-time yoga instructor.
“I have some private clients in LIC; the private yoga is mainly Manhattan, and then I do a lot of corporate yoga,” said McDermott. “I keep it pretty diverse and I’m very much floating around, so I’m either teaching a one-on-one, in a small group setting, or I’m in a classic studio style teaching through the studio.”
With a background in business, McDermott has maintained her focus on the concept of a floating studio by providing the necessary supplies for classes or one-on-one sessions to clients and adapting spaces. The concept has saved the entrepreneur on overhead costs and helped her leave her 9-to-5 job to focus on her passion for teaching yoga.
“I have a very heavy business background, so I knew if I actually wanted to replace my corporate income, I had to do more than jumping around between different studios,” said McDermott. “It’s hard making it as a yoga instructor, and it’s a lot of work financially to get to a good point, so I want low overhead expenses and to be mindful about my supplies. I focused on marketing myself and stuck to it for about a year. When I started to replace my monthly income from corporate with my yoga business, that’s when I left and became a full-time instructor.”
While her aspirations were met with some doubt by people she knew who heard of her plans for a drastic career change, McDermott had a well-thought-out plan, including a financial safety net and a backup plan in place. For the past two years, her business has only continued to grow and thrive. During warmer months, McDermott teaches in parks and outdoor spaces, including summer classes at Gantry Plaza State Park, which guests can attend on a donation basis.
While traveling so frequently from Manhattan to Long Island City throughout the week, McDermott is planning for her next business move to include hiring a couple of instructors in order to help with the busy schedule, as well as give others the opportunity to build their own client list and help someone else follow their dream of becoming a full-time yoga instructor.
“I want to create that type of community where it’s like, I’m an instructor in this industry, and I’m super passionate about it, so I also want to have those instructors in my world, too,” said McDermott. “It’s really valuable work for someone who’s in this industry and super passionate about it. I’m envisioning a small team to start, maybe two instructors and a few residential sites that I send them to, and then give teachers an opportunity to grow their business and get exposure and teaching experience.”
To learn more about Leanne’s classes, visit her website or follow her at @leannerays.
