Ellen’s Yoga Guru Says You Can Have Health And Career Success…If You’re Willing To Quit

Ellen Degeneres has no shortage of good fortune right now: Her show just took over Oprah’s time slot, she’s celebrating her third anniversary with wife Portia de Rossi and even collaborating with her wife on a new TV series. But apparently she can also get too much of a good thing: She declined to continue judging on American Idol, despite her success on the show. Why? Well, that’s a secret between her guru—Yogi Cameron—and the readers of Huffington Post.

Yogi Cameron is the chiseled guru to many a Hollywood star, but he can relate to Ellen’s career highs, lows and quits as a former model turned yoga instructor and Ayurvedic healer. While Ellen’s current success is something to celebrate, he told Jean Fain that it is also important to know where to set your limits (even when it comes to positive commitments):

When you’ve been though ups and downs [as Ellen has], you get to that point where you realize there’s much more to life than just working. A lot of people fall into the trap of taking another good thing and another good thing, and they overstretch themselves. Health is very important to Ellen. She looks and feels amazing! That was one of the things with “Idol.” She realized it [the show] was getting in the way of her health and well being.

The way he describes it, it sounds like a perfectly logical trade-off, but looking and feeling amazing don’t always seem like immediate priorities when you’re navigating difficult career choices. And, frankly, many women face a frustrating double-standard when it comes to making choices between their personal lives and their careers: For how much society values a fresh-faced, healthy (and let’s not forget: thin) woman, the working world hasn’t yet learned to respect women who take time off to balance their health and personal lives.

Just look at former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson: The singer and actress recently got slammed for telling Self magazine that her weight loss was a bigger achievement than her Oscar. We had our own opinions (basically, that maintaining a healthy weight actually does rank up there with the biggest and brightest achievements in our lives) but critics claimed it was ludicrous to value weight and looks over lifetime career achievements, even saying that she was setting women back by setting such a negative example.

So what’s the difference between Hudson and Ellen? Their situations are different, sure, but in essence, they’re both highly capable, high-achieving women who are telling the world (via interview or career choices) that their health is as important as their career. But while Ellen’s ‘health’ is harder to judge from the outside–she’s not going for major weight loss or physical changes; just an inner peace and outer glow–Jennifer Hudson’s moves to prioritize her health are hard not to notice superficially.

It seems that if you’re going to prioritize yoga, walking, running or any kind of stress relief, it’s better to do so quietly (and with the help of a model yogi), but I say we all take a step back and support each other in leading a balanced, healthy life alongside our careers, relationships and families. That’s what Yogi Cameron would do.

Photo: Economic Times