How to Start Teaching Yoga After Training
By Kim Bassan, Pretzel Kids content writer
You can still feel the sweat dripping down your body, your head is spinning with endless notes about body anatomy, and your mat is dirty from practicing countless sun salutations. Yup, you’ve finally finished your 200-hour yoga teacher training!
Or, maybe you just wrapped up your online yoga teacher training yesterday and you’re now a certified kids yoga teacher. Either way, congratulations! You’re a new teacher and your life is about to change!
But, wait up: Now that you’ve finished your yoga teacher training, it’s time to start the real work. Let’s talk about how to start teaching yoga after training.
What to Do When You Finish Yoga Teacher Training
When you finish your yoga certification course, you probably want to start teaching right away, right? However, before you jump in, there are some important steps you need to take to set yourself up for success as a yoga instructor. Here are some of our top tips:
Get Liability Insurance
Liability insurance is non-negotiable for yoga teachers as this type of insurance coverage offers you protection should any of your students get injured under your watch. So, we recommend that you get liability insurance right before you finish your training and certainly before you start teaching. Most solid fitness liability policies will legally protect you when teaching in your backyard, online or in a studio.
Create a Resume
After you finish teacher training you are probably full of inspiration, so use this momentum to write down all your relevant certifications, expertise and your area of interest. Go beyond the ordinary yoga teacher certification and show your spark. Have an interest in holistic medicine, art, music, graphic design? Try journaling and write it down! From there, craft your own beautiful, personalized resume.
Another option: Join Pretzel Kids and we’ll take care of all the marketing and business headaches for you!
Set Your Rates
Finances can be hard and at times, uncomfortable. But you’ve invested time, energy and money into your certification and you deserve to be compensated. So, set your rates and start making money from your investment!
The Practice Must Go On!
It’s pretty common for yoga teachers to fall behind with their own practice, and that’s ok! I mean you don’t want to overwhelm yourself with yoga, right? It’s all about balance! However, we do recommend a commitment to your yoga practice, continuing your education, and setting time aside for yourself.
Connections Will Lead You in the Right Direction
Left? Right? You might ask yourself: Where should I go after finishing a teacher training? Don’t be confused, your connections will lead you in the right direction. So, surround yourself with instructors and yogi peers to help guide you toward job opportunities!
How to Get Your First Yoga Teaching Job After Training
Before we move on, let’s have a little recap from your yoga teacher training! We hope you know that everyone was once a beginner, and you need to start somewhere. Even the guy that can stand on his hands or that girl that can do the splits were once beginners!
As yogis, we are always students. (students of life and students of our students, we are constantly learning and evolving.) Now that we’ve got this out of the way and boosted your confidence, here are the next steps to take once you’ve completed teacher training:
1. Ask the Studio Director or Talk to Your Teacher
Sometimes the studio you trained at or your teacher trainer will offer you studio work or internship opportunities if you make a good impression. Either they can add you to their sub list, hire you or simply connect you with a relevant resource (Like we do here at Pretzel Kids!)
2. Join the Social Media Bandwagon
You don’t have to be an influencer in order to be a yogi. As the Bhagavad Gita said: a true yogi is one who doesn’t let the world disturb its peace. He who is free from joy, impatience, dear and distress. He who is free.
However, as the pandemic pushed more people to take classes and teach online, social media became an amazing tool to engage and connect with like-minded people. In its latest research, Social Sprouts found that over 3.6 billion people use social media and that by 2025 the number is projected to be 4.41. So, use your favourite app wisely and find your community!
3. Start Expanding Your Network
While teaching your family is nice and valuable, it’s hard to make a living out of this. If you want to make teaching profitable, you need to put yourself out there.
We know that this has been a difficult year to socialize but online tools have made virtual yoga accessible. For example, you can stream yoga online and connect with more potential clients (even on an international level! How exciting!)
How to Start Teaching Yoga After Training
Let’s get started! You’ve just graduated from teacher training and you’re wondering how to become a yoga instructor. We’ve all gone through this confusion, so we get it. Because we understand the challenges, we decided to give you the perfect plan on how to find a studio to teach in or start teaching on your own.
5 Steps to Start Teaching After Yoga Training
Step 1: Find a Place to Teach
Of course, you can fantasize about teaching on a dreamy beach in the Caribbean.
But you can also fantasize closer to home. Not everyone’s life looks like they just came out of an Instagram photo shoot and not everyone’s goals are the same. You may want to teach yoga as a side hustle or perhaps you prefer teaching online. Think about your schedule and goals and find studios around your area. Or you can just hit us up and we will help you find you a place to teach!.
Step 2: Setup Your Studio
As Jon Kabat-Zinn said, ‘wherever you go, there you are’. Your studio is your place, your mini palace. Hence, make sure you feel comfortable in your space. Plan how you are going to structure the mats and yoga props. Would you prefer having the mats facing horizontal? Or maybe you’d rather have a mandala shape? Wherever you go, set up your studio.
Step 3: Advertise Your Services on Facebook Groups
Facebook was created for people to network. So, start using Facebook groups as a tool to network and promote your business (yes, yes, yoga is a business!) You can start here:
Or even better! Join the Pretzel Kids Facebook Community!
Step 4: Join Sub Lists
As you remember from your teacher training course, you are always a student. So that means researching studios in your neighbourhood, making phone calls, and asking whether jobs are available or if you can put yourself on a sub list.
Step 5: Join a Mentorship Program or Teacher Community
Some studios and teacher training courses offer organized programs that will put you on the highway to land your first job as a new teacher. Some of these organizations even offer job placement opportunities!
What to Expect as a Yoga Teacher
So you’re about to teach your first yoga class and you don’t know how it will go. There are a few things you should know before you teach a class or start your side hustle. Take a look below:
Expect to learn
Everybody and every body is different. You will continue to learn about yourself and about your students. So, expect to be open and learn a lot.
Expect to connect
Yoga comes from the word ‘to yog’ which means union. When you teach yoga, expect to connect with your surroundings but also with yourself.
Expect to get confused between left and right
I wish I was kidding but this is the most common mistake instructors make. It’s ok! We’re not perfect, we’re human and everyone makes mistakes. Just laugh it off ?.
Expect your personal yoga practice to change
As Sadhguru said, The moment you attach the word “Yoga,” it indicates it is a complete path by itself. Once you start teaching, your personal practice will change and evolve. Go with the flow.
Don’t expect to become vegan and drink matcha
Guess what? You don’t have to be vegan to teach yoga! Nor drink matcha. Let go of the yogi stigma and show up as yourself. Find your yoga teaching style and be authentically you.
But most importantly, expect to be surprised!
I can go on and on about my experience teaching but yoga is a path and you need to take your own path.
Where Should You Teach for Your First Yoga Job After Training?
Well, it all depends on you and your goals.
You can find a yoga studio or skilled teacher and ask to assist in classes. This way you gain hands-on experience, continue to learn from professional instructors and build your reputation.
You can also start at a gym or fitness center. These classes will give you great experience teaching a wider population and you’ll learn a lot about modifications. Community centers are also great places to start building a client base. Alternatively, you can be your own boss and teach private yoga classes.
Can I Teach Yoga in My Home?
If you chose to go the entrepreneur route and start your own private yoga business, you should absolutely consider teaching from home (just make sure you get any proper licensing from your town or municipality). This will reduce your costs as you don’t need to pay rent or own physical space to teach yoga. You can also be flexible and teach classes outside and do outdoor yoga at the beach, park or even online.
How to Teach Yoga Online
COVID-19 has taught us more than we may want to know about the wonder of virtual streaming. Online yoga classes are currently in high demand and we want to make sure you take advantage of this amazing opportunity. So if you’re interested in growing your yoga brand, attracting clients and making money, you might want to consider live streaming your yoga classes.
Is it Hard to Find a Yoga Teaching Job?
It can be difficult to find teaching gigs, but good things are worth fighting for. Also, some yoga companies are in business to help YOU get down to business and earn more money. Pretzel Kids, for example, helps you find yoga teaching jobs. Becoming a part of a kids yoga community like Pretzel Kids also means that you get access to all of the branding, networking and technology tools to start, build and grow your own very kids yoga business!
Do you want to get your first yoga job and start teaching?
No problema.
Finding your first yoga teaching job can be a tough road to navigate, at least at the beginning.
But by following the tips in this article, you’ll have all the resources you need to get started teaching yoga. Are you ready to give it a go? You’ve got this! ?
About Kim: Kim Bassan is the marketing and content intern at Pretzel Kids. She’s also a yoga teacher and a communication and publishing student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Kim is originally from Israel but moved to Canada with her family and little puppy Moana. In her free time she’s busy hiking or doing downward facing dog with Moana!
