5 Tips for new yoga teachers

Written by: Lauren Munday

Starting out teaching yoga can be both exciting and scary at the same time. If you’re just starting out on your teaching journey and in need of some guidance check out our 5 tips for new yoga teachers

Maintain Your Personal Practice

When you start teaching you’re probably want to take every class you get offered, which if your not careful could leave you running all over town and feeling exhausted with little time for your own practice. If we consider that love for our yoga practice was the reason we became yoga teachers in the first place, this doesn’t make sense at all and probably isn’t the best idea if we want to avoid yoga teacher burnout.

On top of that, being a good teacher comes from the experience we gain in our personal yoga practice. Before we can teach something we have to truly embody it, and that applies to both asana and yoga philosophy. It doesn’t mean we need to be able to do “advanced” asanas to be good teachers, but we do have to come from a place of knowing how something feels in our bodies and a lived experience of incorporating yoga philosophy into our lives. That’s why it’s vital to have a solid few years of practice behind us before we embark on teaching and why it’s essential to continue with our yoga practice and not let it slip.

When organising your timetable be sure to include time for your own practice. This will help you avoid burnout and ensure you continue with your own self-study (Svadhyaya).

Start Teaching

We don’t all start out as great teachers. Often when we start out our confidence can be low and we might feel like we aren’t doing a good job. Remember no one ever does anything perfectly, especially when they first start out. 

Teaching is a skill that grows with experience so it’s important to get out there and practice.

When you first start teaching keep it simple, stick to what you feel confident with (hint: that’s often your own practice) and surround yourself with a support network who you can go to with questions.  

You don’t have to have all the answers

One of my biggest fears as a new teacher was someone would ask me a question I couldn’t answer and I’d be exposed as a fraud. Obviously, it’s impossible to have all the answers, and thinking you do is a problem in itself. 

Be honest and try to view not knowing as an opportunity to learn something new rather than something to be afraid of.  

Much of what we learn comes from watching our students practice. Often if a student has a question about their practice we can work out the answer together by making suggestions and trying different things. 

Students know their bodies much better than we ever can so it’s important to listen to what they say. We can use our knowledge and experience to make suggestions and allow space for feedback rather than impose our ideas onto our students

Finally, be sure to stick within your scope of practice. For example, if you haven’t been trained to teach something like pregnancy yoga, or trauma-informed yoga then don’t offer to until you’ve done the relevant training and even if students ask you, try to avoid giving advice about nutrition or physiotherapy unless you have the relevant qualification.

Surround yourself with community

Once you get out there and start teaching questions will come up all the time. That’s why it’s so important to surround yourself with a strong community that’s committed to continuously learning. Rather than viewing other teachers as competition, think of them as your support network and a place you can go when you need someone to talk to.

When you’re new to teaching maintain a relationship with a more experienced teacher so you have someone to ask when you're unsure of something, and set up a peer support group with other newly qualified teachers so you can discuss your experiences.

Be yourself, be confident in your ability, yet humble

I remember when I first started teaching I was so nervous I’d literally memorise all the cues I was going to give for each asana. I imagine now that must have come across as very wooden and scripted. Often the temptation when we start to teach can be to sound exactly like our own teacher or to do what I did and memorise what we’re going to say in advance.

It’s important to remember that students have come to our class because they want to practise with us. We might not have loads of teaching experience but we still have something to offer. That’s why it’s so important to teach from our own experience so we can do so authentically and with time find our own voice. When our students sense we’re being authentic it will be much easier for them to connect and engage with us. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but as my teacher says it has to come from a place of love!

If you found this post helpful, or you have any other tips for new yoga teachers, share them in the comments section.