How to build a sustainable career as a yoga teacher and avoid burnout - 10 great tips!
By Ashley Ahrens
Have you been wondering if it’s possible to teach yoga full-time? Before I dive into the HOW TO DO IT… I will let you know the good news…IT COMPLETELY IS!
I’ve heard so many new teachers become down on this, saying it’s not possible, and thereby lose their self-confidence and quit or stop trying.
The hard truth is: you are going to need to be patient and put in some very hard work and continue to be persistent even after facing many rejections (because there will be many). Yes it is possible to teach full time, and if you’re not scared of putting yourself out there and doing some work that won’t always be rewarding - you will make it happen!
You’ve completed your 200 Hour Teacher Training and want to teach? Don’t quit your day job just yet:
Transition to teaching yoga full time is not going to happen over night. You need to keep in mind that as a yoga teacher, you are self employed and need to create your own work. You are not applying for one job at one studio and suddenly going to be teaching full time. If you have your hopes set up this high, then they will very easily crumble down. If we are realistic, we won’t set the bar super high to begin with (teaching full time at all your favourite studios) and can allow ourself to instead ease into teaching and use this time to really learn who you are, find your voice and learn about the new industry that you’ve become an entrepreneur in.
Reframe how you’re thinking about finishing your teacher training like this:
Yes, you are a qualified teacher, in that you can get insurance to teach yoga, but you still need to develop experience, expertise, a network, create a business and find out who you are as a teacher. These things take years to develop, and if you remind yourself of this fact, then you will be more open to easing into teaching yoga slowly with the understanding that you are new.
Yes the market is very competitive, BUT:
If you find out who you like to teach (ideal students) and create expertise in an area, it will be easier to build career longevity. Loads of teachers do so many trainings and think that they can get more work by teaching every different type of yoga. This may work for classes and finding work in the immediate future, BUT it’s then unclear to students what you teach and you won’t really be “known” for anything specific. If you specialise in something specific, over time you will be know as the go-to person for that - with consistent teaching and marketing - to build your reputation.
I teach yoga full time and have for years. I did not start out as a full time teacher rest assured! It took me about 2 years after I first moved to London before I was teaching full time. I even have a reoccurring date in my calendar that says “anniversary of teaching in London” because I am so proud that I was able to achieve my dream of teaching full time. It took a TON of work to get there.
Here are some things that I’ve tried and tested, and have worked for me, and suggestions I have for you to avoid just teaching too many classes for not enough pay, and actually create a sustainable long term career:
1.Be reliable:
I was absolutely shocked to see how unreliable so many teachers were when I moved here, especially since I found it so hard to get a regular yoga class or receive a response from a studio upon application!! Why were the teachers being flaky and arranging so much cover for their classes or not turning up to teach? I gained a lot of respect with management everywhere I worked for being reliable and I am known for showing up on time and committing to teach the classes that I said I would. Maybe that’s the Capricorn in me?? Anyways - it’s not that much to ask in my opinion - if you show up and display your eagerness to teach, and your reliability - you will stick in managers minds (or whoever decides to give classes), your reputation is important and staff at your studios and gyms remember.
2. If you are offered a class and don’t really want the time slot - don’t take it:
for the reason above. Be reliable, if you’re hesitating about a class time, chances are you may get the class covered a bunch (example: working every Saturday and Sunday - work one not both), or agree to take it on and quickly give it up. Managers remember this when they have new classes come up - who has shown up consistently? Students also remember: they want consistency in their teachers and if you want to build up consistent class numbers - you need to be there, or they’ll leave too!
3. Get on ALL the cover lists:
You want work in the near future? Be a cover teacher! There is so much yoga cover work out there it is overwhelming!! The caveat? You have to be on the cover list to be able to cover at each individual studio. Reach out to everyone, and if they don’t reply to you, email again, and again…….they are usually busy with so many emails from new teachers. How do you stick out? Emailing more than once, following up…this could be over years! There is one studio I emailed for 4 years before they agreed to bring me on board, and by that time they just put me on the cover list without an audition. Approach gyms, clubs and fitness centres too - they usually have a TON of classes. Read our blog on Become the go-to substitute yoga teacher everyone asks to cover their classes
4. Figure out how many classes you can teach per week, and be honest with yourself:
You need at least one rest day (2 if possible, but hey….even I’m still working on that one). Saturday is my rest day and I do not cover or accept new classes under any circumstances. If you teach every day you will burn out, and weeks start to blend into each other. Your teaching will also be affected negatively and you’ll start to feel like a robot like you’re just saying words with no meaning anymore. You need to rest your body, and your voice and have a social life to recharge and maintain your sanity. Figure out how many classes you can teach per day as well - everyone is different on this one. I remember being so tired after a couple classes when I first started, and you may as well - when you’re new you have a ton to think about - what you’re teaching, what you’re saying, how to project your voice, who you’re teaching, how to modify for all the people who need more guidance, your music, your demo-ing and spatial awareness - it’s a lot to take in and it makes you mentally exhausted quite quickly. This does go away after many years of experience. I can now teach 4 classes a day with no problems, I couldn’t do that in the beginning without feeling sick. Find out the number of classes per day/week you can comfortably teach, and STICK TO THAT.
5. Don’t rely just on classes - or you’ll be exhausted before you know it:
Find work outside of studios. Do you currently have an office job? Do your family members or friends work for big companies? Ask them if their Human Resources would like to put on weekly yoga classes for the employees. Yoga is widely becoming popular and demanded in the corporate environment. It helps people break up their workday, move their body, improve their cognition, reduce stress and sick days and just feel good! Companies are recognising this and are hiring in-house yoga teachers. Use your network and ask around. Companies usually don’t know much about yoga and don’t really mind about the type you teach or your experience level. You can also charge a premium for these services because they have budgets set aside for employee well-being and events. £80-150 per session is the norm in London. Don’t sell yourself short - I heard a story of someone teaching corporate yoga for Google and charging £30 and thinking that it would be good for their yoga CV (it won’t help your CV much and you’re selling yourself extremely short to one of the highest valued companies in the world). Please don’t do this - it devalues yoga teaching in the corporate environment!
6. Teach Private lessons:
Also another premium offering for you, alongside corporates. Let people know in your regular classes that you offer other services - to check out your website or social media and keep in touch. Regular students will trust you to give them private lessons over other teachers, they may want a 1 on 1 to improve their knowledge of something specific, or maybe a recurring private class because they prefer it that way? How do you get privates? By reminding people that you offer them, because no students don’t know, and yes, they may want one if they know you offer them. You don’t have to say it in a sales-y or cringe-y way, just mention in here and there and put it on your website (you have a website don’t you…..?!)
7. Organize an online event:
Online day retreats, online courses, online workshops etc….there is literally no risk because you don’t have to hire an expensive venue! You can also get really creative here and teach something really special to you or designed especially for your students! You can charge them less than you would if the event was in house, and you get all the profits, so it’s a win-win for all parties. Even if like 2 people sign up - it’s a start, and will give you practice teaching something other than a class. We all have to start somewhere! I’ve had workshops with only a few people in them - keep teaching, we all need to start somewhere and slowly build up our classes and students!
8. Create an online channel for monthly subscriptions to your yoga videos:
This is something you can develop over the long term - make a collection of prerecorded videos that people can purchase for a ‘rental’ or monthly subscription to all your videos. You never really know where this could lead, there are billions of people in the world and there really is no ceiling to online growth!
9. Teach Workshops:
Workshops are a great way to earn extra, and also to dive deep into a subject and develop your expertise! They can be intimidating at first, because you are the expert, not teaching a class, but explaining a topic in much further detail with a bunch of eyes on you - but we all need to learn how to do this and practice makes perfect. Jump in! Teach something you are confident in teaching - a workshop on Chaturanga perhaps? Think about your students most common questions and design workshops around those! It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, and as you agin experience teaching in this format, and develop your area of expertise, your workshop topics will evolve. This is a big thing for career longevity and to reduce the number of weekly classes you teach.
10. Put your live workshop recordings online for on-demand purchase:
A great way to charge a premium and still be able to teach the students who couldn’t make the original time. You can build a library of these over time, and maybe develop a workshop series eventually that you sell at a much higher cost (this one is also for career longevity!) Think about all your teachings as intellectual property, and how you can repurpose it to save yourself time in teaching the same thing repeatedly!