Tips for Becoming a Yoga Instructor with No Experience

You can have a great career teaching yoga. But some people interested in becoming a yoga instructor don’t take this next step because they have no experience. Here’s the good news: having no yoga teaching experience doesn’t have to stop you from your dream of leading a yoga class.

Why You Don’t Always Need Experience to Become a Yoga Instructor

While teaching experience might be helpful, it isn’t always required to provide yoga instruction. One exception is if you want to work at a yoga studio. Depending on the studio, they may only hire instructors with a certain amount of teaching experience. Otherwise, you can often gain experience as you go.

The most critical component of being a yoga teacher is passion. As long as you are passionate about a yoga practice, your students may be willing to overlook the fact that you’re new to the yoga instructor role. Of course, you still need to be able to provide a safe, effective yoga class. But as long as you can do that, a lack of experience isn’t always a deal breaker.

Tips for Becoming a Yoga Instructor with No Experience

How can new yoga teachers get started with no real experience? Here are a few options to consider.

Develop a Regular Yoga Practice 

Having a consistent personal practice helps you understand what a student might experience in your class. It also helps prepare you for some of the questions or challenges you might face. You might have trouble getting into a particular pose, for example. Knowing this in advance enables you to provide the appropriate cues so your students don’t struggle with the same.

Another benefit of having a regular yoga practice is it gives you the opportunity to find your preferred yoga style. You might learn that you enjoy Kundalini yoga most, that Ashtanga yoga is more your style, or that you like the meditative aspects of Yoga Nidra. Teaching that same style is a good way to combine your career with your passion.

Practice Teaching an Imaginary Yoga Student

How do you gain experience if you’ve never led a yoga class? By teaching yoga to imaginary students. Pretend as if you’re in front of a group of excited practitioners. Lead the imaginary class through your sequence, giving verbal cues as you go.

Taking this approach helps you develop your teaching style. It also enables you to learn how to teach without having a class of students in front of you. If you mess up, no one will know.

Lead a Class of Family and Friends

If the idea of leading an imaginary class feels too out of the box, have some family members or a group of friends over and lead them. Record a video of your session so you can see how you interact with them. Also, pay attention to their responses. Notice whether your teaching methods are helpful or if they may need to be fine-tuned.

A benefit of leading family and friends through a yoga class is that it gives you practice with people you trust. This can feel less stressful than getting in front of a bunch of strangers for your first session as a yoga instructor.

Volunteer to Teach a Yoga Class for Free

You can also gain experience teaching yoga by volunteering your services. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce and offer a free class for all area business owners. (The U.S. Chamber of Commerce offers an online national directory you can use to find your local chamber.) Or you might offer a free class for members of your church or another organization that you’re part of.

It might seem counterproductive to teach a free class when you’re trying to make a living as a new yoga instructor, but it’s not. In addition to gaining experience, if your students enjoy your class, they’re likely to stick with you once you begin charging for your services.

Connect with Local Yoga Teachers

It’s often said that it’s not what you know but who you know that matters. When working to become a yoga instructor, it can be helpful to network with other yoga teachers. That way, if a new teaching position opens up, they’ll think of you first and let you know.

Connecting with other yoga teachers is also a good way to learn “tricks of the trade.” Ask them what they wish they’d known when they started as a new yoga instructor. Learn from their mistakes so you don’t have to make them yourself.

Start Your Own Business

If you can’t find a yoga studio that will hire you without experience, another option is to start your own business. This may involve opening a yoga studio, or you could become a yoga instructor online.

The benefit of this option is that you don’t have to wait to gain experience before leading a yoga class. You also have full control over what your class looks like, yoga style, and more. That makes this a good choice for new instructors with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Take a Yoga Teacher Training Course

If you don’t have experience teaching, taking a yoga teacher training program is another good next step. Completing yoga teacher training helps add credibility to your expertise, even if you don’t have the experience to back you up. It can also boost your confidence, which is incredibly helpful if you need that extra push.

Things you learn in a yoga teacher training course include:

• the history of yoga and how it’s changed over the years

• differences between traditional yoga and Western yoga

• the yoga philosophy, including Yoga Sutra verses and the 7 chakras

• physical and mental health benefits of a regular yoga practice

• human anatomy (all three types) and physiology, and how the body responds to yoga 

• effective ways to break down a yoga pose when teaching it to others

• how to modify poses based on a student’s movement limitations

• ways to create a safe yoga sequence

• important components of a successful yoga business

Benefits of Yoga Instructor Training

If teacher training isn’t required, you may wonder if it’s worth it to enroll. The answer is yes. Yoga training can help better prepare you for an instructor role. And many yoga teachers use this type of training to develop a solid foundation for their future classes.

A yoga teacher training program has an additional benefit: yoga teacher certification. Being a certified yoga teacher tells potential students that you know what you’re doing. It can also help you stand out from more experienced instructors who lack this designation. 

If you want to work for a studio that requires certification, completing a yoga teacher training course can even help you get your first job teaching yoga. It enables you to meet the minimum necessary qualifications.

What Makes a Good Yoga Teacher Training Program?

With different yoga teacher training programs available, it’s important to do your due diligence. The last thing you want is to take a training program only to find out that it doesn’t help you land a yoga instructor position.

To keep this from happening to you, here are a few things to look for:

• An accredited school. Check to see if the yoga teacher training is approved by the Yoga Alliance. If it is, it will be labeled as a Registered Yoga School (RYS). A Yoga Alliance-approved program may also make reference to preparing you to become a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). 

• Yoga instructor certification. A certification program has to meet minimum educational requirements. This helps ensure that you receive a higher level of yoga education. If the program you want doesn’t end with yoga certification, you may want to keep looking.

• Style of yoga taught. While this isn’t an indicator of program quality, it’s still an important factor to consider. The style of yoga the program teaches should align with the type of yoga class you want to teach. If you want to teach childrens yoga, for instance, you want a program that provides kids yoga teacher training.

If you’re interested in online yoga teacher training, ISSA Yoga & Wellness Academy offers a Yoga 200 course. This yoga teacher training course is approved by the Yoga Alliance and teaches you how to lead Hatha and Vinyasa yoga classes.