Top 6 Benefits of Becoming a Yoga Teacher

If you love practicing yoga, you have probably considered becoming an instructor. Many people go from passionate practitioners to professional instructors. With the right credential, you can teach yoga part time without quitting your regular job. Another option is to go all the way and become a full-time yoga teacher. 

There are many good reasons to choose this career path, many of them personal. Whichever reasons are pushing you toward teaching yoga, these are some of the benefits you can look forward to experiencing. 

Benefits of Becoming a Yoga Teacher

Anyone who decides to become a certified yoga teacher will follow their own unique path, but these benefits are common to most people who opt for a career teaching yoga. You will undoubtedly find your own benefits as you begin training as a yoga instructor. 

1. Make Money Doing What You Love

This is the most obvious benefit of yoga teaching. As the saying goes, do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. While this isn’t totally true, working is certainly more enjoyable when it involves something you like, are passionate about, or feel is meaningful and brings good into the world. 

You practice yoga regularly and have made it a significant part of your life. As a yoga teacher, you will have the privilege of leading others in the practice while earning an income. Too many people do jobs simply to make money and get little or no enjoyment out of them. Working at something you love is enjoyable and rewarding and improves overall satisfaction with your life. 

2. Find Meaning in Helping Others

People who find meaning in their work are generally happier. Specifically, they are happier in their jobs, which is important, since we all spend a significant amount of time during our lives at work. Many different types of work can be meaningful, including teaching yoga. 

Yoga can bring meaning into your life as a personal practice, but teaching it to others involves a deeper level of purpose. It’s more than just leading a yoga class. Helping others get the benefits of yoga can be incredibly rewarding. Instructors use their time and expertise to help clients and yoga students enjoy better physical health, less pain, and improved mental and emotional health. 

Teaching yoga can be a great career, but there are downsides to consider as well. Check out these pros and cons of working as a yoga instructor. 

3. Escape the 9-to-5 Desk Job

If you currently work a typical office job, you probably use yoga as a way to relieve the physical and mental pressures of the workday. What if you could escape the office and desk altogether? Working part time in yoga can help you get away from more traditional work to some extent. With a full-time role as an instructor, you can escape the daily grind entirely. 

Compared to a more traditional job, working as a yoga teacher allows you to move more and work more flexible hours. You can schedule classes and lessons when you want or even work more or less each week depending on your needs. Yoga instruction promotes an overall healthier lifestyle. This isn’t to say that working as a yoga teacher doesn’t have its own difficulties, but if you’re tired of your office or desk job, these new challenges can be refreshing and exciting. 

4. Supplement Your Income

Many people who get into yoga teaching aren’t ready to dive all the way in. Quitting your day job for the uncertainty of a full-time yoga career isn’t necessarily the right decision. If that seems too risky, you can still work as a part-time instructor. Teaching a few classes a week is a great way to earn more money while doing something you love. 

If you eventually decide to work in yoga full time, you have a lot of options. As an independent instructor, you can set your own schedule and rates and earn as much income as you want. 

Here are some expert tips for earning money as a yoga instructor. 

5. Deepen Your Personal Yoga Practice

Here’s a secret all teachers of any subject know: teaching is one of the most effective ways to learn. It might seem counterintuitive, but when you teach or explain something to others, it deepens your own comprehension of the subject. Yes, you need to know the basics to instruct others, but as you teach your personal understanding expands, grows, and becomes more comprehensive. 

If you love yoga now, teaching it will only deepen your appreciation of it and expand your yoga journey. Instructing others will improve your personal practice and make it more meaningful and effective. This isn’t typically a top reason people become teachers, but it’s a great side effect.  

6. Join a Community of Like-Minded Professionals

If you practice yoga, you’re already part of a community of people who value wellness and a healthy lifestyle. As a certified yoga instructor, you’ll reach another level of the yoga community that is even more passionate about and committed to these values. 

Connecting with this larger community of people who have dedicated their professional and personal lives to yoga can help you in several ways. Learn from more experienced instructors, share what you’ve learned, and simply enjoy being around and communicating with people who understand and can support you. 

How Do You Become a Yoga Instructor? 

Yoga and fitness careers are not regulated by the government, which means that there are no official licensing or certification requirements. The yoga industry regulates itself by demanding standards for instructors and schools. 

The Yoga Alliance (YA) is the premier organization for approving yoga teacher training programs. The best way to become an instructor is to complete a YA-approved yoga teacher training course. The entry-level option is a YA-approved 200-hour course. 

Many of these certification courses are available online, which makes it more convenient and cost-effective for most students. In-person courses are available as well. These tend to be more expensive and also require you to be available at specific times. 

Once you have completed a course and earned a certificate, you can begin working as an instructor. You can pick up a few yoga classes a week at a gym or studio or start your own small business as an independent yoga teacher.

What if I’m Not Sure About Actually Teaching Yoga? 

Teaching yoga isn’t for everyone, including some people with extensive experience and a passion for the practice of yoga. Many people assume that if they are good at yoga and enjoy it that the next step is to teach others. 

If you plan to complete a yoga instructor training course but aren’t so sure about the teaching part, that’s ok. You may or may not work as an instructor, but as a student of yoga, you will definitely get something out of the course: 

• A deeper understanding of the yoga philosophy, history, and practice

• An improved personal practice and better understanding of form in asanas, how to meditate, and breathing exercises

• A new community of like-minded, passionate yoga practitioners and friends

• A boost to a yoga practice that might be flagging or growing stagnant

You don’t have to become a yoga teacher to benefit from a yoga teacher training program. If you’re on the fence about teaching, go for it anyway. You’ll enjoy the course, get value from it, and have a credential if you do choose to become an instructor. 

Ready to Enroll in a Yoga Teacher Training Course?

Whatever your reasons are for completing a yoga instructor course, check out the ISSA Yoga & Wellness Academy’s Yoga Alliance-approved 200-hour teacher training program. Recognized and approved by the Yoga Alliance, this course provides everything you need to get started as a teacher or to deepen your own personal yoga practice.