Why Should I Become a Yoga Teacher?

As a trainer, you get to choose the method or approach you’ll use to help your clients improve or maintain their level of fitness. One option to consider is becoming a yoga teacher. Here we explain what someone in this role does, along with some of the benefits of teaching yoga. We also share several reasons you may want to take a yoga teacher training course—even if you don’t ever plan to lead a yoga class.

What a Yoga Teacher Does

A yoga teacher has a variety of responsibilities. Some are related to the physical practice of yoga while others are more spiritual or even educational.

Physically, a yoga instructor is responsible for:

• teaching clients how to get into and out of a specific yoga pose

• correcting any form or alignment issues during the yoga session

• creating a safe and effective yoga sequence that delivers the desired results (i.e., building muscle, increasing flexibility, or to combat sitting all day)

Responsibilities related to the non-physical aspects of yoga include:

• teaching clients the meditation and breathing components of yoga

• reminding class participants to be mindful during their yoga practice

• educating clients as the benefits that a regular personal practice provides

5 Benefits of Learning How to Lead a Yoga Class

Pursuing a yoga teacher role offers many benefits not just to those you teach, but to you as well. Here are five to consider.

• It’s rewarding. Research connects yoga with improved fitness and mental states, even promoting cognitive abilities. It can be incredibly rewarding to help others experience these positive results. For many instructors, this is one of the major highlights of teaching a yoga practice.   

• It creates another stream of income. Adding yoga to your list of offerings provides another revenue stream. If demand for some of your other services declines, you can make up for the loss as a yoga teacher. Or you can use your role as an instructor to add to your current income, taking your earnings to a higher level.  

• It strengthens your knowledge and understanding of yoga. If you want to learn more about a particular area of fitness, learn how to teach it. Through your yoga teacher training, you’ll increase your knowledge of what this practice is, how it came about, and more. You’ll be exposed to yoga philosophy and anatomy, what each pose does, and other topics important to the yoga community.

• You get to meet new, like-minded people. Another benefit of being a yoga instructor is that you get to meet people who are similar to you. You’re able to bond with others who share your passion for yoga. You also get to meet other instructors, widening your network of professional connections.

• It pushes you outside your comfort zone. If the idea of teaching yoga scares you, taking the step to lead a class helps take you outside your comfort zone. Doing things that make you feel uncomfortable leads to personal and professional growth. It helps give you confidence and reminds you that you can do amazing things when you are willing to push your boundaries.

Why Should I Become a Yoga Teacher If I Don’t Plan to Teach?

Realistically, if you are driven to offer yoga training, you don’t need a list of reasons to convince you that this is a good idea. You simply can’t imagine a life in which you aren’t a yoga teacher. That makes pursuing a training program reason enough.

But what if you don’t have a strong desire to walk with clients on their yoga journey? Or what if you’ve never practiced yoga yourself, have never owned a yoga mat, and couldn’t tell the difference between power yoga and yoga Nidra?

Pursuing yoga teacher training even when you have no intention to teach it to others still offers some advantages, such as:

• It improves your physical health. Just as yoga offers health benefits to your clients, it also does the same for you. During your training course, you’ll learn more about these benefits. You’ll also learn which poses can improve strength and which are good for stretching and flexibility. Implementing them into your own workout routine helps enhance your physical health and performance.

• You feel better mentally. Studiesconnect yoga with lower stress, better mood, and even improvements in attention and memory. If you’d like all of these things in your life, learning how to practice yoga is the first step. And what better place to learn how to do this than yoga instructor training?

• It can enhance your relationships. When you feel good physically and mentally, it’s easier to build stronger relationships with others. You have more patience and tolerance, which is helpful when resolving differences or facing difficulties. You also have a sense of peace that others want to be around.

• It makes you a better teacher or coach, in general. You may learn a few things in your yoga teacher training program that you can apply to your current training programs, making you a better coach. For instance, there are entire sections on yoga instruction and cueing. You might get some ideas as to how to apply those same directions to other fitness methods.

• It helps you as a yoga practitioner. If you practice yoga, learning how to teach it can help your personal practice. You might find that you’ve been doing a particular pose incorrectly, for instance. Or you may learn a new style of yoga that you’d like to try. A teacher training program also covers how to create a yoga sequence. This can be helpful if you do it at home versus taking classes at a yoga studio, where the sequence is created for you.

• It deepens your passion for the yoga practice. Maybe you have a passion for yoga but no desire to teach the practice to others. Taking a teacher training course can help strengthen your love for it. The more you understand how the practice developed, the more you can appreciate what yoga offers. 

How to Become a Yoga Instructor

If you’re interested in teaching yoga, the first step is to complete a training course. Even if you’ve been practicing for years, teaching yoga to others requires certain knowledge and skills. You can gain both by pursuing teacher training. 

In a yoga teacher training program, you will generally learn:

• anatomy (bones, joints, and soft tissues) and the numerous bodily systems

• the history of yoga, including learning about koshas and chakras

• the many yoga styles (prenatal yoga, restorative yoga, etc.)

• the different styles of meditation, and how to teach meditation to others

• the parts of the breath in yoga and various breathing techniques

• principles of teaching, cueing, and sequencing

• how to break down yoga poses and proper pose form

• how to market yourself as a yoga teacher

It’s also important to obtain your CPR certification if you want to become a yoga teacher. This way, if someone in your class suffers a medical emergency, you’ll know how to respond. If you plan to work at a yoga school or studio, being certified in CPR will likely be required.

Yoga Teacher Training and Certification

When pursuing teacher training, choosing a program that offers yoga certification offers many advantages. As a certified yoga teacher, potential clients have a certain peace of mind that you can lead them safely through a yoga workout. It also tells them that you can supply the results that you say your class delivers.

Being a certified yoga instructor gives you a competitive advantage as well. Imagine that you’re a client looking to develop a yoga practice. After doing your research, you have two options. One class is led by a certified yoga teacher, the other is not. Which one will you likely choose? The one taught by someone with this advanced designation.

If you’re ready to get started, ISSA’s Yoga 200 teacher training program is one way to learn how to teach this practice while also earning your yoga teacher certification. This course is certified with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga School (RYS). This means that you’ll be eligible to apply as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) upon its completion.

References

1. Telles, S., Sharma, S. K., Chetry, D., & Balkrishna, A. (2021). Benefits and adverse effects associated with yoga practice: A cross-sectional survey from India. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 57, 102644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2020.102644 

2. Pascoe, M.C., J. de Manincor, M., Hallgren, M. et al. Psychobiological Mechanisms Underlying the Mental Health Benefits of Yoga-Based Interventions: a Narrative Review. Mindfulness 12, 2877–2889 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01736-z