Becoming a Yoga Teacher in Demand
While yoga continues to grow in popularity across the country, the number of certified yoga teachers also grows. But you are not too late to jump on the bandwagon, as the 20-plus million Americans practicing yoga will attest. There is always room for someone who is in the process of becoming a yoga teacher in demand.
Being a successful yoga instructor means you are fostering respect, enthusiasm, and loyalty. If you’re in demand, students are waiting to get into your classes, and you are supporting yourself financially by sharing the practice you love.
There may be as many as 70,000 certified yoga teachers in the country, according to one study, but that includes all levels of experience and success. There are more on their way to becoming a yoga teacher. Still, the yoga instructors making a living solely from their teaching are far fewer. With the right training — such as what you’ll receive at the Asheville Yoga Center — and the right mix of talent and marketing, you can join them.
Start on the Right Path
When you first consider becoming a yoga teacher, do your homework. Find the programs near you (or near where you want to be) or the programs that offer the best mix of instruction and hands-on exercises. Find out all you can about the programs before you contact them. Get the curriculum and the required reading list. Look into the backgrounds of their instructors. Asheville Yoga Center, for example, offers multiple programs to fit the needs of its students. It also features excellent instructors for a range of topics from different yoga traditions. And they explore the philosophies behind the asanas. You can get a well-rounded education there.
More Tips
To get to be successful as a yoga instructor, though, you need more than training and experience. Here are some tips to help you move from a yoga teacher to a yoga teacher in demand:
• Consider why people take yoga classes. As yoga goes mainstream, Americans are using the practice to find inner strength, inner balance, and harmony in their lives. If you can deliver on all these fronts, you will build a devoted following.
• Befriend other yoga teachers. You can learn a lot even after you become a certified yoga instructor. Find out what other teachers are doing and emulate them if it resonates with you. Teaching yoga isn’t a cutthroat business. While you may find a rotten apple in the bunch, most are sweet and nurturing.
• Keep up your own practice. When you thought about becoming a yoga teacher, you practiced often, exploring the asanas and your own body reactions. Don’t stop now; in fact, you should intensify your own practice if you want to achieve success as a yoga instructor.
• Have a plan for each class, but be prepared to change it if necessary. Students know if you’re not prepared, but they also respect a teacher who can deviate from the prepared plan to delve into a specific pose in more detail. You can do this with a solid foundation.
