Wondering what makes a good yoga teacher and how you can become one? In this article we will cover this topic in detail, breaking down key traits that can make you stand out among employers and class attendees. We’ll also offer some steps you can take to boost your skills and deliver an exceptional experience for your students.
Table of Contents:
8 Key Skills For A Good Yoga Teacher
#1 – Effective Communication
Good communication skills are essential if you want to become a successful yoga teacher. They will help you with a range of core aspects of your teaching practice, including:
- Communicating with students. You’ll need to be able to clearly communicate with your students during your classes so that they can understand your instructions and take part in the class safely. If your students don’t quite grasp what you’re trying to tell them, they’ll get frustrated and the chances of them coming back to your studio will be pretty slim.
- Marketing your business. Being able to communicate well is the perfect complement to a good yoga marketing strategy. You’ll need to have the ability to reach out to new people, network with other professionals, and deal with any enquiries in a professional manner. Good communication skills will really help you to sell your services to new students.
- Listening to feedback. Don’t forget that communication isn’t just about the way that you speak to people – listening to your students is just as important. Listening to your students really helps you to get to know them, the style of teaching they like, and their goals. This will help you to be the best possible yoga teacher to that student, allowing them to enjoy your classes and retaining their custom.
#2 – Patience
Patience is a quality that any good teacher should possess. Fortunately, as a yoga teacher, patience is something that comes quite naturally to you. After all, slowing down and achieving patience is one of the most rewarding things about practising yoga.
In every class you teach, you’ll find students of all different levels. Even in your advanced classes, you’ll have students who struggle to keep up. As with a lot of things in life, there is no one size fits all solution to teaching and practicing yoga, and you can’t expect everybody to pick things up first time.
So, you’ll have to be prepared to face the same problems over and over again, make a lot of the same corrections, and answer a lot of the same questions from time to time.
This is just part and parcel of the role of a yoga instructor. If you want to be successful in this role, you’ll need to learn to be patient with your students, continuing to persevere even if you get tempted to give up!
#3 – Approachability
If you want to be successful both in the studio and in a business sense, being approachable is really important. Students, potential students, and other yoga professionals all need to feel comfortable approaching you, talking to you, and generally engaging with you.
The number one barrier that gets in the way of people taking up a new hobby, especially an exercise-based one, is that they feel intimidated by the thought of taking that first step into the studio.
By presenting yourself as somebody who is friendly and easy to talk to, you’ll make new clients feel much more at ease when first coming to your class. And once they’re your students, being approachable will allow you to create the kind of relationships with your students that will keep them coming back to your classes.
The more your students feel like they can come to you, speak honestly, and ask questions, the greater value they will place on you as a teacher, creating loyalty and high levels of retention.
#4 – Flexibility
As a yoga teacher, you’re definitely familiar with the word flexibility. But in this instance, we aren’t talking about how well you can hold one of our favourite yoga poses for two.
We’re talking about your ability to be flexible as a professional, your ability to think on your feet and solve any problems that might come your way.
This kind of flexibility is essential for a successful career in the health and fitness industry in general, but especially for yoga professionals.
Things can change pretty quickly – you could show up to a 1-1 class and find your client has injured themselves, throwing your entire plan out of the window. Or the student could cancel, leaving you with an hour of wasted time that should be spent working.
If you don’t have the ability to think up a new class to teach that student, or quickly find a productive way to fill that time, you’ll struggle to be successful in this job.
#5 – Passion
A career as a yoga teacher can be really rewarding. But if you don’t have a passion for the practice, you’ll soon get tired of teaching back-to-back classes and spending hours working behind the scenes to keep your business running.
Being passionate doesn’t just help you to keep your business running and enjoy your job, it has benefits for your students, too.
It makes sense, really – if you want your students to find their love for yoga, then it helps that you, as their teacher, lead by example.
Your passion and ability to convey your love and respect for the practice of yoga across to your students will inspire your students to really enjoy the practice for themselves, adding to their overall experience.
And don’t forget, the better their experience, the more they will view you as a good yoga teacher! This keeps them coming back to your business, so it comes full circle.
#6 – Knowledge
It goes without saying that if you want to be a good yoga teacher, you’ll need to have some kind of knowledge on the subject.
As confident as you might be in your self-taught knowledge of the history of pilates or yoga, you’ll need at least a Level 3 qualification if you want to make the cut as a yoga teacher.
A Level 3 Yoga Teacher qualification will provide you with all of the knowledge about planning to teach yoga classes for a range of students of varying ages, abilities, and levels of fitness.
Holding this level of qualification will allow you to run a reputable business and provide the best possible service to your students.
Plus, holding a regulated qualification is an essential requirement of yoga insurance providers – something that you should definitely look into!
#7 – Punctuality
This one is true of any job, but it’s especially important as a yoga teacher.
As the person holding a class or organising a yoga retreat, you need to be the first person there and the last to leave.
Being punctual will allow you to stick to your schedule for the whole day. What might only be 5 minutes in the morning can have a knock-on for every other class for the rest of the day, and it can cause a huge inconvenience to your students – which is the last thing you want to do!
Any good yoga teacher should always be ready at least 5 minutes before the class is expected to start. You want your students to be confident that you’re reliable, so being punctual is absolutely essential.
Some of the best yoga studios take this time to set up yoga blocks, mats, and any other yoga kit or equipment that might be needed during the class, which really helps with student satisfaction.
#8 – Organisation
If you want to know how to be a better yoga teacher, one word of advice is to always plan your classes in advance!
Taking the time to get prepared for your classes, creating a plan, and really thinking about what you want yourself and your students to achieve will make your class run a lot more smoothly and allow you to provide better service overall.
The need to be organised is especially important for a yoga teacher as a lot of people in this industry are working as freelancers or even running their own business.
Once you become a yoga teacher, you’ll be responsible for organising your own working schedule, scheduling classes, and managing your enquiries.
There’s also a lot of work that goes into running your own business, from registering your business, to filing your tax return, paying bills – unfortunately, the list goes on.
No matter how much you love working as a yoga professional, we all only have 24 hours in a day, and we all need to take a break every now and then!
Getting organised not only makes sure you get stuff done, but it also stops you from getting overwhelmed once work has piled up.
How To Be A Better Yoga Teacher
#1 – Expand Your Qualifications
The best way to market yourself as the best yoga business among your competitors is to have the qualifications to back up your claims!
That means completing CPD (continuing professional development) courses, getting a Level 4 Yoga Qualification, or even branching out into a different specialisation.
This could be something small like studying a Fitness Business CPD to learn the best way to run your business, including key skills like sales, marketing, and the best way to build a good rapport with clients.
Or if you really want to commit to being a great yoga teacher, you could even branch out into a similar profession in the health and fitness industry.
For instance, you could study a Level 4 Advanced Nutrition Course and learn about meal planning, and get the necessary qualifications to give your students nutritional support too.
#2 – Attend Workshops & Seminars
Yoga seminars are hosted by specialised professionals who give talks about the profession, and share their advice on how to improve your skills as a yoga instructor.
They’re typically very affordable, and the benefits of attending are definitely worth the price you pay. These kinds of events are a great way to expand your knowledge, keep up to date with the latest trends, and network with other yoga teachers – all of which will benefit your career!
And if you don’t have the time to travel to physically attend a seminar, or you don’t have the spare cash to spend on travelling to and from seminars, webinars are a brilliant alternative.
Webinars remove all the barriers associated with location, meaning you can get to hear from your favourite yoga professional even if they’re based on the other side of the world.
#3 – Diversify Your Offering
Yoga is one branch of many related practices all connected to health, wellbeing and spirituality. So why not take advantage of that?
By branching out in terms of what you offer, for example by pursuing related disciplines like pilates or mindfulness, you could create a diverse space that offers complimentary services to your yoga class.
This is hugely beneficial if you want to grow your brand and maximise your income, but also gain some transferable skills that will improve the overall experience of your yoga classes.
It makes your brand stand out among the masses, you’re no longer an average yoga studio, you could become a wellness centre that offers a range of diverse treatments.
For example, below you can see a yoga studio that also offers other areas of wellness that are correlated to yoga:
You can see that among the varied styles of yoga, there are workshops, sound baths, and physio led sessions.
This is a prime example of diversifying what you offer and ultimately allows your yoga studio to grow into something much bigger. This won’t just improve your own skills as a yoga instructor – it could even provide you with the opportunity of hiring employees to deliver your new services.
Before You Go!
Now that you know what makes a good yoga teacher, you can implement these tips into your own career to find future success.
If you’ve yet to qualify, kickstart your journey with OriGym’s Level 3 Yoga Teacher Training Course. Here, you will learn relevant skills and knowledge that will help you flourish in the industry.
Want to know more about the range of courses we offer? Download the OriGym course prospectus for more information.