So You Want to Be a Yoga Teacher...

I have the pleasure and privilege of working as a lead yoga instructor for a studio in Los Angeles.

My days are spent mentoring and developing other yoga instructors, leading teacher trainings, and answering people's questions about becoming a yoga teacher.

I've taught and facilitated over 2000 hours of group classes, teacher trainings, private sessions, and teacher mentorship in the last 5 years.

Throughout the course of my career, I have observed certain patterns when it comes to people who want to become yoga teachers.

I appreciate their passion and fervor for learning more about this beautiful practice, and I want to present some hard truths about what it takes to become a yoga teacher and what it means to be a yoga teacher.

1.) 200 hours of Training is the Bare MINIMUM.

200 hours is the baseline. That means you go through 200 literal hours of training in order to become a yoga teacher.

I have had many interested students ask why they can only miss 3 sessions or why the training is so long or why they have to take so many classes or write so many journals, etc.

It is because when you add up all the lectures, journals, classes, etc, it literally adds up to 200 hours.

For most programs, you have an entire year to finish the 200 hours, even after the program is finished, but you usually cannot audition for a studio until you have fully completed your 200 hours.

Keep that in mind when you decide you want to become a yoga teacher.

Also keep in mind that 200 hours of study is only scraping the surface of this lifelong practice.

(If you go by the 10,000 hour mastery measurement, there are not a lot of yoga teachers that have mastered the art of teaching yoga! In reality, there is no "mastery" in the hierarchical sense, but teaching yoga is like being in a long term relationship. The longer you're in it, the more you see and can teach to nuance and complexity.)

2.) Teaching yoga is a HUGE responsibility

I cannot say this enough.

When you are teaching, you are responsible for creating as brave a space as possible for your students to meet ALL of themselves - everything societal conditioning has labeled good, bad, and in between. That is your foremost role and responsibility as a yoga instructor, in my opinion.

There is also an inherent power dynamic to be aware of. You have a platform. You can say whatever you want in that room, and many people will take it as gospel truth because you are seen as the "expert".

That's why it is so important to be mindful and aware of your verbiage, body language, biases, etc. I am not saying you can't have biases - you're human, so you will, but the more you're aware of your "stuff", the easier it is to leave it outside of the yoga space.

You are not there for you - You are there for others.

There have been many yoga leaders throughout history who have lost sight of this, and used their power & privilege to harm others.

I won't go into detail about that here as there are many resources and documentaries about problematic yoga leaders (check out one of my fave podcasts Yoga is Dead, ep 3 that talks all about this), but I will say that part of being a good yoga teacher is constant self study (svadhyaya) - going internal, looking at all your shit, and then working to dismantle it.

3.) Teaching yoga requires constant study.

Both self study and study outside of yourself.

I spoke of self study in the last point, so the focus here will be more about study outside of yourself.

Things are changing all the time. We are constantly discovering new knowledge, changing culture, and learning better, more inclusive ways to do things - including yoga.

Most 200 hour teacher trainings touch briefly upon the 8 Limb Path (yoga as a lifestyle), which means there is so much more to learn about it once you are finished.

Have you read the ancient texts like the Baghavad Gita or the Yoga Sutras? That's part of teaching yoga.

Something I've come across recently is a movement with South Asian/Desi yoga instructors around dismantling the affects of caste on yoga, and what that looks like in modern day yoga.

I have also studied under mentors whose mission is to bring yoga back to its roots because the West has appropriated so much of it.

How do you, in 2023, separate yoga from appropriation? Can you even do that?

These types of questions often rattle around in my brain to the point of exhaustion.

(You do not need to exhaust yourself around these topics, that's my shit, but you do need to be aware of them and spend time inquiring within.)

There is always more to learn, and things are always changing.

Keeping abreast of yoga issues, movements, etc is part of being a yoga teacher.

As my mentor (one of many) Susanna Barkataki says, "Our yoga isn’t so fragile that we can’t examine and address harm in its lineage."

4.) Teaching yoga involves failure - a lot of it.

During teacher trainings, there comes a point where students realize it is way harder to teach yoga than it looks.

The effortlessness that their favorite yoga teacher conveys comes from multiple hours of failing, practicing, and being in process.

One of my students came to me about 6 months after training and said,

"Teaching yoga is one of those things that you only get good at by failing in front of a lot of people thousands of times."

I think this is a wise, insightful, and true statement because you can really only practice teaching yoga by practicing teaching yoga to people. (Which is why I personally call teaching a teaching practice or use the term yoga teacher practitioner)

Many experienced teachers I know (including myself) had to audition multiple times before they were hired on by a studio.

Even experienced teachers feel nervous when they teach a new sequence or are in front of a new audience.

Even experienced teachers "fail" when teaching a new sequence.

Because we're human and teaching yoga is creating and creating involves a lot of failure.

And that's ok.

Part of teaching yoga is learning how to feel comfortable with the uncomfortable feeling of imperfection.

5.) Yoga is More than a Workout

Yoga is so much more than a workout; it is an entire way of living.

When you teach yoga, you are passing down skills people can use to create more peace, centeredness, and personal liberation in their life off of their mat.

You don't just waltz in, spout a sequence out of your mouth, and leave. You are fully responsible for someone's experience from the time they enter your space until the time they leave.

This means it matters how you set up the environment in your room, how you greet your students, how you manage your energy, how you speak with your students after class, etc.

This means making sure your students feel seen, heard, understood, and included.

Concluding Thoughts

There are many great things about teaching yoga.

For me, I feel like I am fulfilling my life purpose.

You also get the satisfaction of helping others.

There are also some fun perks that come with teaching yoga like free yoga studio memberships and discounts on athletic wear and accessories.

There is a glamorization of yoga teachers in the West. If you are a yoga teacher, you automagically become sexier (and fetishized, but that's another blog for another day).

All of these great things, however, do NOT negate the power, privilege, and platform you gain as a yoga instructor.

As Uncle Ben in Spiderman says,

With great power comes great responsibility.

You are in a place of power as a yoga teacher. Use it wisely.

If you're a yoga teacher, what other hard truths would you add to this list? Share in the comments below! 👇🏽

If you're thinking about becoming a yoga teacher, what questions do you have? I invite you to ask in the comments below! 👇🏽

If you desire guidance and mentorship on your yoga teaching journey, I invite you to email me at antisoulmatelove@gmail.com Let's chat about working together! 💖