As a keen yogi, yoga teacher websites are an excellent tool to have at your disposal whenever you’re on the move or live a busy lifestyle. If you don’t have the time to attend a studio or can’t fit a public class into your schedule, then online classes may be a desirable option when pursuing your yoga journey.

The yoga training websites that we have selected for this shortlist are all excellent examples of sites that can be used for development purposes at home. In this article, we’ll break down their best features and how they can benefit you and your fitness goals.

Before we get started, are you interested in taking your yoga career to the next level? If so, enquire about our Level 4 Diploma in Teaching Yoga or download a prospectus for more information.

17 Best Yoga Teacher Websites

A good website is the perfect way to attract new clients, showcase your services, and ultimately make money as a yoga teacher!

Adriene Mishler | Yoga With Adriene

The YouTube star, who boasts an incredible 9.75 Million subscribers, has one of the most organised yoga instructor websites to feature on this list. With its sleek design and great graphics, Yogawithadriene.com immediately pulls you in with an eye-catching homepage that welcomes you into Adriene’s world.

Not only is Adriene one of the most popular yoga YouTubers on the platform, but her website is highly regarded by her fans too; with a chic and clean look, this yoga teacher website is easy to use and navigate.

Adriene’s homepage directs you to subscribe to a weekly yoga newsletter, entirely free of charge. Said newsletter keeps you posted with Adriene’s life, as well as offering key words of wisdom that you may need for the day ahead, be it for motivationional purposes or educational.

A great aspect of this site is that Adriene personally sets a theme every month, the theme of the current month is the first thing you encounter on the site.

Attached beneath this theme is a link to Adriene’s widely popular YouTube channel, where she conducts a free class based around this ideology; for example, April 2021’s theme was renewal.

Adriene’s yoga teacher website design is basic and simple, with a navigational toolbar that anyone can use with an abundance of features; one great element on Adriene’s website is the vegetarian recipes on offer, which are found under the blog section dropbox.

This yoga teacher site’s home page also features a link that takes you to a separate page, Find What Feels Good, which is also operated by Adriene. This is an extension of Adriene’s YouTube channel, and for just $9.99 you will have access to 700 recorded yoga classes covering the likes of poses and meditation for varying skill levels.

The website also provides a link to Adriene’s shop, where fans are able to purchase t-shirts, water bottles and yoga mats. With so many features and elements for people of all levels, it is easy to understand how Adriene has built a successful and highly popular brand.

Dagmar Spremberg 

The next yoga teacher website we’d like to highlight comes from Dagmar Spremberg. Despite growing up in Germany, Dagmar claims that she always envisioned herself living in the sunshine.

After spending a few years in New York and Los Angeles, Dagmar travelled to Costa Rica, where she was able to direct and find the practice of Montezuma Yoga.

This yoga training website is efficient and detailed, offering an insight into everything Dagmar’s practice provides.

When you first land on the website, you are greeted with Dagmar telling you about herself, as you continue to scroll through the site, there are latest updates, with all of the events that are up and coming within the online studio.

In particular, Dagmar highlights her latest retreats, both in person and online.

For example, as of December 2021 the site is advertising a September 2022 retreat to Formentera, and a October 2022 retreat to Sardinia, as well as online Zoom classes. This is a real benefit as it offers the perfect blend of both in person and virtual classes, casting a wide net that appeals to everyone.

If you want to go a step further, Dagmar also offers a private retreat to Costa Rica. Described as a luxury yoga retreat, participants are able to watch monkeys from their bedroom window, and deepen yoga practice in order to reconnect with nature; for further information about this trip, find all the details on her site.

The yoga teacher website also links to Dagmar’s YouTube channel, where she offers some free yoga classes and advice, catering to every skill level. Users also have the option to sign up to SPARK YOUR LIFE, a monthly membership service that allows them to get into a consistent practice at home through Dagmar’s guidance.

Dagmar Spremberg is an excellent instructor with a sleek and elegant yoga studio website design, and that’s exactly why she has more than earned her spot on our list!

Patrick Beach 

Since 2018, Patrick Beach has run his family based yoga business, offering online classes for both aspiring yoga instructors and yogi lovers alike. In recent years Patrick has conceptualised ‘awakening yoga’ and has taught classes all across the world, with the main goal to bring expansive asana knowledge to a wider base of students.

When you first enter the site you are asked to select the option for either a teacher or student and below, we have broken down the benefits of both sections, so you can see the advantages for teachers and for students.

The teaching section of this yoga studio website introduces you to Patrick Beach and his 200 hour teaching course. As you scroll through this section, Patrick provides a checklist that helps you find out if you’re right for this course.

Within the checklist, it includes the pricing plan which offers the practical option to pay either 6 instalments of $333.00 or pay $2,000.00 up front. This pricing option is beneficial to those looking to budget, rather than paying a large sum of money upfront.

The class schedule and curriculum is broken down in great detail, another great key feature that the yoga teacher website has to offer in comparison to those who offer prices through consultation, or by contacting the business.

Knowing your class schedule before you even sign up for the program is greatly beneficial, as you’ll be able to see whether you can accommodate the classes around your life, and if this course would be of any interest to you.

If you’re not a teacher and have selected the option for yogi lovers and students, here’s what to expect.

This section of Patrick Beach’s platform is what makes it arguably one of the best yoga studio websites.  The tool bar makes navigating the site a walk in the park, with the options for teachers, students and shops, you’ll never feel too overwhelmed when surfing the site.

Within this platform, the lessons section offers 3 new classes every single day for the price of $45.00 a month. With various teachers and lessons a day, this family run business is an excellent choice for those of you who are looking for value for your money.

The shop section offers some eye catching and creative designs for clothing that you can wear in both your everyday life, as well as to the gym.

There is truly something for everyone on Patrick Beach, the eclectic site has something for newbies and experts alike. Regardless of where you are in your yoga journey, you’ll find something that you will truly enjoy here.

Kristen McGee

After helping launch the global phenomenon that is the Peloton yoga program, Kristen McGee launched her own online yoga course, offering years worth of yoga knowledge and experience – now available at your fingertips.

With backing from global brands, such as Vogue and Health, Kristen McGee unquestionably has one of the best yoga studio websites online today.

This yoga teacher website is sophisticated and professional, with one of the best designs to feature on this list. As you enter the site, there is a short biography detailing who Kristen is and what she wants you to achieve through the site.

As you scroll there is the flaunt of endorsements that Kristen has received from high profile clients such as Bethany Frankel and Tina Fey. This section of the article is paired with photos from Kristen’s personal life, as well as her classes so you can get to know her a little better on a personal level.

Following this section, we get into what many of you will be interested in, the classes. Whilst some of Kristen’s online classes and DVD’s are highlighted on the websites homepage, you can also find further videos by clicking the ‘more videos’ tab at the bottom of this section.

What is great about Kristen’s site is that her videos are affordable without the commitment to monthly payments, so if you’re just after a single lesson from this yoga instructor, then that option is readily available for prices as low as $11.00.

However, if you do want something more long term to build upon, as one of the premier yoga teaching websites, Kristen’s offers her exclusive 21-day plan that you can’t get anywhere else.

This plan is for new mums who are eager to get fit postpartum, it allows new mums to shed the guilt of doing something for themselves, as investing in the mums happiness, reflects onto the new born baby.

Purchasing this product from the yoga training website grants you access to a 3 week exercise plan, as well as a 3 week diet that works hand and hand to help you lose weight.

You’ll also receive personal support during this program from Kristen and her team, as well as earning exclusive discounts on the rest of her products. If you’re someone who’s looking to ease back into exercise following pregnancy, then we’d recommend following this 21-day plan.

When it comes to yoga teacher websites for specialised clientele like new mums, things don’t get more elite than Kristen McGee; by purchasing into her site, you’ll become a part of a luxury brand that caters to celebrities world wide.

Dylan Werner

Dylan Werner is a popular yoga instructor known for his workshops and retreats, he has an excellent online presence, with lots of classes readily available to purchase in bundles.

Dylan’s site can be navigated with ease, with the tool bar being your main source of information. This guides users through the site with sections available for both teachers and students, and if you are an aspiring teacher, Dylan’s 200 hour teacher training course may be of interest to you.

This class provides a solid foundation in order to teach yoga, inspire others, and deepen your own personal practice. The focus on this class is being trained to provide students with applied knowledge of anatomy, alignment and assist with a deep focus of yoga philosophy; there are multiple payment methods available on the site, depending on if you wish to attend group or solo classes.

What makes Dylan’s yoga teacher website so great, is that it offers you an advanced 300 hour class. Unlike many other sites out there, that specifically focus on 200 hours, this advanced class encourages embarkment on a life changing journey of spiritual growth, physical prowess and comprehensive knowledge that will transform you as both a student and a teacher.

In terms of yoga teacher website templates, Dylan’s shop is arguably one of the most organised on the market today. His classes are separated using a secondary toolbar, with categories for topics such as strength, flexibility, beginner and motivational.

Everything you need is in front of you, easy to find and available to purchase within bundles, ensuring you’re getting great value for your money.

In addition to all of this, Dylan’s site also heavily promotes his book, entitled The Illuminated Breath available at multiple online retailers. This is a great feature, for Dylan’s business and the end user, as it allows you to extend your knowledge of the practice outside of the yoga studio.

If you’re interested in learning about the practice on a larger scale, we would recommend checking out Dylan Werner’s site.

Margherita Dal Pra 

Margherita Dal Pra attended her first yoga class 24 years ago in Italy and hasn’t looked back since. A natural teacher, Margherita prides herself in passing down the knowledge she has acquired throughout her life, in order to support all her students.

Her teachings are rooted in the rich history of Hatha yoga, but she manages to effortlessly merge said practice with that of Vinyasa flow, to create a style that is uniquely her own.

In terms of yoga teacher website designs, you’d be hard pressed to find a site as visually appealing as Margherita Dal Pra’s site. The site is easy to navigate, with a sleek design that separates every category on the site in a clear and efficient way.

The classes for the group yoga are separated into categories, with different focuses being applied to different days. This is a great aspect of the site, as you can find out which day works best for you, areas you want to pursue, and join that class, easy! Additionally, if you’re located in London, Margherita also offers personal classes too.

The site also offers information into the yearly yoga retreats to Norfolk. Labelled as the perfect weekend for someone looking to escape the rush of the city, the stunning location is sure to lift your spirits and inspire you to fulfil your potential.

The yoga studio website advertises that it is Margarita herself who guides your practice, and throughout your down time, you can feel free to do whatever you desire. whether that’s reading a book or snuggling by the fire.

Another great aspect of Margherita Dal Pra’s site that makes it one of the best yoga teaching websites is the section that offers you healthy recipes. A true teacher, Margherita passes on her own personal recipes and tried and tested submissions from users, so you can get lost in the rich and in depth archives of these recipes to treat yourself!

Whilst we commend Margherita Dal Pra for having an appealing yoga studio website design, her content is also highly regarded too. The site has so much to offer and is so much more than just a yoga training website, so take a look and find exactly what’s for you.

Elena Brower

A Mother, an artist, a teacher and a podcast host, Elena Brower has done it all. In between teaching meditation for more than 11 years, Elena has also found time to become a bestselling author, oversee a global team of teachers and manage her highly successful yoga based website.

In terms of yoga teacher websites, there is a lot to take in on Elena’s site, but it is formatted in such a way that doesn’t cluster your screen. Rather, her site is well organised with an eye catching colour palette to match.

There is a lot to explore and unpack, so we’ll be sure to explain each point as clearly as possible. The ‘Meditation’ section of the toolbar provides plenty of information about meditation courses, Elena’s free guided meditation or, be directed to a sister site where you can learn more about cultivating spiritual intelligence.

As you can see, there is a lot of information given to you, so if you’re interested in incorporating yoga practices and teachings into your everyday life, then you’d highly benefit from delving into Elena’s site.

In addition to all of this, if you’re looking for yoga training websites for resources, then the podcast section of Elena’s site may be of interest to you.

Regardless of where you are, or what you’re doing, simply pop in your headphones, listen to Elena’s guided meditation and focus on you; this is a unique property that this site possesses, whilst many sites offer videos or YouTube links, very few offer a free podcast.

In addition to this Elena’s site also offers the option to receive guided mentorship from Elena herself. Once you join this select group, you receive over 100+ audio and visual resources to help guide you on your yoga journey. As well as this is the monthly virtual meetings with Elena herself, all of which you can receive for $39.00.

In terms of yoga teacher website templates, Elena’s creativity is on full display within every single section, it is nothing short of a work of art!

Chrissy Carter 

The self professed homebody, Chrissy Carter has dedicated her life to teaching yoga. A few years back, Chrissy left the fast paced world of Wall Street to pursue yoga full time, and has since gone on to launch her own yoga based website, with the main goal of making yoga feel as accessible to newcomers as possible.

This yoga teacher website design radiates comfort and wholesomeness, just one scroll through Chrissy’s website and you’ll feel as if you’re reading the blog of a close personal friend. The homepage of the site couldn’t make things easier for you, with Chrissy placing her 4 areas of expertise for all to see.

The yoga section of the site directs users to an archive of information, it’s here there are blog posts dedicated to just about anything to do with yoga that you can think of. This is a great site for those of you who don’t wish to attend online classes, but are looking for a haven of knowledge.

The food section for the site is a must see for all of you out there who have a sweet tooth, within this section of her site, there are plenty of healthy recipes. These range from the likes of savory dishes such as Lobster Rolls to a plethora of desserts like the Lemon Thyme Tart.

But that’s not all, if you want style advice that extends beyond yoga gym wear, Chrissy’s blog offers advice and moodboards for just about anyone, whether you’re a minimalist or high fashion lover everyone is covered here; in addition to all of this, Chrissy imparts life advice both for yoga, and other personal experiences.

The inclusion of both of these sections within her site differentiates Chrissy from many other yoga sites out there; very few instructors branch so far out as to give you fashion and life advice, but that is what makes this site so special and unique.

So if you’re interested in creating your own site, and have been looking at yoga teacher website templates for inspiration, we’d recommend taking a page out of Chrissy’s book – make it sleek, simple, but eye catching for the reader. Ultimately, don’t be afraid to step out of the box and offer more than the typical yoga teacher, after all you want one up on your competition!

Rodney Yee

One of the most recognisable names to feature on this list, Rodney Yee, has already had a legendary career which began back in 1980. After appearing on the likes of CNN News and The Oprah Winfrey Show, Rodney has turned his craft online and now runs his very own successful blog. If you want to learn from one of yoga’s most iconic teachers, check Rodney’s website out.

From a design standpoint, if you’re looking closely at multiple yoga teacher website templates Rodney’s will stand out as being immaculate, as you would expect from somebody so experienced in the field.

The site not only looks great, but it’s super easy to navigate as with a simple scroll you’ll be directed to Rodney’s blog, where he updates his loyal readers about his recent activities and potential online classes.

The toolbar function won’t direct you to a different page, rather think of his site like one long blog. If you’re interested in the events section, simply click it in the toolbar and you’re able to jump straight to the events portion of Rodney’s blog.

Likewise, if you want to stay up to date on your social media accounts, this site also links Rodney’s Facebook where he often interacts with his fans and followers.

Whilst Rodney does not sell yoga instructional videos through his site directly, he does link to his sponsored site Gaia.com. This is a subscription based site that costs just £8.99 a month, which grants you access to a huge back catalogue of yoga classes, meditation sessions, as well as watchable series surrounding the practice.

In terms of yoga instructor websites Rodney’s is somewhat simplistic. There aren’t too many added bells and whistles, but everything you do receive is of such high quality that there is no need for any added extras!

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For helpful resources on starting up a yoga business, read our articles below:

• 7 Digital Marketing & Strategies for Yoga Studios & Teachers
• Yoga Email Marketing: Ultimate Guide
• SEO for Yoga Teachers: The Complete Guide

Alexandria Crow

Alexandra Crow is an internationally respected yoga instructor, who has shifted her focus in recent years towards training the teachers of tomorrow. Her main method of teaching is creating asanas, meditation and yogic philosophy training that is approachable for everyone, regardless of their skill level.

Many in the yoga community regard her site as the pinnacle of style, creativity and education. Yoga teacher website templates should strive to follow Alexandria’s lead, everything down to her colour coding is incredibly uniform.

So if you’re a yoga teacher and want to create your own site, why not follow Alexandria’s lead and have a colour scheme that people will instantly associate with you and your site.

When it comes to the sites contents, if you’re questioning whether to pursue teaching, you should look at the webinar section of the site, which is situated at the toolbar under the courses section.

One of the most useful tools that the site has to offer for aspiring yoga teachers is the 7 principles tab, this section of the site demonstrates basic information that you should take into consideration before becoming a yoga teacher.

When it comes to yoga training websites, Alexandria Crow has designed her website to a high standard while containing information that feels personable, rather than a big scale commercial company attempting the same approach.

Kia Miller

As the founder of Radiant Body, Kia Miller is a proclaimed teacher, writer and lover of life, creating her website in order to educate others out there of the spiritual properties that yoga holds.

If you are looking to awaken your inner creativity, we would highly recommend checking her out in order to receive positive life advice and guidance from Kia herself.

When it comes to yoga teacher websites, Kia’s site is perhaps one of the most chic and sophisticated designs to feature on this list. With a clean and modernistic look, Kia’s website holds attention as you explore everything it has to offer.

If you’re interested in practicing yoga online, we’d recommend using the toolbar and selecting one of the practice functions. For example, the event schedule keeps you posted on what Kira has in the works for her followers.

Further features include nutritional sources, so if you’re interested in detoxifying and cleansing the body, Kia has her own variation of this diet available on her site. This cleanse is run as a professional course, and costs a total of $345.00, consisting of:

• Daily sessions of personal practice
• Journaling and self-reflection prompts
• 33 instructional videos complete with comprehensive video lectures +  digital downloads for quick reference
• Access to a comprehensive portal to keep you on track during your cleanse
• 2 LIVE Q&A sessions with Kia for additional support during the cleanse
• 2 Additional LIVE Breath-Based Classes
• BONUS! Exclusive access to the private RBY Community to stay in touch with Kia and other students!
• A cookbook filled with cleansing and rejuvenating plant-based soups, smoothies, and juices

However, if detoxes aren’t your thing then Kia also offers a series of YouTube videos on her site. All of which shed some light into her style of teaching, certainly worth a watch for those of you who wish to experience the more spiritual side of yoga.

Kia Miller offers one of the best yoga teacher websites online; with just one quick skim across any section on the site, you’ll be amazed by the level of work and detail that has gone into making each of them.

Adam Hocke

If you’re looking for a teacher who combines new movements and practices with the traditional teachings that yoga is known for, then look no further than Adam Hocke. Teaching mindful yoga, Adam’s joyful approach embodies support and development for all of his students, be that in person or virtual classes.

Within this list we have discussed a range of different yoga teacher website designs, but Adam’s is the perfect example of less being more. There are no unnecessary added extras, which benefits the site to look clean and well organised while being easy to use.

If you’re interested in learning more about Adam before committing to one of his classes, we recommend checking out his ‘about’ section.

This section not only highlights his previous work with his many appearances on podcasts, but also shows his commitment to ensuring his studio is a safe space, with his commitment to make all of his classes inclusive and free from hate and racism.

Adam does offer personalised classes, where there is opportunity to work with him one to one, but if you’re wishing to get a feel for his style of teaching, then it may be worth checking out the ‘On Demand’ section of the classes and workshop section.

Here, there is a link directed to a library of pre-recorded YouTube videos, where Adam has provided examples of what you can expect.

So if you’re brand new to yoga, and are interested in a kind of training that YouTube videos simply do not provide, Adam has you covered. His classes offer you basic insight into various topics covering all areas of concern for yoga and fitness.

Overall, if you’re interested in yoga teacher websites that are inclusive to everyone, regardless of age, gender, sexuality, race or skill level, then we’d recommend checking out Adam Hocke’s site.

TINT Yoga

For this next entry, in contrast to a sole instructor, TINT Yoga is one of the first yoga studio websites to feature on this list.

TINT is arguably one of the highest quality online studios in the world, and when it comes to yoga studio website templates, TINT is what all studio sites should strive to replicate. Everything is designed and laid out to a professional standard, from the graphics to the photos used, everything compliments each other and looks visually dynamic.

When it comes to the contents of this site, you can expect the same high quality. Using multiple different payment methods for ease of service, TINT yoga offers you access to a catalogue of classes that are also available in three languages! (English, German and Korean). You’ll struggle to find a library as extensive anywhere other than TINT.

In addition to the classes that you can access at any time during your membership, this studio also offers live streams throughout the week where anyone can join, creating a more personable experience.

Whatsmore, following the link provided to the live stream section directs you to a new instructor every day, and for more specificity, who specialises in different areas from their colleagues. So everything about your experience is customisable to your tastes, and there will never be something compulsory that you have to do!

TINT is one of the best yoga studio websites online today, so don’t miss out and get yourself involved.

Yoga International

Another platform that has made it onto our list of the best yoga studio websites is Yoga International, a great subscription based site that is both accessible and welcoming to new and experienced yogis alike; not to forget a great feature that this site offers – a 14 day free trial, which you can cancel at any time before applying for a full time membership.

Think of Yoga International as a platform that gives a voice to yoga lovers who are looking to step into the field professionally, as when it comes to the yoga studio website template, everything is fairly simplistic.

The features are straightforward to manage and the site overall is easily navigated, even for those who are a little technologically shy. The tool bar on the side of the webpage ensures that you know what the site has to offer, with classes in yoga, meditation and courses on just about every yoga based topic you can think of!

Not only does the site offer you a library of informative videos, but memberships also grant you access to the library of podcasts too; so if you are someone who wants to extend their yoga practice beyond the practical class, podcasts offer a great opportunity to do so.

Are you a yoga instructor yourself? If so, or if you’re just looking for an outlet for your passion, then Yoga International has you covered. In the section marked Creator, you’ll not only find Bio’s and highlighted articles for up and coming creators, but head to the section labelled DIY creators.

This section provides instructions on how to become affiliated with the site. So if you’ve ever wanted to pursue a career or pastime in yoga instructing, why not take the plunge and go for it with Yoga International.

Hamsa Yoga Studio

The next yoga studio website to feature on this list is Hamsa Yoga, another subscription based website that provides live classes, whilst watching pre-recorded ones all for the price of $49.00 a month.

As we compare the yoga studio website templates, it’s easy to see from first glance that the Hamsa studio is both professional and highly creative. Whilst we shouldn’t necessarily judge a book by its cover, how yoga websites present themselves is important when it comes to attracting customers.

The Hamsa studio does a great job of advertising exactly who they are, and what their brand represents just from their design aesthetic alone.

When it comes to the video section of this yoga studio website, Hamsa offers a great selection of different classes dedicated to varied subjects, allowing for customers to make the most out of their money.

Not only are the classes readily available on demand whenever you want to practice, but they aren’t just short clips, instead you’re presented with full length classes which span as long as 1 hour. So, whether you’re interested in stretching or meditation, we can guarantee you’ll find something that interests you.

In addition to all of this, Hamsa also offers answers to any questions that yogi newbies may have before attending their first class. If you are new to the practice, we would recommend giving these FAQ’s a quick skim over. Any information you can take from professionals will only benefit you in the long run, so try to take in as much as you can.

When it comes to determining the best yoga studio websites, Hamsa is a great studio for those of you looking for video classes, and to all our readers in Canada, check out their Live classes sections for a complete timetable of their Toronto location.

Mountain Soul Yoga

If you’re in the market for a high end luxury yoga studio website, then Mountain Soul Yoga is the site for you. Offering a variety of payment methods, from $99.00 for an all access monthly pass, to a $20.00 single class.

As you can expect from a luxury product, this yoga studio website design is very sophisticated and elegant, the colours used reflect a blissful sense of peace, whilst the overall design is highly professional.

In terms of yoga teacher websites, many sites have their service catering to a wide audience, however, Mountain Soul Yoga has their focus rooted in what is known as Ayurveda.

Mountain Soul explains this practice in great detail, but in short, Ayurveda is an ancient medicinal practice that was founded in India, involving diet, lifestyle, herbs, seasonal cleansing.

As well as this is the involvement of consciousness-based practices such as meditation, yoga and a positive approach to wellness – all of which is used to cleanse your life of any negativity that may be clinging onto your energy.

If you’re looking to educate yourself to become an instructor, you’ll be happy to hear that Mountain Soul Yoga offers classes for instructors.

With the 200 hour program in place, the site is dedicated to creating high quality classes that specialise in Vinyasa and Ayurveda. So if you want access to the highest possible caliber of training, we would recommend pursuing your dreams alongside Mountain Yoga.

The site also holds virtual events, as well as offering what is referred to as soul mountain musings. These aspects of the site are there for your benefit, and both pass down information that is designed to greatly enrich your life and give you purpose.

Compared to other yoga studio websites, Mountain Soul Yoga may seem a little expensive, however you are paying for a high quality product that you won’t regret purchasing if you’re a dedicated yogi.

DoYogaWithMe

One of the more popular yoga studio sites, DoYogaWithMe is often hailed as the Netflix of the online yoga world, the price is an ongoing monthly fee of $10, or $99.00 for a year pass, making DoYogaWithMe amongst the most affordable yoga studio websites in the market today.

In terms of the yoga studio website template, DoYogaWithMe has more information on its site in comparison to the others on this list, however the plethora of information is all worthy. All of this information will help you in the long run, so that is why we included DoYogaWithMe!

If you’re interested in signing up for the site but are curious as to what kind of yoga they offer, just one look at their homepage is enough to provide you with the information on the varied classes they supply.

Additionally, heading to the toolbar and highlighting the ‘Practice’ tab presents a drop down option where you are guided to yoga and meditation classes.

However, if the meditation isn’t for you, and you really want to push your fitness skills, the yoga training websites practice section also offers a Yoga Challenge tab. Yoga challenges involve doing a course or class consistently for a set number of days, and are great activities to get involved in if you’re looking to challenge and push yourself.

There are plenty of opportunities that DoYogaWithMe has on offer and whilst the yoga studio website design may be a little overwhelming at first, once you learn how to operate it you’ll see that the platform is widely vast and rich in content.

When we say there is something for everyone, that is an understatement. Even the most selective of users are able to find multiple things to enjoy about the site!

FAQs

Are All Online Yoga Classes Ran on Subscription Fee Terms?

The answer is simple, no. Most of the yoga training websites to feature on this list offer subscription based services, however that doesn’t mean they all do.

Many sites, such as YogaWithAdriene, also utilise and link to free services such as YouTube videos, so even if their website is run on a subscription basis, it is possible they may offer some free tools.

Free content is out there, and if the sites are subscription based don’t worry about having a look around the website, as you’ll never be charged for anything without your permission!

I’m Looking to Start My Own Yoga Based Site, Should I Take Inspiration from Others?

Yes! There is no harm in using successful yoga studio website templates as inspiration; ultimately, it’s important to remind yourself that there is a reason they’re so successful! Consider what attracts you to a particular platform, the features and elements you enjoy, and those that you do not..

Consider it doing market research, not only will it give you creative ideas for the brand’s overall image and aesthetic, but it will tell you what information people wish to see and learn from sites.

Before You Go!

Now that your ambition of creating or utilising a yoga website is fulfilled, who knows, maybe it could be your site featuring on future shortlists of the best yoga teacher websites online!

Take your yoga career to the next level by enquiring about an advanced level 4 yoga training course. You can learn about this and our full range of yoga courses in our downloadable prospectus.

Whether you’re a newly qualified yoga teacher or own your own studio, email marketing is one of the most effective ways of promoting your business and gaining new students.

But with so much to consider, it can be hard to know where to start! That’s why we’ve made the ultimate step-by-step guide to yoga email marketing, covering:

• Step 1: Determine The Goal For Your Yoga Email Marketing
• Step 2: Decide on the Software You’ll Use To Create Your Yoga Instructor Email Marketing
• Step 3: Build Your Subscribers List For Your Yoga Email Marketing
• Step 4: Plan And Create The Content of Your Yoga Email Marketing
• Email Marketing For Yoga Instructors: 3 Expert Tips

Before we get started, enhance your career as a yoga teacher with OriGym’s Level 4 yoga teacher training course! Enquire today, or find out more information by downloading our free course prospectus here.

Step 1: Determine The Goal For Your Yoga Email Marketing

Before you start designing the content of your emails, you should first outline the goal of your yoga email marketing campaign.

Email marketing is a powerful marketing strategy for yoga teachers that involves sending email newsletters to a large group of people to promote your business and services.

Whilst this is the overall aim of email marketing, you should try to specify exactly what you want to achieve from it, such as:

• To gain new students, i.e. get them to sign up to a class or buy a membership
• To promote an event you are holding e.g. a retreat or workshop
• To increase brand awareness
• To share news about your business e.g. adding a new class to your timetable
• To promote offers and promotions e.g. a special membership discount for the new year
• To distribute information to gain authority in the yoga industry
• To sell a product e.g. merchandise

Taking time to think about your goal first will then determine the decisions you make when creating your email marketing campaign.

For example, say your goal is to promote a new student intro offer for your studio.

This will dictate things such as the type of content you create, as it would need to be focused on including information about the event.

It would also help you ensure that you only send your emails to the relevant audience. In this case, you would only want to send your emails to people who are not already students, as here you are targeting new customers.

Having a clear goal in mind also helps you to track the progress of your yoga instructor email marketing campaign.

This is because it will determine which data to look at when tracking your campaign’s success.

To take the same example, if your goal is to promote a new customer offer, you would look at how many sales of that offer came from your emails.

We explain how to track your campaign in more detail in the ‘Tips’ section at the end of this article!

Step 2: Decide on the Software You’ll Use To Create Your Yoga Instructor Email Marketing

Once you have determined your goals, the next step is to select the software you want to use to create your yoga email marketing.

Using a dedicated email marketing software makes it a lot easier and will save you time!

With so many options out there, it can be hard to know which is the best software for your needs.

To make the choice a little easier, here are some important factors to consider when choosing your email marketing software:

#1- A Good Yoga Email Marketing Software Has Customisable Templates

A major feature of a good email marketing software is that it offers a good range of customisable email templates.

Using a template will save you lots of time and effort, compared to designing an email completely from scratch. You can then simply customise the template by filling it in with your own text and images.

It also makes your emails look more sleek and professional, helping increase their success.

For example, popular email marketing software MailChimp has over 100 different templates to choose from, making it likely that you will find one to suit your needs.

Some types of templates that are useful for email marketing for yoga studios and teachers are:

• Welcome emails
• Event promotion
• Newsletter/ information-based emails

Whichever software you choose, you should ensure that the templates are easy-to-use and customise.

You should also watch out for additional fees. Most softwares will include access to templates, but some may require you to pay extra for a wider range of templates!

#2- Your Yoga Email Marketing Software Should Have Segmentation Options

In email marketing, segmentation is where you can group your subscribers into smaller sections so that you can target them more effectively.

You can then send different emails to different types of subscribers, or only send an email to a specific group depending on the nature of the email.

For example, say you are sending an email about a new prenatal yoga class you are starting.

In this case, you could use segmentation to only send your email to your female subscribers, since a prenatal yoga class would not be applicable to men!

This increases your yoga instructor email marketing engagement, as people are more likely to engage with an email if it is relevant to them, ultimately leading to more sales.

If you send irrelevant emails to the wrong demographics, they are more likely to ignore the email and even start to ignore any future emails that you send them.

This would decrease engagement with your emails and reduce the success of your campaign.

Again, the level of segmentation you can do may vary depending on how much you are willing to pay for your yoga email marketing software.

For example, below are the pricing options for MailChimp:

As you can see, With the free and second lowest price option, you don’t get access to ‘Predictive’ or ‘Advanced’ segmentation.

It is therefore worth looking into how advanced you want your segmentation to be, and factoring this into your budget.

#3- Automation Is An Important Feature Of Email Marketing For Yoga Instructors Software

Another important feature to look out for in yoga instructor email marketing software is automation.

Automation means that the software will automatically send a certain email to subscribers when triggered by a particular factor.

This means that you don’t have to remember to manually send individual emails for things such as:

• Reminding students about an upcoming class
• Class booking confirmation
• Purchase receipts
• Sending a welcome email to a new student
• Sending them a special offer on a their birthday
• Reminding them if they need to renew their membership

Using automation features for these things helps you to keep your subscribers engaged and generate leads, since you will be sending them emails that are completely tailored to them.

So, when choosing a software for your yoga email marketing, make sure that it has a good automation function.

#4- Good Yoga Email Marketing Software Allows You To Run A/B Testing

A more advanced but very useful feature to look out for in an email marketing software is A/B Testing.

In marketing, A/B testing is the process of testing different combinations of variables to see which gives the best result.

In relation to yoga email marketing, you would use A/B testing to test out different email ideas by sending different versions to different audiences.

You can then see which version works best, by looking at how many people receive, open and engage with the email.

Some factors you can test with A/B testing are:

• Subject line
• Use of images and colours
• Call To Action button
• The time of day you send the email

For example, you could send two of the same email, but each with a different subject line. You could then see which email was opened the most, helping you decide which subject line is the most effective in getting people to open the email.

Some software will offer A/B testing for free, whilst others may limit you to a certain amount of testing before you have to pay an additional fee or subscription.

With these 4 factors in mind, some of the best software for email marketing for yoga studios are:

• MailChimp 
• Active Campaign
• Mailer Lite
• Moosend 

Step 3: Build Your Subscribers List For Your Yoga Email Marketing

Now that you have chosen your software, it’s now time to start building up your subscribers list.

In other words, you need to start collecting the email addresses of the people you want to send your emails to.

The best way to do this is by creating a ‘lead magnet’.

A lead magnet is simply when you offer an incentive to encourage people in exchange for providing their contact details- such as their phone number and email address.

You can then use these contact details to send them your yoga email marketing campaign and ultimately turn them into paying customers.

Lead magnets are the best way to get subscribers because people are much more willing to give you their contact information if they get something in return!

Some of the types of things you can offer in exchange for their email addresses are:

• • • A free yoga sequence or guide
    • A free yoga eBook
    • Access to a video class
    • A special offer or discount
    • A free class

As well as being an incentive to gather contact information, offering these kinds of helpful resources boosts your credibility and authority as a skilled and knowledgeable yoga teacher!

The most common place to use a lead magnet is on your website or landing page (a page where users are directed from another source such as social media).

For example, this yoga teacher has included a CTA button on her homepage, encouraging users to download a ‘free home yoga space and prop guide’.

Users are then directed to a page where they need to enter their email address in order to receive the guide.

You can then use this to send them further emails in the future promoting your business, and they could then turn into a paying customer!

In this case, the lead magnet is integrated as a static feature on the website.

You can also include the lead magnet as a pop up box, such as in the example below:

This will appear to users when they scroll down to a certain point on a page.

Again, this yoga teacher has included an incentive (“Be the first to know about offers and exciting news”) to encourage users to provide their email address.

The more information you get from users, the more you can send them emails that are tailored to their individual needs.

For example, this yoga teacher asks users to state where they have practised with them before.

This means that he can then send different emails to subscribers that are relevant for their location.

For example, if someone has selected London, then he can make sure to only send them information about his classes in London, rather than all other locations around the world.

However you choose to integrate your lead magnet, you should ensure that you are using people’s data correctly in your yoga email marketing.

– – – –

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Step 4: Plan And Create The Content of Your Yoga Email Marketing

Now that you have your subscribers, you are now ready to start planning and creating the actual content of your yoga email marketing.

The content you send will depend on the type of subscribers you are targeting.

For example, the content of a welcome email for new subscribers will be different to an email you send to an existing customer reminding them of their class booking.

Whichever kind of email you are sending, some key features of successful yoga instructor email marketing content are:

• An engaging subject line
• A clear heading
• Persuasive language
• A Call To Action
• Clickable links and images
• Links to your social media channels

With this in mind, here are some of the most effective types of content you can use in email marketing for yoga studios and teachers:

Welcome Email For Your New Yoga Students

This is perhaps the most important type of email you will send, as it is where you will make a first impression with your new students!

As we discussed earlier, this is a type of ‘automation’ you can set up within email marketing software, so that every new subscriber receives a welcome email.

By contacting them straight away, you are keeping people engaged with your business as well as influencing whether they engage with your future emails or not.

In other words, if you have a strong welcome email, this will ensure that people keep opening your emails and engaging with your business in general.

When creating a welcome email, if you promised an incentive in your lead magnet, make sure to provide it!

Now that the subscriber has what they signed up for, you can then keep their attention and promote your business.

The best way to do this is by using a Call To Action (CTA). This is something that prompts the reader to take a specific action.

This is particularly important for email marketing for yoga studios, as this is where you would prompt people to sign up to their first class, or to purchase a membership.

However, if you are an individual yoga teacher, you may also want to take a more personal approach to your welcome email.

You could write your welcome email in a more conversational tone, such as this welcome email from a yoga instructor:

As you can see, she has used the welcome email as a way to introduce herself to new subscribers. This makes her seem friendly and approachable, which is an important trait of a good yoga teacher and sets the precedent for the rest of her emails.

However, you should still make sure that your email is ultimately focused on generating leads and sales by including a CTA.

In the example above, after introducing herself, she then includes clear CTA buttons that will generate leads to her website!

Make Announcements And Promote Upcoming Events

When it comes to email marketing for yoga studios and teachers, one of the best types of content to include in your emails is announcements or news.

You would target this kind of email to existing students, as a way to inform them about things such as:

• Adding a new class to your timetable
• Announcing a yoga workshop or event
• Announcing information such as a class time change, venue change etc.
• Features in the press

For example, below is an email from a yoga studio promoting an upcoming yoga workshop:

As you can see, they have given clear information about the workshops (time, date, place, cost), as well as a brief description of the event.

Most importantly, they have included a Call To Action (“Book your spot here”).

This is essential for converting the email from merely informational to generating leads to help you make money as a yoga teacher!

Promote A Special Offer Or Discount

As well as events, yoga email marketing is also a great way to promote a special offer or discount you are running.

In terms of automation, this kind of email would be targeted at existing customers as well as new ones, and would cover any demographic.

For example, this yoga studio has sent an email about a special offer on a new class.

As you can see, they have used an engaging subject line, “Fancy 20% off yogis?”. This immediately tells people what the email is about, but also encourages them to open it to find out what the discount is for.

They have also included a Call To Action button- “Book Sunset Yoga Now”. Again, this ensures that the email is not just informational but also converts into leads, making it a great way to get more yoga students to your classes!

Send Out A Yoga Newsletter

As well as specific promotions and offers, one of the most effective types of yoga email marketing is to send out a yoga newsletter.

A newsletter is a regular email that you send to all subscribers, usually on a weekly or monthly basis.

There are many different types of approaches you can take to creating a newsletter.

The most common purpose of sending a regular newsletter is as a means of keeping your subscribers up to date with any news or information about your classes.

For example, in terms of yoga email marketing for yoga studios, you could send out a regular newsletter with information such as new class announcements.

When it comes to email marketing for yoga instructors, a newsletter can be a great way to show your personality, educate and inform your subscribers.

Some types of content you could include in your newsletter are:

• Student testimonials
• Answering questions from your students
• Highlights from your yoga social media
• Educational content, e.g. breaking down yoga poses, explaining aspects of yoga philosophy etc.
• Product recommendations
• Healthy yogic food recipes

So, some benefits of sending out a regular newsletter to your subscribers are:

• Act as a reminder for your business/services by regularly appearing in their inbox
• Drive traffic to your website or landing page
• Keep them up-to-date with offers and promotions
• Build a rapport and sense of community with your subscribers. This will make them feel included and want to stay involved in becoming or continue to be a customer.
• Present yourself as a knowledgeable and authoritative yoga teacher. Including educational content and resources in your newsletter increases your credibility as a yoga studio or teacher.

It also gives potential students an insight into what they can expect from your classes, which could then lead them to sign up to a class and become a paying customer!

Here is a great example of a newsletter from a yoga teacher that incorporates many of the features we have discussed.

As you can see, they have written their newsletter in a personal and conversational tone. This gives her subscribers an insight into her life, making her seem more ‘real’ and relatable.

She has also included internal links throughout. For example, clicking on the words “inhale, exhale” directs users to her blog post on breathing exercises:

This therefore means that the newsletter is not just educational and informative, but also helps generate traffic to her website.

She has also included more direct Calls To Action throughout the newsletter, such as when she promotes an upcoming retreat she is holding:

As you can see, she has used the newsletter as an opportunity to promote an event and generate leads to sign up to her retreat.

Email Marketing For Yoga Instructors: 3 Expert Tips

Now that you know how to create your yoga email marketing newsletters, here are 3 top tips to ensure that you get the most out of your campaigns!

Tip #1- Combine Your Yoga Email Marketing With Your Social Media

Along with email marketing, social media is one of the most important digital marketing strategies for yoga teachers you should be utilising.

Combining the two therefore makes for a very powerful marketing strategy!

There are two main ways that you can integrate social media with your email marketing:

Add your social media buttons to your emails

Most email marketing softwares will give you the option to insert links to your social media at the bottom of your emails.

These will usually show at the bottom of your email in the form of clickable graphics like this:

This therefore increases engagement both with your emails and with your social media channels.

Include a link to your newsletter subscription in your social media bio

As well as driving traffic from your emails to your social media, you can also gain new subscribers from social media.

The best way to do this is through including a link to subscribe to your newsletter in your Instagram bio.

You can do this through a Linktree feature, which allows you to include more than one link from your Instagram.

This is what this yoga teacher has done to direct people from her social media to her newsletter.

As you can see, this takes the user to a lead magnet, where they can then enter their email address.

This is an easy way to gain subscribers and reach a wider audience with your yoga email marketing.

Tip #2- Monitor The Success Of Your Yoga Email Marketing Campaign

Once you have created your campaign, your work shouldn’t stop there!

After you’ve created and sent out your first yoga instructor email marketing campaign, you should make sure to track and monitor its progress.

You can then use this to see what works and what doesn’t in your email campaign. This will then help you to make changes to improve it to ensure that it is as successful as it can be.

Some important metrics to look for when analysing your campaign are:

• Open rate– how many people have opened your email.
• Click rate– how many people opened a link in the email, e.g. to your landing page
• Bounce rate– when an email is rejected by the server and not delivered. This indicates that the email address does not exist.
• Unsubscribe rate– how many people have unsubscribed from your email marketing. A sudden high unsubscribe rate would indicate that there was a problem with the content you sent out.
• Device data– what device people are opening your emails on, i.e. a smartphone or a laptop.
• Spam rate– the amount of times your email is reported as a spam, i.e. sent to someone’s spam inbox.

Most email marketing software will allow you to easily track these things on an analytics dashboard.

For example, this is what MailChimp’s dashboard looks like:

Based on this data, you can then run A/B testing on your campaigns. As we mentioned in Step 2, this is an important feature to look out for when choosing your email marketing software.

Say you notice that there has been a decrease in your email click rate, meaning that people aren’t clicking on the links in your emails.

You could then experiment with changing certain features of your emails to see what is causing this low click rate.

For example, you could try changing the placement, colour or copy of your CTA button to see if this encourages people to click on it more.

If your click rate is still low, then

You can keep making these changes until you see an improvement in your click rate!

Tip #3- Plan Your Future Yoga Email Marketing Strategy

As well as tracking the success of your current campaigns, our final tip for email marketing for yoga instructors is to also plan ahead for your next campaigns.

This ensures that your email campaigns remain consistent and that you keep making money as a yoga teacher!

One of the best ways to do this is to set objectives.

These should be quantifiable and have a clear time frame for when you want to achieve them.

For example, you could decide that you want to reach a certain open rate within 3 months.

Having clear objectives in mind will then make it easier to track your progress, as you can keep referring back to them.

It will also give you motivation and direction to keep optimising your yoga instructor email marketing to be the best it can be!

Some other things to bear in mind when planning your email marketing strategy are:

• Keep up-to-date with current fitness trends and include these in your emails
• Prepare your upcoming content, e.g. write the copy of your newsletter or gather the  images you will use
• Plan for events and special dates, e.g. plan a campaign for new year to capitalise on people making new year fitness goals, or yoga-specific dates such as World Yoga Day on 21st June!
• Research your competitors, e.g. sign up to the newsletters of other yoga studios and teachers to see what they are doing with their email marketing and make sure yours is better!

Before you go!

So, we hope you now have all you need to know about email marketing for yoga studios and instructors!

Feeling inspired? Take your yoga career to the next level by becoming a Level 4 yoga instructor with OriGym! Enquire today, or download our free course prospectus to browse our full range of courses.

Whether you’re just starting out as a yoga teacher or own your own studio, Google Ads are one of the best marketing tools for your business.

But with so much to consider, it can be hard to know where to start! That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate step-by-step guide to creating yoga Google Ads, covering:

• Why You Should Use Google Ads As A Yoga Teacher
• Step 1- Create An Account To Start Making Yoga Google Ads
• Step 2- Decide On The Right Kind Of Yoga Google Ad Campaign
• Step 3- Use The Keyword Planner To Find Keywords For Your Yoga Studio Google Ads
• Step 4- Design Your Yoga Studio Google Ads
• 3 Key Tips For Creating Yoga Google Ads

Before we get started, take your yoga business to the next level by taking OriGym’s Level 4 yoga teacher training course! Enquire today, or get more information by downloading our free course prospectus here.

Why You Should Use Google Ads As A Yoga Teacher

Before we get into how to use Google Ads for yoga teachers, let’s first establish exactly what they are.

Google Ads are a form of paid advertising that help a web page rank more highly in Google search results.

They work on a Pay Per Click (PPC) basis, meaning that businesses pay Google for the advertisement based on how many clicks their website receives.

Google Ads target a specific search term, or ‘keyword’.

We’ll cover how to find and target keywords in more detail later in this article. But for now, let’s see exactly what a Google ad looks like:

For example, let’s say someone is looking for a yoga class in Manchester and searches for the term ‘yoga manchester’, producing the following results:

As you can see, the first result to come up is a business that has paid for a Google ad to appear at the top of the search results page. This is indicated by the word ‘Sponsored’ above the result.

This means that this business page appears above all other results- including the Google My Business page results.

As you can see, these ‘organic’ results (i.e. they have not paid for Google ads) appear below the sponsored results.

But why is appearing further up on the Google search results page so important?

The main reason is that using yoga Google ads is one of the best ways to increase lead generation.

In fact, results that appear on the first Google search results page generate 80% of traffic for that keyword.

In terms of Google ads themselves, they have a Click Through Rate (CTR) of 6%. This means that 6% of users who search for the keyword you are targeting will click on your page!

This can be explained by the fact that when people are searching for something- such as a yoga class in Manchester, they want to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.

That is why they are more likely to click on a result that appears higher up on the search results page, rather than scrolling down further!

Another reason why yoga teacher Google ads are such an effective marketing tool is that by increasing traffic to your website, they increase your sales.

This is because the ‘conversion rate’ of Google ads is 4.2%. This means that 4.2% of users who click on a Google ad search result will then go on to make a sale on that page.

In the context of yoga teaching, this could be booking onto a class, or purchasing a product on your website.

In comparison, the conversion rate of organic search results (i.e. not Google ads) is just 0.55%.

This clearly demonstrates the power of Google ads for yoga instructors as a marketing tool!

Step 1- Create An Account To Start Making Yoga Google Ads

The first step in creating yoga teacher Google ads is to create a Google Ads account.

To do this, simply go to the Google Ads platform and click ‘Start Now’, and you will be guided through the process.

You will need a Google account (i.e. a Gmail email address) to set up Google Ads. If you don’t already have one, you can do this here.

Once you have a Google account, you can then click on ‘New Google Ads Account’.

You will then be promoted to give other information about your business, such as your currency and billing information.

Step 2- Decide On The Right Kind Of Yoga Google Ad Campaign

Before you actually start creating your Google ads for yoga teachers, you should make sure to decide on the type of campaign you will create.

In advertising, a ‘campaign’ simply means an advertising strategy.

There are 5 main types of Google ad campaign:

• Search campaign
• Display campaign
• Shopping campaign
• Video campaign
• App campaign

In this article, we will be discussing the first option: search campaigns.

As we have said, this type of advert is in the form of a sponsored search result.

This is the best option for Google ads for yoga instructors because when looking for a yoga class or studio, most people will search on Google. It is therefore worthwhile investing your time and money in targeting these people!

There are also 3 different options for how you can pay for your yoga Google ads:

• Pay per click
• Pay per impression
• Pay per engagement

Just like for fitness Facebook ads, the best payment option to choose is the Pay Per Click (PPC) method.

This means that you will only pay Google when someone actually clicks on your website, making it the most cost-effective option.

We will cover exactly how this works in Step 5 of this article when you select your budget!

Step 3- Use The Keyword Planner To Find Keywords For Your Yoga Studio Google Ads

The next step in creating Google ads for yoga teachers is to find the keywords you want to target.

Keywords are an important part of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), as they are essentially the words that your target audience are typing into Google.

We have a whole guide here to yoga teacher SEO for more detail about how this works!

But in summary, keywords are words or phrases that you can target with your yoga Google ads. In other words, they are the words or phrases that users are searching on Google.

The best way to find your keywords for your yoga Google ads is by using the Google Keyword Planner.

The Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you generate keywords for your business, and tells you:

• The frequency of the search of that keyword, i.e. how many searches a keyword gets per month.
• How much that keyword costs on average to target

You can therefore use the tool to search for keywords with high average searches and decide which to target based on your budget.

So, how do you use the Google Keyword Planner?

Firstly, you will be asked whether you want to discover new keywords, or look at existing keywords to see how well they are ranking.

If you’re just starting out with yoga studio Google ads, it is best to select the option to discover new keywords.

This is because this allows you to search various keywords on a trial and error basis to find ones that are both relevant to your business and within your budget.

Let’s say you own a yoga studio in Liverpool and want to find keywords to target with your ads.

You could start by searching the Keyword Planner for keywords such as:

• Yoga studio Liverpool
• Yoga liverpool
• Yoga teacher liverpool
• Yoga classes liverpool

Screenshot – keyword planner showing a search for these keywords. Similar to this one (but with different keywords)

As you can see, the tool will show you both:

• ‘Keywords you provided’- exact matches from the keywords you provided
• ‘Keyword ideas’- suggestions for other related keywords based on the ones you provided

Then, for all keywords found, the main columns you will need to look at are:

• ‘Average monthly searches’ – this will tell you which keywords are searched the most
• ‘Top of page bid (low range)’ and ‘Top of page big (high range)’ – this tells you how much you can expect to pay-per-click for targeting that keyword with your yoga Google ads.

You can then use this information to write a list of keywords that are both relevant to your business and fit your budget.

This list is what you will use when creating your yoga Google Ads, which we will discuss next!

– – – –

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Step 4- Design Your Yoga Studio Google Ads

Now that you have a list of keywords that you want to target with your yoga Google ads, you are now ready to start the process of designing your ads!

There are 8 main steps involved:

1. Select Your Yoga Google Ads Campaign Objective

The first step in setting up your yoga Google ads is to select the objective for your campaign.

This is important as it helps Google determine things such as the audience you want to target and how to spend your budget.

As you can see, you will presented with a number of options:

The best option to choose here is ‘Leads’. This is what will get users to visit your website and take an action like signing up to a class and ultimately help you earn money!

You will then be asked to select the type of ad you want to create.

As we have discussed, the option to choose here is a ‘Search’ campaign, as you are trying to get your website high up on the Google search results page.

You can then specify your goals further by telling Google how you want to achieve your objective.

Here, we recommend selecting ‘Website visits’, as this is the aim of creating your yoga studio Google ads.

Finally, on this same page, you can enter the name of your campaign. This is just for your reference only, so something like ‘yoga’ is enough!

2- Select The Bid Strategy For Your Yoga Google Ads Campaign

The next stage of creating Google ads for yoga instructors is to tell Google how you want to pay for your ads- known as a ‘Bid Strategy’.

There are a few different options for how to pay for your yoga Google ads. But here, we recommend selecting ‘Conversions’.

This means that you will only pay Google if someone clicks on your advert and turns into a lead.

You can then select a target CPA (‘cost per action’). This means that Google will try to only spend this amount of your budget (which you will set later in this process), on conversions from your ad.

3- Specify The Location For Your Yoga Google Ads

The next step in creating Google ads for yoga teachers is to select the location that you want your ads to appear in.

Google will then use this information to only show your ad to users in your target location.

This helps you ensure that your yoga Google ad is reaching your target audience. This makes it more likely that you will generate leads from your ad!

The location you choose will depend on the nature of your yoga business.

For example, if you are creating yoga studio Google ads, your business operates from a specific address.

You should therefore select your location to be within a certain radius of that address, so that you target people from that area who are likely to actually go to your studio and become paying customers.

After all, someone in London is unlikely to be looking for a yoga studio in Liverpool!

However, if you are an online yoga teacher, you can use a wider radius, as you are not limited by a physical location.

Here, you can also select the languages that you want your Google Ads to appear in.

4- Select The Keywords For Your Yoga Google Ads

Next, you will then be asked to add the keywords that you want your ads to target.

This is where you will use the keyword research you did using the Google Keyword Planner in Step 4!

5- Write Your Yoga Google Ads

Once you have completed these settings, it is now time to write the actual advert itself!

Below is an example of how we would write a Google ad for our yoga teacher training course page here at OriGym.

As you can see, this is where you write the text that will appear on the search result on Google.

It is therefore worth taking time to perfect this, as this is ultimately what will make users decide whether to click on your page or not!

You should therefore make sure to include some of your chosen keywords in the headlines and description text. This ensures that your page targets users searching for that keyword.

The headlines should describe what your business does, including information such as:

• Your business name
• Location
• Yoga style e.g. hot yoga
• Another unique selling point of your business, e.g. a female only studio, prenatal yoga etc.

The description should provide some more detail about your business and a Call To Action (CTA). This is a short phrase that encourages the user to take action.

Below is a great example of what to include in a yoga studio Google ad.

As you can see, it is clear what the studio offers (hot yoga) and where it is (Nottingham).

They have also given a brief description and a CTA (Join us today).

7- Set Your Budget For Your Yoga Google Ads Campaign

The next stage of creating Google ads for yoga instructors is to set the budget for your campaign.

Setting a budget for advertising and marketing is an important part of your yoga studio business plan.

You may be wondering, how much should a yoga teacher Google ads budget be?

Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer to this!

Your Google ads budget depends on lots of factors that will vary for every teacher or studio, such as:

• How much you are spending on other marketing strategies (e.g. social media advertising, printed marketing materials). Considering this before you start creating your ads will help you determine how much you have to spend, ensuring that your budget isn’t too much or too little.
• The size of your business. As your yoga business grows and you start earning more, you can of course afford to spend more than if you were just starting out.
• The price for your chosen keyword(s). We will explain how to find this out using the Google Keyword Planner in Step 4.
• How much your competitors are spending. You can use SEO tools such as Ahrefs to see how much your competitors are spending on keywords.

When creating your ads, Google will ask you to determine how much you want to spend on average each day.

You can choose from their recommended daily budgets, or manually set your own.

As you can see, this is an ‘average’ budget, meaning that Google will not strictly stick to this budget every day. This means that some days you may go over this budget, but it will be balanced out by going under budget another day.

When it comes to your budget for yoga Google ads, remember that it is completely scalable!

So whilst you may only make a small initial investment of a few pounds a day, as you start to see results and earn more, your budget can then increase too. This is what makes Google ads one of the best marketing tools for running a successful yoga studio or business.

8- Review And Publish Your Yoga Google Ads

Finally, you can now review your yoga Google ad to ensure that everything is correct before you make it live!

Once you are happy with everything, you can publish your ad and start to reap the rewards!

3 Key Tips For Creating Yoga Google Ads

Now that we’ve covered the basics of how to create yoga teacher Google ads, here are some top tips to maximise the success of your ads!

#1 – Use Google Analytics To Monitor How Your Yoga Teacher Google Ads Perform

Once you have posted your ad, this doesn’t mean that your work is done!

After publishing your yoga Google ads, you should use Google Analytics to keep track of your campaign and monitor its progress.

Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that tracks and reports statistics for websites for SEO and marketing purposes.

It tracks data on lots of aspects of your website. But for the purposes of creating Google ads for yoga teachers, Google Analytics can show you:

• How many people are clicking on your ad
• How long users stay on your page
• How many leads your ad is generating, i.e. how many users are being converted into leads, enquiries or paying customers
• What users do after they click your ad, i.e. the action they take on your page, such as making a purchase or submitting an enquiry form.

It is therefore a useful tool to find out what works and what doesn’t work for your Google ads. You can then use that information to make improvements to your ad to make them more effective, and ultimately make more money from them!

For example, you may find that users are clicking your page, but not turning into paying customers when they reach your page.

This may then lead you to redesign your website or landing page to include a clearer CTA, encouraging users to take an action such as signing up for a class or buying a membership.

You could then come back to Google Analytics and see if your changes have increased the amount of sales being made from your ad!

To get started with Google Analytics, you will need to create a Google Analytics account, which you can do here.

You will then need to link your Google Analytics account with your Google Ads account by navigating through the ‘Tools’ menu on your Google accounts page.

#2 – Use Both Short and Long-Tail Keywords In Your Yoga Google Ads

As we have said, keyword research is a vital part of creating yoga teacher Google ads.

When deciding on the keywords you are going to target with your ads, it is a good idea to include a variety of both specific and broad keywords.

As we will explain below, whilst broad keywords are important, there should be more specific keywords if you are just starting out with Google ads for yoga instructors.

Include A Few Broad (Short-Tail) Keywords In Your Yoga Studio Google Ads

Also known as ‘short-tail keywords’, these are usually words or short phrases that cover broad and general topics.

Some examples of this for yoga Google ads are:

• Yoga classes
• Yoga near me
• Yoga studio

Broad keywords such as these are useful because they technically allow you to reach a wider audience.

They have a higher search volume than more specific keywords, meaning that more people are searching for them each day, and so generate more traffic.

However for this same reason, short-tail keywords are much more competitive.

For example, the keyword ‘yoga classes’ applies to almost every yoga business in the world! It will therefore be very hard for your page to appear high up on the search results page for this keyword, particularly if your business is just starting out.

This competition then means that they are more expensive to target than long-tail keywords (which we will discuss next).

Another thing to consider about with short-tail keywords is that although they may generate more traffic, they actually lead to less conversions.

Short-tail keywords often don’t meet the intent of the user, i.e. they don’t satisfy what they are looking for. This is because since they are generally broad terms, they can have several different meanings for different users.

For example, take the short-term keyword ‘yoga class’.

This could have several different intents for each user, such as:

• Someone looking for a yoga class near them
• Someone looking for an online yoga class
• A teacher wanting to know how to plan and structure a yoga class

It is therefore difficult to ensure that a short-tail keyword meets the intent of the user, meaning that they are less likely to click on your page.

Or if they do, they are less likely to stay on the page and turn into a sale, if the page doesn’t meet their intent.

So although short-tail keywords may generate more traffic, it is harder to convert this traffic into sales and ultimately harder to make money as a yoga teacher!

With this in mind, it is a good idea to target just a few short-tail keywords with your yoga Google ads, as your budget allows.

Focus On Specific (Long-Tail) Keywords When Creating Google Ads For Yoga Teachers

Also known as ‘long-tail keywords’, these are usually more specific words or longer phrases.

They typically have a lower search volume than short-term keywords, since they are usually to meet a very particular user intent.

They may therefore not generate as much traffic as short-tail keywords. But the traffic that they do generate is more likely to be turned into a lead or sale!

Long-tail keywords are therefore a lot less competitive, since you are only competing with others in your specific yoga target market, rather than every single type of ‘yoga class’ in the world!

This therefore means that they typically cost less to target too.

However, finding long-tail keywords to use in your yoga studio Google ads takes more research to ensure that you are targeting ones that are worthwhile.

One of the best ways to use long-tail keywords to use in Google ads for yoga instructors are location keywords.

For example, ‘yoga class Manchester’ is a long-tail location keyword.

Someone searching for this term is clearly looking for a specific thing- a yoga class in Manchester.

Including this keyword in your yoga Google ads therefore means that your page will meet a more specific user intent.

Plus, there is less competition for location keywords, since you are only competing with other businesses in that location.

This not only means that you will generate more traffic, but this traffic is then more likely to be converted into a lead or sale.

As well as specifying the name of the location in the keyword, another way to use target users from a specific location is through phrases such as:

• ‘Yoga class near me’
• ‘Find a yoga teacher near me’

Google then uses the IP address of the user to display results local to them.

This means that even if they don’t specify the location in their search term, your yoga Google ad will still appear to people in your area!

Finally, you can also use long-tail keywords based on the type of yoga you offer.

For example, if you are an Ashtanga yoga teacher, the keyword ‘Ashtanga yoga class birmingham’ would help you target a specific user intent in a specific location (people looking for Ashtanga yoga in Birmingham).

Again, this means that you are targeting a more specific audience, making it more likely that you will generate traffic that will then convert into leads or sales.

With this in mind, make sure to include some broad short-tail keywords to target a wider audience, but most of your keywords should be more specific long-tail keywords.

This may take more time and effort, but it will ultimately lead to more leads and sales from your yoga teacher Google ads!

#3 – Optimise The Page That Your Yoga Google Ads Leads To

Our final tip for creating Google ads for yoga instructors is to optimise the page that your ad directs users to, also known as a ‘landing page’.

But in summary, a landing page is simply a web page that users land on from an external source- such as Google.

It is usually focused on getting users to take a specific, targeted action, such as:

• Submit an enquiry
• Sign up to a class or event
• Make a purchase

You should ensure that as soon as users are taken to your landing page, they find exactly what they are looking for.

If your landing page is not optimised and the action you want them to take is not clear, users will navigate away from your page, back to the search results page and choose another page instead!

This not only means that you have lost out on a potential paying customer, but it also increases your ‘click back rate’, which negatively impacts your website’s SEO and visibility.

After all, as we have mentioned, you are paying Google for every click your advert gets. You should therefore ensure that every click is worthwhile and leads to an enquiry or a sale!

The best way to do this is by ensuring that your landing page has a clear Call To Action (CTA).

This should be visible as soon as users land on your page!

For example, let’s say someone searches for the term ‘hot yoga newcastle’.

As you can see, the first result to appear is a paid result, indicated by the word ‘Sponsored’.

Already from the search title, we can see that they have optimised their yoga studio Google ad by including a long-tail keyword ‘hot yoga studio in Newcastle’ in the headline.

When you click onto this page, the user is taken to the landing page:

This is a great example of a landing page for yoga studio Google ads.

Not only does it clearly give information about the studio (brand name, logo, address), but it also makes it very easy for users to be converted into sales.

This is done by using a clear CTA (the ‘Book A Class’ button). So from just one click, they are directed to a sales page where they will become a paying customer!

By reducing the steps the user has to take from the search results page, they are more likely to find what they are looking for on your page, making the cost of your yoga Google ads worthwhile.

Before You Go!

So, we hope you now have everything you need to know about creating yoga teacher Google ads and how they can benefit your yoga business!

Feeling inspired? Take your yoga teaching career to the next level by becoming a Level 4 yoga teacher with OriGym! Enquire today, or download our free course prospectus for more information about the range of courses we offer.

If you’re a yoga teacher looking for the most effective way of leading your classes, you may be interested to know about the best platform to teach yoga online.

In this article, we’ll provide you with a list of 9 different platforms to choose from, as well as explaining exactly why you may consider using each platform to help run your business.

The ideal way to supplement your chosen platform is with additional qualifications, and OriGym’s Level 4 Yoga Diploma provides just that, offering you the opportunity to choose your specialism, and develop intimate knowledge of how to run your yoga business.

Download our free prospectus today to learn more!

#1 – Uscreen

Price: £79.92 to £160.65 per month

Whether you’re new to the yoga world, or have more experience as a teacher, Uscreen is a great choice if you’re looking for the best platform for online yoga classes.

Uscreen’s Full HD, multi-bitrate adaptive streaming ensures that the quality of your live stream stays consistent, regardless of location or bandwidth.

Once students have booked your live-streamed class, you can then send notifications to the client-facing Uscreen app so that they don’t forget to attend.

Build excitement for your class with a countdown and then use the live chat feature during the session, which allows you to ask your yoga students questions, as well as for them to ask for feedback or advice.

Uscreen is also a Video on Demand (VOD) platform, meaning that you can record your classes and make them available straight away.

This is beneficial, as it allows you to build a catalogue of pre-recorded yoga classes for students that cannot attend the live class.

Along with uploading individual videos, you can also organise them into chapters or playlists.

You can easily monetise your content in the format that suits you, including:

• Subscription-based payment models
• Pay-per-view
• One-time view
• Rental

Uscreen has an intuitive website and landing page builder so that you can build a video membership website that fits in with your brand aesthetic.

This is shown in the website example below from Sara Beth Yoga.

Trusted by over 25,000 creators and entrepreneurs, Uscreen is one of the best online yoga platforms as you can stream from all devices, with apps for:

• IOS
• AppleTV
• Android and Android TV
• Fire TV
• Roku

As a business owner, it is easy for you to manage your content from Uscreen’s admin area. For example, with pre-recorded classes, you can control the availability of the content.

This includes setting release dates for your videos so that Uscreen will automatically publish them on your chosen date.

#2 – Zoom

Price: Free with the option to upgrade from £119.90 to £185 per year

As well as being used by businesses in all industries for communication, Zoom is up there as the best platform to teach yoga online.

Firstly, the special Zoom Events feature allows you to host both group and private classes.

You can embed the video onto your website and send a link to students via email, which will take them straight to the class that they have booked.

Leading yoga over Zoom also gives you the option to simultaneously stream on Facebook if you choose.

One of the best things about using Zoom is that you can both see and hear your students. This allows for interactivity, meaning that you can correct their posture and alignment when needed.

However, if students are uncomfortable, then they have the option to turn their cameras and microphones off. You can also mute all students if practising a meditation that requires focus and silence.

Zoom Meetings syncs with your calendar, meaning that you can see the dates and times of all your classes. The class will also be automatically added to students’ calendars so that they will not miss their booking.

If you’re looking to teach yoga on an online platform, then security is crucial.

Zoom therefore has a solid security system with encryption, to ensure that your classes are not disrupted and can only be attended by those who have booked.

Each class also has a unique meeting ID and password to ensure that classes remain secure.

Before the class starts you can choose to record and save it, which is beneficial for students who may not have been able to attend the class at the scheduled time.

You can also run an audio test beforehand to ensure that your audio quality is good enough for the class. If students can’t hear you, this may disrupt their focus and mean that they do not wish to attend another class.

Although the basic version of Zoom is free, the downside is that you can only host 40-minute classes, otherwise you will have to start a new live stream.

However, if you decide that you like this platform, you can then upgrade to one of four options.

For instance, the Pro plan allows you to have up to 100 participants with uninterrupted live streaming.

#3 – Marvelous

Price: £26.82 to £169.04 per month

Formerly known as Namastream, Marvelous is the best online platform for yoga teachers that allows you to teach through live stream, on-demand, and online courses.

There’s no need to have any technical expertise, as Marvelous allows you to create a professionally built, yet simple online studio in minutes.

What’s great about this platform is that there are two live-streaming options for both public and private events, which can be created and scheduled into your calendar.

This means that you can teach one-to-one or small group sessions, as well as open sessions if you’re hoping to get more yoga students.

Once completed, every live stream is recorded and stored in your virtual library for students to watch back if they were unable to attend that class. You can also create pre-recorded videos, audio, and PDFs to add to your library as a form of bonus content.

To help build your brand and attract clients, Marvelous allows you to build a beautiful landing page with your choice of fonts and colours. You can also upload your logo and create a custom domain name for your page.

This is perhaps the best platform to teach yoga online as it integrates with many popular apps, including:

• Instagram
• Zoom
• Calendly
• Mailchimp
• Acuity
• Zapier

On your personal dashboard, you can monitor sales and student activity with Marvelous’ detailed reports.

This allows you to see where you’re excelling and where you could make improvements to your classes, to ensure that you are able to keep offering content that appeals to your target audience.

Marvelous costs just $33 or £26.82 for the starter package when paid annually, which you can upgrade to one of three other packages as your business grows.

#4 – Udemy

Price: Free to create a course

Udemy allows you to create and sell video courses for students looking to learn more about specific disciplines or styles of yoga.

This is arguably the best online yoga teaching platform for those wanting to add a secondary revenue stream to their yoga business portfolio.

You will earn revenue from each paid enrollment on your course, although you will have to pay Udemy a small percentage of your earnings.

Udemy currently has 13,000 online video courses, with new additions published each month means that there is a huge user base for you to gain new clients from.

The biggest advantage of this is that not only will users purchase your course, but it may also encourage them to attend your live yoga classes, or any yoga workshops you create.

If you are new to creating pre-recorded yoga content, Udemy’s support team is available to help you through the process. They can also provide you with feedback on test videos to ensure that your content is professional and will appeal to your target audience.

Once you have created and uploaded your course, you can then use the Instructor Dashboard to monitor how well your course is doing.

Another reason that Udemy is one of our choices for the best platform to teach yoga online is the custom coupon tool.

This allows instructors to offer incentives and discounts for enrolment, such as in the example below where the Chair Yoga course has a 73% price reduction.

When you join the platform, you will also have access to the Udemy community which allows you to join thousands of instructors across the globe offering tips for success.

#5 – Mindbody

Price: Quotes are available upon request

Mindbody is a class management platform and yoga class scheduling tool that is one of the best platforms for teaching yoga online.

The most unique feature of Mindbody is the marketplace, which allows instructors to advertise their classes for potential clients to find. They can then easily enrol on these classes through Mindbody’s easy-to-use and automated booking system.

Their live streaming feature has been custom-built for the fitness industry and gives instructors the option to record their classes.

This can then be automatically uploaded to your video-on-demand (VOD) library, which gives students exclusive access to your online library of VOD content whenever they like.

The Insights Dashboard provides you with everything you need to know about your business, including your personalised KPIs.

For example, you can see your class sales from month to month, so that you can put strategies into place to improve them if needed.

Mindbody offers a mobile app that students can use to book themselves into classes, which you can personalise to your own brand.

As well as being useful for bookings and payments, the app automatically sends push notifications to students to ensure that they do not miss classes.

The AI assistant feature responds automatically to missed calls and messages, enabling clients to book classes when you’re not around. This means that you have more time to dedicate to teaching classes!

From Starter to Ultimate Plus, Mindbody has 4 pricing packages available to choose from, which vary in price depending on your individual business needs.

Simply contact Mindbody to get a quote to begin running your online yoga classes with the platform.

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Seeking more guidance on running your yoga business? Check out our other articles for further advice:

• How To Create An Online Yoga Cancellation Policy
• Everything You Need To Know About Continuing Education For Yoga Teachers
• How Much To Charge For An Online Yoga Class

#6 – Teachable

Price: Free to £96.18 for the Pro package

As well as being able to host live classes, Teachable allows you to create self-paced courses that students can complete in their own time to supplement their skills and knowledge.

Here is an example from Rachel Jesien Yoga:

You can also create features such as comments, quizzes, and certifications of completion to optimise student engagement and satisfaction.

Courses can be created easily with the drag-and-drop builder, which means that you are able to begin generating income simply and immediately.

The platform offers full e-commerce capabilities through Teachable:pay, meaning that no third-party system is needed. This allows you to take payments monthly, weekly, or even daily if you prefer.

However, Teachable also offers several integrations with apps and programmes, such as:

• Google Analytics
• MailChimp
• ConvertKit
• Zapier

Teachable is amongst the best online yoga platforms as it provides powerful insights for users through advanced data reporting so that you can understand how your yoga business is performing.

This includes reports on sales and student engagement, to help you make data-informed decisions on your next business move.

Another benefit of choosing Teachable as an online yoga platform is that they offer industry-leading fraud protection, encryption and backup capabilities. This ensures that your data remains protected at all times, and that you’re better conforming to GDPR guidelines for yoga teachers.

Teachable’s dedicated team are on hand 24/7 to provide personalised support, whether you need guidance with your launch or help handling connection problems during a class.

Join for free, then upgrade to a Basic, Pro, or Business plan if you decide that Teachable is the best platform to teach yoga online.

#7 – Kajabi

Price: £96.54 to £258.79 per month

Kajabi provides yoga teachers with the opportunity to create the type of content that is best for their business model, including:

• Online courses
• Coaching programmes
• Podcasts
• Memberships
• Livestreams

All of these features can be created with a drag-and-drop tool, making Kajabi one of the easiest and best platforms for teaching yoga online.

The platform also has several product templates so that you don’t need to worry about programming, coding, or designing. Simply choose a template and customise it to suit your own branding.

You can create your own website to showcase all of your content, with a custom domain and memorable address of your choice.

This platform supports various pricing options so that you can monetise your offering with subscriptions or one-time payments, depending on what works best for you.

Kajabi is an all-in-one business management platform, so as well as hosting classes, it will help to automate tasks, such as marketing your yoga business, or managing finances.

It also means that you don’t need to learn how to use several different programmes and plugins. Everything for your yoga business can be done in one place!

Kajabi allows you to create an online community where students can connect with you and each other to share their struggles and achievements, helping you to build a loyal client base.

As the best platform to teach yoga online, Kajabi also makes the payment process easy for both yourself and your customers with Stripe and PayPal integrations.

One of the best things about Kajabi is that they don’t take a percentage of your revenues, meaning that all of the income that you make is yours to reinvest into your business!

The only downside of this platform is that it costs £96.54 per month just for the basic pricing plan. However, we think that this is totally worth it for an all-in-one platform with all of the features that it offers!

#8 – Thinkific

Price: Free, with the option to upgrade your package from £29.18

Thinkific allows you to create online courses from a range of templates with the drag-and-drop editing tool, so no coding or editing skills are required.

Along with being able to choose from self-paced and scheduled classes, students will also have the option to take part in live classes taught by you.

You can also use the platform to stream classes through Live Lessons with Zoom. This helps to add an element of variety to your yoga class offerings, whilst also boosting engagement.

To show your support for students and keep them motivated throughout their yoga journey, Thinkific gives you the option to incorporate quizzes and certificates into your courses.

You can also create a varied learning experience with:

• Videos
• Interactive files
• Images
• PDFs
• Audio files
• Presentations

This allows you to offer different styles for different types of learners so that students never become bored!

A unique feature of Thinkific is their App Store, which allows you to access more than 80 apps for a variety of purposes, including:

• To provide an enhanced learning experience for students
• Reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks
• Increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts

To showcase your classes and courses, you can create a website easily with Thinkific to help market your yoga business.

This takes just minutes to create with templated marketing pages. However, if you do have coding skills, the website builder has advanced HTML/CSS so that you can customise your theme.

Along with a space to live stream your classes, you can add several different pages to your website to allow visitors to find out more about your classes and encourage them to take part. This includes:

• An attractive landing page
• Yoga instructor bio page
• Testimonials page

Trusted by more than 70,000 creators, Thinkific is perhaps the best platform to teach yoga online and one that we would fully recommend to all instructors.

#9 – LearnWorlds

Price: £19.46 to £201.89

LearnWorlds allows you to host live yoga sessions through connections with Zoom, Webex, and Calendly.

What makes this the best platform to teach yoga online is that if your business consists of more than one instructor, you can run multiple sessions simultaneously.

This allows you to maximise revenue and provide various class options for students. These can be one-to-one or group sessions and provide features such as Q&As and breakout rooms to encourage interaction.

Live sessions can be accessed via the iOS and Android LearnWorlds mobile apps so that you can teach anywhere, and students can attend no matter their location!

LearnWorlds automatically tracks attendance for each session and then generates performance reports, to allow you to see which classes are your most popular.

Once live-streamed, your content will be recorded so that you can make your classes available for students, even when you’re not.

Learnworlds is therefore the best online platform for yoga teachers looking to increase their reach, especially for students who have a busy schedule.

As well as live-streamed classes, you can also create a library of interactive courses that will allow your students to deepen their yoga knowledge. This is useful for those who want to gain a more in-depth understanding of yoga, or who may not be able to commit to weekly classes.

LearnWorlds offers a variety of ways for you to distribute this content, including:

• Private yoga classes & courses
• Openly listed courses
• Paid courses
• Free courses

Your students will then benefit from a range of fast and safe payment options that make the process much easier.

This includes options from Google and Apple Pay, to Clearpay and Klarna. Clients are therefore much more likely to purchase a course or session with you, plus it gives you much more flexibility with how you charge for your yoga classes.

The platform also provides a series of marketing tools to help make your business more visible within the health and wellness industry.

For example, LearnWorlds allows you to add conversion pixels to your website, which helps to track where your best results come from. From this, you can then improve your sales pages and funnels to help you attract more clients from your target audience.

Pricing plans start from $24 (£19.46) and are designed to suit every budget, with the option to begin with a free trial.

Before You Go!

Although it may require significant financial investment, selecting the best platform to teach yoga online is essential if you’re hoping to offer more class options to students, and increase revenue in the long run.

If you’re looking to seriously boost your income as a yoga teacher, though, OriGym’s bespoke Level 4 Yoga Teacher Training course offers the chance to learn a lucrative specialism, as well as develop a full understanding of the business side of yoga.

Click here to download our prospectus today, and explore more of what we offer.

If you’re wondering what questions to ask your yoga students so you know how to tailor classes and sessions to meet their needs, this article is for you!

We’ll cover:

• Questions to Ask Yoga Students Before Their First Yoga Class
• Yoga Questions for Students Working with You Privately
• Questions to Ask Yoga Students When Class Has Finished

Before we start, why not enhance your teaching and develop your expertise with OriGym’s Level 4 Diploma. Alternatively, you can download our free course prospectus here for more details on these and all of our courses.

Questions to Ask Yoga Students Before Their First Yoga Class

There’s some preliminary questions to ask yoga students to ensure their safety in class as well as helping them in other ways to get the most out of your classes.

We’ll run through some of these now so you know what the most important yoga questions are for students before they start your class.

#1 Questions to Ask Your Yoga Students About Injuries

Some of the most important things to ask aren’t necessarily yoga questions for your students but questions about any medical conditions or injuries.

One of our top tips for teaching the best yoga class is being willing to adapt and change your class on the fly depending on the people attending.

This will usually be informed by the questions you have to ask your yoga students at the start of class.

However you word this, the aim of the question is to determine if anybody has any injuries or long standing medical conditions that mean certain postures will be difficult for them.

For example, if somebody has a knee injury you might not want to include poses such as mermaid pose, or strenuous forward folds.

As a result you might just want to offer plenty of modifications to this person so they can take part in the class without aggravating their injury.

The point of asking these questions is to cover yourself from a claim made against you as well as to protect your class members from any harm or pain.

Some examples of how you could word this include:

Before we start, are there any injuries I need to know about?

This is a great way of formatting these questions to ask your yoga students because it’s vague enough that people can check with you about their injuries, no matter how severe or the part of the body.

You can substitute any area of the body in this form of the question. If you’ve got a class focused on a particular area you should ask if there’s any injuries or problems with this area specifically.

For example:

Are there any lower back injuries I need to know about?

People may not think that they have a relevant injury but have a long-term problem with a particular area.

For example, some people have knees that hyperextend and this is something you might need to know about if there’s standing folds in the flow that could aggravate this and cause class members pain.

That’s why, ideally, you should have questions like this to ask your yoga students after you’ve asked generally.

That way you’ll be making sure there’s nothing physical that will stop your class members from enjoying the class safely!

#2 You Should Have Questions to Ask Your Yoga Students About Their Experience

Another one of the most important questions to ask about yoga is your class members’ experience levels.

Obviously if you’re teaching a beginner’s yoga class you’ll know that people won’t have a lot of experience but you should always check if there’s anybody who’s never done yoga before.

Much like any questions about injuries, you should have these questions to ask your yoga students because it will help you make any adjustments to the class.

This will dictate both how you deliver the class and the kind of language and guidance you use for your class members.

For example, if there are beginners in your class or people who are new to practice, you can reassure them that they can take child’s pose whenever they feel the need.

You can also use your yoga cues to remind people to listen to their bodies and not push themselves too hard, offering hands on adjustments where appropriate.

You can also offer more guidance in your cues so that people have more explicit instruction if they’re not familiar with poses.

It will also give you an opportunity to support any people who need it with props such as yoga blocks and straps.

You’ll also need to know if people have never done a particular style before so this could be one of the ways you frame these questions to ask your yoga students.

You’ll have a chance to explain what to expect and double check people’s level of ability so you know whether they need modifications.

For example, if you’re interested in becoming an Ashtanga yoga teacher or you’ve already completed this training, you might ask:

Has anybody never done Ashtanga before?

You can then follow up with:

Have you done yoga before?

And ask about what styles they’ve done or how experienced they are. Usually, depending on the class size, people won’t mind answering these questions but often you should go over to each student so they don’t feel intimidated answering in front of the class.

#3 One of the Key Questions to Ask Your Yoga Students is About Their Intention

One of the most important yoga questions for students is about what brought them to the practice and what their intention is.

As you will probably already know, setting a class intention can help to guide the practice and retain focus throughout for your class members.

You can also have your own intention, that you offer to students, as a way of grounding the practice and using it for your cues.

This is something you can return to throughout the class and come back to at the end to help people feel the difference the class has made to them.

Not only is this a great way of retaining focus and helping your class members to dedicate their practice to a particular goal, it also will help them see the benefits of your class!

Whether mental or physical, having people focus on an intention and see the difference a relaxing class has made will keep them coming back!

You can ask several questions here all with the same goal. For example, you can start by asking your class members:

What brought you to yoga here today?

This will start the process of getting your class members to feel grounded and inwardly reflective so that they can focus throughout the practice.

By getting them to check in with how they’re feeling this will help them to assess how they feel physically and mentally and give them something to compare the end of practice to.

You can then ask:

Are you here for the more physical side of yoga, or are you looking for something mental or emotional from practice today?

This gives people an opportunity to decide what they want out of practice on another, deeper level and also makes the class inclusive for everybody.

This way people won’t feel too pressured to focus on the spiritual or mental elements of yoga, but will also have an opportunity to deepen their practice by focusing on these if they want to!

You can also then speak to both of these elements in your cues as well.

Lastly, you can ask explicitly:

“What’s your intention in practice today?”

You can elaborate, as we mentioned, with some suggestions or some ideas for how people might choose to focus their practice.

For example, you may provide an intention for people of “acceptance”. This can be used for both the physical and mental side of yoga and is adaptable for everyone in class.

Yoga Questions for Students Working with You Privately

Now we’ll run through some of the most important questions to ask your yoga students when you’re working with them privately.

If you want to get private yoga clients you’ll work one-to-one with them on their practice specific to their needs and goals.

There’s therefore some more in depth questions you’ll be able to ask to ensure your clients’ safety and make sure they get as much out of practice as possible.

We’ll run through some of these now.

#1 Questions to Ask Your Yoga Students Privately About Their Medical History

As we’ve already mentioned, you should have questions to ask about your yoga clients and their medical history to ensure you can practise with them safely.

When you’re working with individuals you will have more of a chance to ask a wide variety of questions before starting so you’ve got a full picture of their readiness as well as any risks.

Questions about any illnesses or injuries will form a vital part of the risk assessment you complete with new clients when you work with individuals or as part of onboarding to your studio!

This will make individuals feel safer in your hands and give them an opportunity to discuss any information in a private and confidential way compared to in a class.

You can do this as part of a form or you can ask this during an initial consultation with individual clients.

You will also be able to focus on how these may relate to certain goals that your clients have, such as increasing flexibility or even easing pain symptoms.

The information you gain from people here will also help you to design sessions for them and choose the right style to work on their goals.

For example, if you get a client who tells you they have stiff hips and want to use yoga to loosen up this area of their body, you might decide to

Some questions you should ask people about their medical history and any illness or injury include:

Do you have any current or previous, lasting injuries?

Do you have any long term health conditions that may affect your sessions such as osteoporosis or arthritis?

Do you have any existing pain in certain joints or when you’re doing exercise or performing certain positions?

All of these will help you to tailor sessions to meet your clients needs and create an open dialogue for them to share any updates about their condition so they get the most out of working with you!

#2 You Should Have Questions to Ask Yoga Students About Their Profession

As well as their physical capabilities, some yoga questions you should have for your students include those about their lifestyle.

One of the most important ones you can ask is about their professional life, specifically what kind of work they do.

This will help you assess the following things which will affect their goals and their abilities:

• How sedentary they are and their level of movement throughout the day
• Their schedule and how busy they are
• If there’s any risks or strains on particular areas of the body

You should be able to see areas for improvement and benefits of a practice for individuals even if they don’t see it themselves.

For example, if you get a client who has a very sedentary job and they’re working in an office, then you’ll know that they are more likely to develop back and neck problems.

This can help you to structure the sessions with the client and help educate them about how yoga will benefit them and help strengthen areas weakened by their job.

Some of the questions you could ask include:

What is your occupation?

How many hours a day do you spend sitting down for work?

How do you get to work for the day? Do you drive, walk, or get public transport?

All of these things will help you get to know your clients needs more and work with them to improve areas of their life using yoga practice!

#3 It’s Important to Have Questions to Ask Your Yoga Students About Their Lifestyle

Building on our previous question, you can then extend your questioning to ask your private clients about their lifestyle generally.

This will help inform your sessions more and allow you to tailor each one to their needs better.

The more you know about your client’s lifestyle, whether that’s their activity levels or their sleeping pattern, you’ll know how best to help them.

This works in the same way as knowing about their work: you can use this information to educate them about the benefits of yoga.

This will then, in turn, help your clients to determine their own goals and what they want out of your sessions!

This will also help you to upsell any other services you have to offer as you’ll be able to see if there’s room to offer a more holistic approach for your clients.

For example, you might find that your client doesn’t sleep well and often feels lethargic throughout the day.

If you’ve got a level 4 nutrition course as well as your yoga qualifications, maybe you’re interested in becoming a nutrition coach alongside teaching, you can combine these services.

As well as designing yoga sessions to help rest their mind and move their body, you might design meal plans and give nutritional advice to support better sleep hygiene.

Some examples of the sorts of questions to ask your yoga students include:

How many meals a day do you eat and how would you describe your diet?”

How active would you say you are outside of your day job or in your spare time?”

Would you say you sleep well or have trouble sleeping regularly?

All of these are great questions to ask your yoga students to create the best programme possible for them.

#4 Ask Yoga Questions for Students to Shape Their Own Practice

Just as it’s important to have questions to ask yoga students about their life outside of practice, you should also focus on their attitude towards yoga itself.

Having specific yoga questions for students will help you tailor sessions to their tastes as well as just their abilities.

This will also help you to introduce them to new styles and teach them without repeating information they already know or risking coming across as condescending.

For instance, you might get a client who’s been doing yoga for years but has only ever focused on one particular style.

Therefore, as well as understanding the right pace for their experience, asking them to shape their own practice means you’ll be able to include plenty of their favourite styles so that they’re more engaged in the practice!

Some questions you could ask, if you’re working with somebody who has a little experience, include:

What is it that you like most about yoga?

Do you have a favourite kind of yoga and why?

Is there a particular aspect of practice you want to work on or a new style you’d like to try?

Based on what they say they like most about it this can help you with any particular style to focus on or goal.

For example, if their favourite part of yoga is the focus that it gives them, you can choose to include plenty of balance postures as these are great ways to focus attention during yoga.

If you’re finding this article helpful, why not check out some of our others on marketing yourself and your business?

• 7 Digital Marketing Strategies for Yoga Studios & Teachers
• Do You Need A License To Teach Yoga?
• Why Should You Do Yoga Teacher Training

Questions to Ask Yoga Students When Class Has Finished

Now that you know which questions to ask your yoga students before class, and some specific to private sessions, let’s move on to after class!

Below are some of the top questions you should have to ask your yoga students to help close the practice.

#1 Questions to Ask About Yoga Intentions at Close of Class

 

As we mentioned earlier, the questions you ask at the start of class about people’s intentions, can be returned to at the end.

This will give people a chance to notice and reflect on the positive effects of the yoga class for their particular goals.

As well as forming cues throughout the practice this will give you a chance to draw attention to both the physical and mental aspects of yoga at the end to show the progress your class members have made!

This will not only help them to find meaning in the practice and notice their own achievements but that, in turn, will make them want to keep coming to class.

You can either explicitly ask about the intention or you can use this to build on and ask students to reflect back on the class.

If we use the example from earlier in the article, “acceptance”, you can ask students to check in with themselves and compare how they feel now to how they felt at the start of class.

For example:

Think back to how you felt at the start of class and our intention of “acceptance”. How do you feel compared to the start of class? Are you accepting of how your body feels and what it was capable of today?

This will help students to feel grounded again and help them return to their purpose for being in the class.

As we mentioned earlier, you can also draw attention back to the mental and physical aspects that you mention when you open a yoga class as both of these will inform people’s personal intentions:

Check in with yourself again. How are you feeling compared to the start of class both physically and mentally?”

Returning your focus to the body, how does it feel compared to the start of class? Are your muscles looser? Do you feel more relaxed?”

Turning your attention inward, compare how you feel mentally and emotionally to how you felt at the start of class. Is the mind quieter? Are you able to let go of thoughts and focus on the body?

All of these are great questions to ask your yoga students at the close of class!

#2 Questions to Ask About How Your Yoga Class Was for People

When you’ve asked people to reflect on how they feel compared to the start of class, one of the ways you can build on this is to ask students to reflect on the class as a whole.

You should encourage people to look back over their class and rather than assess their performance in a critical way, use it as a moment of reflection.

By getting them to think back over the class and how it felt, this will help them understand their own practice better.

It will also help them to feel more in tune with themselves and guide them through the next practice as each class will help inform the intentions and goals of the next!

For example, by getting somebody to look over the class at any moments that they may have found difficult, this is something they can focus on improving during the next class.

Equally if there’s something in particular that they loved about class or feel they achieved this will encourage them to keep coming to class and noticing their improvements.

This works for both a physical and mental or emotional focus of practice as people can either assess how they felt physically or if there were any mental barriers stopping them from deepening certain postures or focusing on the breath.

All of these things will help people to improve and to notice these improvements when they occur!

An example of how you might do this in an encouraging way is:

Reflecting back over the class, what did you feel you achieved today?”

Looking back at your practice today without judgement or expectation, did you get what you needed from the practice? Are there areas you’re working on that you had the space to work on?”

Think back over the class now. How did you feel physically? Was there any tension in a particular part of practice today?

All of these are options for questions to ask your yoga students to reflect on at the end of class, encouraging them to notice their own improvements and room for future adjustments!

#3 One of the Best Questions to Ask Your Yoga Students is if They Have Any Questions

Last but not least, it’s also important to ask the people you’re teaching if they have any questions themselves.

This might be related to the practice on that particular day or about the style of practice in general.

Giving people an opportunity to ask questions will help you to display your knowledge and assert your expertise.

It also increases people’s comfort and confidence in the class because they can ask anything they’re unsure of.

This might be to do with certain postures and gives them an opportunity to get more details from you compared to during class when things are faster paced.

Because you’ll be teaching several people at once, depending on how busy the class is you won’t be able to give undivided attention and adjustments to individuals as much as you might like.

Asking if anybody has any questions or if they want any more information gives you the opportunity to provide this focused attention on individuals.

For example, if you’re interested in becoming a Hatha yoga teacher, or you teach this style already, you can give people the opportunity to ask more questions about its history as one of the oldest styles.

Here’s some examples of how you could open the floor for questions from your students:

If anybody has any questions about Hatha or yoga in general I’ll be around for a moment at the end to answer those

You can also be specific in helping people come forward about things they’re struggling with, as we mentioned before giving them more guided, individualised advice:

If anybody has any questions about the practice, anything they’re struggling with or wants any tips in particular, I’ll be around to answer those for you

Lastly, you can ask if they have any questions about other services that you offer. For example, maybe you’re running your own yoga retreat or teaching a yoga workshop?

You should briefly use the time at the end of the class to promote these and give people a chance to ask any further questions about them.

For example:

I’m running a workshop at the end of the month on 28th all about Hatha and balance postures. If anybody wants any more information or you have any questions about that, let me know!

As you can see, this can be a great way of ending the class and an opportunity to enhance the class for everyone!

Before You Go!

Hopefully you can use some of these questions to ask your yoga students and help them make the most of your classes and keep coming!

Don’t forget to check out OriGym’s industry leading Level 4 Yoga Diploma which will boost your expertise and help your yoga business to grow. You can also find out about all of our courses by downloading our free course prospectus.

If you want to start teaching yoga to special needs students, you might want to do some research before you begin offering these classes.

This guide will cover altering your classes to suit particular needs, including:

• 9 Key Tips On Teaching Yoga To Those With Special Needs
• 3 Skills You Should Prioritise When Teaching Yoga To Special Needs Students
• How To Get Started Teaching Yoga To Those With Special Needs

Before we get straight into our tips, if you’re yet to get your qualification, then why not enquire about our Level 3 Yoga Diploma here at OriGym?

You can find this and more in our downloadable course prospectus here.

9 Key Tips On Teaching Yoga To Those With Special Needs

Any class member with additional needs may require some alterations to your usual yoga class plan, which is why it could be a good idea to have classes dedicated to making yoga a more enjoyable experience for students that require some extra attention.

Below, we have some tips and suggestions on yoga for special needs students, so you can plan an effective session.

#1 – Consider Your Music Choices In A Special Needs Yoga Class

Depending on the disabilities that your class has, it might be helpful for you to avoid using music or at least lower the volume.

For example, some people who are on the autism spectrum (ASD) may be sensitive to sounds. Auditory sensitivities are extremely common among children and adults with autism, and so creating classes that are quiet and don’t have any sudden sounds could really benefit their overall experience.

If your students feel safe in the knowledge that they can have their yoga class without fear of any sudden noises or unexpected sounds, they could actually enjoy the class and not feel worried.

However, this isn’t the case for every person with a disability. In fact, in some cases it could be beneficial to include certain kinds of yoga music.

It would be incredibly important to get some knowledge of the disability from each member of your class to ensure that you aren’t alienating anybody. This would then mean you can divide the class into 2.

One could be for those who would prefer silence throughout the class, and some who enjoy calming music to accompany the practice.

In fact, there is such a thing as music therapy for individuals with ASD. You could ask each individual in the class (or their guardian if their disability permits them to make their decisions) if they enjoy certain music.

You could test it out on groups of clientele that have the same taste. For example, if you have 50% of people who prefer less stimulating atmospheres, then you can have a safe-space yoga class.

On the other hand, you may see some similarities between people who would enjoy a gentle tone in the background of their class.

You could then hold another class that permits this. Before you do this though, it would be a good idea to share the playlist that you intend to play before the class. This would give the students time to listen to it prior and know what to expect.

Sometimes sound can be alarming to those with particular disabilities due to the nature of the unexpectedness of the sound. However, if it is something they’re able to become familiar with prior to the class, it could reduce any element of surprise and increase their overall enjoyment.

#2 – Some Special Needs May Be Physical As Well As Mental

When teaching yoga to special needs students, you need to keep in mind that ‘disability’ is a huge blanket term for many different disabilities, and while some may be mental, others may be physical.

This is why prior to onboarding students, you should get a full fitness consultation done, which will help you to understand their disability and what assistance they may need to enjoy their class to the full potential.

Some disabilities will need more assistance than others, for example, some students that have disabilities such as the following may need more physical and practical assistance:

• Cerebral palsy
• Multiple sclerosis
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Amputations
• Spinal cord injuries
• Arthritis

These can have various ranges of extremity, so finding out what kind of assistance they might need and also the consent to provide any hands on assistance is important.

This way, you can teach variations of yoga poses to suit those who may be in a wheelchair or who have limited range of motion.

This again reinforces the importance of not alienating your clients, it is vital that you make the classes for their abilities. On the other hand, there might be disabilities that make it difficult more so on the mental side of things.

This means that, while their body may be completely able, their mind could struggle to keep up with particular poses or they could be easily triggered by things in the studio. This could include disabilities such as:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome)
• ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
• NVLD (Non-verbal learning disorder)

These can even sometimes be classified as invisible disabilities as, because the spectrum is so wide, there are hugely varied severities.

With that in mind, the bottom line is to ensure you are well equipped to deal with the disability of your students. If you don’t feel equipped or you are not able to cater for particular severities then you may have to refer the student to a more well equipped yoga teacher.

#3 – Consider Changing Your Class Size For Special Needs Students

Class sizes matter when it comes to teaching yoga for special needs students. Larger classes can become overwhelming for those with certain disabilities.

For example, people who struggle with social interaction may find larger classes intimidating. By making classes smaller but more frequent, you can avoid any losses and focus on making the class an enjoyable experience.

Up to 8 people could be a good sized class, depending on the severity and type of disability that they have. If you’re working with students that have more severe disabilities than it is important that you have the capacity to attend to them all individually.

This will help to ensure that you have what it takes to concentrate on making the class enjoyable and more importantly safe.

Some disabilities are more susceptible to struggling in social situations than others, for instance things like:

• Asperger’s syndrome (Autism spectrum disorder)
• ADHD
• Deafness
• Blindness

These are the kinds of disabilities that make general communication more difficult, so thinking about the class size if you have students with disabilities such as the aforementioned and alike you should consider limiting the numbers.

#4 – Make Your Classes Fun For Special Needs Students

You really want to make sure that your classes are fun, they should be a place for students with or without disabilities to feel as though they’re taking a break from reality and enjoying themselves.

So what are some ways you can inject some fun into your yoga classes?

First, find out what your class actually enjoys. Do they enjoy certain types of music or themes? If they do, choosing yoga class themes based on what they collectively enjoy could make it a much more enjoyable experience.

For example, people with the following disorders / disabilities can often show tendencies of hyperfixation:

• Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Schizophrenia
• Depression
• Anxiety disorders

With that in mind, there are some particular themes that they may seem more passionate about. If you can reach a common ground among your class on changing themes week on week, based on the passions of each class member, you could create a comfortable and enjoyable environment.

Aside from that, you could incorporate social events for your classes and begin creating a team of like-minded yoga lovers that can become friends and gain some sociability from your yoga classes.

#5 – Consider Extra Safety Precautions For Your Special Needs Students

Safety precautions are something that should be considered in yoga classes for every ability, but depending on the disability that your student has, some may need extra precautionary measures than others.

For example, if you have any students that struggle with their balance more than what would be typical of an able bodied student, it would be a good idea to invest into things like:

• Thicker yoga mats
• Wall fixtures to hold onto
• Extra yoga equipment such as blocks and straps to assist with poses.

These are simple upgrades that can help to keep your students that bit safer in your care.

Aside from the equipment, the general tempo of your yoga class might need to be slowed down to ensure any movements aren’t going to impose any risk of injury.

The good thing is that yoga is typically performed slowly regardless, so think more about the type of yoga style that you’re going to teach.

Often, the go-to is Hatha yoga (simply because of its slower, more gentle nature) and there are plenty of variations to choose from when it comes to simplifying the poses.

You should also consider the students who are in wheelchairs. You could take some guidance from chair yoga classes to adapt your poses to fit people who only have movement capabilities within their upper body.

Consider the disability then decide on the safety precautions you need to implement since they can vary dramatically.

#6 – Do Your Research On The Disabilities Your Students Have

We briefly mentioned earlier the importance of researching the disability that your student has, this is crucial in ensuring that you can run a class that is as enjoyable and inclusive as possible.

While before offering the classes at all you should do some research into the most common disabilities, this doesn’t mean that you should consider your research done.

You should always keep learning about how yoga can benefit those with disabilities and how to make your practice as effective as possible.

Everytime you get an inquiry from a new class member, ask about their disability. The more detail that you can get from them or their guardian the better, try to find out things such as:

• Triggers
• Likes and dislikes
• Disability severity
• Age

These will help you to teach special needs yoga that will be enjoyable and inclusive without running the risk of alienating any students regardless of their disability.

#7 – Implement A Consistent Structure For Special Needs Yoga Classes

Finally, one last thing that is important when it comes to certain disabilities is the structure of it all.

With some learning disabilities, structure and routine is incredibly important, particularly for those with ASD. People who have autism spectrum disorder can have the tendency to feel more comfortable with routines and structure.

This would mean keeping your classes at the same time each week. Using similar (at least) routines each week would be an ideal way of not shocking any participants.

For example, if you do want to introduce new poses or styles of yoga, it is a good idea to introduce it gradually so that you don’t alarm any students with unexpected changes.

Even if you decide on introducing one new pose every week, soon after you could have a whole new routine that has been implemented without triggering anybody.

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If you’re looking to lead better yoga sessions for those with special needs, our other articles can help:

• Become A Yoga Instructor
• Do You Need A Licence To Teach Yoga?
• Key Tips & Skills For Teaching Yoga To Children With Autism

3 Skills You Should Prioritise When Teaching Yoga To Special Needs Students

There are some skills that matter more whether you’re teaching yoga to children with special needs, or adults. With that being said, here are three top skills to prioritise when teaching yoga to special needs students.

Exercise Patience When Leading Special Needs Yoga Classes

Patience is something that is absolutely necessary in a special needs yoga class. Some things may take longer to do, like setting up your class or instructing students.

For some people, depending on the severity of their disability, it may be harder for them to understand particular instructions.

Things like using the right visual yoga cues could be more beneficial for your students and having the patience to understand that people learn at different speeds is vital.

Planning & Organisation Are Essential Skills For Teaching Yoga To Special Needs Children

We have reiterated the importance of routines when regarding specific disabilities, and while this isn’t all people, everyone will appreciate the smooth running of a class.

This is because it becomes much easier for them to know what to expect, there are no sudden changes which could trigger them and thus, makes for a better atmosphere overall.

Planning and organisation are also crucial for you as the instructor. You need to be thinking ahead of potential triggers, researching each class member’s disability and having a well-thought-out plan that will make for an enjoyable experience for all class members regardless of their disability.

Good Communication Is Key In Any Yoga Class For Special Needs Students

Communication skills are important in many different walks of life, but when you’re teaching a class that requires more care you may need to think about this some more.

For example, if you may typically raise your voice if you’re not heard at the back of the class this may not be appropriate for those who find shouting triggering. Instead, you could still communicate effectively by moving around the class and speaking in a regular tone.

The point is that you should be thinking before you speak and not to expect that students can adapt as easily as this may not always be the case.

How To Get Started Teaching Yoga To Those With Special Needs

So, is there special needs yoga teacher training or can you create a class for varied abilities with any yoga training?

First, you will need a Level 3 in Yoga Teaching to teach yoga to any ability. This is typically a minimum of 200 hrs, but the more the better, especially if you lack experience before training.

It is good to check prior to applying for roles if you need a specific qualification as this can be subjective job to job.

However, one thing you may need when dealing with children or disabled people of any age is a DBS clearance certificate.

You can apply for this on the UK government website here. It is simple and having this under your belt is likely to make you a much more preferable and prepared candidate compared to others who don’t.

We would recommend looking for yoga for special needs teacher training if the place of work you want to work requires it but, the standard 200 hrs or more is likely to be accepted.

The bottom line is that you should always check with the job you’re applying for, it can vary dramatically so ensuring you either gain further qualifications like a Level 4 in Advanced Yoga Instructing, or specific training for disabilities.

Before You Go!

Whether you’re starting classes for children or adults with disabilities, hopefully you feel more confident in starting to build a class that is a safe space.

Don’t forget, if you’re ready to venture out and take the first step, enquire today about one of our Level 3 Diploma in Yoga OriGym. Find this and more in our downloadable course prospectus.

When teaching yoga to kids with autism, you need to make every session accessible and reflect the needs of the children participating.

To help you understand what teaching autistic children involves, we will explore this topic across three areas:

• Things to Know Before Teaching Yoga to Kids With Autism
• 7 Tips for Teaching Yoga to Kids With Autism
• 5 Skills You’ll Need to Teach Yoga to Kids With Autism

Before we explore this subject further, if you’re not already qualified, OriGym’s Level 3 Yoga Teacher qualification equips you to work with a wide range of students. Explore the range of courses we provide by downloading our course prospectus.

What You Need to Know Before Teaching Yoga to Kids With Autism

Before you begin instructing yoga to kids with autism, it’s important to understand the definition of this disability, and particularly how it can factor into how you plan a yoga class.

The National Autistic Society defines the condition as:

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world.

As a result, the condition usually manifests during a person’s childhood before the age of 3 and can influence:

• Social skills
• Communication
• Relationships
• Understanding social situations and behavioural expectations

The National Autistic Society further explains that around 1 in every hundred people in the UK are diagnosed with the condition, which is approximately 700,000 people.

People who live with autism operate on a spectrum, meaning that each person’s condition manifests differently. Here’s a simplified way to look at the different levels of autism:

There are 3 levels to the autism spectrum (high-functioning autism, autism and severe autism) but a few of the more common symptoms that autistic people share include:

• A pattern of repetitive and restrictive behaviour
• Challenges in social communication & interaction
• Hobbies or interests that are highly focused
• Light, sound, taste, or touch sensitivity
• Highly-induced anxiety
• Meltdowns and shutdowns

It’s important to understand that every autistic child is different and with that, their symptoms manifest differently too. Children could exhibit all these traits, whilst others, only a select few.

With all of this in mind, let’s explore how you can adapt your class plans to better accommodate those with the condition.

7 Tips For Teaching Yoga To Kids With Autism

Successfully teaching yoga to kids with autism, requires you to have tips to understand the condition and how to interact with your class.

#1 – Identify A Child’s Autism Symptoms Before You Begin Teaching Them

Above all else, when you teach yoga to kids with autism, you need to remember that each child’s condition is different.

It’s advisable to familiarise yourself with the common symptoms we’ve listed above, so you can identify when children in your class are displaying them.

Once you’ve identified these symptoms, it’s important to create an environment that helps manage them. This can be done by reducing their exposure to stimuli, such as:

• Flickering lights
• Loud noises
• Multiple voices at once

These symptoms can also be managed by:

• Making classes as visual as possible
• Providing structure (such as offering countdowns when a class is going to end)
• Using clearly defined yoga class opening and closing sequences

Considerations like these will help children feel less distressed and more attentive to the yoga session they’re participating in.

Dedicating extra time to create an autistic-friendly environment will have positive results for the children you teach.

#2 – Adapt Your Yoga Instructing When Teaching Kids With Autism

Whilst you’re instructing yoga to kids with autism, preparation is crucial. It will allow you to adapt when your session doesn’t go as planned.

You may find that children don’t follow instructions as a result of their condition, coupled with the age group you teach.

To counter this, you should find interesting and fun ways to keep your children’s attention, so you can run a successful class.

You can ask them to name different yoga poses based on different letters of the alphabet. You could even utilise a drawing board, if one is available, to visually assist the children.

It’s also important to plan your children’s yoga class and have flexibility when defining what a successful session is.

If children don’t successfully complete yoga poses, for example, but make a solid effort to complete them, you should feel confident in calling this participation a success.

You can also adjust the session, should a child become disruptive through their boredom or stress.

Consider providing the child with an alternative activity to minimise their disruption, such as providing them with a book to look over.

To get the class back on track, you can reprioritise the structure of your session by focusing on poses you think the children in your class will benefit from, or that they’ll get enjoyment from.

#3 – Make Your Yoga Classes Predictable And Consistent For Autistic Students

When you’re discovering how to teach yoga to kids with autism, you’ll not only have to adapt to a changing environment but also make the class as predictable as possible.

It will help children familiarise themselves with the yoga exercises being performed and reduce their anxiety.

This method will help you anticipate what to expect from your class and also help the children retain what they’re being taught.

There are several ways you can create routines within your yoga classes, let’s explore them further:

• Managing Expectations – You can begin by opening a yoga class effectively; outlining what the class involves at the beginning helps promote a safe environment for your yoga class. It will also be beneficial to tell the children in advance when a yoga pose will be finished and what they’re transitioning to next.
• Timetable – Running the classes on the same day and time of the week, especially if you’ll be working with your group of children for the next several weeks or months.
• Sequence – Use a yoga sequence builder to create a structure for the yoga poses you wish to perform. This will improve your class’ responsiveness. It will also regulate their behaviour, making them less likely to experience a meltdown. One way you sequence your class is by working from head to toe with yoga poses so the children understand the direction of the yoga poses.
• Use The Same Space – By running the yoga class in the same room, you create an environment that the children will quickly become familiar with. If you have to change the location of your class, it’s best to inform the children and their parents ahead of schedule to reduce their levels of anxiety when working in a new environment.

If you consider these factors, your class will encounter fewer interruptions as the predictability will be a source of comfort for children in your class.

#4 – Make Repetitive Behaviours Part of Your Yoga Classes With Autistic Children

If you’re looking for tips for teaching yoga to kids with autism, then it’s important to recognise the repetitive behaviours they engage in when they’re feeling anxious.

These could include, but aren’t limited to:

• Hand flapping
• Rocking backwards and forwards
• Wiggling fingers
• Jumping

These repetitive behaviours can also manifest when children find enjoyment in these behaviours, which makes it important to understand the difference between these emotional states.

One way you could understand the difference is by understanding the environment your class operates.

If your class feels unpredictable to any of the children, they’re likely to engage in these repetitive behaviours to ease their feelings of discomfort.

One way you can incorporate these behaviours, should they appear, is by making them part of your yoga class.

You could include any jumping you witness as part of a warm-up or as a transitional exercise between yoga poses. This will help focus the children’s attention, and mean they enjoy their yoga class with you.

It’s important not to engage in communication that is critical of any children that aren’t responsive. Guide them back to the practice, and offer them an alternative if they’re not responding positively.

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• How To Become A Yoga Teacher
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#5 – Provide Specific Feedback and Praise To Your Autistic Students

When teaching yoga to kids with autism, it’s important to elaborate on the positive feedback you provide them. This is because autistic people may not understand why you’re praising them.

You can achieve this, for example, by providing positive feedback when you believe the children excelled in performing a yoga pose correctly.

You can even perform the yoga pose again to provide a visual queue to help illustrate what you’re providing positive feedback for, such as:

You did a great job performing the Happy Bee Pose today!

or

You looked like you were having fun doing the Eagle Pose! Well done!

If you combine positive feedback with a physical demonstration of the yoga pose you’re referring to, the children will understand how successful they were.

This will ensure they leave with a positive mindset and will associate those feelings with your yoga class, which paves the way for future sessions.

#6 – Focus On Fun, Not Just Yoga When Teaching Your Autistic Children

When instructing yoga kids with autism, it’s important to remember that your class will concentrate on creating a fun environment rather than achieving fitness goals.

The reason for this is simple. People with autism find it difficult to work towards goals as they’re unable to sustain problem-solving skills.

Since fitness remains an important part of your yoga class with autistic children, you should try your best to achieve some fitness goals, depending on the class you have. These may include:

• Improving balance and posture
• Teaching breathing techniques
• Reducing anxiety levels

Since children need to associate your yoga class with the word fun, it helps create a positive association with the work you’re doing. This will make the children more attentive and less likely to engage in negative behaviour.

To make a class entertaining, you can include exercises that your students will enjoy, for example:

• The Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) – A useful exercise that mimics a child being in the womb but can also help relax children if they’re having a meltdown or shutdown during your class.
• The Butterfly Pose (Baddha Konasana) – This exercise can serve as a bonding exercise between children in the class but also serve as an exercise that can incorporate any stimming as children can flap their knees up and down during the exercise.

Alongside having fun exercises in your plan, you can also frame the exercise through a fun yoga teaching style, including:

• Storytelling – Tell fairy tales to keep children’s attention whilst demonstrating poses. You can get children to perform the bee pose whilst describing bees in your story.
• Get Creative – Allow kids to rename some of the exercises you’re showing them and potentially allow them to create poses of their own.

Whilst it’s great to make your yoga class as fun as possible, it’s also important to make sure the class is balanced and retains that core practice.

#7 – Set Your Autistic Students Up For Success During The Class

If you’re looking for tips for teaching yoga to kids with autism, one beneficial way is planning a yoga class that allows them to succeed.

This can be guaranteed by allowing the children who participate in your yoga class to succeed by getting them to perform simple poses (such as the cobra pose) as opposed to complex poses.

This prevents the children from becoming distracted when they’re not completing a yoga pose correctly, resulting in them eventually losing interest in the yoga session.

Should you feel as though the session didn’t achieve the objectives you envisioned, it’s always beneficial to end the session by telling each child how well they’ve done, allowing them to leave on a positive note.

5 Skills You’ll Need to Teach Yoga to Kids With Autism

To carry out a successful yoga class with autistic children, you’ll need to embody the following skills we’ve listed below.

#1 – Be Patient With Your Autistic Students

Following your time practising yoga, one of the yoga teacher skills you’ll have undoubtedly picked up is patience. This skill is crucial for the children in your class who are diagnosed with autism.

Their condition will likely mean that your classes are prone to disruption, preventing you from achieving any yoga class intentions you had planned.

Over several weeks, the children in your class may lose focus, leading to your patience being tested. Should this happen, there are a few things you can do to stay calm and in control:

• Focus on the positive aspects of the class – When classes become difficult, focusing on the positive things that have happened, will provide your mood with a mental boost. For example, this could be children correctly carrying out a yoga pose, or successfully navigating a cool-down section of your class.
• Make difficult circumstances more manageable – By prioritising an autistic child having a meltdown in your class, compared to a child performing a yoga pose incorrectly, you’re preventing yourself from becoming overwhelmed by addressing the most pressing matter first.
• Be compassionate to your class’ needs – If children in your class are being disruptive, you can demonstrate your compassion by asking them why they’re behaving this way. This can help you understand their needs and provide the correct response. You can also illustrate how emphatic you are by keeping a steady yoga teacher’s voice and speaking in a considered manner.

Implementing some of these ideas will increase the likelihood of children enjoying your class, making it a fun and relaxing environment for everyone.

#2 – Adapt Your Communication for Kids With Autism Whilst Teaching Them

When you’re teaching yoga to kids with autism, you’ll recognise that the condition differs between individuals, requiring you to incorporate different ways of communicating to assist them.

You may find children don’t respond to instructions and if they do, they may find it difficult to interpret what you’ve asked of them.

As a result, you will need to discover new methods to help your children understand what you’re communicating with them.

There are innovative ways for you to communicate with your class, using non-verbal instructions such as:

• Interoception Yoga Cards – This is one of the most effective yoga cues for illustrating yoga poses are performed, and understanding how the poses make them feel.
• Use coloured cards – To indicate when children are doing a pose correctly and when to stop performing a yoga pose.
• Use emotional flashcards – To allow children to communicate how they feel, which is particularly important for any non-verbal students.

You might feel tempted to rely on visual cues to communicate non-verbally with your children. However, you will find the best results come from you using your emotional intelligence to combine conversations with some of these forms of non-verbal communication.

#3 – Be Attentive When Instructing Kids With Autism During Your Class

Successfully instructing yoga to kids with autism requires you to be attentive. When you’re working with autistic kids, you might find that they display signs of sensory overload, especially in a busy or fast-moving environment.

Sensory overload can manifest in different ways, usually through non-verbal cues and body language, such as:

• An increase in movement – This includes jumping, agitated twitching, and an inability to stay still.
• Covering their ears and eyes – Autistic people often do this to block out any unwanted sounds or sights, especially if they’re experiencing sensory overload.
• Change in speech – They will more than likely talk louder and more rapidly when overstimulated

Recognising these symptoms can help you prevent a child’s behaviour from becoming unmanageable. This can be done by implementing a few simple tactics, including

• Diversion – Let a child draw with some crayons if they’re not enjoying the class, and allow them to return to the class when they feel ready.
• Distraction – Switch poses to keep children interested, and use creative transitions to encourage participation
• Remove stimuli that overload sensors – This could include temporary lighting, scented candles, or loud music.
• Be patient – If you lose your patience by raising your voice you’ll contribute to overloading the child’s symptoms.

You’ll find that, by recognising symptoms early and implementing these tactics, you’ll be able to mitigate the risk of stimuli and triggers happening in the future.

#4 – Demonstrate Sensitivity Towards Your Autistic Students

One of the key traits you’ll need to be a good yoga teacher is the ability to possess a sensitive temperament when running a class with autistic children.

This is because children with autism may find it difficult to understand the reasons behind their decision-making.

You need to be sympathetic to this way of thinking because some decisions might not affect you but can be a major source of stress for those who live their lives on the autistic spectrum.

You can remove environmental factors that might result in children from your class experiencing a meltdown.

However, meltdowns are not entirely preventable because unexpected occurrences (such as random noises) can happen, resulting in this type of behaviour.

If a child does have a meltdown during your class, it’s important to be sensitive to this type of behaviour to help them calm down:

• Offer time – Meltdowns can take some time to recover, especially after a child has experienced sensory overload.
• Ask them how they’re feeling – After the meltdown has stopped and they’ve had time to recover.
• Take them to a designated safe space – This will aid their recovery following a meltdown as it will be a place where they can have no external stimuli to upset them. In addition, you should avoid drawing attention to the student having a meltdown, and keep the rest of the class focused.

If a child is experiencing a meltdown, it is important to understand that there is nothing you can do until the incident is over.

You should find the root cause of the meltdown and take measures to mitigate the risk of it happening again.

#5 – Effectively Manage Your Time While Instructing Autistic Children

When you teach kids with yoga, you need to remember you will experience interruptions during your class, particularly with a younger age group.

If your class is experiencing several interruptions and the children appear to be losing interest, you can take a break to help calm and refocus them.

This means you’re likely to experience some classes running over their allotted time. With this in mind, it’s important to make sure you prioritise poses based on their importance, as well as having an effective way to close the yoga class.

It will make sure you can cover as much of your lesson plan as possible whilst providing adequate breaks to prevent your class from becoming bored or unfocused.

Consider factoring 5 minutes into every 20-minute section of your session to better accommodate these breaks.

You should also consider allowing extra time for children to complete more advanced poses, especially those that are considered complicated for their age range.

This will give them enough time to become familiar with the exercises and perform them correctly.

Before You Go!

After reading this article, you should have some useful tips to run effective yoga classes with children diagnosed with autism, as well as better understand the skills you should prioritise to ensure successful sessions.

Remember, if you’ve not already done so, the ideal way to get officially qualified is with OriGym’s Ofqual-regulated Level 3 yoga course. You’ll learn everything you need to know to deliver effective classes for all your students.

You can learn about the other courses we offer by downloading our free course prospectus.

If you want to deliver exciting yoga classes, you may look for new ways to mix classes up and consider looking into how to lead laughter yoga.

Laughter is contagious, so it’s not surprising that laughter yoga has spread like wildfire across the world and there’s no better time to get into this new form of yoga!

• Step 1 – Begin Teaching Laughter Yoga By Opening With A Welcome
• Step 2 – Continue Your Laughter Yoga Session Plan With Stretches
• Step 3 – Your Laughter Yoga Sequence Should Continue With Exercises
• Step 4 – Cool Down Your Laughter Yoga Session With Meditative Laughter
• Step 5 – Close Out Your Laughter Yoga Session With A Grounding Exercise
• 5 Key Tips On How To Teach Laughter Yoga Effectively

Before we begin, if you’re looking to begin a career in yoga, OriGym’s multi-award nominated Level 3 Yoga Course is the perfect place to start, with flexible online learning, and support available 7 days a week.

You can also learn about our additional courses by downloading our complete course prospectus.

Step 1 – Begin Teaching Laughter Yoga By Opening With A Welcome

Laughter yoga is a relatively new addition to the world of yoga, becoming popular in the late 90s. When teaching laughter yoga, you should keep 3 key parts of the practice in mind:

• Deep: The laughter should come from the belly rather than the chest. You can only fully expand the lungs when you breathe in deeply, stretch out the diaphragm and feel the benefits.
• Extended: Exhalation is extended through the belly laugh, which quickly expels air from the lungs, allowing them to fill with fresh air on the inhale.
• Unconditional: The laughter in this style of yoga should be unconditional. You don’t require something funny to happen; simply commit to willingly participate. After some forced laughter, authentic laughs will soon flow freely.

Each of these tenets should be included in your laughter yoga session plan, which you can remind your students of throughout the class to help them achieve the intentions of the yoga class.

After you’ve discovered who you’re teaching and their level of experience, you may include a brief definition of laughter yoga, especially so if you’re teaching a beginner yoga class.

Alternatively, if your class is familiar with the practice, a brief run-down will help freshen their memories.

Laughter yoga uses planned, simulated laughter during a gentle yogic practice as a form of physical exercise.

The practice is built around the philosophy that combines laughter with the deep breathing of yoga.

This helps bring more oxygen to the body and brain, creating biological and physical benefits, including improvements in mood and releasing tension.

Laughter yoga doesn’t involve traditional yogic asanas. It uses aspects of deep breathing and gentle stretches, along with laughter exercises to deepen your breathing and increase your oxygen intake to enhance the therapeutic effects of laughter.

When you teach laughter yoga, an effective way to open your yoga class is to welcome students, ask them to introduce themselves, and then explain what laughter yoga is. Following this, you can choose to explain what the session will entail.

When you teach laughter yoga, an effective opening is to welcome the class, ask the students to introduce themselves and explain what laughter yoga is. Following this, you can choose to explain what the session will entail.

Many laughter yoga sessions begin with breathing techniques, clapping and chanting. These are designed to help people relax, reducing their insecurity about laughing in front of strangers.

You could start by clapping rhythmically whilst chanting. You’ll get some nervous giggling at this stage, but that’s the point – you want to create a space free of internal and external judgement.

Step 2 – Continue Your Laughter Yoga Session Plan With Stretches

When you’re learning how to teach laughter yoga, you should move into a gentle warm-up involving the body and voice, after the initial introduction.

If students don’t warm up their voices, they risk damaging their vocal cords if they decide to laugh too harshly.

To warm up the body, use beginner-friendly poses like:

• Easy pose (Sukhasana)
• Forward bends
• Child’s pose

Since you’re building a yoga sequence that doesn’t include complicated asanas, you don’t need to worry too much about performing difficult poses.

It’s important to warm up the vocal cords gently. Sudden bursts of sound can cause vocal fold damage and students could leave your class early and in pain.

Try the following exercises to ready the voice for laughter:

• Descending Slides: Lip flutters and descending five-note slides (moving from “oh” to “ah”), with a small trill on the lowest note, can be a great warm-up for the more delicate vocal folds.
• Humming: Place the tip of your tongue behind your bottom front teeth and hum up and down a scale, keeping your mouth closed.
• Vocal Sirens: Much like the slides, the siren exercise takes an “oooh” sound and gradually moves from your highest note to your lowest and back up again, mimicking the siren from an emergency vehicle!

When you’re teaching a laughter yoga warm-up, both the body and voice should warm up together.

Encourage your students to make “ha-ha, ho-ho” noises while circling their shoulders, moving between poses and stretching their arms.

Keeping your class playful will help your class reap the benefits of laughter yoga. The more you allow yourself to laugh and be playful, the more fun you and your students will have.

Plus, the longer you laugh, the more genuine and contagious it becomes.

Step 3 – Your Laughter Yoga Sequence Should Continue With Simple Exercises

When you’re creating your laughter yoga lesson plan, keep in mind that the bulk of the session will be made up of laughter yoga exercises and breathing exercises.

Lead the class through playful behaviours with childlike responses, interspersing it with a breathing exercise.

Depending on the fitness level of the group, these will happen between every one to three laughter exercises and allow the students to laugh longer.

In laughter yoga, you want to be able to laugh pretty much consistently for a minimum of ten minutes.

This is difficult to do naturally as regular laughter lasts a few seconds but laughter yoga is designed to bring about physiological and biochemical changes, reducing levels of stress and anxiety.

If you want some ideas of laughter yoga techniques to get you started, check out our examples below:

• Mobile Phone Laughter: Get your students to hold an imaginary phone to their ear and laugh, replacing words with laughter.
• High Five and Miss: Your students pretend to high-five but miss each other every time and then just laugh.
• Gradient Laughter: Fake a smile, force a giggle, and then continue to laugh slowly while gradually increasing the tempo and volume of the laughter.
• Greeting Laughter: Get your students to greet their mat neighbours the way they usually would, with a wave or handshake but replace their words with laughter.
• Electric Shock Laughter: Ask your students to imagine that everything and everyone they touch gives them an electric shock. Get them to jump backwards and laugh each time it happens, and encourage them to make it happen a lot.

Remember that you can incorporate more common yoga poses when you instruct a laughter yoga class, such as the lion pose, which is derived from the Simha Mudra yogic pose.

Ask your students to get on all fours, thrust out their tongues, widen their eyes, and stretch their hands out like a lion’s claws. Normally you would roar but this can be replaced with laughter for laughter yoga!

You can even try the Namaste pose by asking your students to practise greeting each other with the words ‘Namaste’ while joining both hands (while standing), bowing forward slightly, looking into one another’s eyes and laughing.

Throughout the exercises, remind your students of the key components of laughter yoga again – breathe deeply for an extended amount of time and laugh unconditionally.

It may also be worth encouraging your class to maintain a sense of childlike playfulness and openness so that they can fully reap the laughter yoga benefits.

Step 4 – Cool Down Your Laughter Yoga Session With Meditative Laughter

Cooling down is an important part of laughter yoga. It helps combat the dizziness and light-headedness that occur after intense exercising, allowing your blood flow to return to normal.

A cooldown can also act as a transition between your workout and the return to normal life, aiming to calm you down and end a workout on a relaxed note.

Laughter meditation, for example, will not put too much of a strain on participants’ physical bodies, but this transitionary period is still important.

When teaching laughter yoga meditation, you drop the previous laughter exercises and allow the students to laugh freely.

There is no talking or performance to make each other laugh, so don’t force anyone to laugh at this point.

In laughter meditation, you don’t want to laugh longer than 20 minutes. Remind the students to breathe regularly as this helps to prolong the ability to laugh.

One of the main benefits is that the calming, mindful state of laughter meditation allows students to compartmentalise what they’ve learned throughout the session.

This means organising thoughts and feelings so that they are easier to comprehend and manage, especially on a day-to-day basis.

Emotional well-being is important, taking a moment before you begin the guided meditation to talk to your students about how to ensure a positive outcome. You may want to speak about:

• Identifying emotions
• Grouping them together
• Avoiding false negativity
• Maintaining boundaries

If you’re wondering how to lead laughter yoga meditation, invite the class to begin the laughter meditation with their eyes open.

You can have them sit in an inward-facing circle to make eye contact (which will make the giggles flow more easily) or have them sit back to back to feel each other’s laughter while feeling supported by the other person.

After about 5 minutes, ask the class to take a few deep breaths and observe a moment in silence. They can even lie down to feel more comfortable.

They can begin laughing again and gradually deepen the laugh, inhaling and exhaling fully. Allow this laughter to flow for another 5 minutes. Your students can better internalise their laughter when lying down with their eyes closed.

Cathartic moments are to be expected during laughter yoga and particularly during this contemplative state. Sometimes a deep belly laugh brings forth blocked emotions.

If you notice a student crying or laughing incredibly hard, comfort them by explaining that this process is completely normal.

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Step 5 – Close Out Your Laughter Yoga Session With A Grounding Exercise

The final step in your laughter yoga session plan should be a grounding exercise to round out the class. This is where students will relax, cool down and lower their heart rates.

Grounding is the act of connecting with the earth both spiritually and physically. On a spiritual level, this involves tapping into the grounding energy of the earth and the universe.

On a physical level, it involves practising poses, savasana or other grounding exercises that facilitate the spiritual connection to the earth below.

Grounding is an important practice after engaging in activities like laughter yoga, as it helps your students to feel balanced, connected and safe.

Whilst most people feel relieved and energised after a laughter yoga session, there are a few people who may be emotionally overwhelmed and feel like crying.

Below are some examples of grounding techniques you can use for laughter yoga:

Practice Yoga Nidra To Help Students Return To A Relaxing State

After completing a laughter yoga sequence and meditation, energy levels can still be surprisingly high.

To reduce them, you may want to lead your class in Yoga Nidra, commonly known as a guided meditation that originates from tantric yogic practices.

Yoga Nidra produces a wakeful state of deep introversion that relaxes and rejuvenates. If you are curious about how to teach laughter Yoga Nidra, the easiest way to get to grips with it is to think of the body as a map.

Begin by relaxing the feet, then guide the relaxation up the body to the crown of the head, pausing at major body parts to focus on the relaxation of each part.

The practice is completed by reinstating the intentions, which, in this higher and more open state of mind, has the potential to bring real-world, positive change. You can also take time here to refresh students’ minds about the key tenets of laughter yoga.

Humming Allows Students To Feel Calm And Bond As A Group

Humming can strongly influence the autonomic nervous system. This can activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for relaxation.

The best results of this exercise are completed in a group setting, making it perfect for a laughter yoga grounding exercise.

Humming as a group creates a unique resonance, which is very calming and bonding for the group.

When you teach laughter yoga and ask students to hum, instruct them to hum for as long as they can and then inhale and repeat. They should do this with their eyes closed for a maximum of 10 minutes.

Grounding Dance Can Help Students Align Their Breathing To Their Body

Grounding dances are used commonly in laughter clubs after a laughter session and meditation. The practice is designed to gently guide you to connect your breathing with the elements and align your body to your heart and emotions.

Laughter yoga sequences are powerful and dynamic workouts, and the dance is a spiritual method designed to move the energy through your body, opening up the deep layers of the subconscious mind.

You use hand movements to direct the energy towards the ground, improving the grounded feeling and making your students feel emotionally stable.

5 Key Tips On How To Teach Laughter Yoga Effectively

#1 – Breaking The Ice Is Key When Teaching Laughter Yoga

Teaching laughter yoga is a rewarding practice but it may take time for your class to feel comfortable.

It’s your job as the instructor to break the ice with the class and ensure everyone is relaxed. There are a few different exercises you could use, such as:

• Shake It Out: If you begin the class in a standing position, encourage your students to wiggle and jump around so that they feel each of their muscles bouncing the more they relax. This doubly serves as an easy way to get natural smiles and laughter started.
• Letters: Ask members of the class to introduce themselves using their bodies to make the shape of the first letter of their name. This allows fun conversations to flow easily between classmates.

You could use yoga class music here, too. In traditional yoga, you’d choose genres like ambient, electronic, or classical.

Remember, when you instruct a laughter yoga class, you have more freedom to choose more upbeat or humorous songs.

Just ensure you use good quality music and speakers and play it at a volume that can be heard by students without you having to shout.

#2 – Consider Your Group Size When Leading Laughter Yoga

If you are teaching laughter yoga for the first time, you might not be aware of the recommended class sizes. They can be small or large, depending on the space where your class is held.

You’ll need at least 5 to 15 people to form a good group dynamic. This will make it easier for those who may be nervous to laugh and join in.

Working as a teacher, you won’t have to spend much energy keeping the bubbly dynamic going with a large group.

With smaller groups, insecurities will be more evident, meaning you have to spend more effort to keep the group dynamic going.

You’re more likely to laugh when others are around as laughter brings people together because it’s fun and inviting.

#3 – Exercise Your Creative Flair In Your Laughter Yoga Lesson Plan

When you’re designing your laughter yoga session plan you have more creative freedom than when you’re making a traditional yoga class plan.

Allow yourself to enter a more fun and playful mindset even when planning and this will shine through during the session.

This will prevent clients from growing tired of the same routines and engaging with the laughter yoga techniques you’re demonstrating.

Try varying the pace with new exercises, too: start slow, build up, slow down, build up, etc. You could even incorporate yoga class themes, which we’ll go deeper into later.

If you have a social media following for your yoga studio, use Instagram or Facebook polls to see what your students want to be doing or to gather ideas.

You can even choose a trusted student or group of students to take over a class – though interrupt and take over if you feel things going off course!

#4 – Keep An Intention In Mind For Your Laughter Yoga Sessions

Research has shown that setting intentions can help students achieve goals more easily as well as strengthen the mind-body connection.

You can start with the intention of gratitude and consider the purpose of the practice. This can help your class set further intentions that align with their goals.

When you ask your class to consider their intentions, remind them to use that intention to anchor themselves during the practice when their mind wanders off.

Intentions can include:

• Being kind to yourself
• Focusing on your own body
• Not comparing yourself to those around you

Giving students the luxury of contemplating what makes them happy, leads to a laughter yoga session full of growth, setting intentions that can be done off the mat in your students’ daily life.

For example, you could encourage students to set intentions in the morning of each day to give themselves some positive guidance for the day ahead.

At the end of the day, they could spend their downtime meditating on the intention and the ways it influenced their behaviour throughout the day.

#5 – Using A Theme Helps Elevate Your Laughter Yoga Sequences

A theme is like the guiding light of your class. It aids in building trust between you and your students while helping them generate insight about themselves, their life, and their bodies.

Choosing a theme is arguably the most difficult part of guiding a yoga class, but it’s also one of the most important.

Other than setting the tone for the session, unique themes can be what makes you stand out from other instructors and lead to higher attendance rates.

Consider using the following themes to get your students feeling the most laughter yoga benefits:

• Letting Go
• Third Eye Opening
• Gratitude
• Unity
• Spring Detox
• Self-Discovery

Whilst carrying out a laughter yoga class, avoid themes that oppose the aim of the class. Themes like ‘sit in silence’ will feel jarring against an energetic laughter yoga session.

Choose a theme that supports your verbal cues as well. Having a set theme can help you keep your words succinct and on topic, allowing you to communicate the aims of the class effectively.

This level of clear communication aids in building trust between your students and yourself, making the time you spend with your class more beneficial for everyone involved.

Before You Go!

Learning how to lead a laughter yoga session is immensely rewarding, and offers a unique way to interact with your class, as well as the wider yoga community.

Remember, you can kickstart your yoga career with OriGym’s Level 3 Yoga Course, which you can complete in as little as 4 months!

You can also download our free course prospectus to discover the range of courses we offer, and expand your skill set.

If you’re teaching yoga to the elderly for the first time, or simply need a refresher on how best to deal with older students, we’ve curated a list of essential tips for teaching yoga to seniors, giving you a head start to lead the best classes.

The ideal first step for leading yoga sessions for the elderly is to secure the right qualification, and OriGym’s Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga can do just that! By completing a recognised qualification, you’ll learn to better adapt sessions for different populations.

Find out more by downloading our course prospectus.

9 Tips On Leading An Effective Yoga Class For Seniors

Teaching yoga classes is immensely rewarding, but teaching yoga to the elderly is especially fulfilling. It’s important to help them improve their lives and effectively manage pain and, with our range of tips, you’ll do just that!

#1 – Build Rapport At The Start Of Your Yoga Class For Seniors

The time before teaching is just as valuable as the rest of your session. The first 10 to 15 minutes are when people get settled, check-in, and catch up with fellow students.

Part of becoming a yoga instructor is getting to know your students, and forming a meaningful bond with them.

Some light conversation about their experience with yoga, hobbies, or even the weather are all simple ways to reach out and make that vital connection with your students.

When you’re teaching yoga to seniors, introduce yourself clearly and don’t rush your words. Remember, some elderly people struggle with hearing, so you want to show from the start of the session you’re happy to take your time and listen to what your students have to say.

However, try not to force conversations. Some students may be shy and take a while to open up, while others may not want to talk to anyone and that’s perfectly fine!

A couple of other tips for building rapport during a yoga class for elderly students is to learn names, smile, and maintain eye contact.

You should also ask about any medical history that may affect a student’s ability to perform postures, and offer adjustments as part of your yoga class plan to ensure that everyone has an enriching experience.

#2 – Be Kind And Patient With Beginner Yoga For Seniors

It’s important to maintain empathy and patience with your older students, especially if you’re teaching chair yoga or another form of more adaptable practice.

Those who need extra support during activities will greatly appreciate you taking the time to wait for them and give words of encouragement. Your attitude may be the deciding factor between a student returning or not, so it’s crucial you make the effort with your students.

Elderly people can sometimes struggle to follow rapid-fire questions or streams of information. Take a breath and give them time to process what you have said and form an appropriate response.

Giving just a few extra seconds after giving an instruction during yoga for seniors can make a world of difference and allows them to better understand you.

Plus, if you’ve implemented our first tip and had a chat before the session starts, you’ll know what your students’ concerns are, meaning you’ll be able to provide much better support.

If a member of your seniors yoga class appears to be struggling with poses or transitions, show empathy by adjusting their positions and softly talk them through the pose. This will go far in building a bond that encourages students to return to your classes.

#3 – Project Your Voice When Teaching Yoga To Seniors

You need to speak clearly and articulately when teaching yoga to the elderly. Many older people have hearing troubles and if you’re teaching in a studio with a whole class of students, background noises can make it difficult to hear you speak.

Adjust your volume accordingly, too. There’s often no need to shout but speaking loudly and clearly in larger studios may be necessary. Evaluate your teaching environment and how it may impact older students.

When guiding your class through easy yoga moves for seniors, use clear and precise instructions. Don’t hesitate to repeat or rephrase what you said if you sense the class hasn’t understood what you said.

If necessary, consider employing visual aids. This could be as simple as pointing or touching each body part as you talk about it. If you’re working one-on-one with a student, ensure you’re maintaining eye contact and speaking towards them rather than away from them.

#4 – Keep Cues Simple For Yoga Poses For Seniors

When you’re working with older students, you want to keep your yoga cues as understandable as possible when teaching gentle yoga poses for seniors. While safety and proper alignment are crucial when teaching yoga, try not to go overboard by giving too many instructions at once.

For elderly students, this may lead to confusion and discomfort and could be the reason a student doesn’t return to more sessions. Try to lay out the basics of a pose during its set-up, then go into a little more detail once you can see the students understand.

Typically, you’ll cue yoga poses through aesthetic cues. This means your instructions are focused on creating certain shapes with the body.

For example, a cue for Warrior Two could be something like, ‘Step forward with your right foot. Now, bend your knee into a 90-degree angle. Finally, reach out with your arms to shoulder height’.

Understandable cues ensure everyone feels valued and supported. When your senior students feel supported, this will act as encouragement for them to push forwards and reach their goal, even if it’s something as simple as perfecting a pose.

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To help you with successfully teaching yoga to the elderly, check out these articles below:

• How To Teach Chair Yoga: Step-By-Step Guide
• How To Teach A Yoga Workshop: Step-By-Step Guide
• Personal Training Older Clients: Tips, Exercises, and Skills

#5 – Slow The Pace Of Your Yoga Class For Elderly Students

Slower yoga (such as Yin Yoga) often focuses more on safe alignment and mental relaxation. These forms of yoga help improve flexibility, support muscle development, and aid in opening up areas around joints that are usually difficult to access.

But most importantly, it can be a perfect way to do gentle yoga for seniors.

When you slow down the session, you give elderly students the opportunity to get into the pose at their own pace, making sure they’re as safe and comfortable as possible. Again, show patience with your students, they will appreciate it greatly and will be more likely to return.

Keep an eye on your class. If movements seem uncomfortable or choppy, let the class know they can take all the time they need to get comfy in a pose.

For example, when you’re teaching yoga to the elderly, transitions are just as important as the poses, if not more. Movement from one form of pose to the next poses a different sort of mental and physical challenge than the holding of poses.

Transitions can be difficult for beginner yogis to get to grips with so when you’re instructing the elderly, you need to ensure you’re slowing things down an appropriate amount to ensure everyone is safe.

#6 – Explain Terminology When Teaching Yoga To Seniors

When you’re teaching yoga for beginner seniors, one of the best tips we can offer is to be mindful of the language you use.

Beginner students don’t have the same depth of knowledge as you do, and throwing terms like ‘bandha’ or ‘asana’ into your lesson without explaining what they mean may confuse elderly students.

As you develop your unique yoga teaching style, define new vocabulary as you go, and make sure everyone knows they can ask you for clarification at any time.

When you explain as you go, students are able to focus on the poses and movements rather than trying to remember what Sanskrit translations are and whether they’ll need to memorise them.

Some members of your yoga class for seniors may be genuinely interested in the language or history of yoga. Use the beginning of the session when you can chat and build rapport with students, to find out whether it’s worth elaborating on any of your facts.

Keeping your definitions and explanations simple ensures your class stays engaged and doesn’t lose focus, leading to more students returning. When older yoga students feel accommodated, they’re more likely to come back to you.

#7 – Offer Pose And Transition Variations In Your Yoga For Seniors Class

Variations in yoga, while suitable for all bodies and ability levels, can be particularly useful for instructing seniors yoga. It gives the class the freedom and control to alter the practice to their level of ability.

They refer to a slightly different way of performing a pose that either increases or decreases its difficulty level. Of course, when instructing the elderly, you’re more likely to suggest easier variations.

Many older people struggle with strenuous movements and flexibility, so while yoga can be incredibly beneficial, it can also be difficult.

Offering simple variations creates an open, safe space where your students feel comfortable, and ensures your yoga classes are a success. They’ll also be more likely to return to your classes if they feel welcome.

When you’re demonstrating yoga poses for seniors, you should offer variations after demonstrating the core pose. Explain slowly and clearly how this is completely optional and it’s up to each individual student to determine whether they need to make a pose a little bit easier.

#8 – Always Ask Before Assisting Class Members Through Gentle Yoga Poses For Seniors

Before rushing in to help an elderly student who looks like they’re struggling, check with them first. You should always ask people before touching and adjusting them as you don’t know what level of touch an individual is comfortable with.

Many people aren’t comfortable with touch, so when teaching yoga for seniors you should always ask clearly whether they’re happy for you to help.

Something as simple as “Is it OK if I touch your shoulders?” or “Do you mind if I give you an adjustment here?” goes a long way in building client trust.

You need to keep this tip in mind as many older people have joint issues or replacement parts such as knee or hip joints. If you attempt to help without asking, you may startle them and lead to an unnecessary injury.

A super simple way to combat this is to have a tub of clothes pegs you offer to students at the start of the session. If they’re happy to be assisted, they take a peg and place it beside their mat. If they prefer not to be assisted, they simply don’t take one.

#9 – Encourage Questions When Teaching Yoga To The Elderly

To create an open, welcoming space in your studio, we recommend encouraging your students to ask questions. It’s up to you whether you’re happy to take questions at any time or prefer to take them at the beginning and end of the session.

Either way, your students will be more likely to return to you if you answer them without judgement. Similar to rapport building as a personal trainer, you’ll find this helps when being a yoga teacher too.

Even when you’re teaching easy yoga moves for seniors, some people are bound to have questions. After all, they don’t have the wealth of knowledge you do as the instructor. Demonstrate patience as your older students learn and you’ll have a happy class.

If you can, show up for class a little earlier than necessary so you can open up a forum for any pre-session questions. Set aside a little time at the end for anyone who prefers to ask the question privately.

When it comes down to it, your students ask questions because they’re interested. While it may be exasperating to answer the same thing over and over, keep in mind questions represent a genuine interest in what you’re teaching.

Before You Go!

Teaching yoga to the elderly is a rewarding experience and by following our tips, you’ll certainly help them improve both their physical and mental wellbeing, as well as provide them with a community of like minded people.

Get started with OriGym’s Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga, by learning how to plan and deliver effective yoga classes for different populations.

Download our course prospectus to find out how you can help advance your career.

If you’ve just qualified as a yoga teacher, you may now be wondering, what next? With so much to think about, it can be hard to know where to start!

That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate guide to what to do after yoga teacher training. From getting insured to finding your first job as a yoga teacher, we’ve got you covered!

Before we get started, if you’re ready to take the next step in your yoga teaching career, why not become a Level 4 yoga teacher with OriGym? Enquire today, or download our free yoga course prospectus for more information.

Step #1- Get Yoga Teacher Insurance

After yoga teacher training, you will probably be eager to launch straight into teaching.

But before you do, one of the first and most important things you need to do after yoga instructor training is to get insured.

The main reason to get insured as a yoga teacher is that it gives you peace of mind and financial security if something goes wrong- for both you and your students.

From injuries to equipment damage, these things can happen even to the most skilled and experienced of yoga teachers! Without insurance, you would be liable to pay out to cover the cost of these things, which would hugely affect your overall finances.

Plus, most yoga teacher jobs will require you to already have your own insurance, as you can see from the job adverts below:

Organising it now will therefore make the process a lot easier when you come to apply for your first yoga teaching jobs.

The two main types of insurance you will need to operate as a yoga teacher are:

• Public Liability Insurance. This covers you in the case of a student making a claim against you. For example, if a student is injured during one of your classes.

Without insurance, you would have to pay the costs of their medical treatment, which would of course have a major impact on your finances!

• Professional Liability Insurance. Also known as professional indemnity insurance, this covers your legal costs in the event of a student making a claim against you.

For example, if a student claims that they have received incorrect advice from you which has led to an injury and wants to take you to court. You would use your professional liability insurance to cover the costs of this.

• Equipment Insurance. As a yoga teacher, it is likely you will own lots of yoga equipment such as mats, blocks and even things such as a laptop or phone you use for marketing and booking software.

Equipment insurance therefore covers you in the event of your equipment being lost, stolen or damaged- whether by you or your students. Without it, you would have to cover the cost of replacing them yourself.

• Personal Accident Insurance. This covers you for medical costs in the case of you injuring yourself whilst teaching a yoga class.
• Loss of Earnings Insurance. If you have to stop teaching due to an injury or personal reasons, this covers you financially until you are able to start teaching again.

So, when looking for insurance after yoga instructor training, you should look for a policy that covers these things.

Some reputable providers of yoga teacher insurance are:

• Insure4Sport
• AXA
• Salon Gold 
• Protectivity
• Hiscox

Step #2- Write Your Yoga Teacher CV

Now that you’re insured, the next thing to do after yoga teacher training is to prepare your CV.

Without a CV, you won’t be able to start applying for yoga teacher jobs, as most will require one as part of the application process.

Your CV is a chance to show off your skills, experience and qualifications to potential employers. It is therefore worth spending the time to perfect it, as it could be what secures you your first job as a yoga teacher!

We have a whole guide to writing a yoga teacher CV here. But in summary, some of the main sections you should include are:

• Contact information
• Personal summary
• Qualifications. Here is where you will list details of your yoga teacher training course.

If you have taken your course with an Ofqual-regulated course provider such as OriGym, be sure to mention this, as it will show employers that you have been taught to the highest industry standards.

• Yoga or other relevant work experience. Since you have just qualified, it is unlikely that you will already have any experience teaching yoga. But other work experience such as teaching, sports coaching or volunteering are all still worth mentioning.

Just ensure that you relate each work experience to yoga by outlining the skills you gained from it and how they are relevant to teaching yoga.

• Education- e.g. degree or college level
• Hobbies and interests outside of yoga
• References. These can be from previous employers or staff that taught you at your yoga teacher training course.

Step #3- Write A Yoga Teacher Cover Letter

Another thing to prepare after yoga teacher training is a cover letter to accompany your CV.

Where a CV is more general and you can use the same one to apply for multiple jobs, a cover letter is specific to the job you are applying for.

It is a chance to elaborate on what you have mentioned in your CV and relate your experience to the specific job description and employer.

Although each one will be slightly different, you can create a general template that you can then adapt to each application.

Step #4- Decide Where and How You Want To Work As A Yoga Teacher

Once you have prepared your CV and cover letter, you are now ready to start looking for your first job after yoga instructor training!

But before you start applying, you should think about where and how you want to work as a yoga teacher.

Deciding this now will then make the rest of the process of becoming a yoga teacher a lot easier, as it will determine a lot of the choices you make- as we will discuss in the rest of this article.

Some criteria you should consider are:

How You Want To Be Employed

When wondering what to do after yoga teacher training, one of the main things you should decide is how you want to operate as a yoga teacher.

By this, we mean whether you want to be freelance/self-employed, or be a contracted employee.

The most common way that yoga teachers work is on a freelance basis.

This is when you are self-employed, meaning that you can work for lots of different employers, rather than being committed to one employer or company.

For example, you could teach at lots of different yoga studios and gyms in your area.

The main benefit of working as a freelance yoga teacher is the freedom and control it gives you.

Since you won’t be committed to one employer, you can manage your own teaching schedule, teaching as much or as little as you want.

You also won’t be limited by a fixed salary as you can determine your own rates- as we will discuss in the next step of this article.

Being freelance also gives you the freedom to teach a variety of types of yoga. For example, you could teach a power vinyasa flow in one studio, and a restorative yin class in another!

However, this freedom also comes with added responsibility, as being freelance requires a lot of self-motivation and organisational skills. For example, you will have to calculate your own taxes.

There is also the potential for a lack of financial security, as you won’t have a set regular income from an employer.

With this in mind, if you’re just starting out after yoga teacher training, you may want to initially look for roles where you are employed by a studio or gym and receive a set hourly or monthly salary.

This will allow you to gain experience and build up your reputation as a yoga teacher, before you go on to become freelance.

However, being employed by a studio or gym often means that you will have to take on additional responsibilities outside of teaching your classes, such as administrative tasks or cleaning the studio.

The Style Of Yoga You Want To Teach

After yoga instructor training, you will likely have tried a range of different types of yoga and found which styles you prefer practising and teaching.

For example, you may find that you particularly enjoy teaching slow and restorative classes, rather than fast-paced power or vinyasa classes.

You may even decide that you want to teach a particular demographic of students.

For example, you may want to teach yoga to kids. This will then help you when you come to look for a job, as you can look for jobs in places like schools or children’s activity centres.

Again, thinking about these things early-on will help the process of finding a job a lot easier, as you will have a clear criteria in mind.

Where You Want To Teach

When looking for a job after yoga teacher training, you should decide where you want to teach.

We have a whole article here on where you can teach yoga. But in summary, your main options are:

• Yoga studios
• Gyms or fitness centres
• Spas
• Outside
• A yoga retreat
• Teach yoga abroad
• Online
• In students’ homes as a mobile yoga instructor

Thinking about these options before you start applying means that you can then refine your search to a specific location when looking for jobs, which will make the process a lot easier!

Step #5- Decide On Your Rates For Your Classes

The next step in what to do after yoga teacher training is applicable if you are wanting to work on a freelance basis.

If you are employed on a contracted basis by a studio, for example, it is likely that they will set their own rates for teachers.

However, as we have said, one of the benefits of working as a freelance yoga teacher is that you have the freedom to determine your own rates.

Working this out before you start applying for jobs means that you will be prepared when an employer asks for your rates.

It also helps you work out your value and ‘worth’ as a yoga teacher. This means that you will know the kind of salary you should be looking for in a yoga teaching job.

In general, you should try to find a balance between being affordable and attracting students to your classes, whilst also ensuring that you are still making profit.

According to Indeed, the average yoga teacher salary in the UK is £25.56 an hour. 

But this can vary hugely depending on factors such as:

• Location- i.e. you can charge more if you are teaching in a big city such as London compared to a small rural town.
• Your experience level- since you have just qualified, you will likely not charge as much as someone who has been teaching for several years.
• Where you teach- i.e. a local village hall or a luxury spa resort.
• Your expenses- i.e. the cost of your equipment, cost of travel if you are travelling between different studios. You should ensure that your rates cover these costs.

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Enjoying this article so far? Here’s 3 more we think you’ll love:

• Yoga Studio Manager Job Description Explained
• How to Make Money as a Yoga Teacher
• How to Write a Yoga Teacher CV

Step #6- Network With Your Local and Online Yoga Community

So, you should now have an idea of the kind of yoga teacher you want to be and how much you will charge.

The next stage in what to do after yoga teacher training is to start networking with yoga teachers and studios.

As a newly qualified yoga teacher, it is unlikely that you will have many connections in the yoga industry yet.

Networking is therefore a great way to get yourself involved in the industry and become a key member of the yoga community- whether online or in your local area.

This is an important thing to do after yoga instructor training as the connections you make could ultimately lead to a yoga teaching job or other exciting opportunities.

Plus, networking can also be a great way to learn from other more experienced yoga teachers to help you become a successful yoga teacher yourself!

Some ways to network after yoga teacher training are:

Attend Yoga Classes Yourself

As a qualified yoga teacher, it can be easy to forget to go to yoga classes yourself! But you should make sure that you are still attending classes in your local area.

Not only does this help you maintain your own practice, but it is a great opportunity for networking.

For example, try to speak to the teacher before or after class and introduce yourself. This is a great time to give them your yoga teacher business card!

Showing your face and getting your name out there with other yoga teachers could ultimately lead to a job opportunity.

For example, if a position opens up in that studio, they could reach out to you, as they will already know you and have seen you demonstrate your skills in class.

Attend Yoga-Related Events In Your Area

As well as yoga classes, there are also lots of types of one-off events where you can network with other yoga teachers in your area, such as:

• Yoga workshops
• Yoga festivals
• Yoga retreats
• Wellbeing/wellness events
• Social events e.g. ‘yoga brunch’ events

As well as getting contacts and making connections, these kinds of events are also a great way to get inspiration for your own yoga teaching.

For example, if you attend a yoga festival, you could get an idea of the kinds of yoga styles that are popular at the moment.

You can then capitalise on this by teaching this kind of class yourself, helping you stay relevant and ahead of the latest trends in the industry.

Interacting With Yoga Teachers and Studios on Social Media

As well as networking in-person, social media is a great way to get yourself known in the industry after yoga instructor training.

Doing things like following local teachers and studios, liking and commenting on their posts or even direct messaging them are all easy ways to start making connections.

As well as Instagram, there are also lots of yoga-related Facebook groups you can join. Members will often post things such as jobs, cover opportunities, events and general yoga-related discussions.

Simply search Facebook for terms such as “yoga teachers [location]” to find a group near you.

Step #7- Work As An Assistant For A Yoga Teacher/Studio

If you’re wondering what to do after yoga teacher training, one of the easiest ways to get into teaching is to start as an assistant.

A yoga assistant is someone who accompanies a yoga teacher in a class. Their role is to walk around the class and give hands-on adjustments to students to correct, deepen and support students in terms of their physical alignment.

For example, say a yoga teacher instructs the class to perform ‘child’s pose’. They would do this by giving verbal cues and demonstrating the pose at the front of the class.

A yoga assistant would then spot students in the class who need help achieving the pose, or who they can help to go deeper. In this case, they would behind them and gently push down on their lower back so that they can stretch deeper into the hip flexors.

If a student is particularly struggling, they may also give them props to use. In this case, they may assist by placing blocks under a student’s knees if they don’t naturally touch the floor.

Again, this helps the student go deeper than they would have been able to without this adjustment, and helps them feel the full benefits of the pose.

Being a yoga assistant is therefore a great way to gain experience in a ‘real’ yoga class setting, before you teach a class yourself.

It is also an opportunity to learn from more experienced teachers, as you will be able to observe their teaching methods and gain valuable tips.

It is rare that yoga assisting jobs will be explicitly advertised. The best way to find an assisting role is therefore to approach a studio or teacher yourself and ask if they would be willing for you to assist in one of their classes.

One thing to bear in mind is that assisting is usually done on a voluntary basis. Or, if you are assisting a well-established studio, they may reimburse their assistants with free class credits for that studio.

However, remember that the main reason to work as an assistant after yoga teacher training is the experience and skills that you will gain, rather than the money.

Plus, if you are a good assistant and you demonstrate your skills well, this could then lead to a paid teaching role at the studio!

Step #8- Secure Your First Role As A Yoga Teacher

Once you start becoming part of the yoga community and have spent some time as an assistant, you are now in a position to start searching for your first paid teaching role after yoga teacher training!

In summary, some ways you can find your first role after yoga instructor training are:

Through Networking/Word Of Mouth

As we discussed in Step 7, networking is an important part of what to do after yoga teacher training.

This is because opportunities can naturally arise from connections you have made in the industry.

For example, say you are a regular student at a yoga studio or have worked as an assistant. If a vacancy becomes available for a new teacher, they may approach you before advertising the role externally, since they already know you.

Similarly, if you are a member of a yoga teacher Facebook group, you could come across an opportunity there!

However, even if you hear about a role through networking or word-of-mouth, you should always be sure to get an employment contract in writing.

This ensures that you have agreed on things like your salary and hours, avoiding any issues that may arise later down the line.

Through Your Course Provider

You may not have thought it, but your training course provider is one of the best ways to find a job after you qualify.

However, not all course providers will be able to do this!

When choosing a course provider, it is therefore important to look at the level of post-course support they offer their graduates.

For example, here at OriGym, we understand that finding a job after yoga teacher training can seem daunting.

That’s why we offer all students on our yoga teacher training courses access to our exclusive jobs board, featuring hundreds of vacancies from leading employers across the UK.

We will even help set up interviews with these employers at no extra cost!

Our industry-leading post-course support also includes:

• Access to our free business resource platform, including guides to things such as setting up a business and marketing
• Professional CV guidance
• Interview help

All of these things make it that bit easier to find your first job after yoga teacher training!

Searching Online

Another way to find your first job after yoga instructor training is to search online.

You can do this on general jobs websites such as Indeed and Glassdoor.

But there are also many fitness or even yoga-specific jobs boards such as Yoga Trade and Yoga Travel Jobs.

Searching for a job online means that you can be specific with your search.

For example, on Indeed you can refine your search by factors such as location, job type and salary.

This makes it easier to find exactly the kind of role you are looking for, and ensure that you fit the requirements of the job description before you apply.

Step #9- Continue Your Education

Once you have secured your first job after yoga teacher training, you may be tempted to think that your work is done.

But in fact, as a yoga teacher, you should be constantly learning. Just because you are now a teacher, doesn’t mean that you stop being a student!

Continuing your education is important for your own personal development and practice, helping you stay motivated and inspired.

As well as helping you on a personal level, continuing your education is also important on a professional level.

This is because the more knowledge, skills and qualifications you have, the better a yoga teacher you will be. This will then increase your employment opportunities, as you will be eligible for more qualified positions- as we will discuss below.

Plus, if you are a freelance yoga teacher, the more experienced and qualified you are, the more you can justify charging for your classes!

So, how can you continue your education after yoga teacher training?

We have a whole article on continuing education for yoga teachers here. But in summary, some methods for continuing your education are:

Take A Level 4 Yoga Teacher Training Course

The minimum requirement to operate as a yoga teacher is a Level 3 yoga teaching qualification.

This Ofqual-regulated course gives you a strong foundation of knowledge, skills and experience to start your yoga teaching career.

However, as you start teaching, you will start to discover more about yourself as a teacher, such as a style of yoga you are particularly passionate about.

You may also find that you are limited to the types of teaching roles you can take, as many job descriptions require more qualifications and skills.

This is why you should take a Level 4 yoga teacher training course after your initial yoga teacher training.

Here at OriGym, our Ofqual-regulated Level 4 course builds on what you learned in your Level 3 course, covering topics such as:

• Teaching Yoga as a Profession
• Understanding and Applying the Philosophy and Spiritual Principles of Yoga
• Yogic Breathing Styles
• Teaching Asana to Meet the Needs of Mixed Ability Students
• Planning & Delivering Yoga Sessions

Our course also allows you to then specialise in one of four types of yoga:

• Ashtanga
• Hatha
• Hot
• Iyengar

Specialising in one particular type of yoga will allow you to expand your employment prospects and client base, as you can market yourself as a specialist yoga teacher and teach more advanced students.

Being a Level 4 qualified teacher therefore opens up a wider range of job opportunities for you.

For example, the job advert below specifies that a Level 4 Diploma in teaching yoga is required for the role:

Even if a job advert does not specifically ask for a Level 4 qualification in this way, it will undoubtedly make you stand out if you apply for a more specialised yoga role.

For example, say you wanted to become a hot yoga teacher. If you were applying for a job at a hot yoga studio, having specialised in hot yoga in your Level 4 course would of course put you ahead of someone with a more general qualification.

Being a Level 4 yoga teacher also means that if you work on a freelance basis, you can increase your rates.

According to Talent, the average yoga teacher salary is £46,800 a year. But this will only increase if you have more experience and qualifications, as students will pay more for a higher level of teaching.

Take Other Relevant Level 4 Courses

When wondering what to do after yoga teacher training, you may just think of

As well as a Level 4 yoga course, there are other additional fitness qualifications that will enhance your yoga teaching career.

For example, OriGym offers one of the best Level 4 Nutrition course options. This course is a great compliment for your yoga teaching.

In this course, you will learn the principles of a healthy diet and how it affects physical activity.

This could then lead you to the nutrition and wellbeing element of yoga, Ayurveda (sometimes known as the ‘yogic diet’). You could then incorporate this into your yoga teaching and marketing.

For example, as you can see from her bio, this yoga teacher has specialised in Ayurveda and even gone further to specialise in Ayurveda for women.

Additional qualifications can also enhance your understanding of the anatomy and physiology of yoga.

For example, becoming a qualified personal trainer would broaden this knowledge and allow you to expand the health and fitness services that you can offer.

Specifically, becoming a lower back pain specialist with OriGym’s Level 4 Lower Back Pain Management course is a great example of how personal training and yoga can go hand in hand.

This qualifies you to work with individuals with lower back pain. Lower back pain is a common reason for students to take up yoga, so this qualification is a great compliment for yoga teachers.

Note: You must have a Personal Training Diploma to be able to complete the Level 4 Lower Back Pain course.

Make Use Of Yoga Teacher Resources

As well as taking a formal qualification, there are lots of other great resources available to help you develop as a yoga teacher, such as:

• Books on yoga
• Yoga teacher seminars, workshops and conferences- online or in-person
• Yoga teacher blogs
• Listen to yoga podcasts

Maintain Your Own Self Practice

Finally, one of the most important things to do to continue your education after yoga teacher training is to maintain your own self-practice.

When you qualify, it can be easy to get swept into dedicating all your time to teaching.

This is great, but it can sometimes be at the cost of maintaining your own practice!

Maintaining your own yoga routine and practice is an important because:

• It keeps up your own physical skills
• It keeps you creative e.g. you may discover a new idea for a transition that you can then use in class
• It keeps up your confidence
• It helps you avoid yoga teacher burnout
• It reminds you what it is like to be a student so you can better understand the needs of your own

So, even if it means dedicating just a few hours a week to practise at home or making sure you attend that Sunday morning class, maintaining your own practice is one of the most important things you can do after yoga teacher training!

Before You Go!

So, we hope you now have a better idea of what to do after yoga teacher training!

Feeling inspired? Take the next step in your career as a yoga teacher by taking a Level 4 Yoga Teaching Diploma with OriGym! Enquire today, or download our yoga course prospectus for free for more information.