Mapping Your Dream Yoga Teaching Practice
As yoga teachers in training, it can be easy to focus only on getting through our studies and assessments or teaching our next class. But it’s also useful to pause and zoom out. What might your teaching practice look like in the real world – not just in theory, but in a way that fits your life, your values, and your capacity?
So, that’s what we are going to do today, map out your dream yoga teaching practice.
If you want a structured template for this journaling assignment, Download a Journaling Template here to help you to brainstorm and make a record of your thinking and dreaming today.
Watch the video below, or scroll down for transcript notes.
Mapping Your Dream Yoga Teaching Practice
Before we dig in, I want to be clear that there’s no single “right” model of being a yoga teacher. Teaching can happen in many settings, formats, and rhythms, and it can change over time. This discussion is an opportunity to explore possibilities, notice what genuinely appeals to you, and begin mapping out a teaching practice that feels realistic, sustainable, and aligned.
I know, it can feel like a lot to try to frame a whole new career, but think of this a snapshot of your vision -your aims, goals, and values – right now, knowing that this will be fluid and changeable.
My first set of questions is about:
Exploring the shape of your teaching
- Where do you imagine teaching most often: studio, gym, community space, outdoors, online, or a mix?
- Do you feel more drawn to large group classes, small groups, one-to-one sessions, workshops, or retreats? Why?
- How many hours per week realistically feel supportive for you right now?
In my own teaching, I came from a personal training background, so I was really comfortable with one-to-one sessions because of my experience. It took time to develop comfort in other environments, and some things I tried really didn’t work for me, including retreats. It’s just not for me – especially when other people do it so well. If you are just starting your career, I think it’s useful to both find environment where you are comfortable and also be open to new ways to teach yoga, knowing that not all spaces are a fit for you.
I also want to mention that if you are looking for a less regular teaching practice, perhaps because you are a shift worker, or you have a heavy travel schedule, options exist to teach pop up classes, share classes with another teacher, or teach in shorter bursts like a 4-week series. I mention this because teaching doesn’t have to look like committing every week to the same time and place if that doesn’t work for you.
Next questions:
Lifestyle and sustainability
- Do you imagine yoga teaching as a full-time profession, a part-time role, a side hustle, or something you do occasionally?
- How does your current life situation (work, family, physical or energy capacity, finances) influence what’s realistic at this stage?
- What boundaries would you want to establish in your teaching life?
In my own teaching, I was really young when I started. I was single with no kids or dependents, able-bodied, I was looking to teach as a full-time job and I was lucky enough to be comfortable taking a financial risk, so teaching 15-20 classes a week was doable. I took on every opportunity I could.
I said yes to everything… until I couldn’t.
You’d be surprised how over-teaching happens without noticing
You start with one class, and then you sub some classes, which turn into regular classes, and suddenly you might find yourself feeling resentment driving to a 7pm class in the dead of winter, eating all your meals in the car, exhausted, and kind of confused about how it happened
“You wake up and go, wait a minute! Why am I teaching five times this week when my plan was to teach 2 times a week?”
Underlying reality:
Over-commitment in yoga teaching is rarely intentional. It creeps in through enthusiasm, availability, and perhaps not being able to put clear boundaries or say no when asked to take on classes or ‘just help out’.
Boundary lesson:
Having a clear picture of your ideal teaching load is a form of self-protection – not selfishness – especially if you are balancing teaching with a full-time job or caring role, etc.
Next let’s think about:
Who you want to work with?
- Are you drawn to the general population, a particular group, or a specific purpose (e.g. gentle yoga, athletes, stress management, older adults)?
- What experiences or interests in your own life might shape who you enjoy teaching?
One of the things I learned after a few years of teaching was that while I enjoy instructing large ‘all levels drop-in’ classes, it didn’t give me space to really ‘teach’ yoga. I wanted to know that I was helping to educate people in yoga practice and philosophy -something that would stay with them beyond this class -give them tools and strategies and ideas that would help them to develop a lifelong practice.
For me, that meant teaching in studios and running my own classes, and a student base that attended regularly enough that I felt that we were developing and learning together where there was space to interact and explain and contextualize their learning.
That passion for educating is what led me to the next phase of my career teaching yoga teacher training programs, which was a natural next step for me and my teaching values.
Underlying reality: Not all teaching roles support the kind of teaching you want to do.
Career Longevity: Burnout can come not just from teaching too much – but from teaching in ways that don’t align with your values.
So, that leads to my final questions:
Values and evolution
- What matters most to you in your teaching practice: flexibility, stability, creativity, community income, service?
- How open are you to your teaching practice changing over time?
- What feels exciting – and what feels intimidating – about your current vision?
One thing I didn’t realize about having a full-time teaching practice over 30 years was that I wasn’t fully prepared for how much it would need to change over time.
For a long while I had a really busy (really fun) teaching schedule all around the country, but that meant I also had constant travel, many hours of admin and student management, and it meant that I missed out on time with family and friends, and those were the sacrifices for having the kind of teaching scheduled that I had.
I don’t regret those days of teaching, but it couldn’t be my whole life of teaching. Now as a middle-aged teacher with some physical and energy-limiting conditions, I have to teach differently.
If you are a brand new teacher watching this, I’m in the same place as you in some ways – mapping out a new way of teaching, finding a flow that works for this stage of my teaching practice.
It’s not a regret of my past choices – I’ve loved it all – even the many mistakes and crazy choices I’ve made. It’s more of an acknowledgement of the truth that things change and we have to be adaptable to that change. My needs and values are different today, so I’m having to re-map.
Underlying reality:
What’s possible at one stage of life may not be possible – or desirable – later. It might even be that you are in a reverse situation that right now you are working full-time and want to teach part-time, and then when you retire you plan to take on a more full-time teaching role.
When you are mapping out your dream yoga teaching practice, do think about sustainability and seasons.
Sustainability isn’t about passion alone. It’s about the reality of your energy, body capacity, finances, needs, and boundaries changing over time.
Closing
As we close, remember that your teaching practice does not need to look like anyone else’s to be valid. A sustainable yoga teaching life is not built by pushing yourself into a model that doesn’t fit, but by paying attention to your energy, your values, and your capacity as they are now.
What you’ve imagined or written today is not a fixed outlook or prediction. It’s simply information. You’re allowed to grow, adjust, pause, and redirect as you learn more about yourself as a teacher and as you gather experiences.
Let this vision be something you return to occasionally, not something you feel pressured to live up to.
I hope that’s been useful for you!
Find more discussions, like Your Yoga Teaching Pathway: Choosing Between a Career, Side Hustle, or Hobby here
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