So, you’ve finished a 200 hour yoga teacher training, graduated, and have a snazzy teaching certificate. Now what?
Are you actually ready to teach yoga? More importantly, do you even want to?
Grab some tea or coffee, kick your feet up, and stay put for a bit. Let’s dive into what you can do after you’ve graduated from a 200 hr yoga teacher training certificate program.
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What to Do After a Yoga Teacher Training
Once you’ve graduated from a yoga teacher training (YTT) program, what comes next? That is, if you actually want to use that precious piece of paper, what are the next steps to becoming a full-fledged teacher?
And, well, what if you don’t want to become a yoga teacher? What can you do with all of that yoga training and yoga experience?
Keep reading to find out.
What Does it Mean to Be a Yoga Teacher?
If you’re currently holding a teacher certificate or about to graduate from a yoga teacher training program, you might be wondering if you’re really ready to teach.
Back in my yoga teacher training days, as the days got closer to graduation, I wondered more and more if I was really ready to teach yoga. In some ways, it seemed the more I learned about yoga, the more I realized what I didn’t know. And that awareness rattled my confidence.
If this resonates with you, fear not. Feeling overwhelmed or lacking in yoga teaching confidence are common feelings among new yoga teachers. It’s totally normal to feel nervous about teaching yoga in the beginning! Some very experienced yoga teachers even feel nervous before they teach classes–years or decades after taking a teacher training!
A Question of Confidence
If you’ve completed a 200 hour training, you probably have a sense of some of the things you know and a clear or foggy idea of what you don’t. There’s not a soul out there who has completed a 200 hour training knowing everything they need to know about yoga. Or teaching yoga.
Two hundred hours is far too little time to have mastered yoga asana, philosophy, anatomy, pranayama, adjustment techniques, and understand how to set-up or run a yoga business.
Yoga teacher training is a starting point. Think of it as the point where you can launch into life as a teacher, if you wish to go that route. You know a lot more about yoga and yourself than when you started. For example, you now have a better idea of how to keep students safe in basic postures. And you probably have a better of idea of what yoga means and how regular practice can benefit health and wellness.
A 200 hour yoga teacher training doesn’t make you a yoga guru. But that doesn’t mean you’re not ready to teach. Because you probably are ready, especially if you are determined to become a yoga teacher!
Teacher training is the foundation from which you continue to learn. Think perpetual yoga student. And it is the foundation from which you become a confident and competent yoga teacher.
You Become a Teacher with Experience
It is from teaching that you will gain experience and confidence.
And it is through that experience that you truly become a teacher.
So, if you are freaking out a bit after your yoga training, ditch the stress and anxiety. You’re exactly where you are supposed to be.
What if You Don’t Want to Teach yoga
After you complete a yoga teacher training, there’s no obligation to teach yoga. Many yoga students take a YTT to dive deeper into yoga practice, to deepen their own knowledge of yoga or self-relationship, or to figure out if they want to become a teacher. Some even take a yoga course to evaluate whether they want to reinvent themselves or career, think mid-life reinvention.
After a 200 hour training, you can always sign up to take your yoga training to the next level, such as by enrolling in a 300 hour yoga teacher training, or taking short or specialized yoga teacher courses or modules. Once you have a teaching certificate, you can always reassess your teaching interest at anytime. You can always change your mind.
If You Want to Teach Yoga
With that precious teacher training certificate in hand, you are well positioned to launch a yoga teaching career.
Some new yoga teachers opt to register with Yoga Alliance (YA), so they can take advantage of perks offered through that organization, such as insurance discounts and inclusions in a published registry listing of yoga teachers. However, joining YA is optional and in no way diminishes your ability to teach if you choose not to join. In fact, some yoga teachers don’t like the idea of paying dues to join such yoga organizations.
For example, you can still obtain yoga insurance through yoga organizations or insurers besides YA. There’s still an old-school idea floating around that you have to be registered with YA to obtain insurance. However, that is not the case.
Invest in Learning About the Business of Yoga
If you are still serious about becoming a professional yoga teacher after your training, you’ll want to next takes steps to invest in learning about starting and running a yoga business.
Sure, your yoga training may have touched on business subjects, but there’s still soooo much to learn about growing and marketing a business! So much so, in fact, that you’ll definitely want to dive deep into the subject if you want to grow a wildly successful yoga business.
For example, some of the business aspects you’ll want to learn more about include:
- Yoga Business Marketing – e.g., the nuts and bolts, how-tos, pitfalls to avoid, how to build an email list
- How to find or define your yoga niche — and why you’d want one in the first place
- How to name your classes so they sell
- What you need to know to thrive, not just survive as a yoga teacher + like how to make 6 figures
- How to find yoga insurance (for yourself as a yoga teacher or to cover your yoga studio or online yoga classes)
- How to set up a yoga blog or website
- Where to find the best yoga teaching platforms
- How to build your presence on social media platforms, such as Instagram
Additional Steps After Completing Your Yoga Teacher Training
If you plan to teach yoga, think of yoga teacher training as simply the beginning of your yoga journey. After your yoga teacher course, consider taking the following next steps as you build or grow a yoga teaching business (or even if you find work as a teacher at a studio):
- Subscribe to the Naked Earth Yoga Newsletter and Get More Awesome Yoga Biz + Marketing Tips
- If you’re on Facebook, join Naked Earth Yoga’s new Yoga Business Incubator, a yoga business community, where you can bounce yoga biz ideas around the community
- Bookmark my Yoga Biz Blog, which is updated weekly
- Follow me on social media – pick your platform (or all of them!): Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook
- Consider building your yoga business library with these awesome start a yoga biz books
- Commit to ongoing yoga learning, including yoga business, asana practice, yoga theory + philosophy
- Hire a coach or mentor – weekly or monthly check-ins can be so helpful with confidence and leadership building as you grow your business in the beginning
- Invest in your own yoga practice + commit to a consistent yoga practice
- Build your presence on social media (if you read this, follow me on IG, send me a DM with a mention of this post, and I will give you a shout out)
- Get yoga insurance + start teaching to build experience
- If you want to get a job, polish up your resume to reflect your yoga training and experience
- Create a yoga website, yoga blog, or landing page for your business (DM me if you need help)
- Take additional specific training, such as CPR/First Aid training, photography classes to capture yoga photos, business finance courses, marketing courses, or yoga sequencing classes
Thank You for sharing, such a beautiful piece of content, after 200 hours of yoga teacher training course what is the opportunity and how you can proceed further.
Thank you!
Namaste, Thanks for giving your valuable time to write on “what to do after a yoga teacher training”
This a well-written article with an easy explanation, Every yoga teacher must read it.