8 Things You Should Do After Yoga Teacher Training

This week marks the one year anniversary of when I auditioned to teach Hot Power Fusion at Corepower Yoga. I remember the night of my audition like it was yesterday. Every time I think about this experience, the nervous jitters come back immediately. I was already so scared, but what I didn’t know ahead of time was that I was the only one in the room auditioning who wasn’t already a yoga teacher. No pressure!

Spoiler Alert: I made it through the audition just fine and without any major hiccups. A whole year later, I’m super happy I went through with the audition, as nerve wrecking as it may have been at the time. Over the last year, I’ve taught multiple Hot Power Fusion classes at Corepower Yoga each week and since June have also been teaching multiple Yoga Sculpt classes each week as well.

Whether you’re getting ready to graduate from a 200-hour yoga teacher training program or maybe you’re a recent yoga teacher training graduate and trying to decide what to do next. Here are eight things you should do after finishing yoga teacher training.

1 – Join Yoga Alliance
Yoga Alliance (YA) is the largest nonprofit association representing the yoga community. Their mission is to promote and support the integrity and diversity of the teaching of yoga. YA can be a valuable resource for yoga teachers. It’s also important to note that most studios will require their yoga teachers to be registered with YA.

As a member of YA, you’ll have an internationally-recognized credential that shows you’ve met the organization’s minimum standard of yoga training. This is a great thing to have on your yoga resume. As a YA member, you’ll receive cool benefits like being listed on the YA Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) directory, which is great for marketing your teaching skills to studios all across the world. You’ll also get access to free online workshops throughout the year, advocacy alerts on local, state and national government issues regarding the yoga community, invitations to YA events in your area, access to the YA monthly newsletter and discounts on products and services from YA partners on everything from liability insurance to yoga clothes.

For more information on how to join Yoga Alliance, the benefits of a YA membership along with a complete breakdown of the RYT registration and membership fees, visit the Yoga Alliance website.

2 – Get CPR Certified
Getting First Aid/CPR certified is relatively easy and cheap. It’s also another good thing to have on your yoga resume. I received my First Aid/CPR certification within a week of graduating from my first 200-hour yoga teacher training because I needed it before I could start the Extensions Program at Corepower Yoga. I completed the Adult First Aid/CPR/AED training online through the Red Cross over one weekend for $25. Once you’re certified, you won’t have to re-certify for another two years.

3 – Purchase Yoga Liability Insurance
Having yoga liability insurance isn’t a requirement to teach yoga. Most studios will cover you under their own insurance policy, but having your own liability insurance is a good idea. Better to be safe than sorry. With your own liability insurance, you’re covered if you ever decide to venture out on your own or take on any private clients. Yoga liability insurance is fairly cheap, usually under $200 each year. I have my yoga liability insurance through Philadelphia Insurance Companies and have been pretty happy with the service and easy renewal process each year so far.

4 – Teach
The only way to become a yoga teacher is to teach yoga. After graduating, I recommend teaching as many classes each week as your schedule will allow. If you don’t use your new skills right after teacher training, you’ll lose them.

It took me six months to start teaching yoga after I graduated from my first 200-hour teacher training program. After graduation, instead of teaching right away, I decided to enroll in three other teacher trainings and got super busy with my full-time day job. Teaching yoga became less of a priority. By the end of the year, I decided to come back to my yoga teaching dream and signed up to audition to teach HPF at Corepower Yoga. This meant I had to re-memorize all of my cues in the HPF sequence because I had already forgotten them all.

Once you have your 200-hour certification, offer to be on the sub list for the yoga studio you practice at. Offer to sub classes for a fellow yoga teacher within your yoga community. Volunteer to teach yoga to your family and friends. The more you teach, the more your teaching skills will improve dramatically in a short amount of time and the better yoga teacher you’ll become.

5 – Keep Practicing
This is something I wish someone had told me before becoming a yoga teacher. No one tells you in teacher training how much your practice will suffer once you start teaching. As a yoga teacher, you’ll have access to free yoga at the studio you teach at. Take advantage of this benefit. Make your yoga practice just as much of a priority as it is to teach yoga. As a yoga teacher, you have to keep up with your own practice. Maintaining a healthy yoga practice not only helps you become a better teacher, but it can also help you keep your own sanity while managing a busy schedule.

6 – Keep Learning
Your education doesn’t stop at just one 200-hour yoga teacher training. With yoga, there’s always something new to learn whether it be different postures, different formats or even different ways of teaching. Take classes from your fellow yoga teachers at the studio you teach at. Check out other studios and explore different yoga formats. Sign up for weekend workshops or three-day intensive classes and earn continuing education credits. You’ll need those continuing education credits to keep your Yoga Alliance membership current each year.

7 – Create A Yoga Teacher Resume
Having a professional yoga teacher resume will help you stand out when applying for yoga teaching jobs. A yoga resume is just like a regular, professional resume, only it will include all of your yoga teacher training and experience, in addition to your previous work history. Create your yoga teacher resume with sections such as a Mission Statement, Education and Training, Work Experience and Contact Information.

For more details on how to put together your yoga teacher resume, check out this article from The Yoga Nomads on How to Create the Perfect Yoga Teacher Resume. There’s lots of good information here.

8 – Market Yourself
There are many ways you can market yourself as a new yoga teacher. One way is to create a yoga website and blog for yourself. If you do it yourself, you’ll need to make an initial time investment in order to set up the website. Once the site is up and running, the site will pretty much run itself. Be sure to include your current weekly teaching schedule on your website and update your blog on a regular basis.

For my own yoga website and blog, I created it using WordPress. If you’re not a WordPress novice, no worries! Check out WP Apprentice for their online WordPress Essentials training course. This online course is self-paced and designed for both beginners and immediate users of WordPress. What’s nice about this program is the training library has over 50 videos that are easy to follow. You’ll pay a one-time fee of $47 and have lifetime access to the entire program. I still refer back to the program from time-to-time whenever I have questions or can’t figure out something on my own.

Another way you can market yourself as a yoga teacher is by creating business cards. I hired a photographer friend of mine for an afternoon to take professional pictures of me doing yoga. Then I picked a couple of my favorite photos from the shoot and created my business cards online through Moo Print. Their website was easy to use. This was a super affordable option and I love the quality of my cards. I’ll definitely use them again whenever I need another batch of business cards.

You’ll also want to get on social media to market yourself as a yoga teacher. Use online platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Through your personal profile on Facebook, you can set up a Facebook Page for your yoga teaching. For Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, I recommend setting up a yoga-specific account that’s separate from your personal account. I like to keep my personal social media accounts private for my friends and family and then post all of my yoga-related stuff on my yoga specific social media accounts publically. If you have your yoga website up and running, be sure to have all of your yoga-specific social media accounts linked on your homepage.

And of course, one of the easiest and cheapest ways to market yourself as a yoga teacher is through word-of-mouth. Don’t be afraid to talk to your family and friends about your new venture. Someone you already know might know of someone looking for a yoga teacher or know of a studio who’s looking to hire a teacher. Start with your own circle of influence ad get the word out there!

If you do all of these eight things right after graduating from yoga teacher training, you’ll set yourself up for success in landing your first yoga teaching gig. Good luck and let me know how it goes. Have questions? Leave me a comment below.