New Yoga Teachers: Tips on How to Teach Your First Class

A recently certified yoga teacher reached out to me and asked for tips on how to structure a yoga class. She also wanted advice on how to teach a class when there are participants with different body types and ranges of motion. This question inspired me to write an article because I felt the same way when I started teaching yoga. I thought to myself, Where do I start, and how can I possibly teach the same yoga routine to a fit and flexible person and someone with reduced mobility in the same class? Well, it can be done.

When you are doing a yoga certification, there are different parts to the course: the theory and the practice. You learn the asanas, meditation, pranayama, philosophy, and more. You also prepare to teach in the real world, but you’re never ready enough. The only way to learn how to teach after your certification is to gain experience by giving classes.

During the certification, you are all learning together, so you evolve as a group. Usually, toward the end of the certification, each student takes turns teaching to be evaluated. Giving your first class in front of your group can be uncomfortable and stressful. Either way, I’m sure your group was encouraging and supportive. Let’s just say it's a safe space to make mistakes, blank out, or forget parts of your routine.

After your certification, you feel so accomplished. You’re excited and motivated about everything that you learned, and you can’t wait to teach your first class, until you realize that teaching in the real world is completely different. You get people from all walks of life, of every age, shape, and size. The first thing I want to share with you is this: just remember that teaching yoga is not about you; it’s about them. Forget all the fancy postures you know, t’s time to bring out your teaching skills.

As a teacher, the obvious first step when you arrive in class is to set up your mat and props, select your music, and adjust the lighting, etc. Try to arrive a little early in case of minor setbacks so you can gauge your time. The last thing you want, as a yoga teacher, is to look stressed out.

If it’s the first class of the session, you can introduce yourself and share your background. This will create a connection with your participants. After you’ve introduced yourself, summarize the session. Explain that the first class will be smooth and that you will slowly progress and pick up the pace as you go along. You can also ask your group for feedback about the tone of your voice to make sure everyone can hear you. Ask if the music is loud enough, if the temperature in the room is comfortable, and if they have any questions, comments, or suggestions.

Now the time comes to teach the class, and you have people with a wide range of mobility and issues like hernias, wrist injuries, ankle injuries, knee injuries, heart problems, recurring migraines, etc. Welcome to the real world of teaching yoga.

When you have people with a wide range of flexibility, offer and demonstrate different variations of the postures before doing them as a group. I prefer to use the word variation or evolution instead of level, beginner, intermediate, or advanced because it creates separation, and yoga is about unity, so it defeats the purpose. As you know, the word yoga itself means unity, to unite or to yoke.

For example, if you’re teaching the shoulder stand to a new group, demonstrate three variations.

Variation #1: Lie flat on your back, lift your legs, and let your knees fall toward your chest.

Variation #2: Place a support like a block, pillow, blanket, or rolled-up yoga mat under the hips for elevation.

Variation #3: Support the lower back with the hands and slowly evolve by walking the hands up the back.

You want your participants to feel welcomed and comfortable so they can enjoy the experience. Encourage them not to worry about what they can do and to stay in natural alignment of the body to prevent injury. When you are doing yoga, it doesn’t matter how deep you go into your postures; how you feel is more important. Most importantly, encourage them not to compare themselves with other people in the class. Yoga is a personal practice of self-development that we do for ourselves, and the real work is on the inside. Yoga takes time, the idea is to enjoy the class, and the evolution will come.

Another common situation that happens with new yoga teachers is writing your yoga routine before class and realizing when you get there that it’s not at all what you expected. Of course, because when you are teaching yoga, you are also working with energy. Teaching a group is a collective experience, and many things affect the quality and rhythm of a yoga class. It depends on the weather, diet, emotions, stress levels, energy levels, sleep cycles, moon phases, the alignment of the stars, etc. These factors create a mood in the room, and sometimes what you planned doesn’t resonate with the frequency, so you have to adjust your plan.

It doesn’t matter if you weren’t able to teach everything that was on your sheet. The idea is to find a theme and write a few postures that will give you direction so you can remain present. If your yoga routine is prewritten and you want to follow it to the letter, it defeats the purpose. You can’t be present and channel your intuition. Also, don’t rush or try to get ahead of yourself to teach everything you know. Relax, yoga takes time.

I hope these few tips were helpful to get you started as a yoga teacher. If there are people with a wide range of flexibility in your class, don’t let this discourage you from teaching. Instead, let it encourage you. People are coming to you for yoga. That means they have a need and they believe in you. Experience will give you confidence, and before you know it, you will teach an improvised yoga class without a cheat sheet or preparation. Allow yourself to be guided by your instincts. Trust your intuition. Believe in yourself and in all that you know.

Love,

Maria xo