Finding a Yoga Teaching Job | The Ultimate Guide

This extensive guide to finding a yoga teaching job covers everything to need to think about when on the hunt for a new role, more specifically we cover:

• What Should You Consider When Looking for a Yoga Teaching Job?
• Yoga Teacher CV Tips
• 7 Methods of Finding a Yoga Teaching Job

Before we get straight to it, have you considered how much having a Level 4 Diploma in Yoga could boost your employment prospects? Enquire now or download a course prospectus to learn more!

What Should You Consider When Looking for a Yoga Teaching Job?

There are some things that you should be considering when looking for the right yoga teaching role for you, from salary to location preferences, below you can find the top things to look out for.

#1 What is the Salary?

First off, you need to look at a jobs salary - how much does it pay and for how many hours? Because many yoga jobs are part-time or freelance, you need to ensure that you understand exactly how much your take home pay will be!

The hourly rate for a yoga teacher is usually pretty high, but unlike other jobs, you probably won't be working 40 hours a week. The high hourly rate means the salary typically balances out to form a healthy income, but it's always worth working out exactly what you'll get paid for applying for an opportunity! 

It's a good idea to look for job openings that offer a range of hours and with good salary expectations, the good news is that this isn’t too hard to find. For example, take a look at this job advertisement below for a yoga instructor in London:

Considering that you can apply for either a full time role or a part time role, the salary can be healthy. There aren’t specific hours that classify as full-time or part time but normally, these are the hours typically worked:

Full time: 35-40 hours p/w

Part time: 15-29 hours p/w

Thus, with a job role like this one, you could expect to earn approximately:

Full time: £1400 - £1600 per week

Part time: £600 - £1160 per week

However, you should keep in mind that hours like this are rarely available- if a yoga class is 1 hour long, standard ‘full-time’ means you’d be instructing 8 classes a day, 5 days a week. 

This is unlikely, as yoga studios won’t facilitate this many back to back classes to begin with, as there’s a lot of planning required for each class that simply wouldn’t be possible in this timeframe. 

Nonetheless, earning big money is not impossible, in fact working your way up to a prestigious yoga instructor can see you earning a very high salary, but as a generic starting point expect a basic salary that most employees around the UK get, but with considerably less hours worked. 

Read our yoga teacher salary guide for more information. 

#2 Are the Required Working Hours Realistic for You?

Working hand in hand with what we just covered, you should think about how many hours are necessary to keep up with your lifestyle.

You should think about your commitments for example:

• Do you have children?
• Do you have to study? (e.g university etc)
• Do you have another part-time job?

These are things that you have to think about before you start applying for roles with hours that aren’t going to fit around your lifestyle. 

Often, yoga classes are held in the evening, when people have finished work and they’re able to head to an evening class, or on a weekend in the morning hours. So ask yourself, are these suitable? 

It’s not completely impossible, but it is highly unlikely that you’ll work throughout the working day in the week for a studio, maybe a lunch time session but there won’t be too much demand for much else until after 5pm. 

The good news is that more often than not, a class schedule stays the same since this is what works best for returning clients. So if you are a teacher committed to evening classes and early morning weekend sessions, this is something that often won’t change. 

This makes the hours that you will work a little easier to handle since once you have solutions to cover any commitments like getting a babysitter or changing hours in your other part-time job, there shouldn’t be much else that you have to change again. 

That being said it is something that you must consider in order to commit fully to a role and for you not to be overworked or burned out with hours that just don’t work for you.

#3 Is the Location Convenient?

Something else you need to consider is the location of the studio, gym or wherever you’re taking the class. 

You should consider things such as:

• Does it change week by week?
• Is it near your home?
• Can you get to it by public transportation?
• Is there heavy traffic around that area?

These are all factors that could impact your role. For example, if you have a car, getting to and from the classes will be relatively easy, that is if there are not heavy flows of traffic at peak times.

On the other hand, if you don’t drive, you may have to use public transportation which can often be unpredictable in itself. Plus, is there a stop nearby the studio? 

The last thing you want is turning up to your own class late, you should arrive early as it is common yoga studio etiquette for your clients to do this, so you as the instructor certainly need to be doing so!

Though so long as you’re not on a tight schedule, all of these factors have solutions should they arise. You simply need to make more time if you live further away and really think about the realistic side of getting to and from the studio with ease.

#4 Consider Weighing up Employee Benefits

This might not be a huge make or break for many candidates, but those who are looking to settle into a role for the long term might appreciate the benefits that come with a job. 

For example, take a look at this job advertisement below that lists out the extensive benefits that they offer their employees:

This isn’t something that is hugely necessary when finding a yoga teaching job, but it may make your time at the job more worthwhile and make up for taking a lower pay bracket. 

Now that you’ve considered these vital factors for finding the right yoga teacher job, let’s dive into the next part of the process regarding your CV and how to sell yourself the right way.

Yoga Teacher CV Tips

The next step in finding a yoga teaching job is to submit your CV to employers that appeal to you. To do this, you’re going to need a CV that will stand out among the rest. 

Your CV must be up to date, you need to show employers that you care about getting the role and you’re not using an old recycled CV that is generic and not specific to applying for a yoga role. 

Things that are imperative to your CV include:

• Contact information
• Personal statement / summary
• Experience (industry related and those that you can apply similar skills to)
• Relative qualifications 
• Why you’re right for the role

When you’re discussing your suitability for the role, you can include generic skills that sell yourself but when applying for a role you want to put your best foot forward and a good way to do this is with a cover letter.

A cover letter can be written specifically for that employer and thus, you can be specific about how your skills and experience match up with their requirements. 

It doesn’t have to be pages and pages long, in fact the more succinct the better, as the employer is going to have more than one CV to look through so only put what's necessary and avoid fluff! 

We have an extensive guide on how to create the perfect yoga teacher CV here, so don’t worry if you need some more detail and help on how to make you a stand out candidate.

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For some more resources on how to become a yoga teacher, head over to our other articles below:

• How to Become a Hatha Yoga Teacher
• Where Can I Teach Yoga? 
• What to Know Before Yoga Teacher Training and How to Prepare 

7 Methods of Finding a Yoga Teaching Job

Finding yoga teacher job opportunities can be an intimidating task, with that in mind we have 7 different methods of finding the right role for you. 

#1 Finding a Yoga Teaching Job Through Your Training Provider

The first and arguably easiest way to find a yoga teacher job vacancies is through your training provider.

Here at OriGym, we have a team that can help you with post-course progress. Meaning that after you complete your level 3 diploma in yoga instructing, you’re not thrown out into the industry with no guidance. 

You have completed the course to get a fulfilled career out of it, it’s an investment into your future so this is the most important step. So, this is how you can find yoga teacher job opportunities with a provider such as us here at OriGym. 

Once you have completed the initial course, you are introduced into OriGym’s free business resource platform which includes features such as:

• How to set-up your business 
• How to advertise and market effectively
• How to perform consultations
• How to build rapport with clients
• 1-hour free business consultation

As well as that, you will receive help in putting together the perfect CV to wow your potential employers.

Finally, you can also expect to gain access to our job board where you will be able to find job openings from hundreds of leading brands in the fitness industry. These are exclusive to OriGym graduates and we even line up interviews for those who choose so at no extra cost.

This is of course a great way to get on the ladder of employment and has proven successful with our past students.

#2 Finding a Yoga Teaching by Searching for Jobs Online

Another way that you can find yoga teaching jobs is by searching for jobs online, which is often the most common approach. 

This includes the likes of popular job boards including but not limited to:

• Indeed
• Reed
• Glassdoor
• Google Jobs
• LinkedIn
• CV-Library
• Total Jobs

The best way to utilise these job boards is to factor in your non-negotiables. For example, you can filter things such as location, salary, hours etc; take a look at Indeed’s filters to make it easier to find jobs suited to you.

It saves a lot of time when sifting through jobs that aren’t suitable for you and don’t meet your requirements. It also saves you looking at yoga teacher job vacancies that you don’t meet the requirements for.

#3 Finding a Yoga Teaching Job by Searching on Social Media

Social media has become a place that goes beyond sharing snaps with friends. People use social media for an array of different things, one of those being advertising and marketing. 

This is because it is a great way to get something out to the masses, which is why job advertisements are received well since they’re meeting targeted individuals on the other end. Essentially, communities are only built when there is a popular demand for something, in this case, yoga teacher jobs.

This makes job hunting for potential candidates easy, and it even makes employers’ jobs easier by finding people who are invested in this job role. For example, look at the amount of members in these related FB community groups.

That being said, joining these groups and searching for vacancies on social media can be super beneficial for a more informal and less pressurising approach of applying for job roles and networking in the industry. 

#4 Finding a Yoga Teaching Job by Approaching a Yoga Studio

Another way to find a yoga teacher job in the UK is to go through the old-fashioned approach of turning up to facilities to hand in your CV. 

This might include gathering some suitable employers that you think you can truly sell yourself to, even better if you have seen that they have a vacancy online or elsewhere. 

You should consider your timing, turning up at peak class times is probably a bad idea since the studio owner is likely going to be busy, but you should be able to find a class schedule on the studios website or social media. Thus, go at the time when there aren't any classes or at least earlier before the lead instructor starts to set up.

Something else you should consider is what exactly you’re going to be showing up with. A CV? A business card? Whatever it is, avoid it being more than one page, it is likely to get lost or misplaced if so. 

Plus, make it aesthetically pleasing.

As a studio, they more than likely have plenty of their own documents lying around and you don’t want your document to get lost with the rest and ultimately, end up in the bin!

Something else you need to consider is your own aesthetics. Do you look presentable? You should show up looking as though you’re ready for your first day at work with their studio. Be confident in yourself and ensure you meet the middle ground of being approachable and confident without being over-confident and seemingly rude.

This is a good way to find a yoga teacher job opening even before it has hit the job boards, the potential employer gets to see your face, your persona and body language which is something they won’t get through an online profile of you. 

So, though it may seem daunting at first, it is something that you should definitely try out if you have your eye on a particular studio as your dream role.

#5 Finding a Yoga Teaching Job by Using a Recruitment Agency

Agencies work across many different industries, yoga teaching is one of them. 

It is actually a popular approach considering the versatility of a yoga instructor's role, meaning that sometimes studios may only need cover for 2 hours a week while another studio nearby could use help for 3 hours a week etc. 

Therefore, instead of being in a contract separately with each studio and going through an interview process separately you could join an agency. 

Essentially, an agency will place you into roles that are either temporary, seasonal or sometimes permanent too. For example, take a look at this agency below that offer just that:

It is a win-win for employers and employees alike. They’re able to fill up any vacancies while you as the employee are essentially getting the hard work done for you by finding relevant jobs that match the employers requirements with what you hold. 

This can be a positive way to get on the employment ladder and work up experience in smaller temporary jobs in order to make you a more attractive candidate for long term permanent roles in the future.

#6 Finding a Yoga Teaching Job by Going Freelance

A popular approach to any role in the health and fitness industry is to go freelance. 

Freelancing can be a way to take full control of your career which is hugely beneficial for you, but this isn’t something that you can do overnight - it takes hard work and dedication.

You need to be prepared for a rocky start, but this will pay off in the long term. 

This is because unlike a salaried role in a studio, you’re going to need to find jobs for yourself from the get-go. You won't have the comfort of a pay cheque at the end of the first month of employment, in fact you might need to invest a little money before you get any back. 

Nonetheless, don’t let this deter you because once you find your feet in a freelance career, you can start earning more money than you would in a salaried role while also having the freedom and control over your working hours and where it is that you’re going to work. 

Some things that you must consider before you choose this route are:

Gaining the Correct Qualifications

Do you want to specify a particular discipline? If you do, you should take a further education course like a level 4 in yoga instructing to gain your discipline status. You should be aware that though you’re not looking to get hired by a company, you still need a minimum of a level 3 diploma in yoga instructing in order to qualify for insurance, leading us onto our next point.. 

Getting Legal Protection (Yoga Teacher Insurance)

Legal protection is non-negotiable when you’re working freelance in any industry, but particularly if you’re working in the fitness industry and there is an increased risk of your clients getting hurt. You should ensure that you have a minimum of a public liability policy.

Building a Brand

As well as the legal necessities, there are some things that you have to have in order to have a successful yoga business as a freelancer. The main thing is building a brand that is going to catch attention and bring in clients. You should work on things like marketing your yoga business correctly and being prepared to make investments into your brand's success.

Paying Rent to a Studio

One more key aspect to working as a freelance yoga instructor is paying rent studio prices, if you don’t have your own studio, you should be prepared to pay for booking out spaces in other studios. This is a good way to have a professional studio and feel for your class.

Though there are many different options of teaching yoga as a freelancer, you can teach yoga in the park, in a rented space or in your own studio.

 Whatever you choose, there are steps to take before so ensure that you do the correct research and refer to the aforementioned list to ensure you have the basics covered!

#7 Finding a Yoga Teaching Job by Taking Additional Qualifications

Finally, something that can increase your employability and even maximise your income is by taking further training in yoga instructing.

This can be hugely beneficial for you since if you move up from level 3, to a level 4 in yoga instructing you can choose a discipline to focus on. For example, say you want to be an instructor that is disciplined in Vinyasa yoga, you can with a level 4.  

This can narrow down your competition when finding a suitable role. For example, if you’re looking for yoga teacher job opportunities that are only for candidates with a discipline, you’re already a step ahead from most other practitioners.

It isn’t uncommon to see studios specify which discipline needs to be taught since most schedules will have classes separated into disciplines. Though some studios may still hire a level 3 qualified instructor, if you fit the bill for the discipline in their vacancy, you’re much more likely to be chosen for an interview!

Before You Go…

With so many different routes to take to landing your dream role as a yoga instructor, what are you waiting for? Enquire about our level 4 yoga teacher training course and take your career to the next level! Find this and many other health and fitness courses here in our downloadable course prospectus.