7 Tips On Finding Your Yoga Teaching Style

Whether you’ve been teaching for one year or ten, you might be looking to develop your particular yoga style. We’ve curated a list of top tips for finding your new style of teaching yoga.

But before we get onto our list, why not continue developing your preferred style with our yoga teacher training courses? Our Level 4 Yoga Teacher Training Course is ideal for finding the right discipline for you!

Download our course prospectus to find out more.

7 Tips On Finding Your Unique Style Of Teaching Yoga

When you become a yoga instructor, it’s important to find a style you enjoy and feel comfortable with. Our tips will help you decide what to focus on and how to make your classes enjoyable for students.

#1 - Take Further Training To Find Your Yoga Teaching Style

Once you’ve completed your yoga teacher training course, your learning shouldn’t end there.

One of the best ways to develop your own yoga instructor teaching style is through continuing your yoga teacher education, which can be done by:

• Attending classes
• Workshops
• CEUs (Continuing Education Units)

During your teacher training, you likely only studied one or two yoga styles, so taking classes to learn about different practices you’re unfamiliar with is a fantastic way to boost your value as a teacher!

It’s also one of the best ways to determine what you don’t like and avoid those styles in your own classes. 

If you don’t know any alternative yoga classes near you, you can find your yoga teaching style by taking online pre-recorded classes where you can pause and take notes.

You should also consider gaining further qualifications. For example, if you’ve qualified with a Level 3 Diploma in Yoga, take it up a level and study for the Level 4 Diploma in Yoga. 

OriGym even offers the option to study online flexibly, so you don’t need to rearrange your busy schedule!

If you already have these qualifications, branch out into other useful areas such as becoming certified in CPR and First Aid. 

This is important knowledge to have during classes if problems arise and can assure yoga students they’re in safe hands.

#2 - Focus On What You Enjoy When Finding Your Style Of Teaching Yoga

Think about what you really enjoyed the most during your yoga teacher training. Maybe you developed a keen interest in chakras, or discovered you’re actually more into the anatomical and scientific side of yoga practice.

Consider the aspects of the practice you feel most connected to, and the ones that bring you the most joy to teach, then incorporate them into your yoga teaching style and lessons. 

For example, you may want to start your yoga classes by chanting mantras, explaining what each of them mean.

This works both ways, too. If there’s something you don’t enjoy or feel particularly passionate about, just don’t do it. 

It’s perfectly acceptable for you to maintain a focus rather than taking a broad approach to your teaching.

The students you may lose from teaching a certain yoga style will go on to find more suitable teachers. This means the spaces in your class will be filled by students who genuinely enjoy your style of teaching yoga.

#3 - Blend Disciplines Together To Find Your Yoga Teaching Style

As we mentioned earlier, during your yoga teacher training, you’ll most likely have been taught one single yoga teaching style. To find your style, branch out into other techniques by going to classes taught by different teachers.

During your initial training, your teachers will also have had an effect on the way you teach. This is why it’s important for you to learn different styles and disciplines from a wide range of instructors.

Even if you’re dedicated to Vinyasa as your primary style of teaching yoga, it’s worth keeping an open mind and broadening your personal practice with similar styles like Ashtanga.

The more you mix styles and play around, the more you’ll understand the connections between the practices. Plus, you’ll gain lots of connections by networking with fellow yoga teachers and students!

There are certain styles such as Bikram Yoga where you’ll be teaching the same sequence each time. However, you should consider blending with Hatha to create a sequence where you teach twice. The first time holding each pose without transitions and the second time including transitions.

Blending different styles can help you find your yoga teaching style as it allows you to be more creative, drawing on inspiration from other teachers to inspire your own students and keep each class fresh and interesting for them.

Of course, you always need to respect the natural structure of a yoga class to ensure you thoroughly warm up before peak postures and cool down after. But aside from this, there is no reason you cannot blend styles.

#4 - When Deciding On Your Yoga Teaching Style, Don’t Try To Please Everyone

If you structure your classes around what you think people want and try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, you’ll often find doing this limits your creativity and holds you back from finding your true yoga instructor teaching style.

Your students are often looking for a specific style of yoga or yoga teacher and if your teachings are too vague, you may see class numbers drop.

Let’s say you’ve just finished a transformative teacher training course where you learned the history of the practice. You’d probably be eager to talk about the philosophical side of the Yamas and Niyamas you learned about.

However, while some students may be bored by this, those empty mats will soon fill up with students who love your style of teaching yoga. Teaching authentically means you’ll build a loyal student base who return for more.

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To continue finding your ideal yoga teaching styles, check out these articles below:

• 9 Reasons Why You Should Do Yoga Teacher Training
• How Long Does It Take To Become A Yoga Teacher?
• What Is Continuing Education For Yoga Teachers?

#5 - Inject Your Energy And Personality Into Your Yoga Classes

The best yoga teachers show their authentic personality in every class, letting their energy and passion for yoga shine through in their teachings.

You can let your personality flow by playing your favourite music, telling personal stories, or creating customised yoga class intentions.

Your yoga teaching style doesn’t have to have a serious tone - the more comfortable you are while teaching, the more powerful of a community you’ll find.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing - you do it better when you’re coming from an authentic space.

Plus, when you create a powerful sense of community, you’ll begin to take part in real conversations with your students. 

You’ll learn what they enjoy or don’t enjoy about your style of teaching yoga and may even find genuine friendships with some!

Being a yoga instructor is no different. If your authentic personality is warm and compassionate, you have the capacity to build a really uplifting and cathartic class for your students. You’ll empower them both in their own personal practice and in their daily life.

#6 - Allow Your Yoga Instructor Teaching Style To Grow With You

As you progress on your own path of self-discovery and spiritual development, you’re growing as a person and teacher. 

It’s natural that, once you find your yoga teaching style, it will change and grow alongside you.

As you and your style changes, you may lose some students. However, this isn’t necessarily a reflection on your teaching. 

Those students will find another teacher who fits their practice better at that current time and your sessions will soon fill with students who love the way you teach. 

The vast majority of yoga teachers finish training and start their careers by teaching fast-paced Vinyasa yoga. 

However, many of them find themselves drawn towards slower styles such as Restorative Yoga, or choose to become a Yin Yoga instructor as they progress in their career.

When you alter your yoga teaching style to teach in a more authentic way, you need to be open and honest with your students. This allows them to decide whether or not you’re the ideal teacher for them.

#7 - Find Your Yoga Teaching Style By Teaching As Much As Possible

This tip is especially important for newly qualified yoga teachers, as it’s how you gain confidence and experience at the start of your career. However, this tip is still useful for those who have been teaching for years.

Being consistent and persistent when refining your style of teaching yoga will also help you feel more comfortable and confident when you’re teaching.

You should try to get some experience with teaching as soon as you’ve finished your training. Get your friends and family round to ease yourself into it, then move on to offering free yoga classes in the park or recreation centre to get that practice under your belt!

With this tip, a great way of finding your yoga instructor teaching style is to film yourself teaching so you can watch it back later and make notes. 

You are bound to feel awkward or uncomfortable at first but observing yourself from your student’s perspective is one of the best ways to improve.

You’ll catch nervous tics or filler words with a nice overview of how you teach. You can film yourself teaching others or just teach to the camera.

Before You Go!

The more you enjoy your preferred yoga style, the more you’ll enjoy teaching classes.

With our advice, it’s time to settle on your ideal yoga teaching style and pass on your knowledge to students.

The best way to do this is by taking a look at our yoga teacher training courses. Our Level 4 Yoga Teacher Training is just the place to start with finding the ideal yoga teaching style for you.

Find out more about what’s on offer by downloading our course prospectus below.