How to Get a Job as a Yoga Instructor

From time immemorial, people have been enhancing their energy levels, boosting up their immune systems, controlling their body weight, and improving their cardiovascular endurance. They got relief from stress, gained more and more control over their emotions, and definitely enhanced their focusing power. They reasoned out yoga, the ancient discipline that originated in India, as a way of life that is not just a form of exercise, but a collaboration of the mind, body, and soul. This form of getting your body going is significantly tougher, for it calls for perseverance, discipline, and a great deal of practice. If you have mastered both the postures and control over your mental faculties, a job as a yoga teacher can be a well-paying career for you. Health clubs, educational institutions, and workshops seek many experienced yoga instructors to enlighten their clients/employees/students with the basics of this art. Before we find out how to get a job in this field, let us gain some insight with regards to exactly what does a yoga instructor do.

Job Profile of a Yoga Instructor

In a world so fraught with distress, people, in search of mental and physical relief, acquire yoga as a way of life. They take assistance from a learned yoga tutor who uses a series of asanas and mudras to help his clients feel better not only physically but mentally too. He helps people in improving their postures, flexibility, and strength. He has to make sure that none of his clients hurt themselves during the process of yoga asanas, and hence, the key focus is upon developing an individual yoga style that is extremely easy for a learner.

Teaching yoga isn't limited to making learners do various asanas and postures. It is about focusing on special muscles, enhancing body balance, and attaining mental comfort. Hence, many a time, yoga experts will fuse yoga with various forms of stretches that target body-toning. With regularity, yoga instructors also modify exercises for learners with medical ailments such as joint pain, and backaches. Many yoga instructors offer nutrition classes, personality development skills, and spirituality lessons to clients seeking more than fitness. It is an interesting profession that will win you respect and honor from your learners, if they experience quick results. Well, that's what makes a good yoga teacher, I suppose!

How to Find a Yoga Instructor Job

Before you go on a job hunting spree as a yoga instructor, make sure you have your yoga teacher certification in hand. Certifications in yoga therapy make the job easier for you. You could specialize in spiritual yoga, prenatal or postnatal yoga, senior yoga, power yoga, corporate yoga, or yoga especially designed for kids. The best thing about becoming a yoga instructor is that you do not need a degree specially dedicated to yoga. A bachelor's degree is always an advantage, though. However, the AFPA yoga Fitness Instructor Certification program is extremely beneficial for aspiring yoga instructors, as it enhances your portfolio.

To start with, you could utilize one of the biggest sources of information and opportunities - Internet. Find out all yoga instructor openings in your city, and around. When you find a fitness studio that you have no problem commuting to, apply for a job there. You could write an e-mail, or simply make a phone call to the studio. They might arrange an interview for you, or may even ask you to give a demonstration of your skills. If they're pleased with your work, they will definitely hire you.

Another pathway to find a job is to apply in educational institutions such as schools, colleges, and NGOs. These institutions are in constant lookout for yoga instructors, and you might get placed in any of them. All you need to do is, find out a vacancy, and apply then and there. The best part about these institutions is that, most of the time, they will want to hire part-time yoga instructors, which will never be hectic for you too. Once you're hired, you can always devote a couple of hours to teach yoga to the students, and go back home.

Last but not the least, you could open a yoga parlor of your own! Why waste time hunting for a satisfactory job. Create opportunities for yourself. Once you're done with gaining certification as a yoga instructor, you could work as a part-time yoga instructor in an institution to gain relevant experience, and then, open a yoga studio of your own. Market it by word of mouth, place an ad on the Internet, print pamphlets, and promote your classes. Get permission to open a studio at the location you want, legalize it, and get started. When you've expanded your business, you could hire trained yoga instructors to work under you, and take care of the clients.

Take time to learn hundreds of yoga asanas and poses. It is only then that you gain the confidence of teaching the same to others. People believe it's an extremely easy job to teach. However, when it comes to teaching, it is only the teacher who knows what a gargantuan task is it to make people learn, and never forget it. Even though the average salary of a yoga instructor ranges between $30,000 - $40,000 annually, in the end, your success depends only on how well you do justice to this 5000-year old discipline.