Yoga instructor
Teaching yoga in studios, schools, workplaces, wellness centres or independently. Certification is structured through a national board, and demand exists both in India and abroad.
- Work setting
- Studios, gyms, schools, corporate wellness, resorts, online, or your own classes
- Hours
- Early mornings and evenings, with classes at fixed times
- Remote
- Possible
- Travel
- Local, unless teaching abroad
- Qualification
- Yoga Certification Board certification, or a diploma or degree in yoga
- Read
- 1 min
What this is
Understand the role
Teaching yoga — asana, breathing and practice — to groups or individuals in studios, gyms, schools, workplaces, wellness centres, retreats or your own classes. India's certification for it is structured nationally, and Indian teachers are sought after abroad.
What the work is
Day to day
Teaching classes at fixed times, mostly early morning and evening; adapting practice for beginners, older students and people with injuries or conditions; and, if you work for yourself, finding and keeping students. Many instructors combine studio classes with corporate wellness sessions and private clients.
What you need
Capability
Certification through the Yoga Certification Board scheme, which certifies at defined levels from instructor upwards, or a diploma or degree in yoga from a recognised university. Serious teaching also expects real grounding in anatomy and contraindications — knowing which students should not be doing a given posture is the professional part of this work.
What people get wrong
Read this one
Treating a short teacher training course as sufficient. Studios and international employers increasingly ask which certification you hold and at what level, and the well-paid work — corporate programmes, retreats, teaching abroad — goes to properly certified teachers.
The other misconception is that this is light work. Teaching several classes a day is physically demanding, and instructors get injured through demonstrating repeatedly rather than through practising.