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Summary: Yoga education doesn’t send with your 500 hour! Great continuing education courses can teach you new teaching techniques, fire up your passion, help you develop niche expertise, and enhance your professional opportunities.
Let’s be frank: teaching yoga is increasingly competitive. Whether you are a new teacher looking to break into a community or a veteran teacher seeking to refresh your skills, continuing education is a great way to maintain your professional edge. But yoga education is about more than skill-building; it can also reignite your passion for the practice, spark your creativity, and connect you more deeply with a community of peers.
The way we were taught to teach yoga ten or twenty years ago is not the way we should necessarily teach it now! Over the last several decades of yoga practice, we are now starting to see some of the benefits of yoga practice (mindfulness, mobility) as well as some of its unanticipated challenges (chronic injuries, overstretching, knee injuries). By staying current with what our yoga thought leaders are sharing (for example, Jason Crandell), we can bring the best of these innovations forward in our teaching to our students. Refreshing your cuing skills and sequencing strategies with trusted teachers can help you bring new and exciting skills into your teaching. Not only can these opportunities enhance your students’ experience, they also remind us of why we love to teach yoga and get our own creative juices flowing. Best of all, these days you can get inspired by expert teachers online; many have free resources to spark your passion.
As a yoga education expert for studios and teachers, I know that injury-prevention is a huge concern for new teachers. And unfortunately, most 200 hour programs simply don’t have the time to give their students a deep dive into anatomy. Exploring continuing education courses in anatomy and/or kinesiology can be a great way to inspire an appreciation of the human body and help you become more skillful and aware in leading postural yoga.
You are a unique human and you have your own unique teaching voice. Perhaps you love anatomy and bringing functional movement awareness into all your classes, or perhaps you love facilitating deep rest for your students through yoga nidra. Maybe you love teaching advanced asana or creating fantastical flows with a banger playlist. From prenatal yoga to yoga for seniors, investing in specialized education can support the cultivation of your unique niche and teaching voice. Not only can this support you to clarify your own teaching passion, defining your niche can help you to market yourself more specifically and – over time – position yourself as an expert.
As you invest (strategically!) in your own education and expertise, you will not only deepen your own subject matter expertise, but you will also come into contact with peers and leaders with similar passions. Connecting with industry leaders – whether it’s online or in person – can help you to cultivate a rich network of contacts for your professional development.
I am a huge fan of education; my experience has been that investing in self-development is one of the best investments that you can make, both personally and professionally. Of course, we want to be strategic! Research your educational opportunities thoroughly. To be financially frugal, take advantage of the many free/lost cost resources out there, look for financial aid/ work study when possible, and be willing to ask for help if you need it.
Rachel supports yoga teachers and studios around the world to create transformational education experiences that help them thrive in their business, share their passion, and inspire more people to practice yoga. Her extensive knowledge and experience include: earning two masters degrees, authoring three books, leading 4,000+ hours of TT, building a teacher training college for a national yoga company, and working behind the scenes in yoga studio & teacher management for more than fifteen years. As a writer and speaker, she continually wrestles with the juicy bits of life: relationships, authenticity, and discovering meaning in this crazy, wildish world. E-RYT 500, YACEP, BA, MFA, MSci. Learn more about Rachel.
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