Once trained, the whole challenge is to make yourself known and keep your students. Here, for the beginning teacher, is where to give your first classes and how to build your activity.
Getting known and finding students
First find a studio or an association that will give you a chance; then bring in students and keep them — word of mouth will do the rest. Stay open to every opportunity. You can teach:
- in companies or international organisations;
- in prison;
- in cultural or sports centres, or spas;
- in associations, community halls;
- in your own space or a shared space;
- at the student’s home or workplace;
- in schools (yoga for children), universities;
- in retirement homes (yoga for the elderly);
- in medico-educational centres, care centres for people with disabilities, pain clinics;
- in holiday clubs.
In cultural or sports centres, a trial or a pre-employment placement is often offered. Do not settle for a single venue: at first, diversify so as not to depend on one place, then gradually build your own clientele (private classes at home). Remember: for private classes, you must give not 100% but 300% of yourself. Find enough classes per week to live on — you will most often be self-employed.
Pregnant women
You must be informed before the class (in early pregnancy it does not show). If you do not have the skills, direct the person to a suitable prenatal yoga class: in a large group it is hard to watch over her constantly.
What to prepare
- a CV;
- a print-ready poster (address, date, time);
- a talk or demonstration, written out and rehearsed;
- an introductory article for the local papers;
- an online presence, indispensable today.
Keep training
Keep training: a 500-hour course is only a beginning. You are your own best student — practise every day, take classes with other teachers, draw inspiration. Do not leave your students on autopilot: surprise them, make them present to the moment.
“Practice, practice, practice, every day…”
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
