Yoga Teacher Training Forum

Hi Ali,

Below is some advice Paul gave me years ago.

Peace,

Gator

"Have you ever wondered what studio owners are evaluating, when they hire a Yoga instructor? What can you expect at an interview for a Yoga teaching position? Let's look into the minds of Yoga studio owners, to get a better idea of which qualities they seek in teachers, before hiring them.

One of the first aspects to consider is the type of Yoga teaching position available. For example: If an advertisement states that a Yoga studio is seeking a prenatal Yoga teacher, an instructor, without prenatal experience, is wasting his or her time. There are too many safety concerns, liability restrictions, and required certification issues for a "general practitioner" to walk in, and train, pregnant students. On top of this, the students are, most likely, in different trimesters.

Finding your teaching niche is a matter of matching your skills, training, and certification, to the specific needs of the prospective Yoga studio. In general, it is wise to send out resumes, with a cover letter, to prospective Yoga studios in your area.

Initiating contact over the phone, before sending information to the studio, is a "cold calling" method, and will lower your success rate. However, if you are strong on telephone skills, and still want to pursue this method, do not put your prospect on call waiting. Before you laugh - I know of an instance, when a Yoga teacher made a phone call, reached the studio owner, gave a presentation, and had an "audition" scheduled.

During this call, she put her future employer on hold, because she had to take an "important call." As a result, the studio owner hung up, but the studio owner admitted, that up to that point, she would have been eager to hire that particular Yoga teacher. Needless to say, confidence is worth something, but good manners are also a major value.

What is an audition? Some studio owners will schedule new teachers, into the class schedule, as a substitute for a regular class. Your performance is evaluated, on a trial basis, by the owner, director, or chief Yoga teacher. This trial basis could last for one class, or a series of Yoga classes. Therefore, if you have an audition scheduled, be completely prepared to teach your Yoga class.

Is a particular certification or registration seen as superior to all the rest? Not really; a small number of studio owners might think this way, but they are few and far between. Certification is a key, which opens doors to teaching opportunities, but a Yoga instructor's performance secures the teaching position.

With that said, you should acquire a Yoga teacher certification, have good manners, seek interviews, prepare for auditions, show compassion to your students, and be safety oriented. If you have the complete package, you will have no difficulty finding, and keeping, Yoga teacher positions."