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- Teach yoga to individuals or groups to boost their physical and mental wellbeing.
- You'll need a good level of physical fitness and excellent presentation and people skills
- Many roles are part time, self-employed, or combined with teaching other fitness classes
Yoga teachers are specialists in this ancient form of exercise that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. The main components of yoga are postures (a series of movements designed to increase strength and flexibility) and breathing.
You could specialise in teaching a particular group like pregnant women, or mother and baby classes.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Design course and lesson plans for a range of abilities
- Teach a wide range of simple and complex yoga positions
- Adapt positions for conditions like pregnancy or arthritis
- Teach breathing habits
- Assess your students
- Review your own courses
- Teach skills
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
Many yoga teachers work part-time, and often have another job in a similar role, like teaching other fitness classes. You'll usually set your own working hours, which may include evenings and weekends, and you could work at several sites, like sports centres or health clinics, which will involve local travel.
You'll need
As a yoga teacher you'll need knowledge of teaching and the ability to design courses, the ability to motivate individuals and groups, good speaking and listening skills, personal fitness, strength and flexibility, and commercial skills if you're running your own business.
The job can be physically demanding, so you'll need good levels of fitness.
To get started you can do a yoga teaching qualification at a college like a Level 3 Certificate in Teaching Yoga to Children Aged 5 to 16, a Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga, or a Level 4 Diploma in Teaching Yoga.
Or you can train as a teacher by doing yoga courses with a specialist training provider or get a teaching award from The British Wheel of Yoga, the national governing body for yoga in the UK.
You may need clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) if you're working with young people or vulnerable adults.
CAREER PROSPECTS
With experience you could run your own yoga workshops, yoga retreats, or holidays. You may be able to train as a yoga therapist or take further qualifications to train yoga teachers.