Want to Teach Yoga Full-Time?

Many yoga teachers start off teaching yoga as a side hustle.

There comes a time in every yoga teacher's journey when they begin to question whether or not teaching yoga full-time is actually profitable and sustainable. Maybe this has happened to you and that's how you landed here.

Perhaps you just started teaching and you've realized this is a path you want to take and form a business around, but working two jobs has you feeling mentally distracted and unable to focus or dedicate the time needed to start and grow a private yoga business.

Average Yoga Instructor Salary

While it is possible to make money as a yoga instructor, it is more common to see the average yoga instructor salary fall somewhere between $30 to $40k per year while being equally busy as top-earners in the yoga industry.

Many people graduate from their first yoga teacher training program and find themselves driving all around town to various yoga studios, teaching 15-20 group classes a week, and earning about $25 to $40 a class.

How Much Do Yoga Instructors Make?

Many new yoga teachers are either only able to view teaching as supplemental income to their typical 9-5 or exhaust themselves trying to pick up enough classes to make enough money. The point is you can find yourself working a ton, only to make less than $40k a year.

Feeling Burnt Out & Broke

So many full-time yoga teachers know the struggle of trying to earn a living while doing what they love. It's not all sunshine, glitter, and tropical island handstands. Being a yoga teacher can be really stressful, running around from studio to studio, or client to client, and still struggling to make enough money to pay rent, buy healthy, organic foods, travel, and continue self-study.

These teachers end up finding themselves completely burnt out from running around teaching at different studios making minimal pay. At the end of the day feeling exhausted and confused, wondering if feeling financially free while teaching full-time is actually possible.

Does That Sound Like You?

If either of these scenarios resonates with you, then maybe you've found yourself online searching for answers to questions like:

• How much do yoga instructors make?

• How can yoga teachers make more money while working fewer hours?

• Can you make a living as a yoga teacher?

• What is the highest salary in yoga?

• How to make money as a yoga teacher online?

• Can you make a career as a yoga teacher?

If so, just know that you are not alone. These search terms were exactly what I was googling trying to figure out how to keep sharing this practice I loved so much and actually make a living, have a family one day I could support, save, invest, and contribute in all the ways my soul was being called to.

The Good News is, Yes, You Can Make More Than Enough Money

Some of the highest-earning and most successful yoga teachers I personally know make multiple six-figures, annually. Some have large audiences on social media, and others are well under the 10k follower benchmark.

What all of these teachers do have in common is that they have diversified their businesses and offers in a way that allows them to work fewer hours and make more money.

Some of that income is active, as in, teaching actively in-person or online. Some of that income is passive, as in, they created some resource once, and continue to sell it and generate sales from it weekly.

Avoiding Burnout

You cannot sustain a healthy mind, body, and life while teaching 20 classes and private lessons a week. Sure, you can make money that way, but you cannot do it for too long before you get sick, tired or completely turned off by the idea of teaching ever again.

As yoga teachers, it's so important to embody the lifestyle that we preach: a lifestyle of well-being, intentional actions, conscious living, and health above all else.

Do no harm (ahimsa) first and foremost to yourself. We fell in love with yoga more than likely because of how much it required us to slow down.

That slowness felt so good to our already overworked and overstimulated nervous system.

In order to make teaching yoga a sustainable business that thrives, we must create a business in a way that supports a slower-paced life, one that does not require us to be moving at 100mph every day and always giving and pouring onto others from an empty cup.

That is not what we are here to do.

Is it Possible to Make a Living as a Yoga Teacher?

Yes, it is. However, if you want to be able to make money, teach yoga and thrive financially, you're going to have to set up strategic systems and structures to make that a reality.

You have to stop winging it and start planning, and creating systems, offers, and strategies that serve your students' needs and deliver the profit your dream life requires.

When you have successfully done that do that, creating new offers, marketing, and selling them feels fluid, authentic, and purposeful. Selling and receiving abundant amounts of money feels easy.

This is what I was able to successfully do in my yoga career and what I am so passionate about helping other heart-led entrepreneurs create in theirs.

How to Teach Toga and Make Six-figures

There are tons of different ways to make money teaching yoga.

If you want to watch a value-packed youtube video I created on 10 Different Ways to Make Money Teaching Yoga, you can check it out here.

That being said, let's focus on what I like to call the path of least resistance, which is the foundation of how I was able to grow a profitable yoga business that supported my life and all the experiences I wanted to call in.

The Three-Pillar System

At YogaBiz Academy, we teach what we call the Three Pillar System. This core framework revolves around building out three main pillars that will help you create an aligned and exciting six-figure business.

First, gain clarity on your niche

The first step is to get clear on your niche.

I'm not referring to the group of people you serve. I'm referring to the problems your offers solve or the transformation that they help others achieve, and who would best benefit or be attracted to those offers.

But...I get it. You don't want to be put in a box.

By not getting clear on who your offers are for and what you help others achieve, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to actually connect and attract your ideal students.

If you haven't already identified who your ideal yoga community is, you can access my free mini-course, which will help you:

• Understand the value of focusing and niching-down your business when you are first starting out so you can fast-track your success

• Take you through a series of exercises to identify what your unique niche is based on your knowledge, skills, life experiences and curiosities

• Develop offers that fit your niche and a marketing strategy that supports them

Now, once you've identified your niche, you're ready to start creating a suite of offers.

The first type of offer, which is also the first pillar of the Three Pillar System, is creating a 1:1 or private lesson offer for your yoga students.

This is also the most logical next step when leaving the studio.

Pillar #1: Teach Private Lessons (1:1 Sessions)

The first type of offer, which is also the first pillar of the Three Pillar System, is creating a 1:1 or private lesson offer.

This is also the most logical next step when leaving the studio.

These 1:1 private classes are considered your high-ticket offers, as in, your most valuable and highest-priced offer because you are trading your time for money.

This is, for most teachers, the best offer to begin with because you can make anywhere from 3-5x per session what you made for your studio classes.

Typically taught in-home or at a park or wherever you and the client feel most comfortable.

These sessions, though, are very different and require an entirely different approach than your studio classes, in order to keep your clients excited to renew their packages with you month after month.

If you want a free workbook I created on 13 Different Ways to Find New Private Clients to work with, click here. You'll learn how to find and fill your schedule with ideal private clients without overcommitting to the point of exhaustion.

The whole point of stepping away from teaching so many classes in yoga studios is to honor our energy and time and these private sessions allow you to serve your students deeply, make 3-5x your studio income, and therefore, work less hours. This way you have energy, intention, and focus in order to serve.

How to price your private yoga classes

What you decide to price your sessions should be based on your experience, your qualifications, the value you bring to their lives, and the supply that is available of your 1:1 time. If you're booked out consistently, I'd encourage you to increase your hourly rate.

You can also refer to this free pricing calculator tool to help you decide what to price your private sessions

Corporate Yoga

I would classify corporate yoga sessions as private sessions, because:

1. it is a high-ticket offer (easily 2x what you price your 1:1 offer)

2. collecting payment from one entity (the business) vs. each individual in the group

Corporate wellness has experienced a boom since 2020, with the onset of the pandemic. Many employers began to seeking virtual wellness programming to help manage the rising levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout amongst their newly remote workforce.

This has been great news for yoga teachers and provides an incredible opportunity to build partnerships with business that have the capital available to invest in wellness.

Yoga teachers have been using the technology available to deliver wellness programs online to companies world-wide, no longer needed to be in the same city in order to bring the yogic lifestyle and movement, breathwork, mindfulness and meditation to businesses everywhere.

In-office wellness seminars and fitness classes have transitioned to webinars, live-streams, and libraries of pre-recorded yoga videos. This allows yoga instructors to offer their services and expertise to an even wider population that could benefit from working with them.

Developing a corporate wellness program

The obvious place to start is by offering a suite of yoga classes.

This would look like an a la carte menu of different classes and meditations your offer.

You could also teach a yoga class that addresses a specific problem the employees may be dealing with.

Another service you can offer is public speaking. You can create wellness talks that educate employees on the benefits of meditation or provide information about how to lead healthier, happier lives.

Think about what unique insight your life experiences, training, and education have given you that could be of benefit to the corporate population. Your authority increases tremendously when you start speaking and publicly educating.

It is important to make sure that the employees of the business you're partnering with are engaged in the program you offer. This is the only way the employees will experience results from your program and be able to communicate your value to their employer, which means you'll keep getting booked.

That's why it can be useful to incorporate wellness challenges into your program that encourage participation and socialization amongst employees. This will foster a sense of community while also improving the overall health of the employees, which is what we want.

Whether corporate wellness programs include yoga classes, meditation sessions, wellness talks, and/or team-building activities, they will help employees feel less-stressed, more connected, and more engaged at work.

Within the Corporate Yoga Accelerator program, we help you intelligently set up unique programming that benefits the employees, as well as retainers and packages that meet your revenue goals.

Teaching Yoga Online

More and more these private sessions are being requested virtually. Post-pandemic life has opened up the door to so many people working remotely and wanting to work with other health professionals online. Don't be afraid to offer these sessions online. You'd be surprised how many people, groups of people, or corporate businesses want yoga, breathwork and meditation delivered and accessible online.

Pillar #2: Group Programs

Group programs are not drop-in classes. When I say group programs, what I mean is a program that lasts for X amount of weeks, that takes your clients solve a specific problem or achieve a specific transformation.

Example: 4 Week Reconnecting to Inner Power Program for Post-Partum Moms

• Helping moms go from exhaustion to empowered.

• 1x weekly group zoom check ins

• daily whatsapp check ins

• pre-recorded meditations

• 2x weekly yoga and breathwork classes

• workbook with daily routines and tips on how to make time for yourself and envigorate your life force energy

• Price: $499 for 4 weeks

You can do these fully in-person, fully online, or a hybrid model, but first, you must shift your mindset from being a yoga teacher to a wellness coach.

Why? Because you are qualified enough to lead in more than just asana. Realize that your life experience coupled with your training and knowledge gives you the qualifications to create programs that help take others through a more holistic and transformational program.

You are qualified enough right now to take someone who was maybe where you were 1 year ago, experiencing the same problems you had, and help them through a solution, give them the support they need, all from your living/hotel room.

These offers are great because they build community, and are only slightly lower-priced than your private sessions.

Pillar #3: Digital Offers

Courses, Trainings, Workshops, Masterclasses, E-Books, Memberships, Templates

Digital offers are incredible and the most important pillar of the Three Pillar System, because it is the one that offers PASSIVE INCOME revenue.

They help you build authority and credibility as an experienced instructor.

Courses also help position you as an expert in your industry or niche. People trust business that teach others.

Your intellectual property is valuable. It is a service to share that with the world, and online yoga courses and programs allow you to reach more people than you could working 1:1. This also provides a more affordable way for people to get familiar with what you do and for you to serve your yoga community.

Pricing

Digital courses can also have their own value ladders.

On the low-end, you could offer an e-book for $10 that teaches students how to progress in their backbends.

At the mid-level, you could offer an online yoga course that teaches other yoga instructors how to intelligently sequence classes.

A high-ticket offer might be a yoga teacher training program of your own at $2,500.

As you can see, there are countless was to share and sell your intellectual properly online with the yoga world. How you choose to price your offers really will depend again on your experience, your qualifications, and the value your provide.

A little note on selling

Don't undervalue yourself, your experience, your knowledge. Selling is not about persuading someone to buy a product they don't need. Spiritually-aligned sales is about authentically connecting with the person who needs your offer in order to improve their lives. It should feel like a disservice to you and to them to avoid showing up and giving them the opportunity to experience your offer.

Let's Do the Math

Let's take a look at an ideal week's worth of revenue incorporating the Three Pillar System.

Let's say you price your private yoga sessions at $100 a session and you do 2x a day Monday through Friday.

WEEKLY PRIVATE SESSIONS: 10 x $100 = $1,000 TOTAL

You also teach five corporate wellness sessions a week and charge $200 per session.

CORPORATE WELLNESS SESSIONS: 5 x $200 = $1000

Then let's say, you charge $39 for the hip mobility digital course and $199 for a Yoga Teacher Sequencing 101 course and sold ten and two of each respectively, per week (Note: with the right advertising and strategy, this is a very possible number).

HIP MOBILITY DIGITAL COURSE: 10 x $39 = $390

SEQUENCING COURSE: 2 x $199 = $398

WEEKLY TOTAL = $2,788

MONTHLY TOTAL = $11,152

ANNUAL TOTAL = $133,824

That is what you can do under this system.

As a yoga teacher, each week will look slightly different.

However, if you simplify and focus on these three pillars and aim all of your efforts at building your unique niche, brand, and offers that truly serve your ideal clients, I promise you'll reach your six-figure goals quicker than you can imagine.

I'm telling you, I did it.

I've successfully coached and mentored other yoga teachers to do the same. You just need to know what to focus your efforts on so you are not all over the place doing a million different things that aren't actually serving anyone or getting you closer to your income goals.

Want to create these results in your business?

You'll want to join the Online Yoga Biz waitlist. Doors open every few weeks and spots are limited.

Online Yoga Biz is a comprehensive program that helps yoga teachers, like you, launch and grow a profitable online coaching business so you can ditch the burnout of the studio grind and enjoy the time, location, and financial freedom you desire and deserve. 

You’ll learn proven mindset, launch, marketing, and sales strategies so you can finally gain clarity, lead with purpose and create the business model that supports your ideal life and soul’s highest calling.

Join the waitlist to save your seat!