Want to make more money as a yoga teacher? Stop focusing on teaching more classes. One of the biggest mistakes I see yoga teachers make is focusing on how many classes they can fit into their schedule rather than how much money they're actually making for the hours they're working. You need to start thinking about dollars per hour, not just dollars per class. Here are four strategies I'd recommend: 1. Negotiate your teaching rate. If you're teaching classes for other yoga studios, don't be afraid to approach the studio owner and ask for a rate increase. You can also negotiate a per-client bonus, particularly if you're consistently bringing students into the studio. Your time, experience, and the value you bring to a studio are worth something. Ask to be compensated accordingly. 2. Consider running your own classes without opening a studio. It can actually be much more financially viable to rent a small space and run your own classes. Consider: - Renting space inside a gym. - Renting a yoga studio for a couple of hours each week. - Renting a community centre or multipurpose room. You have more control over your pricing, your students, and your revenue without taking on the enormous overhead of operating a physical studio. 3. Start teaching higher-value workshops. Think about your interests, your experience, and the areas of yoga where you have something valuable to offer. What could you teach that students would be willing to pay more for? Workshops in the evenings and on weekends can be a great way to diversify your income without adding another regular weekly class to your schedule. 4. Think VERY carefully before opening a physical yoga studio. And I mean this one! I've opened two yoga studios, and honestly, I'm not sure I would do it again unless the circumstances were right. My advice is to consider opening a physical studio only if: - You can operate the business independently without relying on a business partner. - You have enough financial reserves to cover at least one to two years of operating costs. - You own the building or live in the building where the studio operates.

Nobody talks about how hard it is to show up as a yoga teacher when life is hard. 💛 There's this unspoken expectation that, as yoga teachers, we're supposed to show up with positivity, light, and calmness all the time. But we're human, too. Life is hard. We all experience ups and downs, difficult days, disappointment, grief, and moments when we struggle to find our footing. Being a yoga teacher doesn't make us immune to any of that. So what's my best advice? Do the hard work of practising the yamas and niyamas in your everyday life. And start with the very first yama: ahimsa, or non-harming, which we often understand as compassion. Over my years of studying and practising yoga, I've come to realize that ahimsa is one of the hardest principles to truly embody, especially when it comes to how we treat ourselves. We can be compassionate toward our students, our friends, and our families, yet incredibly harsh toward ourselves. We judge ourselves for struggling. We feel guilty for not being positive enough. We think we should know better because we're yoga teachers. But what if we offered ourselves the same compassion we so freely give to others? What if, instead of criticizing ourselves for having a difficult day, we allowed ourselves to be human? I promise you, the more you practise self-compassion day in and day out, the better equipped you'll be to navigate life's ups and downs. Not because life suddenly becomes easier, but because you learn to stop fighting yourself when things get hard. And that, to me, is yoga in practice. 💛 I'd genuinely love to hear from you. What do you do in your day-to-day life to practise compassion toward yourself? Is it setting boundaries? Giving yourself permission to rest? Changing the way you speak to yourself? Something else entirely? Share in the comments. Let's learn from one another, because we're all still practising. 🙏

We encourage people to turn their passion into a career, but where is the roadmap for doing that sustainably? Where is the plan for growing as a yoga teacher, building a full-time career, earning enough money to support yourself, and doing it all without sacrificing your energy, health, and love for yoga? I believe we need to start talking about this. My best advice? Prevent burnout before it happens. And the way we do that is by learning to manage our energy. I'm obsessed with understanding how we can conserve the energy we have, prevent unnecessary energy from going out, AND bring more energy in. Because sustainability isn't just about doing less. It's about creating an equation where we're no longer constantly running on empty. It's about building a career that gives back to you, rather than one that continually takes from you. And if you're already feeling burnt out as a yoga teacher, I want you to know that you don't have to keep operating this way. 💛 If you're a yoga teacher who's struggling with burnout, trying to grow your business sustainably, or simply looking for a better way to do this work, I'd love to connect. Let's start having honest conversations about what it really takes to build a sustainable career in yoga.

The truth about yoga and trauma that we don't talk about enough. Yoga practice, on its own, does not necessarily heal trauma. I know this from personal experience. I've been practising yoga for 25 years, and I live with complex PTSD. Despite all those years of practice, yoga alone did not heal my trauma. Now, don't get me wrong. There are yogic practices that can be incredibly supportive in trauma recovery. But there's a difference between using yoga as a supportive tool in healing and believing that yoga practice itself will heal trauma. I've heard people in the yoga community suggest that asana clears your chakras, releases negativity, and therefore clears trauma. But trauma recovery is not that simple. The depth of our healing work needs to meet the depth of our wounds. Attending a yoga class once, twice, or even three times a week doesn't automatically resolve trauma. And when we tell people that yoga will heal them, we risk leaving them feeling as though they're doing something wrong when they continue to struggle. Sometimes, yoga can be a beautiful part of the healing journey. Sometimes, certain practices may feel overwhelming or activating. And sometimes, we need additional support beyond what a yoga class can offer. As yoga teachers, I believe we have a responsibility to understand these distinctions. We don't need to be trauma therapists. But we do need to understand our scope of practice, create environments that support choice and autonomy, and recognize when a student may need support beyond what we can provide. 💛 This is something I'm passionate about helping other yoga teachers understand. If you're a yoga teacher who wants to create a more trauma-informed, supportive space for your students, I'd love to connect. If you're a teacher with your own trauma history who has practised for years but still feels like something isn't shifting, I'd love to hear your story, too. You are not failing at yoga because you haven't healed. You deserve support that meets you where you are.

Hi, I wanted to reintroduce myself! 👋 My name is Allison Miller. I’ve been practising yoga for 25 years and teaching for over 15 years, and one of the things I’m most passionate about is helping other yoga teachers. A little about me: I have a degree in psychology and have completed thousands of hours of yoga teacher training, including two 200-hour teacher training courses, a 300-hour advanced teacher training, and multiple other certifications. But today, I want to talk about something we don't always discuss openly: the harsh realities of teaching yoga. I've seen three common experiences among yoga teachers. 1. The teachers who never make it into the classroom. Many people complete their yoga teacher training but never go on to teach. I believe a lack of confidence plays a significant role. You can spend hundreds of hours learning about yoga, but stepping into that classroom and actually leading a group of students can feel like a whole different challenge. 2. The teachers who teach as a hobby. There's absolutely nothing wrong with teaching yoga as a hobby! But I've seen teachers gradually lose their enthusiasm when they become disconnected from their yoga community, or satsang. Over time, the novelty can wear off, and sometimes they step away from teaching and even from their personal practice. 3. The teachers who make it their full-time career. These teachers face a different challenge: burnout. Teaching yoga full-time, running a business, attracting students, and trying to grow sustainably can be incredibly demanding. Without the right support and strategies, it's easy to become overwhelmed. This is why I want to help. I've spent years teaching, learning, and navigating the realities of this profession. I want to help other teachers build confidence, develop their skills, and create a sustainable relationship with teaching yoga. So, for the month of November, I'd like to offer one yoga teacher a month of free coaching. 💛 I'm especially interested in connecting with: