A student lingers by the door after class. She’s holding her mat in the universal “I have a question but I don’t want to be in your way” posture. She catches your eye and says, “I’ve been thinking about doing a private with you . . . do you think that would help?”
And here you are. You know—with the certainty of every yoga teacher who has ever watched this exact student in this exact pose for the past six weeks—that yes, a private would help. You can name three things you’d change for her body, two things you’d ask about her week, and one breath cue you’ve been waiting for the right moment to give. But what comes out of your mouth is something like, “Oh, totally—privates are great for, you know, working on stuff.” And then you both kind of nod, and she leaves, and you spend the drive home replaying the conversation.
This post is for that exact moment.
What private yoga lessons do that group classes can’t
In a group class, I am cooking for a room. I am making a balanced meal that will feed everyone—the regular in the front row, the substitute who walked in two minutes late, the runner with tight hips, the student who’s been coming since 2009. The 6–4–2 framework helps me make sure every body in the room gets fed. That’s the craft of group teaching, and I love it.
A private yoga lesson is a different kitchen. In a private, I am cooking for one person—and I get to ask what she actually wants for dinner.
Here is what privates make possible that group classes simply cannot:
- Pacing for one nervous system. I don’t have to split the difference between the student who needs more time and the one who’s ready to move on. I can sit in stillness for a full minute if that’s what the body in front of me is asking for.
- Intake-driven sequencing. Before the first inhale, I know what surgeries she’s had, what she’s training for, what felt off this week, and what she’s hoping a private will solve. The whole class is built around real answers, not assumptions.
- A real-time feedback loop. When I give a cue, I see exactly what it lands on. If it doesn’t land, I get to try a different way in. Group classes don’t allow that kind of conversation. Private yoga sessions require it.
- Room for the work that doesn’t fit a group. Specific movement patterns, longer holds, breath protocols, prop setups that take five minutes—there are things I can do in a private that would slow a group class to a halt. In a private, the slow is the point.
- A relationship that compounds. By the third or fourth session, I know how her shoulder responds to weight-bearing. She knows what I mean when I say “lengthen the back of your neck.” We build a shared vocabulary, and the practice gets sharper every time we meet.
That last one is the quiet superpower of private yoga lessons. Group teaching is service in breadth. Private teaching is service in depth. The two sharpen each other.
This is also where virtual private yoga sessions earn their keep, by the way. The intake, the feedback loop, the relationship—none of that requires the same room. Some of my longest-running private clients I’ve never met in person.
The four kinds of students who benefit most
Not everyone needs a private. The students who do tend to fall into a few rough categories—and the craft, as a yoga teacher, is recognizing which one you’re looking at, because the benefit you’ll name is different for each one.
I teach the full framework—including how to know which type of client you’re the right yoga teacher for—inside The Private Lesson Playbook. Out of respect for the teachers who’ve enrolled, I won’t reproduce it here. But at a level that helps you in the doorway conversation, the people who benefit most from a private yoga lesson tend to be:
- The curious group regular—already in your classes, getting something out of them, and ready to go further than a 60-minute group allows.
- The student working around something specific—an injury, a recent surgery, a chronic condition that makes group class feel like a guessing game.
- The goal-oriented student—training for a race, prepping for an audition, recovering from surgery on a deadline, walking down an aisle in eight weeks.
- The brand-new student who can’t quite walk into a group—too intimidated, too aware of their body, too “I don’t know what I’m doing yet.” A private yoga lesson gives them a runway.
Different students, different benefits, same craft.
How to talk about the benefits without selling
The conversation in the doorway is not a sales pitch. It is a teaching moment, in the same way that anything you say to a student is a teaching moment. The frame I keep coming back to: what would actually serve this student, and how do I say that out loud?
If the answer is a private yoga lesson, you can say so plainly. If the answer is more group classes, or a different teacher, or a referral to a physical therapist, you can say that just as plainly. The trust comes from the directness. Students can feel when we’re upselling them, and they can feel when we’re answering the actual question.
This is also where the companion post on teaching private yoga lessons with confidence becomes useful. Confidence in the teaching room makes the doorway conversation easy, because you actually know what you’re offering.
Scripts for the four moments
Here are four short scripts, in my voice, that you can adapt verbatim. Use the phrasing that fits your mouth. The shape of the answer is what matters.
The curious group regular.
“You’d get a lot out of one. Group is great for keeping the practice in your week—but in a private, I can build everything around what your body’s actually asking for that day. We could spend a whole session on the hip thing you’ve been mentioning, instead of fitting it in around eleven other people. Want me to send you the booking link?”
The student with a recent injury.
“Honestly, until your shoulder feels more reliable, I think a private is the smarter choice. In group, I can offer modifications, but I can’t watch you the whole time. In a private, we can build sequences that work with where your shoulder is right now, not around it. We can also pace it so we know when to push and when to back off.”
The goal-oriented student.
“You’ve got a clear deadline, which means we can build something specific. In a private, I can sequence around your race calendar—what you need eight weeks out, what you need taper week, what you need the morning of the race. Group class is great for general fitness. A private yoga lesson is for the actual goal.”
The brand-new student intimidated by group class.
“Group class is going to feel a lot less intimidating once your body knows what to do. Three or four privates first—just to learn the shapes and the language—and you’ll walk into a group with a totally different nervous system. Some of my favorite long-term students started this way.”
Notice that none of these mention price, package, or pressure. They name the benefit for that student. Price comes after she says yes.
When NOT to recommend a private
This is the part that earns trust on everything else.
If a student walks up to me with a brand-new pain that hasn’t been evaluated, my answer is not a private yoga lesson. It’s a referral to a physical therapist. If a student is describing what sounds like a mental health crisis, my answer is not a private. It’s a referral to a therapist. If a student has a medical question, my answer is not a private. It’s a referral to a doctor—and then, once she’s been evaluated, we can talk about how yoga supports the work she’s doing.
Scope of practice is part of being a credible yoga teacher, not a limitation on it. The students I’ve referred to PTs, therapists, and doctors over the years have come back as some of my most loyal private clients—because they trust me to know the edge of my own room.
For more on the doorway conversation and where the line falls between teaching and treating, the Yoga Teacher Confidential podcast has come back to this question more than once. E84 in particular goes deep on the moment the answer is a referral, not a private.
The benefit you’ll see in your own teaching
And here is the quiet payoff of teaching privates: they make your group classes better.
Private yoga lessons train your eye. They train your pacing. They train you to notice the difference between a cue that sounds good and a cue that actually changes a body. After a few months of teaching privates, you walk into a group class with a sharper question in mind—what does this room need?—and the whole 6–4–2 framework starts to feel less like a checklist and more like a craft you’re refining in real time.
Group teaching makes you generous. Private teaching makes you precise. You want both.
If you want the system behind all of this
I built The Private Lesson Playbook for exactly this—the intake, the sequencing, the conversation in the doorway, the four client types and how to know which ones you’re the right yoga teacher for, and what to do once she says yes. If you’ve been fumbling the after-class conversation, the Playbook is the system you’ve been missing.
The next time a student lingers by the door, you’ll know what to say.
