lead meaningful workshops that change students’ lives—and your career
Here’s a free five-lesson email course on how you can devise, design, and deliver yoga workshops that help students solve their problems with yoga.
Hey, yoga teachers: there’s a whole world beyond the weekly studio yoga class. And out there on the frontier is where you can make the greatest impact on your students (and on your bank account).
Let’s get you up to speed offering yoga workshops, so you can take your teaching off the hustle-grind track and help people where they need it most.
I’ll lead you through a free five-day email course to help you define your niche, plan to solve your students’ problems with yoga, and expand your career in ways that benefit both you and your students.
We’ll cover:
- How to discover your niche(s) as a yoga teacher
- What successful workshops look like
- What studio owners and bookers are looking for when they schedule a workshop
- The best ways you can help both your students and your career simultaneously
Before you protest, “But I am not experienced enough!”: you already have the tools you need for this, even if you’re fresh out of your 200-hour yoga teacher training. In fact, being a new yoga teacher means you have a fresh perspective to share. You just need to spend a few minutes every day thinking through how you can guide your students toward overcoming their problems using yoga. This free e-mail course gives you the prompts you need.
Lesson #1 will get you started.
where should I send the first lesson?
I’ll send these to you every other day, so you have time to process and do the work as you go. Or there’s an option for you to rush through them all in a Netflix-style binge.
By the end, you’ll be ready to set up your first—or next—yoga workshop to help your students and your career.
about your host, Sage Rountree
I’ve been leading yoga workshops since the early days of my yoga teaching career, over twenty years ago. These have happened across a broad range of venues.
some are glamorous
- Wanderlust Festival
- Yoga Journal LIVE! Conferences
- The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
- The Pentagon
- Yoga Tree in San Francisco
- Yoga Works in New York and Boston
others are less so (though no less meaningful)
- The community rooms at REI and MEC stores across the United States and Canada
- The sales floor at Fleet Feet Sports
- YMCAs
- Church basements
- Office conference rooms
- Elementary school classrooms
Regardless of the venue, I’ve uniformly found teaching workshops to be an exciting and fulfilling direction to take my yoga teaching. In a workshop, you can directly help your students solve problems using yoga. And you have the time and space to go deep.
workshops allow for creativity and vision
Think of a workshop like a feature film. In ninety minutes, two hours, or three hours, you can create a fully-fleshed-out world, with a hero (your students!) journeying through a narrative arc to arrive at a satisfying conclusion. This experience is deeply rewarding both for you as the director and for your students as the viewers.
Contrast this with what happens in a regular class by thinking of a typical 60- or 75-minute class as a single episode of a sitcom: there isn’t enough time to build a world with deep character development. Sure, there will be some jokes and some resolution. It’s satisfying, even comforting, to watch a single episode of your favorite sitcom! But it’s not as deep as immersing yourself in an auteur’s vision.
who this email course is for
people interested in online yoga teaching
If you are interested in teaching yoga online, developing and delivering a video (or even audio) yoga workshop is a perfect starting point. Not only can you solve one specific problem for your students, you won’t have to commit to a standing schedule of weekly video production—and the attendant tech commitments and potential problems.
You can deliver your program as a live online workshop in real time, or record it to offer as an on-demand yoga workshop.
Better yet, do both: start by teaching your workshop live online, to validate your workshop idea and to get instant questions and feedback from your students. This helps you iterate and refine your yoga workshop to make it really great. Then once you are clear on the value of your offering, you can record it to offer on demand.
Leading online yoga workshops is a great way to add a scalable offering that can earn you money even while you are doing other things. Yes, I’m talking about the passive income unicorn! By focusing on developing and delivering online yoga workshops, rather than on the grind of regular classes, you can establish yourself as an expert more quickly. And you’ll be offering a clear solution to your students who are searching for ways to alleviate the exact problem they are suffering. An online yoga workshop can help them right away, in their moment of greatest need.
people with unique yoga class ideas
Do you have a unique idea for a yoga class? Does it seem a little out there, too wacky for a regular class on a studio or gym schedule?
Make it a workshop! These fun and different yoga class plans often work best as a workshop—you have more time to explore your concept. And you can call in your perfect students. These students will love your wild idea about yoga plus [whatever]!
people who design fun yoga class sequences
Are you a specialist in handstanding and other arm balances?
Or are you a giant fan of partner yoga?
Each of these is a perfect topic for a workshop. You can market the workshop with a clear title and description that draws in the students who love these topics—which are not always welcome in a regular class context, but which have tons of value to add to students’ yoga experience.
people who love themed yoga classes
Maybe you think it’s too much work to design elaborate themes for your regular yoga classes. (To which I’d say, check out Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses! It is here to get you comfortable delivering yoga philosophy in digestible ways in class.)
A workshop is perfect! Not only is it easier planning to work on one theme for one workshop, you also will have the time and space to really explore the theme. And holidays, global events, and other time-sensitive themes work really well in a workshop context.
where should I send the first lesson?
workshops you could teach
Not sure you have any ideas for yoga workshops in you? You could start with any of these! These are ways to bring yoga into the community, especially to underserved populations.
- Yoga for Gardeners at the local garden center or community garden
- Yoga to Salute the Sun in a local park for the summer solstice
- Yoga for Cooks and Hosts on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving
- Yoga for Caregivers at a local hospice center
- Yoga for Marathon Recovery at a local running store
- Yoga for End-of-Grade Test Season at local schools (this works for both the students and the staff!)
- Yoga for First Responders at your local EMS/fire station
Some of these would be wonderful seva, or volunteer opportunities. Offering workshops to the community as a free service is a fantastic way not only to give back, but also to hone your skill and confidence in leading paid workshops for a healthy fee later.
Or collaborate with a local studio to host offerings that complement their existing studio base. Here are some yoga workshop ideas from my studio. We have offered:
- Yoga for Grief
- Yoga vs. Osteoporosis
- Yoga for Pelvic Floor Health
- Yoga vs. Low Back Pain
- Restorative Yoga for Caregivers
- Open Your Heart: A Valentine’s Day Partner Yoga Workshop
- Spring Equinox Balancing Workshop
- Yoga Mala: 108 Sun Salutations
- Winter Solstice Workshop
- Sound Baths and Gong Baths
- Yoga Summer Camp for Grownups: An In-Studio Retreat
- Yin Yoga and Aromatherapy
- Roll and Release: Self-Massage and Yoga
- Yoga for the Infertility Journey
- Bandhas Pure and Simple
- Inversions from the Ground Up
- Postnatal Reset
- Tap into Your Glutes: Yoga for Your Booty
- Self-Care as a Radical Act
Join this free email course and you’ll surprise yourself at the ideas you have. You’re the best teacher to the person you once were. That is, you’ll be best equipped to guide people who struggle with things you’ve already learned to overcome. Don’t let your own growth go to waste: share the lessons you have fought for!