Most people who Google “yoga teacher training” are looking for permission to follow a calling they already feel. Consider this your permission—and a reality check that might change why you pursue it.
The Short Answer: Yes, It’s Worth It—But Maybe Not for the Reasons You Think
If you’re considering yoga teacher training because you want to:
- Deepen your personal practice
- Understand why yoga works, not just how to do it
- Join a community of like-minded people in concerted study
- Explore your special interests within the yoga tradition
- Eventually share what you’ve learned with others. . . then yes. A thousand times yes. Teacher training is one of the most transformative experiences you can have as an adult learner.
But if you’re considering YTT primarily because you want to quit your day job, make yoga your full-time income, or achieve financial freedom through teaching . . . we need to talk about some math first.
The Financial Reality of Teaching Yoga
Let me be perfectly clear: Teaching yoga is not an ideal primary profession, despite what social media might imply.
The market is ever more saturated with teachers. Studios are paying less per hour than they did a decade ago. Venues for teaching workshops are on the decline. The big-name yoga festivals? They don’t pay much to presenters. And there are only so many hours in a week that you can physically be present to teach.
At Carolina Yoga Company, where I am director of yoga teacher trainings, we have a large teaching staff. Currently, not a one of those teachers earns their sole income from teaching yoga. Far more common is working a part-time or full-time job in another field, with yoga as a side hustle.
Our teachers work at IBM. They run accounting firms. They work for the federal government. They teach everything from preschool to college. And yes, we’ve had some who do teach yoga full-time—but they’re often cushioned by having a partner with a well-paying job. That’s certainly the case for me. I recognize this immense privilege, and I try to use it in service of helping others.
So here’s the truth: teaching yoga is the perfect side hustle. It’s a lovely second job. It’s fulfilling, it keeps you connected to practice, and it offers flexible hours. But for most people, it won’t replace a primary income.
The Math: What Does Yoga Teacher Training Actually Cost?
Before you enroll in any training, do this exercise. Get out a spreadsheet or a piece of paper.
First, list the costs:
- The price of the training you’re considering. If you’re looking at more than one, compare their rates.
- Any income you’ll lose from not being available to work your regular job during the training. If your training is on weekends for six months, factor in what you’d normally earn on those days.
- Travel costs, materials, books.
For a 200-hour training, you’re probably looking at somewhere between $2,000 and $5,000, depending on the program and your circumstances.
Now, let’s look at what you might earn.
Coming out of a 200-hour teacher training, you can expect to earn somewhere between $20 and $60 per teaching hour at the lower and upper ends of the spectrum. And that’s teaching hour—not including your travel time to and from the studio, not including the time you spend planning your class.
Let’s say you land a class that pays $35 per hour. You teach one class a week. That’s $140 a month, roughly $1,680 a year—before taxes.
If your training cost $3,500, it will take you about two years of teaching one class per week just to break even on the training itself. And that’s assuming you get a class right away, which isn’t guaranteed.
I’m not saying this to discourage you. I’m saying it so you go in with clear eyes.
The question isn’t just “Can I afford teacher training?” The question is: “Given this math, is YTT still worth it to me?”
For many people, the answer is absolutely yes—because the value isn’t primarily financial.
The True Value of Yoga Teacher Training
Teacher training gives you something that’s hard to put a price tag on: a chance to return to deep, concerted study alongside people who care about the same things you do.
Think about it. Our childhoods and young adulthoods were spent studying alongside classmates, growing together, having colleagues who share your passions. For most adults, that experience disappears after formal education ends.
Teacher training brings it back. You’ll form friendships with like-minded people. You’ll explore aspects of yoga you’d never encounter in a regular class. You’ll pursue your special interests with guidance and support.
When I entered my first yoga teacher training in 2003, I’d been out of the classroom for only a few years, but it was wonderful to get back into that mode of learning. That experience shaped everything I’ve done since.
Your Uniqueness Is Your Strength
Here’s something I’ve observed over two decades of training teachers: The things that make you different from the idealized yoga teacher in your mind’s eye are the very things that will make you unique and appealing to your students.
Our trainees at Carolina Yoga Company have included an ex-professional poker player, a professional salsa dancer, bartenders, grad students, home-schooled sixteen-year-olds, doctors, nurses, lawyers, schoolteachers, stay-at-home moms, and retirees.
Anyone can be a yoga teacher. There’s nothing that inherently disqualifies you from trying. Your life experiences will make you sympathetic to the students you can help best.
Don’t let body image stop you. You don’t have to be Instagram-fitfluencer thin and young. There’s no shortage of slim, white, economically privileged yoga teachers in the world—and if that’s you, you’re certainly welcome too. But what the world really needs is more authentically real people as teachers.
Service vs. Ego: The Key Question
All the good reasons someone might want to become a yoga teacher have service at their core.
The bad reasons have ego: wanting power over others, more rigid control over your own body, oryesoodles of money.
The yoga sutras tell us that attachment to ego, asmita, causes suffering. If your primary motivation is ego-driven, teacher training might actually increase your suffering rather than decrease it.
But if service is at the core of your calling—if you genuinely want to help others access what yoga has given you—then that’s a foundation you can build on.
And here’s something important: Service doesn’t mean you have to teach for free. In fact, the more you’re paid for your teaching, the more you’ll be able to give your teaching away to those who wouldn’t otherwise receive it. Financial sustainability and service aren’t opposites—they support each other.
But you need to be realistic about how you’ll achieve that sustainability. For most teachers, it means yoga is part of a larger financial picture, not the whole thing.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Enrolling
If you’re genuinely considering this path, here are some questions to sit with:
What led you to yoga in the first place? The answer often points toward the students you’re meant to serve.
What do you love about yoga? What does yoga have to teach you? And the flip side: What do you have to teach others about yoga?
What do you find confusing, or off-putting, or difficult about yoga? These aren’t disqualifications—they’re your curriculum. The struggles you’ve worked through will make you a more helpful teacher. You’ll have the experience, the language, and the skills to help others who arrive on their mats looking for guidance, just as you once did.
What comes easily to you in your practice? Here’s an insight that might surprise you: The things that come easiest to you will actually be your biggest blind spots as a teacher. The struggle you’ve gone through to master whatever is most difficult for you will better equip you to teach.
And finally: Given the math we discussed earlier, is this still worth it to you?
If the answer is yes—even knowing that teaching might be a side gig rather than a primary income, even knowing it will take time to earn back your investment—then you’re ready.
Ready to Explore Your Teaching Voice?
If you’re in this exploratory phase, wondering whether teaching is really for you, I’ve created a free mini-course called “Find Your Teaching Voice.” It’ll help you get clarity on your unique strengths as a potential teacher and whether this path aligns with where you want to go.
You can access it for free inside The Zone, my community for yoga teachers at every stage.
