Practice All Avenues of Virtual Yoga

Within the virtual yoga world, there are various types of communities and practitioners. Consider these various platforms with what you are teaching and who you are teaching for.

First, you can offer a Livestream class where you can teach a class online in real-time. This can be done through Instagram, Facebook, Zoom, and more. In a way, this can create a bigger sense of community as students are all taking your class at the same time. You can also add a link to your Venmo or any cash related app account so students can donate to you or a great organization of your choosing. 

You can also create on-demand classes. With this avenue, you can take a recording of a class and offer it to students for the purchase of say $5 (or any amount you feel is best). Students can then have the flexibility to watch it in their own time. 

If you would prefer to keep your classes free, you can decide on a different platform of your choosing, like YouTube. This allows students to watch you for free and gain interest in what you do. It also gives you the opportunity to dive further into the analytics of your content and the demographics of your community so that you can best connect to them.

Consistency is Key!

If you want to shine as an online yoga teacher, you need to be consistent. 

If you want to be a great online yoga teacher, you have to commit to a set schedule. Start small. This is worth repeating. Start Small. Avoid taking too big of a bite in how much you teach per week. Too much too soon can be exhausting. Break down what you want to teach and offer in your classes for that week. So if you teach three classes a week, maybe you can offer power vinyasa once a week, yoga sculpt once a week, and restorative yoga once a week. 

Another important key of consistency is to check in on your students, especially if you are teaching an on-demand class where students are watching your classes on their own time. Since you can’t see how they are doing, it’s important to find ways to connect with them. Online teaching can be really difficult because you can’t feel the vibes of your students when they are having a good time in class. Usually, in-person studio classes you can feel the energy of your student rise. One of the biggest obstacles online is the lack of immediate feedback from your students. This can take a big toll on how you show up to your online classes. It goes without saying, you have to make sure you are showing up consistently. And think about how you show up.

Show up with a smile, know where the camera is, and more specifically, know where the center of the camera (this is huge). Believe it or not, you can actually make virtual eye contact with somebody by knowing exactly where the pinpoint middle of the camera is! And if you are teaching a Livestream class, consider the opportunity to ask students to give you a thumbs up or a smile in the Livestream to stay connected. 

Keep it Short & Sweet

Your classes should be short and sweet. 

There are popular classes on online platforms that range anywhere from 20, 30, and 45 minutes. The classes that are 60 minutes or more should be a special one-off workshop style class. Offer the short classes more consistently. Make sure you have the best set up including really good lighting and always troubleshoot your audio and visual. You can test your equipment and set up on your friends and family to make sure it’s ready.