The Art and Business of Teaching Yoga: The Yoga Professional's Guide to a Fulfilling Career

by Amy Ippoliti, Taro Smith

Overview

Thousands of yoga lovers take teacher training courses each year, hoping to share what they learn with others. Many want to make yoga teaching their full-time career, but most training programs fall short in covering business acumen, and they may not equip graduates with the entrepreneurial skills and savvy they need to make a go of it. This indispensable and inspiring book guides both new and established professionals toward maximizing their impact as teachers and achieving their career goals. You’ll learn to:

• build a loyal student base
• plan dynamic classes
• optimize your own practice
• become more financially stable
• maintain a marketing plan
• use social media effectively
• create a unique brand identity
• inspire even more students to embrace yoga

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608682270
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Amy Ippoliti is a pioneer of advanced yoga education who has written for many publications. She teaches online at YogaGlo.com and at venues including Kripalu, Yoga Journal LIVE! events, and Wanderlust festivals. Taro Smith, PhD, is a movement specialist, yoga teacher, and wellness entrepreneur who helps teachers as well as small and large organizations enhance their business strategies. Amy and Taro cofounded 90 Monkeys, an online school that has enhanced the skills of yoga professionals in 65 countries. They live in Boulder, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Part I Becoming a Yoga Teacher

Chapter 1 Teaching Today 3

Chapter 2 Presenting Yourself as a Teacher 17

Part II Getting Down to Business

Chapter 3 Yoga Business Basics 43

Chapter 4 Building Your Business 65

Chapter 5 Marketing Your Business 81

Chapter 6 Social Media 95

Chapter 7 Forming Good Professional Relationships 115

Chapter 8 Managing Your Business Finances 121

Part III Teaching Well

Chapter 9 Class Planning and Preparation 129

Chapter 10 Teaching a Class 153

Chapter 11 Self-Care 167

Conclusion: Light Up the World 177

Acknowledgments 179

Index 181

About the Authors 189

Editorial Reviews

05/02/2016
Yoga teachers Ippoliti and Smith, founders of the online training course “90 Minutes to Change the World,” have partnered for this sensible, nuts-and-bolts career guide. Noting that yoga in the U.S. continues to grow and flourish (up from 20.4 million American practitioners in 2012 to 36.7 million in 2016), the authors observe that along with greater demand for qualified teachers comes the reality that it’s harder to “stand out.” The book aims to help instructors not only to hone their teaching but also to learn how to market and promote themselves, all while respecting the balance between yoga as an ancient and venerable practice and yoga as a plausible way to make a decent living. Ippoliti and Smith present their text in three parts: “Becoming a Teacher,” “Getting Down to Business” and “Teaching Well.” The dense, rich center section covers such topics as social media, managing finances, building a student base, forming strong relationships with students and other teachers, and starting and maintaining a successful studio. Yoga teachers will find plenty of creative and practical ideas for building a viable and rewarding (though rarely lucrative) career that may offer such unusual perks as inner peace and self-awareness. (June)

Publishers Weekly

“The comprehensive, nuts-and-bolts guide for a sustainable, successful, and fulfilling yoga teaching career.”
— Rod Stryker, author of The Four Desires

“Amy Ippoliti and Taro Smith are the ultimate power duo when it comes to combining the worlds of yoga, teaching, and business.”
— Kathryn Budig, author of The Women’s Health Big Book of Yoga

“This book will now be required reading for all my teacher training programs!”
— Jason Crandell, Yoga Journal contributing editor

“This much-needed resource lays out the fundamentals of teaching yoga in a real and approachable way.... I thought I would never be interested in a ‘business’ book, but I picked up this book and couldn’t put it down. It is a great read from start to finish.”
— Colleen Saidman Yee, author of Yoga for Life

“Yoga teachers will find plenty of creative and practical ideas for building a viable and rewarding (though rarely lucrative) career that may offer such unusual perks as inner peace and self-awareness.”
— Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher