Despite the convenience of Internet and all its free resources, everyone is busier than before. In fact, the average work day has increased by 49 minutes over the last decade or so. This has caused a lot of people to consider looking for some freelance stuff while they are working full time. Freelance jobs are great, but what if you can make money by doing something you like? Even better! That’s where teaching online yoga classes.
Have you ever wondered what equipment teachers of online yoga should use? Chances are, you have. And that’s where we come in. Here at Yoga Safe Certified, we deal with things like that all the time because our goal is to make sure everyone knows that yoga practice doesn’t need to be confined to a studio or even a school, but can take place anywhere at any time. No matter if it is training students to learn how to teach teaching online yoga classes or improving their own personal practice, there are some very specific requirements that need taking into consideration. For instance, you might want your own mats and props.
What is yoga?
Let us quickly introduce Yoga before we move on to the more important parts.
Yoga is a series of fitness activities that originated in ancient India. It gained widespread popularity in western countries through various preachers who propagated our ancient philosophy.
While many people correlate yoga with the usual physical fitness at the gym, it is a practice that connects the body and the mind through body postures, controlled breathing, and meditation.
How to teach yoga online?
With the multitude of health benefits, people started setting up yoga studios for promoting its benefits and for the welfare of the people. With the COVID pandemic and the world under lockdown, all the studios were shut down. As a result, the yoga tutors took to the online media to continue their yoga classes.
If you are a yoga tutor, you can also set up a great studio at your home and take classes for people from the comfort of your homes. Here are the important steps to help you start your own online yoga studio –
Make sure your technology works
Before you go live for real, do some dry runs with your friends to make sure they can see and hear you through your chosen platform. Go through the steps several times and even make yourself a detailed checklist so that your mind is free and relaxed. Each and every time you upgrade your software or hardware, repeat the testing process. A simple update anywhere in your broadcasting setup can change everything.
Help your students know how their technology works
If you are lucky enough to be teaching more intimate classes, identify students who might be new to the method through which you are sharing and reach out directly. Working 1:1 in this way will help you know how to write out login and access instructions more clearly and concisely for a wider audience.
Invest in a strong internet connection
You can bolster your internet connection through your provider and with boosters. You might be teaching from home for a while, so make the investment. It’s unlikely that you are going to become an expert in video compression and upload speeds, so choose the best plan you can afford with a minimum upload speed of 3Mbps, but note that 13Mbps is recommended for higher quality video. And when you are teaching live, do your best to ensure none of your other housemates are using the internet at the same time.
Invest in quality audio equipment
Yes, the quality of your camera matters. The quality of your sound matters so much more. Airpods are a pretty great solution, but have mixed reliability and fall out easily. We suggest a simple low cost mic pack with headset that you can hook up to your laptop or phone.
Create a virtual workshop using online studio software
Begin by designing a signature workshop that reflects what you do best. Hone in on those valuable ideas that offer something new, not the same old, 30-day cleanse again. Workshop ideas that offer a take-away such as reverse yoga for jetlag, are more likely to appeal. To record your workshop, set up a camcorder in your studio and offer a special price to students attending. Make-sure they sign a release and then record away. Don’t worry about any disruptions or background noise, you can always edit and lay a soundtrack later.
Produce a signature online class series
Fixed price, class series based around a theme such as 30-day beginner yoga or intermediate kick your asana boot camp have proven popularity with clients. These classes offer a start-to-end date, with payment and curriculum agreed in advance. This is also good for you, as you can create monthly subscription schedules to stabilise your income. If you are planning to broadcast on your own website or youtube, ten minutes is the optimum length. For longer, 20-40 minute classes, it is best to post on a software company with a platform that specialises in yoga.
Connect with who shows up
Even though you are staring at the camera of your laptop, tablet, or phone, your yoga friends are with you, co-creating the moment. The harmonic is less tangible, you will not hear them laugh or groan at your jokes, nor will you be able to see if someone is struggling. Calling out to your virtual community by name (or location if safer) will help you tune into and respond to guidance of the group who has gathered to practice together.
Connect with the camera
It can seem weird at first, but making eye contact with the camera will help your at home audience feel attended to. Your class is looking at you from the point of the view of the camera, so turn, twist, and adjust so that your students behind the camera lens can see what you are doing. For example, if you are doing something tricky with your hands behind your back – like bind, wrap, or press – turn so we can see what you are doing!
Evaluate a pricing model
The most important thing comes at this stage – pricing. Any course needs to have a fee structure or in business terms, a pricing model. You need to evaluate and fix a price for your classes based on your time spent, investments made, and other factors.
It is common practice for yoga studios to have a package rather than an individual pricing scheme. People can choose the package they want and can start the classes. It is important to note that, while creating a package the items offered in each package should be unique and the pricing should be nominal.
These are 4 steps by which you can set up your online studio. Follow these steps and you will find yourself teaching yoga to a large community of people within a short time.
Prepare like you used to
Whatever you used to do before teaching at your local studio or gym, do those same things. Shower, choose your yoga costume, practice beforehand, and make a plan. Promote the class, ask your friends to come, ask for internal guidance, and make yourself available to the teachings.
Diffuse the pressure
Every yoga teacher knows that mild grumpy pants attitude before teaching a class. It’s a feeling of being squeezed into the moment and a strange lack of availability for anything else. But instead of showing up to class where physical touch helps diffuse our self centered performance anxiety and open to the moment, there is a strange vata-disorienting void. A few audible long sighs with an open mouth can help you ground and open up to the excitement and mystery of the situation.
Tips to conduct effective yoga classes
After setting up your online yoga studio, you can follow the below tips for a good teaching/learning experience.
- Background – have a background that is plain and elegant so that your viewers feel good. A shabby background affects the learner’s interests and might prevent him/her to be engaged with your classes.
- Lighting – a good yoga studio needs to have proper lighting so that the learners can see clearly and learn from you.
- Audio-video – the AV part is a priority requirement for any online yoga studio. The postures you explain and the way you perform needs to be clearly seen and heard by your audience. It is preferable to use a Bluetooth headset for clear audio and uninterrupted connectivity for continuous video streaming.
- Camera position – the final factor is positioning the camera. The camera angle should be properly set so that the learner can see fully the yoga poses and repeat them.
These are some mandatory requirements that need to be satisfied to get a good review for your studio.
Promote the benefits of yoga on your website
Yoga has numerous benefits that can help to improve the lifestyle of a person and make him live a longer life. Point the below benefits in your website to improve the number of customers to your classes.
- Stress Buster – Yoga is mainly known for its ability to reduce stress and promote peace of mind. Scientific studies have proved that yoga can decrease the secretion of cortisol, the primary stress hormone.
- Anxiety Reliever – Anxiety is one of the major causes of miseries impacting a person’s life to a great extent. Yoga is the medicine to eliminate anxiety and lead a happy life.
- Improved heart rate – A vast majority of people over the age of 40 are victims of a variety of heart diseases. Falling prey to such diseases can be avoided at an early stage through yoga. It improves the heart and makes the pumping of pure blood at a faster rate.
- Helps to fight depression – One of the common trauma that many people in modern times fall prey to is depression. Yoga therapy helps people to overcome their depressed state of mind and lead a fresh life ahead and achieve success in every stage of life.
- Increases sleep timings – A preventive step to ailments such as high blood pressure, obesity, depression, etc. is a good night of sound sleep. A half-an-hour yoga session every morning helps to focus on your work and also helps you to get a sound sleep.
- A barrier to respiratory disorders – Pranayama or yogic breathing is a cure for respiratory disorders such as asthma, flu, and others. It is a practice that focuses on controlled breathing by holding the breath at regular intervals.
Conclusion:
Starting an online yoga business seems like a pretty sweet gig. You don’t need to spend all day dealing with cranky customers who are only coming into your store because they have to. You don’t have to work regular hours and can even set your own prices. However, it does take some work getting a business of this type off the ground and making sure that every class provided is high quality. Getting started with or even just thinking about teaching yoga classes on the internet can be a little daunting , especially if you have no experience with computers or technology in general.