Last weekend I met Biggy, who owns a small Yoga studio in Sydney. He started his Yoga business in 2018 from a rental yoga studio apartment and takes both morning and evening yoga classes. In 2019 his number of students has increased by two folds and now he wishes to take more yoga classes and for that, he is looking for the best yoga teachers.

Biggy is a young man of 28 and well versed in many types of Yoga but even at this young age he knows that a good yoga instructor can boost his business. Biggy is now one of our KRIYA Booking System clients and students book their classes on a timetable online.

But how to find the best yoga teacher for your yoga studio is the intriguing question that Biggy and most of the yoga studio owners ask. Here is what we at KRIYA researched and found out.

Yoga Teachers in Australia

Looking at the number of yoga teachers available in Australia in a survey of 2006 in Australia there were about 4000 yoga teachers. The survey also reports that Yoga teachers and their students were recruited through Yoga Studios, teacher associations, the media and word of mouth. Before that, in a report of 2001 from Priyatna Saraswati in Australia there are approximately 2,000 Yoga teachers in a population of 20 million.

If each teacher has an average of 20 students, which is conservative, there could be 40,000 regular students. There would be at least double that number of practitioners. These figures are growing steadily.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics indicated that in 2003 over 300,000 people participated in Yoga over the preceding 12-month period. This represented 2.5% of the population between the ages of 20 and 70.

In another survey, it was found that the quantity of newly registered instructors jumped 18% from 2008 to 2014. With so many teachers available, you might think it’s easier than ever to find a yoga teacher, but the reality is a little more complex. The Yoga Teachers Association of Australia estimates that there are about 5000 active yoga teachers In Australia.

1. Find Yoga Teachers through Professional Associations

The yoga teaching profession is self governed by number of teacher associations. You can get to find best Yoga teacher from various such bodies in Australia.

i – Yoga Teachers Association of Australia : Has over 1000 teachers and is the largest teacher association in Australia accepting members from any tradition or style of Yoga, subject to meeting minimum training and experience requirements.

ii – International Yoga Teachers Association: This is the oldest teacher association in Australia formed in 1967 and has a membership of around 600 teachers who have completed their teacher training courses in Australia and overseas.

iii – Satyananda Yoga Teachers Association: It  has about 300 teachers well trained in the Satyananada tradition.

iv – BKS Iyengar Yoga Association of Australia: Has approximately 500 yoga teachers out of which 200 are certified Iyengar yoga teachers in Australia.

v – Yoga Alliance: Yoga Alliance is US US-based organization and has 110 yoga teachers on their website. You just look under find a teacher search for Australia and get to know the local teachers.

vi – Kundalini Yoga Australia: Kundalini came to Western World with Yogi Bhajan from India and is ideal for those looking for a spiritual boost. They have lots of yoga teachers who teach yoga meditation and kirtan with the balance of Chakras.

Other best yoga teacher associations and groups include:

• Gita International Yoga Teachers Guild
• Australian Association of Yoga in Daily Life
• Shanti Yoga teachers association
• Dru Yoga Teachers Association
• Australian Yoga teachers Network
• Yoga teachers institute of South Australia
• Friends in Yoga West Australia
• Australian Fellowship of Yoga teachers
• Krishnamacharaya Healing Yoga Foundation

No one organization that can tell you a certain teacher is better than another, because each person’s values of what it means to be good or qualified can be radically different.

2. Finding Best Yoga Teachers through Various Local Yoga Schools

Many local yoga schools or big yoga studios in Australia teach yoga and you can pick up from their list of recent yoga pass-outs. Here are a few of the well-known Yoga schools where you can rely to find the best yoga teachers.

i – Yoga Synergy: Founded by  Simon Borg Olivier & Bianca Machliss in 1984, Yoga Synergy is one of Sydney’s largest and most respected yoga schools located in Bondi Junction and Newtown in Sydney, Australia.

ii – Woke Yoga: Woke Yoga is a boutique studio on Sydney’s North Shore owned by Lyndsey Benn, Em Cruickshank and Cora Geroux and their teachers come from a variety of backgrounds and lineages.

iii – Arian Levaneal: Arian holds over 1,000 hours of accredited Yoga teacher training in various styles. He merges the traditional with a knowledge of gymnastics, martial arts and aerial acrobatics. So you can find local yoga teachers or recent pass-outs from Arian for your studio if you cater to both Pilates and Yoga.

Always look into certified teaching schools, with multiple locations, or Integral, which often train and retain their teachers in a certain style, giving you consistency. Also, many yoga teachers love to be your cover teacher at the studio so you can try those teachers as well. These teachers work as trainees at Yoga associations or Yoga schools and to get more teaching experience offer their services as cover teachers even at low rates.

3. Find best Yoga Teachers according to your Yoga Studio Needs

Each Yoga Studio has its demands and needs and not all types of teachers can fit into your studio. Though there are some universal standards of teachers, you’ll come across the best yoga teachers with widely varying experience levels from many different schools of thought. So find those teachers that fit in your yoga styles and teaching approaches. You could just try classes and see what you find from them.

You can easily differentiate from their various Yoga styles and backgrounds. This is more important because most of the western yoga studios are more physical. Most practices fall under the umbrella of Hatha yoga, guided by the Eight Limbs of Yoga, as explained in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Practices range from moral and personal observances to meditation. To ignore those lesser-exposed sides of yoga is to reduce yoga to a mere workout.

Krishnamacharya is credited with bringing Hatha yoga to the West through his students: B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Indra Devi, and TKV Desikachar, who created their styles to carry on his teachings and eventually influence the types of classes you might experience at a studio today.

Here are few of the most popular types of yoga styles that can then  help you differentiate the type of yoga teacher you are looking for:

• For only physical poses and mental practices of mind body and soul Ashtanga yoga teachers are required. Here the teacher teaches Yoga at certain levels before moving further in her/his yoga lessons.
• For fitness focused yoga studio with set of poses and breathing practices Vinyasa yoga teacher is considered the best.
• For detail, precision, and alignment in poses and breath work, often incorporating props to support students in the “correct” form and making it accessible and accommodating for injuries, the best yoga teacher would be Iyengar teacher.
• For students of  26 hatha poses and two breathing exercises done two times in a row for 90 minutes in a room heated above 100 degrees Fahrenheit the best teacher is Bikram Yoga teacher.
• For only spiritual practices like meditation of mind body and soul as well as balancing the body Chakras you need a Kundalini teacher.

Note before you hire certain styles of teachers always see that they are experienced and learned ones carrying a proper certification to teach yoga.

4. Find A Teacher who is Compassionate and Knows Different Teaching Practices and Styles

Who wants to learn Yoga from a rude and selfish teacher? Yoga teachers should have love and compassion towards students. Should be soft in words and should help you focus on yoga poses, guide you to the breathing technique, and should provide you with both practical and theoretical knowledge without any complications.

The teacher should understand the student’s needs and diversify the yoga styles for their benefit.

When your yoga studio has more students demanding different yoga practices, you will start to diversify and have different teachers. Whereas you first started by exploring styles and teachers, you might decide to be more serious about your studio and choose to continue your yoga practice diversely, incorporating several styles and teachers for a path that is uniquely yours. Multitasking and multi-style yoga teachers are much in demand these days.

5. Ask for Referrals from Online Forums, Facebook Groups or Word of Mouth

Many online forums on social media sites like Facebook often post the requirements for their studios and ask for referrals. You can easily join these yoga groups or forums and ask for local yoga teachers. Many yoga studios and instructors are in these forums which might help you with referrals and finding the best yoga teachers.

Finding yoga teachers from word of mouth is another great option. You can get opinions from yogi friends who know you; they’ve likely tried many teachers and can offer advice for you, specifically.

How much do yoga teachers make?

Use the hashtag #yogajobs

With your posts you can attach relevant hashtags like #yogajobs #fitnessopportunites #covermyclass ‪#‎retreatjobs‬.

6. Advertise for a Yoga Teacher

Many yoga studio owners advertise their requirements or vacancies for yoga teachers in various local newspapers and online sites. Not only Yoga studios, but Yoga teachers also place their availability through advertisement. Here are a few examples of online sites where you can find local yoga teachers. Jora Australia; Australia recruit; Gumtree Australia; Yoga trade and many others.

CoverMe Employment Solutions

CoverMe website and Facebook groups are good local way of finding the right candidate. A combination of website plus Facebook group posting. Facebook CoverMe groups are every Australian city.

All types of yoga teachers are available through advertisement. As a new yoga studio owner, you should look for Basics, Level 1, or Beginner classes taught by teachers who have experience and/or training working with students to focus on key, foundation components for safety, and longevity in the practice. Though the advertisement might cost you a few bucks in the long run you will come across the right yoga teacher for your studio.

Points to remember before you hire a Yoga Teacher

• Always check for Yoga teacher certifications.
• At a minimum, Yoga teacher should have a basic understanding of how to guide a class.
• Take trial Yoga classes from these teachers and see how they teach, and how they response with students.
• Also take students feedback about teachers from time to time to know whether they are comfortable or not.
• When you hire a teacher make him/her adapt to the environment. Always ask his/her needs at the class to improve the set up and learning process.
• Contact people who practice yoga through Yoga studios or group of yoga teachers that could create a source of yoga recruitment.

There is always something to learn with each experience. One teacher might not be a fit for you, but that doesn’t always mean that teacher is “bad.” The best is to always stay positive and keep exploring to find the right person. Remember that a good teacher can make all the difference in your yoga journey as well as in your business.