All learned over five years of beautiful/bitter experience!
* It doesn’t matter if you don’t bend. Very often unbendy teachers can be less intimidating to unbendy students.
* Practice the sequences you teach before you teach them. Trust me on this one! There is no worse feeling than realising in front of a room full of yoga students that something that worked in your head doesn’t work in real life.
* Unless you are beyond lucky, a Lotto winner or already famous you will probably need a day job as well. Teach yoga for love not money and all will come.
* It doesn’t matter if you muddle your lefts and rights, we all do and nobody cares.
* Pedicures are a business expense.
* It’s OK to be nervous before each class. The best and the greatest get stage fright. Dave Grohl is infamous for it. 
* Teach your yoga, not somebody else’s.
* Give yourself plenty of time. Don’t turn up to class with seconds to spare. You should, if you can, have twenty minutes beforehand on your own to regroup and breathe. Having said that I once got on the wrong train and had to go to Basingstoke and back to get to class. I arrived 5 minutes late. It was one of the best classes I ever taught. But do what I say, not what I do! ;)
* Smile and get your students smiling too.
* Your heart and your students are better teachers than any guru can ever be. Listen to them.
And finally….
* Praise your students, make them feel beautiful. We are not here to judge or shame, merely to enable.
Thanks for sharing, I will probably read that a lot when I start teaching (and make some research on business expenses
)
Thanks for these wonderful and encouraging tips!! I’m going to print them out and stick them to the front of my yoga class attendance book
I always feel nervous before teaching..But I always feel happy afterwards – which is the reason I havent given up – if I am making a difference to even one person’s day/week/life I am doing what I set out to do!
x
thanks for sharing your hard-earned wisdom with us! i especially like the own about pedicures being a business expense! so true.
Lovely
are pedicures REALLY a business expense?!
Callah – it depends on how creative your accountant is!
I love thinking about pedicures as a business expense! Great tips, Rachel! Especially the smiling one. Oh, and the make them feel beautiful. That one is important!
Love this – especially the fear part. Makes me feel better to know that. I used to get so scared every single day before class started (my high school classes, I mean, since I’m a teacher teacher not a yoga teacher, lol). I thought that was abnormal, so it’s good to know I’m not the only one!
GREAT tips! I’m licensed but haven’t taught yet and plan to this fall – these tips help me realize I need to stop taking myself so seriously, relax, breathe through it and actually start using this gift!
I’m going to make sure I keep all my pedicure receipts now! Thanks for that tip! But what do you mean about your heart and students being a better teacher than a Guru? I think you mean follow your gut and watch your students — but before I teach my class I always give it up to my Guru to really teach it. There are times I’m exhausted and don’t want to teach and when I consciously do that, I get so much energy from the class that I’m invigorated after.
Thanks a lot Rachel!
You have written something that I realy needed to read and let sink into my heart.
I will start teaching on friday. The biggest issue is that I teach in english for japanese yoginis.
Keep up the good spirit on your fabulous blog!
i need to remember about teaching *my* yoga. because i don’t have a day job, and i know how lucky i am, i will often take teaching gigs that ask for a specific style. i’ve interpreted to mean that i might not be teaching in a style i myself practice (or even enjoy) that i speak the truth and practice safety as i teach. however— i never enjoy those classes as much as when i can teach in the style i am most comfortable.
so beautifully said! i would love to take one of your yoga classes… one day.
seriously, pedis are a business expense? and what category do you actually put that in on your taxes? inquiring yoga teacher minds need to know.
hugs!!
I’ve already been discovering some of these things for myself.
I very much like the “Praise your students” suggestion. Of course we should!
Yay! Beautiful lessons from a beautiful teacher.
I always hope that my clean toes will make up for my dirty mat. 
This is a lovely post! I would definitely come to your classes if I lived in cambridge
Thank you for the tips. I definitely looks forward to using them when I start teaching. As a student, I appreciate teachers who are prepared, but who admit when they can’t do something or use someone else in class to demonstrate. Humble teachers definitely make the students feel more at ease.
Great great great!! I’m linking to your article from my site. The tips I keep in mind each day are:
1) Be authentic.
2) Teach the people in front of you.
Love love love this & intend to link to it. My two abiding tips for teaching are
1) Be authentic.
2) Teach the people in front of you
[...] http://www.suburbanyogini.com/2010/08/17/suburban-yoginis-tips-on-being-a-yoga-teacher/ [...]
“Make them feel beautiful.” I agree, this is so important. I’m always telling my students to feel how beautiful they are… especially when they’re in the midst of a challenging posture. Because they ARE beautiful!