Your Past is Your Superpower

Your Past Career is Your Yoga Teaching Superpower: Advice for New Instructors

Someone recently asked me for advice for new yoga teachers. My first thought was, "But I am a new yoga teacher!" And it’s true. I only started teaching in July of last year.

My second thought was to take stock. In just one year—all while running my own business—I’ve somehow lined up private clients, gigs teaching poolside yoga at multiple country clubs, Chair Yoga at a Senior Center, and I'm about to start at a local wellness center.

How?

I can tell you the answer isn’t found in any yoga training manual. The most valuable wisdom I've found so far comes from my 26-year career as a nonprofit fundraiser. It might sound completely unrelated, but for any new teacher wrestling with that voice that says, "Am I ready? Am I good enough?"—this might be exactly what you need to hear.

Advice #1: Focus on Connection, Not Perfection.

In fundraising, you learn very quickly that your job isn't to "ask for money." Your job is to connect someone with a mission they believe in. You build a relationship based on shared values. It’s not a transaction; it's a genuine connection.

I see teaching yoga in the exact same way.

Your students are not there to see a flawless performance. They are not there to judge if your sequence was the most creative one they’ve ever seen. They are there to connect with themselves, and your primary job is to create and hold a safe space for that to happen.

When you shift your focus from "Am I cueing this perfectly?" to "Am I creating a welcoming space for these humans?", everything changes. The pressure just melts away.

Advice #2: Be Unapologetically Yourself.

For years, I had to be authentic about the mission I was representing. Donors can spot insincerity a mile away. It is exactly the same on the mat. Your students can feel it if you’re just reciting a script or trying to be a teacher you’re not.

You don't have to be a Sanskrit scholar or an anatomy genius on day one. (Side note: I absolutely LOVE Sanskrit, but I’m still a student of it!) You just have to be you.

Teach what you love about the practice. Share from your own experience. Your authentic passion is your greatest teaching tool. My professional background isn't in kinesiology; it's in building community and holding space for a mission. So, that's the heart of what I bring to my teaching.

Your Past is Your Superpower

So, for any new teacher out there, my advice is this: lean into whatever you were before you became a yoga teacher.

Whether you were an accountant, an artist, a parent, or a fundraiser, that experience is not separate from your teaching. It is your unique superpower. It’s what gives you a perspective that no one else has. It’s what will make your teaching real and relatable, and that is what your students will keep coming back for.