In the old times, those who wanted to study yoga had to seek out a teacher and beg them for yoga knowledge. Any potential serious student of yoga had to live near the teacher for a while and would receive assignments from the teacher. Only after you’ve proven that you have fully integrated the previous lesson could you ask for more. The teacher would then decide if you were ready for the next step.
Nowadays, the roles are reversed. In most cases, it is the teachers of yoga who have to find their own students and explain the value of yoga practices to the general population. That can be a challenge because most yoga teachers and yoga therapists are not fond of marketing themselves. They believe that their work should speak for itself and rely on word of mouth to spread the word about their services. Word of mouth does work over time, but only when your students, friends, and family who spread that word understand what it is that you do and how it is different from others. People have all sorts of interesting perceptions about what yoga is and isn’t and even less understanding of what yoga therapy is and isn’t. It is up to us to educate them.
To be able to communicate our message of yoga effectively and authentically, we need to be clear for ourselves who we are as teachers, what is our unique approach to yoga, and what we are ultimately working toward.
What’s your vision of success in the yoga field? Is it teaching large gatherings at yoga festivals? Having a small practice of regular students? Working at a healthcare facility? Going fully digital?
What kind of students do you want to work with? Do you want to teach classes, workshops, private sessions, retreats, or something else?
How can you reach your potential students? What kind of messages do they respond to? How can you help them understand your approach to yoga?
And ultimately, what is fair to you? What would be a fair financial compensation for the effort, money, time, and energy you put into your yoga education, practice, and teaching? How do you figure that out?
These are the questions that any yoga teacher or yoga therapist needs to have clarity on, yet oftentimes, you simply do not have enough time or bandwidth to sit down and chart your yoga course.
Marita Greenidge, the marketing & communications manager at the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), is here to help. She will guide you in figuring out your true passion and how to go about sharing that passion with people who need your services the most in a sustainable way.
This series will cover the following topics:
– Understanding who you are—what is your purpose, your core values, and your aspirations for the future?
– Uncovering what makes you stand out—what unique gifts are you ready to share?
– Determining your ideal students—who do your gifts help the most?
– Looking at sustainability—are there enough ideal students to build a successful career?
Best of all, Marita will take you on a journey of building a strategic marketing plan so that marketing your services stops being complicated and time-consuming and becomes realistic, approachable, and sustainable.
This course includes short video presentations by Marita Greenidge and pdf handouts with reflection prompts that will help you apply those lessons in your own life.
LET’S GET STARTED!
