Tools for Teachers

Here's what to do when flying frisbees, crying babies, or barking dogs disrupt your class.

And how to fix them.

Looking to help yourself (or your students) slow down and shift perspective? Try this comprehensive list of ways to say rest, melt, observe, allow, surrender... you get the idea.

Some teachers are naturally eloquent; others have to cultivate their voice with practice—and these tips.

These tips and tricks will make your resume stand out. Plus, a sample template you can use to get started.

Retreats build your business and give you the potential to examine your inner truths, while spending quality time with kindred spirits. What are you waiting for?

Marketing yourself can feel downright unyogic, but it is possible to do it authentically—starting with your website.

There's no magic formula, but these tips and strategies will help you identify a price that you are comfortable charging.

You just finished your YTT. Here's how to stand out from the crowd to build—and keep—a strong student following.

Avoid these commonly used (and misused) phrases—and replace them with these better ones.

After you've made sure your student wants to be touched, follow these hands-on assist upgrades.

Demonstrate the meaning of balance by unpacking three key concepts with your students.

Yes, your home practice is for you, but it can also improve your teaching. Here's how.

Each posture in this mini-sequence targets a specific action while building toward the main pose, Virbhadrasana III.

Use scribing to enhance your teaching for yourself and your students.

So you've completed your yoga teacher training—now what?

Teacher and author Barrie Risman shares why this is the time to reflect on how the yoga community will rise from the ashes, both individually and collectively.

Keep calm, troubleshoot tech, and teach on: Here's what yoga teachers are leaning on for their classes, trainings, online courses, and community conversations, so you can build something that lasts beyond the pandemic.

Here, we offer a catalyst for reflection in the form of verse from Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska.

Eight tips that’ll help you knock it out of the park when it comes to Instagram, Facebook, and more.

The best part? All of these tactics can help you breathe new life into everything you do, and help you connect more deeply with everyone in your world.

We examined the science behind five high-tech meditation aids to find out if they're worth the hype.

Celebrating five years of service, the nonprofit Exhale to Inhale brings free, trauma-informed yoga classes to rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters in New York and California.

Looking to brush up on your leadership skils in a fabulous locale? These yoga leadership retreats will having you kicking ass—at the office, at home, and wherever you roam.

Yoga Journal set out to talk to some of today’s preeminent voices in Western yoga about leadership in yoga—what it looks like, how it has evolved (or devolved), and what the yoga community needs right now.

David Lipsius, the former president and CEO of Yoga Alliance, shares his thoughts on what it takes to be a leader in the yoga community.

Want to really evolve your practice, whether you're a student or a teacher? Here's the secret, says Elena Brower and Amy Ippoliti.

Ever wish you could just drop everything and teach yoga in some of the most spectacular cities around the world? Here’s how one teacher made that dream a reality.

This master teacher and founder of YogaWorks has seen a real evolution in the art of teaching over the years. Read on for her thoughts on the art of leadership.

What does a professional yoga teacher do after he permanently loses his voice? Yoga, of course.

Plus, why it’s more important than ever to feel like you’ve been supported, inspired, and safe when you leave yoga class.

One yoga teacher weighs in on why you should bring up the challenges we’re all facing out in the world—think wildfires, news of sexual misconduct, political unrest, the list goes on—in your yoga classes.

Top teachers share the yoga and meditation books that impacted them the most.

Rosie Acosta, host of the popular yoga podcast Radically Loved, shares her top 5 tips for launching a yoga podcast—and taking your audience from nobody to new heights.

What they don’t tell you in yoga teacher training: When you start teaching as a 19-year-old, you’re almost sure to get raised eyebrows from your students. Here’s what one young yoga instructor learned about how to get taken seriously.

What if you could take a yoga class in the comfort of your home or office with a LIVE teacher, who sees you in real time the same way you see them? This is totally possible now with two-way live streaming yoga classes.

While physical adjustments are a very direct way to correct your students’ alignment, a number of teachers are taking a hands-off approach to adjustments in asana classes. Here, top yoga teachers share their go-to noncontact strategies.

What you can do as a teacher to create a safe and open space for all of your students.

Yogic degree programs are popping up at universities across the country. Here are four to try.

We asked 6 of the most social media-savvy yogis about how they brush off haters, cope, and keep on posting.

Strengthen your legs and core and improve circulation with these prep poses for Ubhaya Padangusthasana

Modify Paschimottanasana as necessary to find safe alignment in your body.

Planning a retreat is a big undertaking—and this is especially true if your destination is abroad. These expert tips will help you avoid every common snafu.

Understanding how you move your body using the three anatomical planes can help you get stronger, prevent injuries, and feel more balanced and grounded.

If you’ve ever finished a vinyasa class feeling on edge, depleted, and ungrounded, it may have had to do with the way that class was sequenced.

Did you finish yoga teacher training with more questions than you started with? That’s why we’ve recruited seasoned teacher trainer Gina Caputo to speak frankly to some of the most common post-TT questions submitted by YOU. In each of the four posts in this series, she’ll address a new subject and offer both insight and practical tips on how to work skillfully with the challenges you face as a yoga teacher.

Shiva Rea, this month’s featured teacher in Yoga Journal’s new online Master Class series, calls herself a movement alchemist. Here, she shares her love of Sun Salutations. Read on for her inspiring story and an exclusive practice.

We asked him to share his views on the evolution of yoga, and why, as the once-master of contorted asana, he now places so much emphasis on yoga nidra.

D.C.-area yogis, head to the Smithsonian Institution this month for an educational weekend exploring yoga's holistic healing power.

Leading a yoga retreat can be a deeply rewarding experience. Organizing a yoga retreat, however, can be an overwhelming endeavor. Here, veteran retreat leader Chrissy Carter lays out 6 steps to nail it.

In part four of our series on teaching trauma-sensitive yoga, teacher Daniel Sernicola shares five practices to help your students get grounded and cultivate mindfulness.

In part three of our series on teaching trauma-sensitive yoga, teacher Daniel Sernicola offers tips for being more considerate with your language and tone in every yoga class.

This post-election period offers yoga teachers a unique opportunity to find their authentic teaching voice. Yoga teacher Desi Bartlett offers some tips to guide you.

As part of our series of posts on teaching trauma-sensitive yoga, teacher Daniel Sernicola offers tips for establishing trust and a sense of safety in your yoga classes to help trauma survivors feel welcome.

Cut out any awkward conversations and place a card on the edge of your mat so your yoga teachers knows if it's okay to give you hands-on adjustments.

In honor of Veterans Day, we’re introducing a series of posts with yoga teacher Daniel Sernicola educating yoga teachers on the importance of taking a more trauma-sensitive approach to every class. Start using these 4 strategies today.

In part 1 of our series on teaching trauma-sensitive yoga, teacher Daniel Sernicola offers tips for setting up a safe space for practice.

Finding the right yoga teacher mentor can be challenging. Here, Alexandria Crow shares her thoughts on how to tell if you’ve found a good match.

Do you pop up into Handstand when everyone else is in Warrior II? Sneak glances at your cell phone during Chaturanga Dandasana? Sounds like your yoga etiquette may be out of alignment. Here are 5 rules of decorum to follow, and why.

Making ends meet while building a following as a yoga teacher can be draining. Take heart and start employing these simple self-preservation strategies.

We asked 19 senior teachers to share with you the kind of advice that can move you closer to their caliber of talent. You're welcome.

Your next creative idea may come from where you least expect it. Here, Mary Beth shares some of her favorite ways to get inspired.

We follow various rules of vinyasa for a reason—but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be broken every once in a while. Steal LA-based yoga teacher Mary Beth LaRue's secrets to inspired sequencing.

As yoga teachers, even the best of us fall into creative ruts—sequences begin to feel stale and unexciting, and home practices become rote and repetitive. Steal Mary Beth LaRue's secrets.

Mary Beth LaRue, who will lead YJ's upcoming Yoga for Creativity course, is here to help you breathe inspiration and bliss into your daily practice and your teaching.

Senior AcroYoga teacher Deven Sisler and yoga teacher Britta Rael demonstrate 5 ways that hands-on assists can enhance the Savasana experience.

Since filtering what we share on social media has become the norm, Bad Yogi Erin Motz offered to take us behind the scenes of her Instagram account. Steal her best tips for getting real.

Common yoga cues intended to protect the knee during practice focus on the quadriceps, but Ray Long, MD, says they’re missing some other key muscles.

When it comes to yoga and meditation in the West, Hindu mythology can often be polarizing among practitioners. But it doesn't have to be.

Art of Teaching Yoga mentor Giselle Mari explains why networking is so important for yoga teachers.

Got a big yoga audition coming up? Here are 6 tips for conquering nerves and landing the job from our Art of Teaching Yoga lead teachers.

When you approach money with the same consciousness you bring to your yoga practice, your financial life can offer profound personal insight and wisdom.

We asked Alexandria Crow, who will lead our Art of Teaching Yoga workshop, for 3 ways she stays true to her "sans fluff" teaching style.

Eddie Modestini, a longtime student of K. Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar, breaks down the three essential segments every vinyasa practice should have.

We asked seasoned yoga teachers Coral Brown and Giselle Mari how they weave yogic principles into asana classes without alienating or confusing their students.

We asked teacher-trainers Alexandria Crow and Coral Brown how they "self-assess" themselves as yoga teachers and how you can do this, too. Here, their 5 tips.

Need yoga lesson planning inspiration? Use these tips to stay inspired when creating new sequences for your yoga classes, so you and your students will never get bored.

Teaching yoga can be draining. Here, six successful instructors share their personal wellness tips, tricks, and routines for maintaining energy.