5 Resons to Become a Yoga Teacher

Becoming a yoga teacher was not part of my conscious plan. At least not at the very beginning.

In contrast to that I am currently building a yoga studio. I have been walking on the yoga path for quite some time now and I have the feeling that it will probably last till my last breath. I’ve never imagined I’d one day have my own yoga business and my main goal in my work life would be to make it sustainable so I can do it until I die.

How and why it all happened?

What are the reasons (or at least 5 of the many) that made me decide to become a yoga teacher and not anything else?

Read on and I’ll tell you how I arrived to who and where I am.

I am one of the Millenials, or Generation X, or however they name it. Although I received quite a traditional upbringing and education, because of the openness to the world through the internet I really am belonging to the group of people who struggled deciding what to do in their life, which way to go, what career to chose. The options were endless and I truly believed that my potential was limitless, which just added to the confusion.

The search began and I started experimenting with things. I went through years and years of hospitality, travelling and teaching in Asia and getting a Bachelor’s degree in Acting and Stage Combat in the UK. At that point I imagined I would one day be an actress and act in movies. So I thought, but I struggled more with embodying that thought. I felt the excitement, I felt how cool it would be to be on screen. However apart from having fun doing all these things (most the time), I never truly felt the connection to myself while doing them.

For me that was the key that opened the door to the world of yoga. The opportunity to connect to my heart. To my breath. To my deeper self. To other people. To life.

As opposed to many people I didn’t chose a yoga teacher training with the intention of actually finishing it and becoming a teacher. But soon I noticed I was in the best place possible in that course and I am eternally grateful for my teacher for giving my the opportunity to join his training in exchange of social media marketing that I did for his studio. And here comes the first reason why I recommend you join a teacher training even if you are unsure to become a yoga teacher afterwards or not.

“For me that was the key that opened the door to the world of yoga. The opportunity to connect to my heart. To my breath. To my deeper self. To other people. To life.”

1. It helps you deepen your personal practice

I didn’t have to accept my teacher’s offer to add me to his program as part of our trade, but I have been practicing yoga for around 5 years by then and I knew that I wanted to peak beyond the asanas. My 200 hour yoga teacher training allowed me to do exactly that. You might be with it like me. You feel that yoga is not just a movement style or just the asanas. You experience a shift in you after each practice, let it be physical practice, breath work or meditation practice. You know that there is science and spirituality behind it, but what it is and how it works exactly is still cloudy.

My training showed me the world of yoga in an open and structured way that allowed me to gradually deepen my understanding of yoga.

It was practical and at the same time philosophical and spiritual. I became more aware of the purpose of my practice and finally I could set the right intentions for my practice. It truly helped me deepen my connection to the practice.

I also really loved the community aspect of it and that we can openly discuss our experiences without feeling that one is right or one is wrong. First time in my life I experienced that there is no such thing as wrong or right and I became more free in my practice and the understanding of yoga (and life). This is why I recommend joining a teacher training course. It truly is not about the paper. (Nobody ever asked me for my certificates by the way.)

It is about the journey and the evolution during the course that first and foremost added value to my life and practice.

Non of the teacher trainings are about the paper, and you can gain the knowledge from merely studying the texts and going to workshops. However a teacher training course gives you structured content and a community where you can share and process your experiences.

2. If you love working with people this career is for you

This is quite a straightforward indicator. If you love working with people and bringing a positive impact into their life, to empower and inspire them, then yoga teaching is for you. I knew I loved teaching yoga, because I loved teaching in general. Since I was a kid I was teaching my friends. When I lived in Vietnam I had a friend who was eager to practice yoga with me. It was a way for us to connect over more simple asanas and just spend time together. It was always an uplifting experience, a friend thing.

I could already feel the teacher in me. It was not part of my plan and I was considering myself too shy for doing it for larger groups anyways, so it never occurred to me as an option.

This was the first time that the desire to do a yoga teacher training came to my mind. Just so at least I would feel more confident even when I was just guiding friends for free. But I thought I can’t afford it, so I quickly wiped it off the table. How life brought me the opportunity to do my first training is history. And this is when I say it wasn’t me who initiated this path, more like life brought it to me.

Yet deep down I had already made every single decision on the energetic level which it all came to manifestation later. Seemlessly, I felt it.

Now I cannot imagine my life not working with the amazing people that I work with. I cannot imagine my life without my community. All the people who have impacted my life either as my students or my mentors are making me who I am not just as a teacher, but as a person too.

3. Constant growth is embedded in the path

I knew I wanted to have a profession where I can spread my wings and fly without limitations.

There are certain careers where you are truly free to maximise your potential, and becoming a yoga teacher brought me on that path.

It’s not all candies and rainbows, which I had to learn on my own skin. But I knew that I cannot and won’t be the employee of anyone and put my wind into their sail (we have this saying in Hungary). I knew I wanted to do something with my life where I can grow my roots deeper, get to know myself and life more and more. I am and was always spiritual and wanted to learn more about the unknown, experience life not only through the materialistic world, and work with energy rather than objects.

When I practice or teach yoga I operate in the energy field. I visualise and feel a lot in my body. It is a different experience than thinking with our head, and in a world where we mostly do the that I know full well the work I bring to people is as transformative for them as it is for me.

As a yoga teacher I never stop evolving. There is always something to learn, there are always changes I need to adopt to and always a new depth to explore.

The growth is inevitable, this career requires you to step out of your comfort zone and grow up to challenges of many kinds. It’s diverse, it’s colourful, it’s full of depth and emotions. 

4. Keep the yoga magic flowing day in and day out

Practicing yoga or being a full time yoga teacher (or maybe even a business owner) is very different. As a practitioner I follow. As a teacher, I lead. None is better than the other, and we need both qualities in our life to create a beautiful dance. One day my yoga teacher said something, however, that sticked with me:

“I wanted to practice yoga more and the only way to do that was to make a living out of it. By teaching and by building a business on it.”

I totally feel the same. I am a nerd when it comes to yoga - and you could be too. I always desired to read more on it, contemplate and just be around the practice day in day out. I didn’t want to do a job for 8 hours a day and squeeze my practice before or after my shifts.

I wanted to create a life in which I am living in what I love doing.

You deepen your knowledge when you teach. You understand and also open up your experience to different perspectives. I wanted to be in the constant flow of yoga, become wiser and meet influential people and hopefully one day become one. For so long I didn’t know where the magic comes from when I practice yoga, but I knew that I want to walk in that bliss much more and also become a channel of that magic and make it available for other people.

5. Create value in life that serves humanity

This point also requires certain kind of people. Selfless, caring and genuine people. I wasn’t one of those, to be honest. Let me explain what I mean by saying this. To be selfless, you need to go beyond your ego. For that you also need to go beyond the pain your ego experiences as part of its job to protect you. To be caring of others, you have to learn to take care of yourself. Not just doing your laundry and boiling an egg, but to hold emotional spaces for healing, to nurture yourself, to give love to yourself. To be genuine and authentic, you need to get to know yourself. Your True Self. Not the conditionings you received but the soul that rests in the heart.

The process entails you tapping into the connection with your heart and allow it to be your compass in life. To detach from selfish desires and act out of pure love.

To be compassionate and elevate the collective. To add back selflessly.

Now was I able to do that at the very beginning? No. I was having these concepts that felt like they are in an alignment with me but I couldn’t embody them. Here I’m not saying that the only way to embody these virtues is to become a yoga teacher. Not at all. But for me it was the way and it can be for you too.

Yoga is what you want it to be. This might be an untouchable concept, but when using the pure heart as a compass you’ll just know what it has in storage for you.

As a yoga teacher I feel I have and am constantly creating value that adds to the world. This fulfilment in my heart helps me through all the challenges I am facing and hardships that cross my path. As I overcome them they become part of who I am as a teacher and the wisdom gets incorporated to my teachings, which then accelerates the growth of others. It is a symbiotic relationships, I give and receive, I learn and I teach. This is the greatest service we can give back to our community. Sharing our lessons and support each other in life.

So, how will you know you are meant to be a yoga teacher?

Your heart will tell you. That’s all you need to know.

Everything else on the external is just a problem to solve or an obstacle to move - or a mindset shift to initiate. For me it was something that unfolded wonderfully and no matter where I was in my life I somehow gravitated back to the path. I had ups and downs, moving countries, shutting down during COVID, not having a space to teach, and now manifesting a beautiful yoga studio in collaboration with other amazing yoga teachers. It is so versatile. Sometimes it was lonely and sometimes I felt super connected. Sometimes I had one student, sometimes I had twenty. Each experience is different and is a beautiful reflection of where I am currently in or out of alignment with myself.

Being a yoga teacher is not just about being a yoga teacher. It is also a way to self-actualise and expand your awareness, expand your energies and grow into the most wonderful self of yours.

I hope this article shed light on the undercurrent of being a yoga teacher and you came closer to sensing what the journey entails. If you did so and are looking to get your training done I welcome you to my 200 hour yoga teacher training program to learn all the foundations of teaching yoga while being part of the Karuna Community, deepening your own practice.

Check out the details of the teacher training course HERE and feel free to get in contact with me for more information. I invite you to this wonderful opportunity to train as a yoga teacher in Budapest in our amazing studio with our incredible community. 

I look forward to hearing from you.