10 Tips for Yoga Teachers to Inspire Student Home Yoga Practice

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10 Practical Tips for Yoga Teachers to Encourage Students to Build a Consistent Home Yoga Practice

In this post, you’ll discover 10 practical tips to encourage your students to build a consistent home yoga practice.

My name is George Watts.

I’m a BWY yoga teacher and have taught 800+ classes in the last 15 years.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the hundreds of free yoga class planning tips, ready-to-use yoga class plans, and yoga class handouts on my site. They are resources that I’ve personally used for my own yoga classes.

Here is the first tip to encourage your students to practice yoga at home…

Tip 1: Ten Second Yoga

I tell my students to only practice 10 seconds of yoga daily.

I call it 10 Second Yoga.

The reason I choose the 10 second formula was that anyone can do yoga for ten seconds.

It takes the pressure off the student. Discipline takes nurturing. There are very few students who can go immediately into a 30 or 60 minute daily practice. The 10 second formula gently eases them into a daily practice.

The hardest part in life is showing up.

That includes anything in life, including showing up on a yoga mat.

Tip 2: Give Class Handouts

I’m big on creating yoga class handouts for my students, which really helps them with their home yoga practice.

I ask them to place the handouts at the front of their mats when in class and follow along with me, that way, their handout becomes useful assets for their home practice.

Most students don’t practice at home because they can’t remember what they did in class…well, with a handout they know exactly what to do. I love handouts so much that I’ve created hundreds of them. I know, I know…I really should get a life.

You can access 250+ editable yoga class handouts that I’ve created for my yoga classes as a bonus within the Online Yoga Lesson Planner.

Tip 3: Ask Your Students

This may sound obvious, but I learned this from a speech that a big wig politician gave.

She always said this to the audience at the end of her speech, “Please vote for me.”

She explained to the audience that she used to never ask, “Please vote for me”, because she thought it was obvious. However, as soon as she started stating the obvious, she got lots more votes.

So, learn from that big wig politician and…

Ask your students to practice yoga at home.

Ask your students to use their yoga class handouts at home.

You might think it’s obvious, but many of your students wouldn’t have even thought about doing a home practice until you brought the subject up.

You can access 250+ editable yoga class handouts that I’ve created for my yoga classes as a bonus within the Online Yoga Lesson Planner.

Tip 4: Keep Asking

At the end of every class, remind your students to practice their yoga daily at home…even if it’s only 10 seconds.

Tip 5: Create A Yoga Bolster

During a class, show your students how to create a yoga bolster.

The 3 Simple Steps To Create A Bolster:

Get a piece of material with colours you like
Get a bath-sized towel and spread it over the top of the material
Begin at one end and roll it all the way up

Voila! Your student now has their very own colourful bolster!

That’s a big deal, because if the student puts the energy into creating their very own yoga bolster, there’s a higher chance they’ll actually use it for their home yoga practice.

If you can provide the material and towels (e.g. get them cheap from charity shops), it’s a gift you can give your students. They still need to create it, by following along with your demo.

This gift has the added bonus of making your students aware of you’re fabulousness. And guess what that means. Well, it means they’ll keep coming to your class for longer. And that means you don’t need to do as much yoga class marketing to get new students.

Yep, I know.

Pure…sublime…genius.

Tip 6: Practice “Your” Yoga Every Day

This may seem blindingly obvious, but you’d be amazed how many teachers don’t do a daily practice. If you don’t do a daily practice, most of your students won’t either.

Tip 7: Convert Spare Room Into A Home Yoga Practice Zone

Ask your students if they have a “spare room” to consider turning into their yoga room. If the student has their own yoga room at home, there’s a much higher chance they’ll practice yoga on a daily basis.

Here are the seven steps you can give your students.

How To Create A Home Yoga Practice Zone:

Decide to convert a spare room into a home yoga practice zone
Paint it white with a light peach or pink (calming colours)
Put some incense and candles in the room
Get some nice lighting
If using your office, use computer to listen to meditation music
Get the Yoga Planner and follow along with streamed yoga.
Put a homemade sign on the door with: “Yoga session in practice.”

Tip 8: What Do I Need From My Practice Today Mantra

The great thing about yoga is that it helps attune our awareness.

Here’s a question to get your students to repeat as a mantra when stepping on their mat…

“What do I need from my practice today?”

Give your students a couple of examples…

If you’re tired after a long day at work, you could choose to do some bolster yoga (restorative yoga).

If you’re brimming with energy in the morning, you could choose to do a vinyasa such as Sun Salutations.

The point to make to your students is that there isn’t one best type of yoga. Ask them to trust their instinct and feel into what they need in the moment.

Also, ask them to practice yoga everywhere (tip 9)…

Tip 9: Practice Yoga Everywhere

The biggest misconception for new yoga students, and many experienced yoga students, is that yoga should only be practiced on a sticky colourful mat.

Explain to your students that yoga is a 24 hours a day thing.

You can practice yoga everywhere!

The beauty of yoga is that it has no constraints. It’s there for you everywhere you go.

4 Examples Of When To Practice Yoga

When travelling to work in your car, practice yogic breathing.
When walking in the park, practice one pointedness by observing a flower as if for the first time.
When cut off by a reckless driver, send them love (instead of hate).
When standing in a queue, be aware of your posture (e.g. practice mountain pose).

Those are just four examples.

There are an infinite number of ways to practice yoga throughout the day, and one of them includes getting really moody, which you’ll discover in tip number ten.

Tip 10: Get Really Moody

Music without lyrics is ideal for getting really moody (creating a calm, yogic mood).

So, ask your students to “get really moody” by spending a few days choosing 10 calming lyric-less music tracks to use during their asana and meditation practices.

They can create a playlist on their phones, or go old-school like me and purchase CDs in charity shops.

When students get more experienced, they may opt for no music.

Phew!

That was an epic post.

It’s time for my conclusion.

George’s Conclusion: Using Yoga Card Decks As Fun, Easy-to-Use Teaching Aids

I hope these then practical tips will encourage your students to build a consistent home yoga practice.

If you’re a fellow yoga teacher, I’ve got a hunch you’re gonna love my Online Yoga Lesson Planner.

As a Yoga teacher, I’m always looking for fun, easy-to-use teaching aids to make your classes engaging, informative, and effective. That’s why I create yoga card decks. Each deck has been painstakingly crafted to serve as a quick-reference guide, teaching aid, or lesson-planning tool, designed with Yoga teachers, and serious students, in mind.

Chakra Chair Yoga Card Deck: 52 Cards For Mind-Body Unity

The Chakra Chair Yoga Card Deck is a transformative tool designed for yogis of all levels, especially those seeking a gentle, accessible practice. This beautifully illustrated 52-card deck combines the wisdom of the chakra system with the ease of chair yoga, offering a unique way to balance your energy centres while staying grounded and supported.

Chakra Chair Yoga Expansion Card Deck: 52 More Cards For Mind-Body Unity

The Chakra Chair Yoga Card Deck was so popular that I created the Chakra Chair Yoga Expansion Deck with another 52 chair yoga exercises.

Blissful Breathing Card Deck: Your Guide To Mastering Pranayama

The Blissful Breathing Card Deck is your go-to resource for mastering the art of pranayama (yogic breathing). With 41 beautifully designed cards, this Blissful Breathing Card Deck guides you through a wide variety of breathing techniques to enhance relaxation, focus, and vitality.

Face Yoga Card Deck: 50 Cards For Youthful Radiance

The Face Yoga Card Deck is a fun and effective way to tone, relax, and rejuvenate your facial muscles. This 50-card deck features simple, step-by-step exercises designed to improve circulation, boost skin elasticity, and promote a radiant, youthful glow.

101 Mini Yoga Cards: With 101 Asana Sanskrit Pronunciations

The 101 Mini Yoga Cards are a compact and versatile resource for yoga teachers and practitioners alike. Each card features an illustrated yoga pose, its English and Sanskrit names, and how to pronounce the Sanskrit name. This makes it easy to plan classes, create sequences, or inspire personal practice while deepening your connection to yoga’s roots.

Zen Of Blissful Boredom Card Deck: 52 Ways To Cultivate Calm

The Zen Of Blissful Boredom Card Deck offers a lighthearted yet profound approach to finding peace in the mundane. Featuring 52 cards filled with simple, humorous, and mindful activities, this deck encourages you to embrace boredom as a gateway to inner calm and creativity.

But don’t stop there. You’re on a roll. You’ll definitely want to look at my 10-step yoga sequencing formula. It’s got lots of infographics to make the learning visual and fun.

“Below are hundreds of yoga lesson planning tips on my blog…to help enlarge your yoga lesson planning brain.” – George Watts

Online Yoga Lesson Planner

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