In this article, I’ll share my process for preparing to teach a yoga class. These three steps have proven effective for me and may be helpful to other yoga teachers.

How I Prepare For Teaching A Yoga Class: 7-Minute Video

3 Steps I Take When Preparing For Teaching A Yoga Class

Below I share my process for preparing to teach a yoga class. These three steps have proven effective for me and may be helpful to other yoga teachers.

Step 1: Create A Yoga Lesson Plan

I create a yoga lesson plan using the online Yoga Genie Lesson Planner. One of the biggest advantages of using the lesson planner is that it helps you stay organized. With everything in one place, you’ll no longer have to worry about losing track of your lesson plans or student progress.

With the online Yoga Genie Lesson Planner, customization is the name of the game. You can tailor each lesson to your student’s individual needs and preferences, giving them a truly personalized experience.

For example, if you have a student who is struggling with a certain exercise, you can easily adjust the lesson plan to focus on that area of weakness. The online Yoga Genie Lesson Planner has 3000+ Yoga poses that you can choose from.

The Yoga Genie Lesson Planner has 83 ways to search for the perfect pose…

You can search exercises by type: Arm Balance, Back Bend, Balance, Chest Opener, Forward Bend, Hip Opener, Inversion, Prone, Restorative, Seated, Seated & Floor, Side Bend, Standing, Strengthen, Stretch, Supine and Twist.

You can search exercises by anatomy: Arms & Shoulders, Biceps & Triceps, Core, Hamstrings, Hips, Knees, Lower Back, Middle Back, Neck, Psoas, Wrists & Arms, and Upper Back.

You can search exercises by therapy: Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma, Back Pain, Bronchitis, Cancer, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Confidence Building, Constipation, Depression, Diabetes, Elderly People, Enlarged Prostate, Eye fatigue, Fatigue, Fever, High Blood Pressure, HIV positive, Headaches, Herniated Spinal Disc, Hypertension, Immune Support, Indigestion, Insomnia, Jet Lag, Leg Congestion, Menopause, Menstrual Disorders, Neck Pain, Obesity, Osteoporosis, Poor Posture, Prostate Disorders, Sexual Debility, Sinusitis, Stress, and Varicose Veins.

You can search exercises by chakra: Base, Sacral Centre, Solar Plexus Centre, Heart Centre, Throat Centre, Third Eye, and Crown Centre.

Not bad, heh.

Not only does customization make your lessons more effective, but it also keeps your students engaged and motivated. When they feel like their needs are being met and their preferences are being taken into account, they’re more likely to keep coming to your Yoga classes for the long haul.

Customization also lets you stay on top of your student’s progress in real-time. As you make adjustments to their lessons, you can see how they’re responding and adjust accordingly.

Download 27 free yoga lesson plans created using the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner.

Step 2: Print The Yoga Lesson Plan

I print out the long version of the plan, fold the pages and put them in my back pocket, then several times on the day before my class, I whip out the lesson plan, close my eyes and imagine myself teaching the class.

If I get stuck, I’d take a peek at the lesson plan. This works great for me because I have a terrible memory.

For example, if I forget the Sanskrit for the pose or one of the modifications, I take a peek at the plan.

When you create a yoga lesson plan with the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner it will automatically create a “long version” of the plan that includes the following pre-filled information: teaching steps, benefits, precautions, and modifications. That’s a huge time-saver. All you need to do is drag and drop poses into your plan. Easy peasy!

Step 3: Stream The Yoga Lesson Plan

I also take the class as a “streamed class” the day before I teach the class. When I create a yoga lesson plan using the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner it automatically creates a stream of the class for me, without me having to do anything.

Physically practising the poses within the yoga lesson plan is obviously a great way to prepare for teaching those poses when I rock up to class.

It helps me get into the shoes of my students, and sometimes I realise that a pose should be deleted or changed or moved somewhere else in the plan.

George’s Conclusion

These three steps – creating a yoga lesson plan, printing the plan, and streaming the class – have helped me prepare for teaching a yoga class. And using the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner has made this process even easier and more effective. By staying organized, tracking progress, customizing lessons, and streamlining workflows, this tool can revolutionize your classes and take your teaching to new heights.

There are many ways to prepare for teaching a yoga class. Throughout your entire yoga teaching career, you’ll probably be testing and tweaking new ways to prepare and that’s a good thing.

There is no end to the craft of planning a yoga class!  There is an infinite variety of yoga lesson plans to create, thousands of yoga poses, endless yoga anatomy to learn, and don’t forget all the Sanskrit that needs learning.

And if you love teaching yoga, you’ll love picking up as many yoga lesson planning tips as you can.

If you have any other questions about teaching a yoga class, please email me. I reply to all emails within 24 hours and will answer any questions you have.