If you’re a brand new yoga teacher or looking to establish a new yoga class the easiest way to do this is with a Beginners Yoga Course. Teaching a Beginners Yoga Course can be incredibly rewarding for you as the Yoga Teacher and the participants. But how do you design a Beginners Yoga Course?
Related: If you are a brand new yoga teacher, check out training on 10 Essential Tips for Brand New Yoga Teachers
Check out this 40min FREE video training on How to Design a Beginners Yoga Course
This video training goes covers very different content to the written words below, but I wanted you to get all the info! So read and watch for the best experience!
Key Questions to Start With before designing Your Beginners Yoga Course
- Who your students are?
- What is their motivation for taking the course?
- How should taking your course affect your student’s ongoing day-to-day life?
- What are the student’s expectations of this course? And you?
- What level of fitness, age, and physical limitations might your students have?
- What is the end goal for the course/learning outcomes?
- What are your business goals, what happens with the students on completion of the course?
- Determine how you and your students will assess their learning/progress – can they do 3 Sun Salutations unguided?
- Plan asana, meditation, pranayama selection, progressive learning, recapping weekly lesson themes, assignments and materials that support further learning outside of class.
Beginners Yoga Course Practicalities
- How many weeks will the course run?
- Venue / Time / Day are these suitable for your student base and learning objectives?
- Course Price – is the affordable to your market, and profitable?
- How will you market the course you the chosen student base?
- What are your min / max numbers for the course?
- What props do you or your students need?
- Will you have an assistant?
Beginners Yoga Course Content
- What is the basic course content; does this cover the main categories of asanas? Does it cover pranayama & meditation?
- Forward Bends, Back Bends, Balances, Twists, Standing Poses, Inversions, Sun Salutations, Seated, Supine, Restorative
- What are the learning objectives for each week and how will you spread the categories out during the course?
- What further reading/recourses will you provide to support weekly learning objectives?
- What teaching styles will you use, demoing, verbal cues, partner work, group work, hands-on?
- Do the teaching styles match your student’s varied learning styles? Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic
- How will you add extra value? Homework, pre / post-reading? Thank you gifts? Welcome Gifts?
Top Tips for Your Beginners Yoga Course
- Don’t make the first session too easy, too subtle or too spiritual, start from a very physical felt body experience and refine to more subtle over time.
- Introduce Yogic Breathing, week 1 but then don’t over emphasise breath with movement until a later week
- Teach the individual components of the Sun Salutations before teaching the sun salutations! You can spend nearly a whole session teaching the Sun Salutations – I add this in week 3.
- Don’t give too many options, and modifications at the beginning, teach students to personalise postures once they have a rough understanding.
- Recap key postures then add on
- Visual aids, chalk, masking tape, partner work
- Teach how it should feel rather than look
Example Weekly Plan for a Beginners Yoga Course
Week 1 – Full Yogic breath supine, simple seated poses, kneeling poses such as cat / cow and thread the needle, downdog, cobra, warrior 2, tree, pigeon
Week 2 – Repeat the key poses from week 1, introduce breath with movement in cat / cow, warm up. Repeat Warrior 1 and add side angle or Trikonasana, repeat tree and add eagle.
Week 3 – Sun Salutations
Week 4 – Repeat poses and Sun Salutation. They add in twisting poses and a little core like boat pose
Week 5 – Stick with the poses from the previous weeks but empower students to start exploring options, and personalising the poses.
Week 6 – Mix it up for the last session, consider fun variations of the sun salutes, maybe play with crow or do a little partner work. Or my favourite finish with a restorative yoga class and chocolate meditation!