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Over the past several days, I’ve been reviewing the contents of each chapter of my book on yoga teaching called, “Stretched: Build Your Yoga Business, Grow Your Teaching Techniques.” We’re up to Chapter 5 (if you missed any of the previous chapters, just check back on the prior blog posts) called “Resume Creation and Marketing Your Classes.” This chapter has to do with the presentation of your work experience, both in a resume and on the studio websites where you teach. It also gives you tips on how to market your classes and workshops.

While you might not think you need an actual resume for your work as a yoga teacher, it’s not a bad idea to have one. It will allow you to present a cohesive outline of your experience to a prospective employer. Even if you don’t have one to give to a studio owner, it’s a great way for you to keep track of what you’re doing, how you’re investing in the learning and training involved in teaching and what you’re creating as a teacher in terms of classes and workshops.

Also, from a broader perspective, this chapter starts to get you thinking about what makes you unique. Let’s face it: there are a LOT of teachers out there! If someone asks you what makes your classes unique, what would you say? Do you have an authentic,truthful way to describe your teaching style? These are the kinds of things that we discuss in this chapter as a way to get you thinking about marketing yourself. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, remember, if it’s authentic and truthful to you, it should feel natural. If you’re saying something (or writing it in your resume or online as a class description) and it feels awkward, you’ve probably picked a description that is an attempt at grabbing the reader’s (or listener’s) attention. It should feel natural and like YOU.

The appendix of the book gives you a sample resume you can use as a template to complete. This should give you a head start on creating your own.

Marketing yourself as a yoga teacher is more education than sales. It’s not about “convincing” anyone. As teachers, we don’t want to “push” yoga on anyone. It’s more about coming up with quick statements you can make when you run into someone in the coffee shop and they ask you about your class, or a short way to describe your classes on studio websites or better yet, an easy to read description of your workshop, not something that’s 3 paragraphs long with lots of terms that many people won’t understand.

Next Up: Chapter 6, Identifying and Evaluating Yoga Teaching Opportunities.Â