Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher
Yoga Teacher Confidential is your backstage pass to the unspoken truths of being a yoga teacher. Sage Rountree, PhD, E-RYT500, dives into the real challenges and rewards of teaching yoga, offering expert advice and secrets to help you build confidence, connect with your students, and teach with authenticity. Sage draws on her two decades of experience teaching yoga, running a studio, and training teachers to share practical insights you can use right away. You'll also hear advice from her books, including Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, The Art of Yoga Sequencing, and The Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook. Whether you’re navigating imposter syndrome, mastering classroom presence, or refining your skills to teach specialized niches like athletes, this podcast empowers you to lead your classes with clarity, grace, and ease.
Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher
29. You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Effective: Building Confidence as a Yoga Teacher
When I first began teaching yoga, I didn’t feel confident—and honestly, I still have my days. In this episode of Yoga Teacher Confidential, I’m sharing how confidence is built, not born. You’ll hear the awkward story of my second-ever class (spoiler: it was spontaneous), how I reframed failure, and the exact practices I used to grow into a confident guide.
Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been teaching for years, these mindset shifts and tools will help you lead with clarity, presence, and compassion.
You’ll also learn:
- Why your confidence grows through repetition, not perfection
- How the 6-4-2 framework creates structure that supports your teaching
- Simple practices to stop over-explaining and start holding space
- The power of student agency and what it means to “get out of the way”
Confidence isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about showing up. Let’s do this together.
Want to become (almost) everyone's favorite yoga teacher? Get in the Zone at Comfort Zone Yoga, my virtual studio focused on teacher development. I have a ton of Sage advice in there for you—let's chat there!
For more insights, subscribe to Yoga Teacher Confidential, check out my YouTube channel, and follow me on socials:
And come explore my continuing education workshops and 300/500-hour teacher training programs. It's all at sagerountree.com.
Can I tell you something? When I first started teaching yoga, I wasn't as confident as I am now. In fact, I had plenty of moments where I questioned whether I belonged at the front of the room. To be perfectly honest, I still do. If you've ever felt that way, you are not alone. Confidence isn't something you have or don't have. It's something you build. You strengthen your confidence by getting the reps in. And today I want to share my journey of how I did just that so you can see what's possible for you too. I'm Sage Rountree and this is Yoga Teacher Confidential. My path to teaching yoga wasn't exactly straightforward. As you may know if you've listened to other episodes of this podcast, I actually hated my first yoga class. It was harder than I expected, full of manual corrections and confusing Sanskrit. By the end, I desperately had to pee, but I was afraid to leave the room during Shavasana because I didn't know the protocol. If my reaction had been merely neutral, you wouldn't be listening to this podcast right now. It was actually my intense negative reaction that made me curious enough to try again. And then it all clicked when I tried prenatal yoga during my first pregnancy, where I found that I was more open to the sense of connection and union that yoga offers. When I entered yoga teacher training in 2003, I'd been out of the classroom for just a few years, having spent my educational career learning how to teach English literature. But teaching movement while talking about it is very different from guiding composition classes or debating symbolism and poetry. It's next level stuff to both be moving, describing the movement and cueing your students into it. Often it felt like starting from square one, but I kept doing it. And some of that was saying yes to many teaching opportunities early on, like from the jump. My second- ever yoga class that I taught was rather unexpected. I went as a student to take a class with my regular teacher, Bryan, but he didn't show up. His car had broken down. When everyone started to leave disappointed, I raised my hand and I said, wait, I can teach the class. I had taught exactly one class the night before but I thrust myself into the role because I knew those students needed a guide. Was I qualified? Barely. I taught one yoga class before. Was I confident? Not at all. But I did it anyway. In those early days, I felt like I needed to prove myself by teaching the perfect sequence, by memorizing every cue, by never making a mistake. I thought my students were judging me when they had blank expressions on their faces. I took it personally when someone left class earlier, when students didn't come back. But over time, something started to shift. I realized that the more I made it about my students and the less I made it about me, the more relaxed and the more effective I became as a teacher. When I focused on serving them instead of impressing them, my confidence naturally grew. A key turning point came for me when I was teaching a football player, a big muscular defensive lineman. I approached to assist him in a reclining twist and he saw me coming, held up his finger to stop me, adjusted himself so that my assist wouldn't crush his privates, and then gave me a thumbs up. I realized in that moment that my students have their own wisdom about their bodies. They know way more than I ever could. They can and should make choices for themselves. I don't need to control everything. This is so freeing. Every teacher, no matter how experienced, starts from a place of uncertainty. Impostor syndrome is real. Our yoga teacher's trainees often ask me, When did you stop feeling like a fraud? And that question makes me smile because it presumes that I have ever stopped. Some days I still feel like I'm not experienced enough or perky enough or whatever enough to lead my students. And friends, I do it anyway. Confidence isn't about knowing everything. It's about trusting yourself enough to show up and keep learning. It's about recognizing that your students don't expect perfection from you. They just want a guide who cares about their experience. The things that helped me grow, like leaning into my strengths, refining my approach and embracing imperfection are the same things that can help you build confidence too. Remember that in your yoga class, you are not the hero. You are the guide. You're simply there to hold space for your students' heroic journeys. When you step out of the spotlight and put your students at the center, so much pressure lifts off your shoulders. Here are some practical lessons I've learned for building confidence as a yoga teacher. First, reframe your doubts. Instead of thinking, I don't know enough, shift to, I'm always learning. The moment when you recognize how much you don't know is actually the beginning of wisdom. Embrace being a perpetual student. I'm always learning. Second, start before you feel ready. Teaching is what makes you a better teacher. You can't become confident by just thinking about teaching or planning the perfect class. You have to actually do it and then do it again and again and again. I like to tell our newer teachers, fake it till you make it. With time, you will feel more authoritative. But recognize that some days you won't. And on those days show up anyway. If I taught only when I was in the perfect mood to teach, I would not be teaching at all. Third, lean into structure tools like the six, four, two sequencing help you walk into class with a plan. So you feel prepared even on tough days. Having a consistent structure to your classes gives both you and your students a sense of stability. Fourth, simplify your teaching. Repeat your lesson plans with only minor variations week to week. You'll see octopus. You'll save hours in planning and prep time and do less in class too. You don't need to fill every moment with your voice. Don't try to prove your worth by constantly talking. Instead, issue a clear direction, then be quiet and let your students enjoy their practice. Fifth, remember that confidence comes with repetition. The more you teach, the more you realize you can handle whatever happens in class. Someone leaves early, you'll be fine. You forget what comes next in your sequence, you'll figure it out. A student asks a question you don't know the answer to, you can say, I don't know, but I'll find out. It's just yoga. And finally, center your students' agency. When you trust your students to make their own choices, you remove a huge burden from yourself. You don't have to be the expert on their bodies. You are just there to offer options and let them decide what works best for them. I'd like to offer an affirmation to help you remember this. I don't have to be perfect to be effective. I don't have to be perfect to be effective. If you are working on building confidence in your teaching, I would love to help. I have whole books, courses, and CEU trainings dedicated to making you a better guide for your students. Come join us in Comfort Zone Yoga, my virtual studio for yoga teachers. There you will find mentorship, resources, and a community of fellow teachers who are on the same journey. Remember, confidence isn't a destination. It's a journey of continual growth and learning, and it's a journey worth taking. I'm Sage Rountree, and this is Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'll see you next time.
