Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher

54. Phase 3 of the Yoga Teacher Success Timeline: Moving Beyond Teaching Plateaus and Building Your Yoga Career

• Sage Rountree • Episode 54

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Have you ever felt like your teaching has hit a plateau? In this episode of Yoga Teacher Confidential, I dive into Phase Three of the Yoga Teacher Success Timeline: the Professional Development Zone.

This is the stage where teaching starts to feel sustainable but can also begin to feel routine. I share the hallmarks of Phase Three, including confidence in delivery, steady students, and a desire to specialize or increase income—but also the risks of stagnation.

You’ll learn how to embrace plateaus as launching pads, take strategic risks, monetize your expertise, and market yourself authentically without feeling salesy. I’ll also walk you through actionable steps to help you build workshops, set pricing, and start developing passive income streams.

Whether you’re considering specialization, seeking better business systems, or looking for inspiration to take your teaching to the next level, this episode will help you strategically focus for long-term success.

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 mentorship program, my Yoga Class Prep Station membership, continuing education workshops and 300/500-hour teacher training programs, and my many books for yoga teachers. It's all at ...

Can I tell you something? There was a moment, a few years into my teaching career when I realized I had accidentally built a business. I was teaching regular classes. I had a steady group of students who showed up week after week. And for the first time, I wasn't just surviving class to class, I was actually thinking about where I wanted my teaching to go. But I also realized I had hit a plateau. I was competent. My students seemed happy, but I felt like I was coasting. I knew there was more I wanted to offer, but I wasn't sure how to get there. Welcome to Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'm Sage Rountree, and today we are diving into phase three of the Yoga Teacher Success Timeline, what I call the professional development zone. If you have a steady teaching schedule with regular students, if you're feeling more confident in class delivery, but somehow stuck, or if you're ready for your teaching to become more than just a side hobby, this episode is for you. Phase three is where teaching starts to feel sustainable, but it's also where many teachers get stuck. You've moved through the initial overwhelm of phase one and the identity questions of phase two. You know who you are as a teacher, at least in broad strokes, and you're delivering consistent classes that students enjoy, but you're facing a new set of challenges and opportunities. Here are the hallmarks of phase three. You have a steady teaching schedule with regular students. You're not scrambling for subs anymore. Students know your name and seek out your classes specifically. You have that core group of people who show up week after week. You have more confidence in class delivery, but you might feel like you're reaching a plateau. Teaching no longer feels terrifying, but it's starting to feel routine. You can lead a solid class, but you're not sure you're growing anymore. You have interest in deeper specialization or niche development. You're starting to notice what aspects of yoga really light you up. Maybe it's working with seniors or athletes or people with anxiety. You want to go deeper, but you may not quite be sure how. You have a desire for more substantial income from teaching those $30 class rates. That felt amazing when you started. Now feel limiting. You're doing the math and realizing that teaching basic classes alone isn't going to pay your bills. You're ready to move beyond standard weekly classes. You're thinking about workshops, private sessions, retreats, maybe even teacher training, but you're not sure how to price those things or where to start. Teaching feels more sustainable, but still requires significant effort. You're not exhausted after every class anymore, but you're also not feeling effortless yet. It's work that you enjoy, but it's still work. The big theme of phase three is this transition from surviving to strategizing. You're no longer just trying to make it through each class. You're starting to think about your teaching as a career that could support you while making a real difference in people's lives. But this is also where I see a lot of teachers get paralyzed by possibilities. Should you do a yin training, a prenatal certification, learn trauma sensitive yoga, start offering private lessons, create a workshop series. The options feel endless and it's easy to fall into what I call shiny object syndrome. Jumping from training to training without a clear strategy. Let me tell you why phase three is actually one of the most exciting phases, even though it might not feel that way. Let me tell you why phase three is actually one of the most exciting phases, even though it might not feel that way. First, the plateau you're experiencing isn't a sign that you're stuck. It's a sign that you're ready for the next level. Think of it like a video game. You've mastered the basic moves, and now you're ready for more advanced challenges. The key is recognizing that plateaus are really launching pads. They give you the stable foundation. You need to take bigger risks and try new things. I want to share a story that illustrates this perfectly early in my phase three. I was feeling restless with my regular classes. I loved my students, but I kept thinking there had to be more I could offer. I was particularly passionate about bringing yoga to athletes, but I didn't know how to make that happen outside the regular class. So I started small. I reached out to the local running store Fleet Feed Sports is headquartered in Carboro, North Carolina, where my studio is, and I offered to teach a free workshop on Yoga for runners. Just one hour, nothing fancy. I figured if it went well, maybe I could do more. That workshop led to another workshop, and then the running store started referring people to my regular classes. And then someone from that workshop recommended me to teach at the local bike shop. And then the YMCA asked me to work with their triathlon training group. Within a year, I had developed this whole specialization around yoga for athletes that I never could have planned fully from the beginning. It started with one free workshop and grew organically from there. But here's the crucial part. I couldn't have done that in phase one or phase two. I needed the confidence and the competence that came from regular teaching to be able to experiment with something new. That's what phase three gives you the foundation to take strategic risks. Now, let's talk about the money piece, because I know that's on many of your minds. One of the biggest shifts in phase three is learning to think about pricing based on value, not just time. When you're teaching regular classes, you're essentially being paid for your time, maybe 30 to$60 for a 60 or 75 minute class. But when you start offering workshops, privates or specialized services, you can charge for your expertise and the specific value you're providing. That first workshop I taught at the running store. I did it for free because I wanted to test the concept, but the second one, I charged $25 per person. Maybe not a lot, felt like a lot, but it was my first step toward understanding that specialized knowledge has value. The mistake I see a lot of teachers make is thinking they need to be the world's expert in something before they can charge workshop prices. But that's not true. You just need to know more than your students do about the specific thing you're teaching. If you are a runner who's been practicing yoga for three years, you know more about yoga for runners than most runners do. If you've been dealing with anxiety and you've learned how yoga helps you have valuable knowledge for other people with anxiety, your expertise doesn't have to be academic or certified to be valuable. It just has to be real and helpful. Another big piece of phase three is learning to market yourself authentically. This feels scary for a lot of yoga teachers because we don't want to seem salesy, pushy, or self-promotional, but marketing isn't about bragging. It's about connecting with the people who need what you have to offer. When I started teaching workshops for athletes, I wasn't marketing to anyone. I was specifically reaching out to running stores, bike shops, and sports clubs. I was solving a specific problem for a specific group of people. The more specific you can be about who you serve and how you help them, the easier marketing becomes. Instead of saying, I teach yoga, you can say, I teach yoga for people who sit at desks all day and have tight hips and shoulders Much more compelling, right? Phase three is also where you start building systems that can eventually create more passive income. Maybe you create a video series or an online course, or even just develop workshop content that you can teach in multiple locations. I started developing what would eventually become my Teaching Yoga to Athletes course during this phase. It began as live workshops, then became a weekend intensive finally evolved into the comprehensive online training it is today, but it all started with that first free workshop at the running store. So what do you actually do? If you're in phase three right now? First, develop and teach your first workshop or specialized series. Don't wait until you feel completely ready. Pick something you're genuinely interested in and have some experience with, and design a two or three hour workshop around it. Start with your existing students. They already trust you. I have a wonderful product. It's called the Workshop Workbook, and it is here to help you with that. Check the link in the show notes for it. Second, create baseline pricing for your workshops and your private sessions. Research what other teachers in your area are charging and don't undersell yourself. Remember, workshops should be priced higher than regular classes because they provide more specialized value. Third, improve your marketing and social media presence. This doesn't mean you need to become an Instagram influencer. It means being clear about what you offer and who you serve. Share your knowledge generously and people will want to learn more from you. Fourth, begin building an email list of students social media platforms come and go, but email is direct communication with people who are interested in what you have to offer. Start collecting emails for permission based marketing. Your students know that they have opted in at workshops and if it's feasible given where you teach also in your regular classes. Fifth network with complimentary wellness professionals. Try connecting with massage therapists, physical therapists, nutritionists, personal trainers. They often have clients who could benefit from what you have to offer and are used to paying for it. Sixth, consider advanced training in a specialty area, but be strategic about this. Don't just collect and hoard certifications. Choose trainings that align with where you want to take your teaching. Now, I do offer many of these and you can read about them all@comfortzoneyoga.com and@sageRountree.com. Seventh transition from purely following recipes to adding your own flavor. You've learned the frameworks for teaching good yoga classes, workshops, and private lessons. Now start adapting them based on what you observe in your students and on what feels authentic to you. If you're interested in working with athletes, specifically, teaching Yoga to athletes is a comprehensive self-paced training that shows you how to meet athletes' needs without making your classes feel like workouts. It's a perfect example of how developing a specialty can expand your opportunities as a teacher. If you're looking for class planning templates and practical resources to support your workshop development. The workshop workbook offers plug and play support to make planning your workshop so easy and for ongoing mentorship as you navigate these professional development decisions. Mastering the art of yoga sequencing includes monthly calls where you work through exactly these kinds of strategic questions. Finally, if you're looking to complete a 300 hour certification to support your professional development, I offer a modular program where you can customize your path mixing online and in-person options. The most important thing to remember about phase three is that you don't have to figure it all out at once. Pick one area to focus on, maybe workshops, maybe private lessons, maybe a specific population you want to serve and go deep with that. Success in phase three comes from strategic focus, not from trying to do everything at once. Remember, you don't have to be the world's expert on yoga to offer something valuable. You just have to be a few steps ahead of the people you're serving. Thanks for being here. I'm Sage Rountree, and I'll see you next time on Yoga Teacher Confidential.

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