Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher

69. Applying the Service Mindset to Social Media (Minimalist Instagram for Yoga Teachers)

• Sage Rountree • Episode 69

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Instagram can feel like a second job-especially when you became a yoga teacher to teach, not to perform online.

In this episode, I share a simple reframe that takes the pressure down fast: your job on social media is not to entertain the algorithm. Your job is to help the right students find the next step into yoga with you.

I walk through three struggles I hear from yoga teachers all the time: hating social media and feeling guilty, spending lots of time on Instagram without seeing fuller classes, and feeling confused about what Instagram is even for if you teach locally.

You'll leave with a clear, minimalist way to treat Instagram like a calm little "foyer"-a reassuring business card for the nervous beginner who has already heard your name.

Listen now!

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:

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Can I tell you something? Most of the yoga teachers I work with are not dreaming about becoming content creators. They're dreaming about teaching great classes, connecting with real humans, and going home with a little energy left in the tank. And still, when we talk about growing their teaching, social media anxiety comes up nearly every single time. You might recognize some of these thoughts. I hate Instagram, but I feel like I should be on it. I'm spending so much time there and it's not filling my classes. I have no idea what I'm even doing. Am I supposed to be a creator? Now, if any of that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Today we are going to talk about applying a service mindset to social media, especially Instagram, so you can stop thinking of yourself as a content creator and start seeing yourself as what you already are a helper. I'm Sage Rountree, and this is Yoga Teacher Confidential. Your job as a yoga teacher on social media is simple. Let your people know how they can connect with yoga, not with you as a brand, not with you as a performer, with yoga. In this episode, we'll talk about three big struggles I hear over and over from yoga teachers. First, hating social media and feeling guilty about not posting. Second, spending too much time on Instagram without seeing any real world results. Third, feeling confused about what Instagram is even for when you are just a local yoga teacher Along the way, I'll show you a simple, minimalist way to use Instagram as a business card, as a mini landing page for people who are already looking for you, not as your primary way to get students in the door. At the end, I'll share how you can go deeper with this work in my minimalist Instagram for yoga teachers course and why joining the Prep Station to get the course plus ongoing support is honestly a bit of a no-brainer if you are a working teacher. But let's start with the story. One of the members of The Zone, which is the free yoga teacher community at Comfort Zone Yoga is a yoga teacher who lives in Israel. She teaches women locally, actual people who live in her neighborhood come to her classes. See her at the grocery store. Her classes were going well. Her students loved her, and she still felt this constant pressure in the background. I should be doing more on Instagram reels, posts, carousels stories. Everyone says that's how you grow. Meanwhile, most of the women she wanted to teach were not discovering her through the algorithm. They were hearing about her from friends, from their studio, from word of mouth. In her community, she was on the verge of burning up precious time and energy, trying to keep up with a content schedule that didn't actually match her goals. What she needed was not a full-time content strategy. What she needed was a simple, clear way for someone who heard her name to look her up, glance at her Instagram and think, oh, this looks like a good fit for me. Okay. I suggested she think in terms of a static grid, sometimes people call it a nine grid or a six grid. It's a handful of posts pinned at the top of her profile, or better yet, comprising the entirety of her profile that introduced who she is, what she teaches, and how someone can take the next step. She ran with it. Instead of trying to feed the algorithm, she created a tiny student friendly landing page on Instagram. And then she went back to teaching women locally, which is the whole point. And that is the mindset shift I want for you. You are not here to entertain the algorithm. You are here to let your people know how they can connect with yoga. Let's walk through those three struggles one by one, starting with the one I hear most often struggle. Number one, I hate social media and I still feel guilty about not posting. Maybe you've said some version of this to yourself, like, I know I should be posting, but I never know what to say or. Every time I open Instagram, I feel worse about myself as a teacher and a human being, or I don't wanna dance. I don't wanna lip sync. I don't wanna turn my students into content. If that's you, take a breath. You did not become a yoga teacher to become a full-time content creator. That was never the job description. Your actual job is to create welcoming spaces to guide people through practices that help them feel better to be a steady and trustworthy presence in their lives. Instagram can either support that role or slowly erode it, but when you approach Instagram through a service lens, the question changes. It's no longer what content should I make this week? The question becomes, if a nervous potential student found me on Instagram tonight, what would help them decide whether my class is the right next step for them? That question is so much lighter and so much more honest for a local yoga teacher. Your Instagram doesn't have to be a daily show. It can be a clear profile picture that looks like you, a short bio that names what you teach, and where you teach a link that tells them how to sign up. And a few pinned posts that answer the questions they're already asking in their heads questions like, will I fit in? Is this class going to be way too hard? Do I have to be flexible? What actually happens when I walk into the room? If your profile answers those questions, you are already doing the work. You're letting your people know how they can connect with yoga. So if you hate social media, here's your permission slip. You are allowed to set up a minimal student-centered Instagram and then close the app. You are not failing as a teacher if you're not posting daily struggle. Number two, I'm spending so much time there, but my classes aren't filling. Maybe you're posting, maybe you've done all the things, the social media experts suggest, reels, carousels, stories, hashtags, hooks, calls to action. You're spending hours every week on Instagram, and your Tuesday night class still has the same 12 students it always had. That's frustrating, and it's not your fault. Here's something that 20 plus years of teaching yoga has taught me. For local yoga teachers, Instagram is rarely the main way students find you. They find you because a friend brings them to class or they see your name on a studio schedule, or they Google yoga near me and your website or your studio pops up, or the gym or the studio tags you in a post and they click through. Instagram can support those other paths, but it's usually not the engine that drives them. If you are pouring three hours a week into content and none of it is translating into mats in the room, there's a mismatch in that situation. I want you to think about reallocating your energy less time, making content for strangers, more time deepening relationships with the students you already have. More time talking with studio owners about workshops or series, more time refining your in-person experience. So students want to bring their friends. Your Instagram becomes the reassurance step, not the magnet. When someone hears about you and clicks over to your profile, they should see a calm, grounded presence. They should see evidence that you understand what they are nervous about, and they should seek simple, clear next steps, not a fire hose of content that even you are barely keeping up with. Again, the question is not how do I get the algorithm to love me? The question is, how do I let my people know how they can connect with yoga in the simplest possible way? And sometimes that answer is set up a minimalist Instagram profile once and spend the rest of your time focusing on the students who are actually in front of you. Now struggle. Number three is wondering what is Instagram? Even for if I'm a local teacher, you might be thinking, everyone says I need to be on Instagram, but for what I teach classes in my town, I'm not selling a global online program. What is this actually supposed to do for me? And this is where I want to be really clear, if you are a local yoga teacher. Teaching in studios, gyms, community centers, your own space. I do not want you to treat Instagram as your primary lead generation tool, y'all. That's a recipe for spinning your wheels and burning out your best leads as a local teacher are people who already live near you. People, your current students already know people. Your studio or gym is already marketing to. For those people, Instagram is not the front door, it's the foyer. By the time they land on your profile, something has already nudged them towards you. A friend has said, you should go to this class, or they've seen your name on the schedule and they wanna check you out first. In that moment, they are not asking, is this teacher going viral? They are asking would I feel okay walking into this class? So let's paint a quick picture. Imagine a nervous beginner scrolling through their phone at night. They have never done yoga. They've got a cranky back from sitting at a desk. They feel stiff, self-conscious, and a little intimidated. A friend has said, you should go to this teacher's class. They type your name into Instagram or even into Google, which now points them to Instagram, and they tap on your profile. What do they see? Do they see a wall of advanced poses and contortion that confirms their worst fear that yoga is only for bendy people with matching outfits, or do they see a friendly photo of you that looks like a real human? A short bio that says who you teach and how you help. A post that says What to expect in your first class, A post that says you don't need to be flexible to start. A post that explains exactly how to sign up and what they need to bring. That second option is what I want for you. That's what I mean when I say let your people know how they can connect With yoga, follower count becomes irrelevant. Likes become irrelevant. You are creating a tiny, reassuring mini landing page for the anxious human on the other side of the screen. Let me give you a peek behind the curtain on how I handle this in my own work, because I wear a couple of hats. I have two main Instagram accounts at Sage Rountree with no letter D, my professional brand account, and @comfortzoneyoga, the account for my virtual studio. On at Sage Rountree, I do use Instagram as content marketing. I post more frequently. I share about this podcast, about my books and about my programs and yoga teacher trainings. That's where I play a bit more with content because as the owner of a virtual yoga studio offering teacher trainings, I am speaking to yoga teachers all over, not just locally. But @comfortzoneyoga is a great example of this minimalist approach that we've been talking about. Since I don't want to create content for two sites, I focus my content at @sagerountree the grid@comfortzoneyoga is essentially static. It's a set of carefully chosen posts that introduce the virtual studio, who it's for, how it works, and how to join it. Is there so that when someone hears about comfort zone yoga, probably from my@sagerountree account and clicks through from the studio's website or a friend's recommendation, everything they need is on one screen. No need to scroll. It is not a content machine. It is a business card. If you want to see what I mean in action, I'd love for you to come and take a look at both accounts, compare and contrast. Come find me at @sagerountree and @comfortzoneyoga. Scroll the grids. Notice how the Comfort Zone account is quiet, simple, and clear. That's on purpose. And if it helps you exhale to hear this, you are allowed to make your local teacher account look way more like comfort zone yoga than like a full-time influencer's page. Underneath all of this is a very simple philosophical shift. When you think of yourself as a content creator, the spotlight is on you. How do I look? Am I interesting enough? Am I keeping up with the trends? That is exhausting, and it tends to pull you away from the heart of teach. But when you think of yourself as a helper, the spotlight swings back where it belongs on your students. Now the questions sound more like, what would make it easier for someone to walk through the door? What would reassure a nervous beginner who has never tried yoga before? What would help a busy parent or a stressed professional say, okay, I can try this. Instagram then becomes just one place where you answer those questions clearly and kindly. Your job is not to impress the algorithm. Your job is to let your people know how they can connect with yoga. If you hold that line, the rest of the decisions get much easier. You can choose three, six or nine posts that do this work and be done. You can relax about trends. You can stop treating silence on your account as a failure. You are not behind. You are allowed to be a teacher first. If this is landing for you and you're thinking, okay, I want that. I want my Instagram to feel like a calm little welcome mat, not a treadmill. I can't get off. I have created something specifically for you. It's a little course called Minimalist Instagram for yoga teachers. It's short. It's practical. It has a companion workbook, clear modules that walk you through exactly what we've been talking about, mindset support plus tangible templates, and a step by simple step implementation guide. We cover things like setting up or cleaning up your account, writing a bio that actually serves your local students. Planning those three or those six core posts, what to put in a what to expect post, and how to think about stories and highlights. If you decide to go a little further, the course is designed so you can sit down for a couple of hours and come away with a complete minimalist profile that can serve you for months or even years without you needing to become a content creator. You can buy the course on its own, if that's what works best for you. Right now, it's $69 for lifetime access. But here is where I'm going to be very honest. If you are a working yoga teacher who wants broader support for both teaching and business, joining the Prep station is a bit of a no brainer. The Prep station is my membership for yoga teachers who are tired of reinventing the wheel. Every week inside you get a movement library with real sequences for real bodies, ongoing support for class planning, monthly calls and resources, plus access to the minimalist Instagram course already included, and the prep station is only $39 a month. Self cancel any time. So instead of just solving the Instagram question, you get a whole support system for your teaching life, lesson planning, sequencing confidence, and the little bits of business infrastructure like this that let you show up for your students with more ease. If all you can manage right now is getting your Instagram to a place that feels settled insane, the standalone course will absolutely help you do that. If you're ready for a deeper level of support for your classes, your planning, and your professional development, joining the Prep station and getting the course as part of your membership is the easiest, most efficient way to move forward. As we close this episode, I would love to invite you to do one small thing. Open your Instagram profile and look at it through the eyes of that nervous beginner we talked about earlier. Someone who has heard your name, feels a little scared and is wondering, would I fit in here at the yoga class? Ask yourself, does my profile help them feel more at ease? Does it clearly show them how they can connect with yoga through me? Or is it mostly speaking to the algorithm? If it's the latter, that's okay. You have not done anything wrong. It just means you have an opportunity to realign your Instagram with the heart of your teaching. Remember, you are a helper. Your job is to let your people know how they can connect with yoga. If you'd like step-by-step support in turning that into a real concrete minimalist Instagram presence, check out minimalist Instagram for yoga teachers, or come join us inside the prep station where the course is included and you get ongoing support for your whole teaching life. Links for both are in the show notes. Thank you for listening. Thank you for teaching and thank you for all the quiet behind the scenes ways you are already helping your people connect with yoga. This is Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'm Sage Rountree, and I'll see you next time.

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Sage Rountree

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