Yoga Teacher Confidential: Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher

68. Teaching at Gyms and YMCAs: The Best Training Ground for New Yoga Teachers

• Sage Rountree • Episode 68

Share episode

When I started teaching yoga at the UNC Wellness Center, I had to complete hospital safety training about bloodborne pathogens and biohazard spills. I was teaching yoga in a gym. The odds of encountering a biohazard during downward-facing dog were essentially zero. But they paid me for that training time, and there were snacks at the meetings—so I wasn't complaining.

Teaching at gyms and YMCAs isn't a consolation prize for yoga teachers who can't get hired at studios. It's one of the best possible training grounds for becoming a skilled, adaptable teacher. In this episode, I'm sharing why those six years at the UNC Wellness Center made me a dramatically better teacher than I would have been starting in a boutique studio.

You'll learn why the straightforward application process, surprising benefits like free childcare and gym memberships, and exposure to large diverse classes build skills you can't get anywhere else. I'm also covering the real challenges—fluorescent lighting, multipurpose rooms, limited equipment—and how those constraints actually make you a more versatile teacher.

Whether you're a new teacher looking for your first position or an experienced teacher considering a gym opportunity, this episode will help you see why teaching in less-than-perfect conditions creates the strongest foundation for your teaching career.

LINKS:

🎙️ Listen to all episodes: https://sagerountree.com/podcast?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=e64_gyms

🧘 Join The Zone: https://www.comfortzoneyoga.com?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=e64_gyms

📚 The Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook: https://sagerountree.com/the-professional-yoga-teachers-handbook?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=e64_gyms

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? When I first started teaching yoga at the UNC Wellness Center, which is affiliated with the hospital system, I had to complete mandatory online training modules about bloodborne pathogens, proper needle disposal procedures, and chemical safety protocols. I was teaching yoga in a gym with people in sweatpants doing downward facing dog. But because I was technically a UNC hospital's employee, I had to learn what to do if I encountered a biohazard spill in the hallway or found an improperly disposed needle by a sharps container. The odds of this happening during my Wednesday evening, yoga for athletes class we're approximately zero. But I dutifully clicked through the modules past the quizzes and earned my certification in hospital safety procedures. And you know what? They paid me for that training time, and there were snacks at the in-person meetings, so I'm not complaining. I am Sage Rountree, and this is Yoga Teacher Confidential. In the last episode, we talked about how to approach yoga studios for your first teaching job. That careful patient process of becoming a student first, building relationships, and making a thoughtful pitch. Today we are talking about the complete opposite approach teaching at gyms and YMCAs. And I want to be clear right up front, this is not a consolation prize. Teaching at gyms and YMCAs isn't what you do when you can't get hired at a studio. It's actually one of the best possible training grounds for becoming a truly skilled, adaptable yoga teacher. Okay. I taught at the UNC Wellness Center for six years until I bought what is now Carrboro Yoga Company. And I can say without hesitation that those six years of teaching in a gym environment made me a dramatically better teacher than I would've been if I had started in a boutique studio. Let me tell you why. Okay, gyms are excellent for new teachers. Here's what teaching at a gym or YMCA typically looks like and why it's such a valuable experience. The application process is straightforward. Remember how I told you in the last episode that approaching a yoga studio requires showing up as a student for weeks, building relationships, crafting a perfect email, and patiently waiting for an opening. Gyms are nothing like that. The application process for teaching at a gym is usually refreshingly simple. You need to show that you're certified, and depending on the facility, that might mean having your Yoga Alliance registration or having completed a recognized teacher training program or both. At the UNC Wellness Center, I couldn't be officially hired until I was registered with the Yoga Alliance. That was their standard. Other gyms might have different requirements, but the point is it's usually a clear checklist of credentials, not a subjective assessment of whether you fit the culture. You typically don't need to have practiced there for weeks first. You don't need warm introductions from existing teachers. You just need your certification and the ability to show up consistently. Is there less vetting than at yoga studios? Probably, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when you're trying to get your foot in the door and start accumulating teaching hours. The pay and the benefits at the gym can be surprisingly good. Let's talk money because this is important. According to recent surveys, gym yoga teachers typically earn between $20 and $40 per class. That might sound lower than some studio rates, and it often is, but here's what you need to factor in. You usually get a free gym membership as part of your compensation. If you are someone who would be paying for a gym membership anyway, that's real value At many facilities. That membership alone could be worth $50 to a hundred dollars per month or far more. But here's the benefit. That was absolutely huge for me when my daughters were little. Many gyms and YMCAs offer free childcare. While you teach, let me repeat that. Free childcare. When you are a new parent trying to figure out how to maintain your teaching practice without spending your entire paycheck on babysitters, this is gold. I could drop my girls off at the childcare room, teach my class, do a workout myself, and pick them up afterward and not pay a cent. That benefit alone made teaching at the Wellness Center financially worthwhile for me during all those years. So when you are evaluating whether a gym teaching position makes sense, don't just look at the per class rate. Look at the total compensation package. At the gym you see a lot of students. This is a big one. This is why teaching at a gym makes you a better teacher faster than almost anything else you could do. Gym yoga classes are typically much larger than studio classes. At a studio, you might have, say, eight to 15 students in a regular class. At a gym, you could easily have 25, 30, or even 40 people in the room. That's a lot of bodies, that's a lot of different experience levels. That's a lot of room management. You get to figure out on the fly, and here's the thing, those students are coming from all over. Some might have extensive yoga experience. Others have literally never done yoga before and are showing up because the class is included in their gym membership, and they figured they'd give it a try. You might have the Ultrafit CrossFitter, who can't touch their toes. The 70-year-old retiree who's been doing yoga since the 1970s, the college student who's never been to any kind of group fitness class, the physical therapy patient who's there on doctor's orders and the stressed out hospital employee that was many of my students at UNC Wellness Center, who just needs to breathe for an hour. All these people are together in the same room at the same time. This forces you to become really good at offering modifications and at meeting people where they are. You can't teach to just one level. You can't assume anyone knows what you're talking about. You have to find that lowest common denominator, something everyone can do, and then offer clear options for people who want more challenge or who need more support. This skill. This is what makes you an excellent teacher and you develop it fast when you're teaching in a gym. At the gym, you will learn to teach without much equipment. Here's another huge skill builder. Gyms typically have far less yoga specific equipment than yoga studios do. Studios usually have lots of yoga mats, often nice ones, say Manduka Pro. They have abundant blocks, straps, bolsters blankets, sandbags, eye pillows. They have props for days. Gyms usually have. A few mats maybe, and they're often thin and slippery and really well used. They could have a few blocks if you're lucky, and often that's about it. This means you have to learn to improvise. You have to teach poses and sequences that work without props, or you have to get creative about what can substitute for a block, like a folded towel or the wall. You learn to cue clearly without relying on props to do the work for you. You learn to offer verbal adjustments instead of just saying, grab a block if you need one. This makes you so much more versatile as a teacher when you eventually teach in other settings, like private lessons, outdoor classes, retreats, workshops, you're not dependent on having the perfect prop collection at the gym, you will learn room management and projection. Teaching 30 or more people in a large multipurpose room teaches you how to use your voice effectively. You can't be soft spoken and expect people in the back to hear you. You have to project. You have to find that balance between a calm, grounded yoga voice and actually being loud enough to be heard over the air conditioning and the aerobic class in the next room, and the weightlifters, grunting, and dropping weights. You also learn to position yourself so you can see everyone. You learn to move through the room efficiently. You learn to give clear directions about spacing and mat placement so people aren't kicking each other. These are all skills that I covered in my episode on handling a large room. And these are skills that transfer then to every other teaching context. Even if you eventually wind up teaching intimate classes of six people in a quiet Candlelit studio, you will be a better teacher for having managed those large gym classes. Okay, so I've painted a pretty rosy picture of why gym teaching is valuable. Now, let me be honest about the challenges, because they can feel quite real at the gym. The environment is not yoga. Perfect studios are designed for yoga. They typically have controllable lighting, often on dimmers temperature control that you can access. It's not locked behind a lockbox. Quiet spaces that are separated from other activities and that vibe, that yoga specific ambiance. Gyms often have fluorescent lighting that you cannot dim. It's either all on or all off. They usually have a temperature that is set for the whole building where people are working out. So it's set pretty cool, not for your individual room. And gyms typically have noise coming from adjacent spaces like the weight room or the basketball court where the sneakers are squeaking, or the pool Gyms then have a distinctly zen vibe you're teaching in a multipurpose room that could have hosted a Zumba class an hour before yours, and that will host a spin class an hour after if. There's carpet. It might smell like sweat. The walls could be cinder block painted, an institutional beige. This is not the serene candlelight yoga sanctuary of your dreams, but here's what it teaches you. You learn to create a container for your students regardless of the external environment. You learn that the practice isn't about the perfect ambiance. It's about what happens in your students' bodies and your students' minds. And honestly, some of my most meaningful teaching happened in that fluorescent lit multipurpose room at UNC Wellness because the students who showed up there really needed yoga and they didn't need it to be Instagram worthy to benefit from it. Okay. Music at the gym can be tricky. I've done a whole episode about music and yoga classes. Please go back and listen to that if you haven't yet. But music in a gym setting has its own particular challenges you might not have control over the sound system. You might be competing with music from adjacent spaces. You might have students who are used to high energy gym music and find your peaceful playlist, too mellow, or students who want complete silence and find any music distracting, but you feel like you need the music to act as a screen between your yoga room and the sounds coming from the gym. Figure out what the facility allows and what makes sense for your particular class. Some gyms have Bluetooth speakers you can use, others will have built-in sound systems with giant speakers. Some have nothing and you'll need to bring your own setup. And remember, in a large room with lots of students, your voice needs to be louder than the music. Don't let your playlist drown out your queuing. Student expectations at the gym are different. This is important to understand. Gym students often come to yoga with different expectations than studio students do. Studio students often come because they want. Yoga, the whole package, including the philosophy, the breath work, the meditation, the spiritual elements. Gym students often come because they want a workout. They want to move, sweat, stretch, and feel like they accomplished something physical. This doesn't mean you can't teach them yoga. It just means you need to meet them where they are. You might not spend a lot of time on Sanskrit terminology or yoga philosophy. You might focus more on the physical benefits, strength, flexibility, balance, stress relief. You might structure your classes to feel more like a workout session with a relaxation period at the end, and that's okay. That's good. Actually, you are making yoga accessible to people who might never walk into a studio. The philosophy is going to seep through anyway. You are serving students who need exactly what you're offering. Over time. Some of those students will get curious about the deeper aspects of yoga. Some will eventually venture into yoga studios. Some will stay exactly where they are and keep showing up to your Tuesday night YMCA class because it makes them feel better. All of that is valuable. All right. Let's get practical talk about how to approach the gym and how to succeed there. Here's how to actually get a gym teaching job, and then how to set yourself up for success. To find and apply for positions, start by making a list of gyms, recreation centers, and YMCAs in your area. Then visit their websites or call them to ask, do they offer yoga classes? Are they currently hiring yoga instructors? What are their requirements vis-a-vis certification, insurance, background checks, and so on. And whom should you contact about teaching yoga there? Many larger facilities will have an online application process. Some will ask you to submit a resume and cover letter just like you would for the studio, though usually with less emphasis on having practiced there first. By the way, if you come and join the Zone at Comfort Zone Yoga, I have some resources queued to my book, the Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook that will give you a template for a yoga teacher resume, and sense of what you should be writing in a cover letter. Make sure you have your Yoga teacher certification. That's a copy of your diploma, your Yoga Alliance registration if you have it. That would include your Yoga Alliance, registration number, proof of your liability insurance, and that current resume highlighting any of your teaching experience. Some facilities might ask you to teach a sample class or demonstrate your teaching for the fitness director. This is usually more formal than the studio approach you're teaching to an empty room or to staff members showing them your sequencing, queuing, and presence. Here's what to expect in the hiring process at the gym. You need to be prepared for some bureaucracy depending on the facility. You might need to complete a background check. Have a tuberculosis test. Provide proof of CPR certification. Complete facility specific training, like my hospital safety modules. Attend an orientation about policies and procedures, and you may need to get trained on their check-in system or scheduling software. This might feel like overkill for teaching yoga, but it's just part of working within a larger organization. Go with it. Do the trainings, pass the quizzes, eat the snacks. At the meetings, at the gym, you'll usually be hired as either an independent contractor or a part-time employee. Make sure you understand which one you are as it affects your taxes and your benefits. Once you're hired, here's how to set yourself up for success. First off, survey your equipment situation. Visit the space where you'll be teaching before your first class. Find out are there mats available? How many, what condition are they in to go next level practice a little bit on the gym issue mat so you understand what your student's experience is going to be. Are there any props? Are there blocks, straps, blankets? Is there a sound system? Do you need to bring your own speaker? Where do students enter and exit? Where should they put their belongings? Is there a sign in process you need to manage? Okay, based on what you find, plan accordingly. If there aren't enough mats, let students know they should bring their own or arrive early to claim one. And if the gym issues towels, you might swing by the front desk to have some towels for folks. Once the mats run out, if there are no props, designed sequences that won't require them. Then plan for large divers groups at the gym. Assume your class will have at least 20 students and possibly many more. Assume you'll receive a wide range of experience levels in your class from absolute beginners to advanced practitioners. Expect a wide range of ages and fitness levels and be ready for students with various injuries or limitations. Remember, your scope of practice as a yoga teacher is to remind these students that the agency lies with them. They're responsible for making smart choices about everything they do in your class. Your queuing at the gym needs to be crystal clear and accessible so that you can include this diverse group. You need to offer at least two options for every pose. One easier and one more challenging. You should plan sequences that work without props, and you need to use your eyes and teach the room you have not the room you expected and not the room of students you wish you had. When you get your first gym gig, seek to establish your presence from the start. In your first few classes, focus especially on clarity issue, clear specific instructions that beginners can follow. Take care with your volume. Speak loudly enough for everyone to hear. Watch your visibility. Position yourself so everyone can see you when you demonstrate. Be attuned to safety, offer modifications and constantly remind people to listen to their bodies and make smart choices for themselves. And look to offer consistency for your students. Create a reliable structure so that students know what to expect in every subsequent class they take with you. You don't need to be fancy. You do need to be clear, consistent, and helpful. At the gym, you want to set your students up for regular attendance. Unlike studios where students often buy packages or memberships specifically for yoga, gym students might pop in whenever they feel like getting some yoga. You might have a different mix of people every single week. This means that while you can and should still build continuity into your sequencing, week to week, you will likely also have fresh students every single class. You should introduce yourself and preview the class structure at the beginning of. Every class. For more on that, listen to the episode on how to open your class with confidence. You might need to review the basics regularly, since you'll often have newer students. Don't assume anyone remembers what you taught last week, but over time you will develop a core of regulars. Those students are your anchors. Get to know them, learn their names. They will help set the tone for the newer students, and they will spread the word about your class. Let's talk about managing the challenges you can encounter at the gym. The fluorescent light problem, you can't control the lighting, but you can use your voice and your queuing to help students turn inward despite any harsh overhead. Lights emphasize closing eyes when it's appropriate. Focus on breath. Tune into sensation rather than visual cues. You'll need to anticipate coping with the noise problem. If you get noise from adjacent spaces, adjust your volume accordingly. Don't try to compete with a step aerobics class at the same volume that's exhausting. Instead, try to work with the noise. Use it as an opportunity to teach students about finding focus amid distraction. When you face a problem with your equipment, this is where your creativity comes in. No blocks use the wall for support in standing poses or teach students to use their hands on their shins instead of reaching for the floor, fold up sweatshirts or gym towels as makeshift bolsters. No straps teach students to use a towel, a belt, or simply bend their knees more generously and go without the lack of equipment is actually a gift. It forces you to learn excellent verbal queuing because you can't just hand someone a prop and hope that solves their problem. Let's talk about handling diverse levels. This is your both your greatest challenge at the gym and also your greatest teacher. You will handle it by always teaching to the least experienced person in the room by offering clear options for more challenge. If you'd like more intensity, straighten your back leg, for example, by using inclusive language, like find the version of this shape that works for your body today. And by never assuming anyone knows what you're talking about. In the Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook, I talk about finding that lowest common denominator, something everyone can do. That's what gym teaching gives you in spades. Now let's take the long-term view. So is gym teaching just a stepping stone to quote unquote real yoga teaching at a studio? Not necessarily. Some teachers teach at gyms for years or even decades because it genuinely works for them. The benefits are good, the schedule's consistent. The variety of students keeps things interesting. The teaching itself is meaningful and rewarding. I taught at the UNC Wellness Center for six years and only left when I bought what was my studio. If that opportunity hadn't come along, I might still be teaching there. Other teachers do use gym teaching as a way to build their experience and boost their confidence before approaching studios or starting their own classes, and that's also a pretty good strategy. The skills you build teaching at a gym translate to every other teaching context. You'll learn. Room management with large groups, clear, accessible queuing for beginners. Adaptability. When you don't have the ideal conditions, you'll learn to serve students who need yoga, but who might never identify as yoga people. You'll learn to teach effectively without relying on props, and you'll learn to project both your voice and your presence. These are the skills that make you a truly professional yoga teacher. And honestly, the best teachers I know are the ones who can teach anywhere to anyone under any conditions. Gym teaching builds that versatility better than almost anything else. Look, I know gym teaching doesn't have the cachet of teaching at a fancy boutique studio. Nobody's going to Instagram that fluorescent lit multipurpose room, or wax poetic about the zen ambiance at the YMCA. But here's what you will get. You will teach hundreds of students. You'll learn to communicate clearly and to adapt on the fly. You'll develop rock solid room management skills. You'll figure out how to create meaningful experiences for students. Even when the conditions aren't perfect, you'll become a better teacher faster than you would in almost any other setting. And you will serve students who genuinely need what you're offering. Students who might be intimidated by a yoga studio, students who are just trying to move their bodies and manage their stress and maybe touch their toes someday. These students deserve great teachers and gym teaching will make you one of those teachers will. You have to sit through some absurd online training modules about biohazard protocols, even though you're teaching gentle yoga maybe. But hey, they might pay you for that time and there could be snacks. Okay. All of this professional development guidance, including how to evaluate different teaching opportunities and how to build your career strategically is in my book, the Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook. It's the resource I wish I had had when I was starting out, and it will help you navigate these decisions with clarity. So don't write off gym teaching as somehow lesser than studio teaching. It's not. It's different. And for many teachers, especially new teachers, it's actually the better path. Find a gym or YMCA near you. Check their requirements, submit your application, and get ready to teach a lot of students and learn a lot of lessons. Your future teaching self will. Thank you. And please, once you've lined up your gym job, come to the zone@comfortzoneyoga.com. Our free virtual studio focused on teacher development, and let me know how it's going. Thanks for listening to Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'm Sage Rountree and I'll see you next time.

Head Shot

Sage Rountree

Host