The greatest request I hear from yoga teachers is: How can I feel more confident teaching yoga?

There are fundamental changes within the contemporary yoga teaching world, from spiritual lineage to an industry that makes it so hard to navigate. Especially the intelligent, sensitive, often neuro-spicy folk who are drawn to yoga; and who perhaps have not felt validated in school or even in their families.

Add to the fact that regular “yoga classes” are now so prevalent in gyms, which pay poorly, we need to really understand business and marketing alongside yoga to make a living that empowers us.

It's important to recognise what sort of unconfident we are feeling so we can seek the right support. It is no coincidence that women, and those affected by discrimination, often struggle with confidence after a lifetime of being undermined. So while the yoga can support us, we also need to externalise feelings of shame or rage, or seek therapeutic support.

Fortunately there is so much within the yoga tradition that we can lean into to reframe our bodies and minds from anxious and exhausted to calm and confident. So let’s dive right in and explore seven major obstacles to confidence, as well as practical ways to navigate them, so that teaching yoga in 2025 and beyond feels empowering, joyful, and sustainable.

7 confidence barriers and how to overcome them

1. Feeling Overwhelmed by Knowledge

It is always the case that when we start to learn something in more depth, our sense of expertise diminishes in relation to the vastness of the subject. I see the raw innocence of the new yoga teacher trainees, initially worried in case they are expected to do the perfect handstand or manage a 30 minute meditation. Only to realise that this yoga thing is VAST!! !! It is impossible to “know it all” or to be an expert in any more than a few elements of yoga. Many teachers face self-doubt, wondering if they’re qualified to hold space with only a 200-hour teaching foundation.

Solution:

• Lineage: Realise you do not need to know it all! Traditionally yogis would have a teacher, who followed a specific lineage, having this big historic overview is a modern phenomenon.
• Find a teacher who you trust and go to class regularly (or online) and lean into their wisdom.
• Practice Simplicity: Identify one philosophy among the many yoga philosophies that you relate to e.g. advaita vedanta - everything being a part of a unified, coherent reality. Is different from the view Patanjali advocates in the sutras. 
• Understand your lineage: All yoga is rooted in South Asia so discover who your teachers teachers are.
• A few teachings: Perhaps you don’t know which teacher to ask, so choose a few core teachings or a text that resonate most with you and share those with confidence. 
• Continue to study: Have a book or some podcasts you listen to that inspire you.

Some traditional teachings that support every teacher:

Affirmations:

 “I honour the yoga lineage and offer my teaching as service.”

“May my teachings be of service to all. May I be guided in this work”

Action: 

Try chanting a simple mantra, like the opening Om, to centre yourself in the yoga tradition before teaching. You can prepare the room while chanting or share it with students. 

2. Navigating Cultural Sensitivity and Inclusivity

Yoga has origins deeply embedded in South Asian culture, and many teachers feel conflicted about teaching something they didn’t “grow up with.” This can create a sense of “not being enough” or feeling like an outsider.

Solution:

• Recognise that colonialism has had a vast and devastating impact, that is still felt today. The patterns of global inequality that we have seen playing out in the relatively financial poverty of the global south, through to the environmental devastation we see today, all can be traced back to colonialism such as the British or Portuguese in India through to the 1940s/1960s. We can do our part to be anti racist now, but we cannot right the wrongs of the past.
• Cultivate Cultural Appreciation: Explore how sophisticated and extraordinary the Asian cultures are and were already pre-colonisation with incredible spiritual traditions, academic accomplishments, and culture.
• Educate yourself about yoga’s roots and cultural significance, and focus on cultural appreciation over appropriation.
• Recognising your privilege as well as the hardships you have endured. Recognise that there are some with less privilege and try to make amends where you can by being anti-racist & generous. 

Affirmation:

•  “I acknowledge my privilege and aim to teach with respect and inclusivity.”

Actions: 

• Try a loving-kindness meditation, sending compassion first to yourself, then to your students, then outward to those throughout the world.
• Try to use your privilege to earn enough money to make a positive difference e.g donate to a charity or offer some time to support others. 

3. Lack of Comprehensive Education

Many teachers begin with a 200-hour training, which is often marketed as a “complete” certification, but is really only an introduction. This can lead to a gap in knowledge that causes doubt.

Solution:

• Commit to Lifelong Learning: Set aside time each year for further study and personal practice. This can be self-directed e.g. read a text/listen to podcasts/set up a reading group. Or find a online course or retreat to support your study for a few days or more each year.

Affirmation: 

• “I walk the path of yoga with commitment to my growth.”

Action: 

• Dedicate 10 minutes a day to a grounding practice: pranayama, meditation, or a single asana, to foster consistency and depth in your own practice so that you can teach from your own experience. 
• Often we are stuck in the loop of thinking we can't train because we don't earn enough and not earning enough because we're not adequately trained! Take a 300 hr training or a short course to specialise in a specific area of yoga that interests you, where you can support others and deepen your own practice.

Finding a training that enhances your skills also boosts confidence, giving you the expertise to support others and the income to make you feel validated in your work.

4. Unprepared for the Diversity of Student Needs

Yoga classes today often have a diverse range of abilities, ages, and backgrounds, requiring a wide skill set. We often feel so much is expected of us as yoga is described as being healing for everything in the body and mind; through to gymnastics and everything in between.

Choose who and what you want to teach and focus in. Your niche does not have to prevent you stepping into a general gym yoga class. BUT it will give you an areas to develop your confidence and expertise. Feeling unsure about how to address individual needs can dent confidence and we can’t serve everyone so get specific.

Solution:

• Specialise: Either choose to deepen skills in a specific area, this could be to adopt a gentle, adaptable approach for a more inclusive practice. Or it could be that you teach more dynamic practices. It doesn't matter, just do your best to serve your people. 

Affirmation:

• “I am able to support the students who need me.”
• “The things I find hard are also my strengths.”

Action: 

• Identify who you prefer teaching or who comes to you and describe this in your marketing materials. Reach out to specific groups. 
• Address specific needs that you know how to support. If you know how to meet someones deep desires or ease their pains then you are in a great place to build a sustainable business which also improves confidence. 
   

5. Struggling with Comparison on Social Media

Seeing other teachers on social media can make anyone feel like they’re not “enough.” It’s easy to fall into comparison, measuring against perfectly curated images or posts that seem to show more “advanced” teaching.

Solution:

• Limit Comparison: Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on ideas and thoughts that are true for you. Notice the jealousy and try to celebrate others achievements, instead of feeling jealous, because it means the achievements are possible for you too.
• Take breaks: We often over-exaggerate how much we need social media. If it is not a key part of your your marketing strategy, then give yourself a break!

Affirmation: 

• “I am walking my own path, guided by my unique strengths.”

Action: 

• When self-doubt arises, take a moment to reconnect with a positive comment or testimonial you’ve received from a student. Let this reinforce the value you bring. 

Focus on Yoga sutra 1.33

“By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.” 

In this sutra, Patanjali says that there are only four kinds of locks in the world. The four locks are: sukha (happy people), dukha (unhappy people), punya (the virtuous), and apunya (the not-so-virtuous). At any given moment, any person – including ourselves – can fit into one of these four categories.

Patanjali gives 4 keys to open these locks. He says that if we always keep these 4 keys with us, when we come across any of these four locks, we will have the proper key to open it. The four keys are: maitri (friendliness or loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (delight), and upeksha (disregard or equanimity). Patanjali reminds us that there is a Yogic way of approaching all people, no matter what behaviors and attitudes they may be exhibiting at the moment.

6. Financial Pressure and Societal Expectations

Yoga teaching is often undervalued financially, which can undermine a teacher’s sense of worth. At the same time, there’s pressure to fit into a humble role where we do not care about material things. Ironically, the “renunciate” lifestyle, where we give up material possessions, is not the lifestyle of a teacher living in society. Having money does not make us obsessed with money - it can actually empower us to be more giving or generous.

Solution:

• Reframe Money as Energy: Earning a sustainable income allows you to support yourself and your students, investing in your education and wellbeing.

Affirmation: 

•  “I am building a sustainable, meaningful practice that supports me and my community.”

Action: 

• Identify ways to improve your financial wellbeing, create an authentic yoga marketing strategy to increase your income and educate yourself about sustainable revenue streams as a teacher. 

7. The Pressure to “Be Perfect” and “Know Everything”

Many yoga teachers feel they should project calm, wisdom, and perfection at all times. This is exhausting and unrealistic—yoga itself teaches that we are all evolving. In fact, people love flawed individuals, these are people that we can relate to because no body is perfect.

Solution:

• Reframe Negative Self-Talk: Change internal dialogue from “I have to be perfect” to “I am a work in progress, just like everyone else.”

Affirmation: 

• “I am whole as I am, learning each day.”

Action: 

• Practice the yogic teaching from the Sutra 2.33, “Pratipaksha Bhavana” (cultivating the opposite), where you replace negative self-talk with a positive reframe.

What to do now?

Do not decide to try to achieve everything at once! Instead, take one affirmation and or one practice that resonated for you. 

Explore a place or a way to realistically deepen your practice or study further so that instead of guilting yourself out, you can build a grounded and resilient teaching practice.

Confidence doesn’t come from knowing everything, but from accepting you can't know everything. The yoga tradition teaches us that we are inherently confused, that is the human condition! It is totally at odds with the contemporary pressure to create a perfect life. Instead we can focus on finding some ease with our reality and finding some little good even if thing are tough.

This is also how we can deeply support our students. Work on accepting yourself as you are, one thought at a time and it will also support your students. We are often drawn to teach exactly what we need. So each time you guide your students, also guide yourself, deepening your connection to yoga and to your own path. 

There are SO many things that make me "not a good" yogi. But I also know that through accepting this, I can enjoy life on my terms and support my students to feel ok with who they are too!

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