Writing the (dreaded) Yoga Teacher Bio
Is it just me or is this the worst part of teaching yoga??
I recently embarked on the arduous task of updating my yoga teacher bio (groan). After days of procrastinating, I holed myself up on the sofa for a few hours—yes, hours, PLURAL—and committed myself to coming up with five simple sentences about my yoga teaching.
As someone who’s been teaching yoga for a decade (and has written many a bio) it never ceases to amaze me how challenging it is to write these things. Not only do you have to sum up your entire career, list out your qualifications, and talk about your *style* of teaching in a few short sentences, but you also have to make it interesting so that people will read it and maybe want to come to your yoga class.
It’s a tall order.
Anyway, after labouring on mine for longer than I care to admit, I decided to put together a little template featuring content that, I think (from the perspective of a teacher, student, and former yoga studio owner), is essential to have in a yoga teacher’s bio. I love a good template (I’ve literally made a living creating templates for yoga teachers) because once you have a solid method for doing something, you can basically recreate that thing infinitely, with ease, forever.
I’ve also shared my most recent bio at the end of this post so you can see how I’ve adapted all of the template’s content.
Hopefully, if this is a task that you also dread, this template will help make it a little less laborious.
The Bio Template
Before we jump into the different pieces of content, I just want to preface by saying that there’s no right or wrong way to order them (when you read my bio at the bottom you’ll see that I’ve mixed/matched mine so that the bio flows nicely). You can arrange them in whatever order feels most natural to you.
To begin, I like to draft out a few sentences for each piece of content and then play around with their order, length and placement.
Content 1 - Your Yoga Journey
This is pretty self-explanatory: it’s where you can share a little bit about what initially drew you to yoga, and how you ended up becoming a yoga teacher.
In my experience, this is the part of the bio that most students read. People come to the mat for all kinds of reasons and I think a lot of students are curious about their teachers’ journey (I’ve had more than one student confess to having “creeped” my bio post-class).
Your yoga history can also help to establish a connection with your future students. I’ve had students choose to practice with me specifically because they resonated with my journey.
Content 2 - Unique To YOU
When you’re one of many names on a class schedule it’s hard to tell what sets your class apart from the other yoga teachers.
Your bio is where you can attract prospective students by highlighting the things that make your class special (eg: maybe you’re known for making really good class playlists, or perhaps you’re really into poetry and you bring a short reading to each class, maybe you start every class with myofascial release or you play an instrument during Savasana).
Here I think it’s also great to include your special interests or areas of study within the realm of movement/yoga (eg: functional movement, accessible yoga, the impact of myofascial release on yoga, etc.).
Content 3 - Qualifications
Sharing your unique qualifications speaks to your experience and establishes your credibility. Here you might highlight your years of teaching experience, any special trainings that you’ve taken, languages that you teach in (if you speak multiple languages), additional certifications that you’ve acquired, or significant places that you’ve taught (eg: maybe you’ve taught in many different countries or have been a headliner at a big yoga festival; maybe you’ve volunteered in rehabilitation centres or correctional facilities; perhaps you are a contributing writer for a yoga publication, a yoga teacher trainer etc.).
Content 4 - Describe the Vibe
They say your vibe attracts your tribe so this is where you get to paint a picture of what it feels like to practice with you.
I actually think this is the most important part of the bio. Yoga is a profoundly visceral movement practice. This piece of content tells prospective students exactly what it will feel like to be in your class which, ultimately, makes clicking “register” a no-brainer for students who resonate with your vibe.
I like to list down 2-3 adjectives that accurately describe my typical class environment.
Content 5 - Something Fun
Because bios can feel a little bit stuffy, I always like to wrap up with something a little fun to showcase my personality/sense of humour.
This is usually the hardest to come up with so this is where it can be helpful to consult friends/family for suggestions.
A couple examples:
For a power-vinyasa teacher: three words of advice when you're joining my class: BRING.A.TOWEL.
For a Yin teacher: I take it as the biggest compliment anytime someone falls asleep in my class (although I do have a reoccurring nightmare of that person being me!!).
For a soundhealer: If you see me driving home from class, windows down, 2Pac blasting—no you didn’t.
An easy all-arounder that I had in a past bio: When I’m not on the mat you can usually find me __________________ .
**Content Tips**
Keep it concise. We don’t need your life’s story. Try to keep each section limited to 1-2 sentences.
Avoid turning your bio into a resumé. You’ve already got the job so you don’t need to list out every training and prior gig you’ve ever had. Nobody wants to read that—it’s boring (sorry). Also please, for the love of yoga, don’t make the first sentence of your bio, your certifications. The most interesting thing about you/your teaching is not that you’re an ERYT500.
Have a few friends/loved ones proofread it. I always get my husband to proofread my drafts and give me feedback. He knows me best and so he always has great suggestions that make my bio feel authentic to me.
Write for your audience. Avoid using industry jargon unless you are writing a bio for a gig that involves teaching industry professionals (like a yoga teacher training for example). Otherwise, write in simple, clear language that most ordinary folks can understand even if they’ve never tried yoga before.
My Most Recent Bio
As an example, here is the bio that I recently drafted for an exciting new gig that I have coming up (more on that very very soon!!!!).