Top Tips for Yoga Travel Jobs Around the World

Teaching yoga is by far one of the best jobs on Earth, and luckily for us yoga instructors, yoga’s growing popularity is making teaching possible almost anywhere in the world. Anywhere you go these days, it seems yoga is a part of the curriculum of day-to-day life. Yes, yoga instructors deal with the same job frustrations as others, including the issue of being under-compensated. However, there are so many more pros to teaching yoga than there are cons, and one of the greatest perks of teaching yoga is the ability to teach anywhere in the world.

If you’re a yoga instructor and you’ve got the travel bug, here are a few great tips on how to find a job teaching yoga just about anywhere in the world.

Teacher Training

Before you can teach yoga across the world, of course, you need to become a certified yoga teacher! Check out Sri Sri School of Yoga 200H Teacher Trainings.

YogaTrade

If you haven’t heard about Yoga Trade yet, your life is about to change. Since I discovered Yoga Trade just a few years ago, I’ve found the most incredible teaching opportunities. I’ve now taught at a surf hostel in Sri Lanka, a boutique hotel in Bali, a treehouse resort in the jungle of Costa Rica, and a permaculture farm in front of the longest left wave in the world (not telling you where!).

Basically, Yoga Trade is a platform that connects people and organizations who are looking for yoga instructors with those who want to teach. On Yoga Trade, you can find dozens of available jobs in awesome, exotic places such as the ones listed above. I hopped on the platform just now to find an example, and there are listings right now in Laos, Rome, Peru, Medellin, and Costa Rica, just to name a few. Most of these exchanges are on a trade basis, although some do offer payment. Most of my exchanges have been like this: I teach one yoga class a day, and in exchange, I’m provided with free food and accommodations. (Yes, really!). If you’re looking for a cheap, sustainable way to travel, Yoga Trade is perfect for you.

Join the Facebook Group

There’s a great Facebook group called ‘Yoga Jobs All Over the World.’ Like Yoga Trade, here you’ll find different listings of similar jobs, ranging from internships to paid or trade opportunities.

Host Yoga Retreats

If you want to travel on your own terms and be 100% in charge, then hosting your own yoga retreat is your best option. You can decide on exactly where you would like to go, and then create a yoga retreat for that specific destination with your own itinerary. Of course, this option will take lots of research, time, and dedication to figure out planning and logistics. However, this option can be extremely rewarding, as you’re guiding yourself and others through an experiential journey with your own unique offerings. You can teach yoga retreats at resorts, cruises, and even at dedicated retreat centers like the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, North Carolina.

Promote Yourself

Of course, if you’re going to host yoga retreats, you’ll need people to attend them! If you don’t already have a following, I recommend starting by teaching classes or workshops and using these events to showcase your skills and promote your retreats. If you’re shy on social media, it’s time to get out of your shell and start showing up as the kind of leader you would want to take you on a yoga retreat. Would you just agree to book a yoga retreat with somebody you’re not familiar and comfortable with? Odds are, probably not. It’s time to start showing up as a teacher, a leader, and as somebody your students can trust.

Get Your Bearings

Before you leave, make sure you’ve gone through appropriate measures to get everything in check to make your experience runs as smoothly as possible. I’ve dealt with travel issues in the past such as lost and stolen credit cards, minor injuries (luckily), and during one horrible trip abroad I even got my identity stolen. Make sure you cross your T’s and dot your I’s, and think about investing in travel insurance or identity theft insurance.

Just Go For It

If you’ve done a lot of traveling in the past, you probably know that many opportunities arise in the most spontaneous moments. If you haven’t had any luck finding a yoga job and getting an itinerary planned, don’t sweat it! Most of the time, if you just take a leap of faith and go to that corner of the world that has been calling your name, you’ll receive clarity and answers.

So many times, I’ve had no clue why I felt called to a certain part of the world, but as soon as I arrived there, everything lined up perfectly. I call this listening to the divine calling. Don’t worry about getting a job lined up—just go for it. Buy the ticket. Quit the job. And trust that everything will align.