How to Teach Yoga on YouTube, According to Yoga With Kassandra

Photo: Yoga With Kassandra

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When I began recording content for YouTube under Yoga with Kassandra, I figured that I could simply teach class the same way I would at a studio but in front of a camera. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After spending the last decade building my YouTube channel to more than two million subscribers, I’ve come to understand many things about teaching yoga on YouTube—including the fact that you’re no longer at the mercy of studios’ class styles and structures.

If you’re curious to know what it takes to build a successful channel for yoga classes on YouTube, the following is what I’ve learned.

Because you’re instructing YouTube content without students’ energy or an ability to observe them, there’s more performing compared to studio classes. It’s almost more like an acting job. Recording classes for YouTube might take some acclimating. Also, not everyone likes being on camera and teaching when there’s no one else in the room, so you might decide that it’s not right for you.

At the beginning, I was stuck in yoga studio mindset. Even when I received requests for 10- and 20-minute classes, I was hesitant to step away from the studio model of longer classes. Instead, I recorded only 30- and 60-minutes vinyasa and yin yoga sequences.

It took me a while, but I started to understand what YouTubers wanted based on their comments and what they watched over and over again, so I started leading 10-minute yoga classes. Such a short practice feels more doable and makes it harder to find excuses as to why you can’t get on your mat. What I’ve noticed is that subscribers often start with a 10-minute class and then they keep on adding another and another and another until they’ve been on their mat for 40 minutes.

After I gave myself permission to respond to what students wanted, everything changed for my channel. When your audience tells you what they need, pay attention.

I thought I needed to offer a broad array of classes and sequences, but followers kept saying to me, “We want more yin yoga and we want more morning yoga.” I initially thought, “Well, I already have a couple of those classes.” But just because you’ve done a hip opening class once doesn’t mean students will never want to teach a hip opening class again. They want that week after week.

You don’t have to totally reinvent the wheel. You just need to make sure that you’re leading students through something that you’re qualified to teach, that you’re really good at teaching, and that your students actually want. That’s really how you elevate your presence.

If you do happen to release a video that does quite well, that’s the time to ride the wave while you have it and to keep making similar content. Whatever is doing well on your channel, keep doing more of that.

Another mistake that I made early on was trying to offer all different styles of yoga and all different lengths of classes to all different levels. I wanted everyone who landed on my channel to find what they needed. But unfortunately, when you try to please everyone, you end up serving no one.

You’re much better off focusing on your strengths, your skills, and what you’re actually qualified to teach and pairing that with what your students are requesting and what your numbers are telling you they’re watching. Finding that sweet spot is really, really important.

I receive a lot of requests for prenatal and postnatal yoga. I’m trained in it, but it’s not my area of expertise, so I don’t teach it. I honestly think I would be doing a disservice to students to start offering those classes. And I don’t think they would end up being successful because that’s not authentic to my practice.

Do not compare your channel and your classes to other teachers’ videos, especially when you’re starting out. You’re learning a new skill, so of course you’re going to occasionally fall short. But you need to go through that learning curve. It would be the same as if you’re learning to paint and you’re comparing your first work to someone who’s been creating art for 20 years.

Successful yoga teachers on YouTube find their following because they’re authentic in their approach. You have to focus what you do well, especially in the beginning when you’re easily influenced to go in one direction or another. Even if you tried to recreate a popular video by another teacher, odds are it’s just not going to work for you. That video was likely the perfect marriage of the right teacher bringing the right practice to the right audience. Stay true to yourself, be patient, and grant yourself some grace. You’ll find your tribe.

It’s tempting to offer something small on YouTube and try to send people somewhere else, whether to your website or to another platform where you offer paid classes. But YouTube wants to encourage people to stay on the platform—and it rewards channels that encourage followers to do the same. If you want YouTube to be a functional platform for you, it’s wise to treat it as its own entity and with respect.

I’ve found that “more is more” here. Don’t worry about offering too much content for free. I know that some of us are hesitant to dive into that mentality because we think we should hold back and maybe offer only a few select free classes. But if you’re going to embrace YouTube, the more content you can offer, the more your students will receive, the more they will come back to your channel, and the more it will benefit you and your teaching in the long term.

It’s easy to forget that YouTube is a search engine. Users engage with the platform in the same way that they do Google—they type in what they’re looking to practice. Based on those keywords, YouTube decides which videos to show.

The number one way to make sure that someone sees your class is to title your video accurately. Keep it simple. Ask yourself, what’s the focus of your class? Who is it for? What amount of experience do students need? How long is it? What style is it? Do they need props? Remember, your class is solving a problem for practitioners by offering something that’s in line with what they’re seeking. Title it accordingly.

Also, YouTube offers built-in tools that recommend keywords relevant to your niche, including video titles that would resonate well with your audience.

Many yoga teachers become overwhelmed and think that they need to have a bunch of SEO savvy to optimize their YouTube content. Not true. If you have even a minimal amount of SEO awareness, use that here. But it isn’t necessary.

In addition to being literal when you create a title, be thorough with your description, as if you’re writing a blog post. You can also include a playlist in your description. Also, optimize the wording on your thumbnail image, which is the small image for your video that users are shown in the search results, in the same way you do the title of your video. And YouTube allows 500 tags for each video. Don’t be shy about using them, although make certain that they’re truly relevant to your video.

At the end of the day, people will find your videos in myriad ways. Sometimes, they’ll be watching someone else’s video and yours will pop up because it’s offering something similar. Maybe your video will come up in Google search results. Someone could share your class on Facebook or Pinterest. In those cases, it’s as simple as someone searching for the title of your video, such as “evening yoga,” and then a lot of classes will pop up and they click on one–perhaps yours.

Yoga rewards consistency and so does the YouTube algorithm. YouTube tends to share content from channels that are consistent and don’t disappear for long stretches of time. For the last nine years, I’ve released a minimum of one video a week, and I always share them on the same day of the week and at the same time. There’s even a tool in YouTube that recommends the best time of the week and time of day to publish your videos, based on your audience’s digital habits. So set a schedule and stick to it.

Posting with predictability and consistency also establishes trust with your viewership. It’s difficult when a student notices that you’ve uploaded a lot of classes in a few days and then you disappear for several months. They might not be as likely to subscribe to your channel because they don’t know if you’re going to return. It’s better to set a schedule and remain accountable to it and your followers. It’s better to do less and stay as consistent as possible. You can add more classes to your weekly schedule later if you find that it’s manageable for you.

You can also include a reminder in your video description to subscribe to your channel and turn on notifications so your audience knows when you’ve shared new content.

Everyone asks about the best equipment to film and edit YouTube videos. But I always recommend that teachers wait until after they consistently record content for YouTube for six months to buy a camera and sound system. Six months is enough time to know if you even like teaching on the platform.

If you decide to invest in equipment, focus on a mic more than a camera, because a student at home in Downward Dog is hopefully listening more than they’re watching and not turning their necks in a bunch of ways trying to look at you. (This means you also want to pay careful attention to your cues.) In the meantime, use the camera on your smart phone and make sure that you’re in a well-lit place, such as in front of a window with natural light.

The one question that always comes up is “When can I start earning income from YouTube?”

That’s difficult to answer. You have to meet certain criteria before you can apply to be part of the YouTube Partner Program. At the moment, in order to be in that partner program, you need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months in order to qualify. YouTube is in the process of changing the program standards to allow access to more creators.

Once you are accepted into the program, you’re able to earn ad revenue from your videos, which means advertisers place ads on your videos and you share that commission with YouTube. If an advertiser spends one dollar, you get 60 cents and YouTube keeps 40 cents.

Until you’re in the partner program, YouTube can place ads on your videos, but the commission will not be split with you. (Perhaps they’ll revise that policy in the future, because a lot of people are displeased with it.) Also, you are not able to remove ads that interrupt your class until after you’re in the partner program. Only then can you delete ads, decide where ads go, and determine how many ads you want.

YouTube is not a path for instructors seeking instant gratification. If you’re thinking that you’ll just put a couple of videos on YouTube and make a quick buck, it’s probably not going to work for you. You need to commit to it for the long haul.

About Our Contributor

Kassandra Reinhardt is an Ottawa-based Yin Yoga and vinyasa yoga instructor whose YouTube channel has grown to 2.2 million subscribers and has more than 230 million views. Kassandra recently released her guided yoga journal, My Yoga Journey: A Guided Journal, her daily affirmation card deck, I Radiate Joy, and her book, Year of Yoga.