2024 | FUTURE OF THE YOGA TEACHER SUMMIT

By the end of this one-day summit, you will have actionable solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing yoga teachers today.

Refine your relationship with yoga's history and philosophies, discover bridges between yoga & other embodied perspectives, enhance the yoga community as a place of wisdom, insight and connection, nurture your yoga practice and/or teaching through transformative education, give back – these are just a few of the ways we can be of service to the yoga world.

Showing up for this one-day summit is a decision to creatively contribute to solutions, and throughout this event there will be opportunities to cultivate greater knowledge, sensitivity and access to actionable solutions. By the end of this summit, you will take a step to become conduits of compassion, wisdom, and vision.

Join us in this project to build a sustainable future for the yoga community.

Learn actionable ways to integrate philosophical perspectives into your yoga teachings
Discover a path forward for taking your teaching beyond the yoga studio
Study a hybrid business model integrating grassroots brick-and-mortar business practices with online techniques & strategies
Chart out the “three great stages” of your yoga career
Flip your perspective about doing business with the "sādhana-centered business model"
Resolve your discomforts with the money side of things by understanding how ancient yogis supported themselves and the dissemination of their teachings
Use the "Design Worksheet" to design yoga classes, workshops, and retreats along philosophical themes
Harness the 3-step process for creating "magical" experiences

Over the past several years, the future of yoga practice & teaching has become far less certain. The closing of countless studios due to the pandemic coupled with the effects of social media have produced a radical shift in the cultural and social climate of yoga.

Changes to studio culture in the wake of social and political movements, joined with shifts in our understanding of yoga’s history, have caused an identity crisis in the modern postural yoga community. While some would lament the loss of the way things were, these changes offer opportunities for evolution, refinement, development, and the cultivation of a deeper and wiser modern yoga community.

9:00-10:45 am | Opening Session: "The Evolving Landscape of Yoga Teaching"

In this interactive opening session, all participants will share their views on the state of yoga teaching today and begin to envision the future. We will then discuss the historical evolution of yoga teaching, and then meditate on a vision of things to come. We will highlight the importance of combining philosophical depth with business acumen to develop more impactful and successful yoga teachers.

10:45-11:45 am | "Authenticity as a Business Strategy"

This session will focus on aligning your teaching with philosophy and building a teaching perspective rooted in your unique understanding of yoga wisdom. We will showcase case studies of successful teachers who have integrated their knowledge into their business model and will offer practical exercises for identifying and articulating your authentic voice.

11:45 am-1:15 pm | "Creating Transformative Experiences Beyond Āsana & the Sādhana-Centered Business Model"

This session will cover designing classes, workshops, and retreats that incorporate yoga philosophy, along with strategies for pricing and marketing your yoga offerings. It will also explore how using technology, such as apps and online courses can enhance teachings and address the challenge of balancing accessibility with depth in your offerings. This session will further highlight how consistent personal practice enhances teaching and career opportunities. It will offer strategies for balancing spiritual and organizational growth through a contemplative practice-based approach.

1:15 pm-2:00 pm | LUNCH BREAK

2:00-3:30 pm | [Coaching with Ava]: "The Three Great Stages of Your Yoga Career"

In this actionable interactive session, volunteers from the participants will receive sample coaching on their yoga teaching or business practice. From beginning your business, to choosing the destination, you'll learn how to assess what you're doing and where you're going. Ava will offer helpful insights into navigating the tensions around money exchanged for yoga's services, while teaching strategies for nurturing a community both online and offline. We'll also discuss how to maximize and assess your existing business, engaging your audience through storytelling and mythology, and leveraging your community for business growth.

3:30-4:30 pm | Closing Session: Q&A and Where We Go From Here

In our closing session together, we will return to where we started: the question of what yoga teaching is, what it has been, and what its future can be. Here, we will answer questions that arise, and ultimately leave with a shared motivation and commitment to build this future together. The future doesn't simply happen to us. Every small decision we make to become wiser, more effective teachers and facilitators becomes the world in which more and more inspired individuals will take up the task of sharing one of the greatest adventures possible in this lifetime – the adventure of yogic inspiration and liberation.

Ava Taylor is an avid yogi and a tenacious, creative entrepreneur, author and consultant. Her personal mission is to bring the tools of yoga and wellness to communities of all kinds. Throughout her career Taylor has collaborated with over 1,000 yoga teachers, studio owners, and brands. She is the go-to strategist for yoga business owners looking to get their businesses to the next level. Based in New York City, she travels the world doing yoga with her clients and community as often as she can. Her latest offering, Your Yoga Business is available at Human Kinetics.

@avantaylor | www.yamatalent.com

Jacob Kyle is a meditation teacher, writer, philosophy educator, and the Founding Director of Embodied Philosophy. His guiding mission is to re-imagine the modern function of the yoga teacher in alignment with the teachings, texts, and traditions of yoga's profound history. Jacob is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford.He holds an MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from Oxford (2023), an MA in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research (2017), and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics (2007). Jacob is a passionate advocate of Kashmir Śaivism and a devoted practitioner of the Śaiva-Śākta Darśana.

A hybrid business model integrating grassroots brick-and-mortar business practices with online techniques & strategies
The “three great stages” of your yoga career
The sādhana-centered business model
How to integrate philosophical perspectives into your yoga teachings
How to resolve discomforts with the money side of things by understanding a little bit of the history on the relationship between yoga & money
How to design yoga classes, workshops, and retreats on philosophical themes
How to create magical experiences