How to start teaching yoga online admin, July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 Today we are going to talk about how to start teaching yoga online, what equipment do you need and what platforms to use for your online yoga classes. If you want to become online yoga teacher, there are some things that you need to prepare before making your first live yoga class. So this article is dedicated for yoga teachers who want to start teaching yoga online but still don’t know where to start and what to do. What are benefits of teaching yoga online for you as a yoga teacher 1) You don’t need to rent a studio (you save money).2) You don’t need to go to studio and return back (you save time).3) You can reach students in the whole world (much wider auditory than only your city).4) You need to make investment only for first setup to buy web camera, wireless microphone, lightning kit, when it’s done, you don’t need to invest much money.5) You can record videos and share it later (and add additional benefits for your students).6) To make your first setup it’s not very expensive.7) You can talk with your students in chat in the time of live streaming (some platforms allows that). What are benefits of yoga online for people who come to yoga practice 1) They get practice in comfortable surrounding (their home, office).2) They don’t need to spend time going to studio and returning back (they save time).3) If they miss yoga class, they can watch video reply (in some platforms it’s possible).4) In some countries and cities there are no yoga studios or qualified yoga teachers, so people can still practice.5) No need to compare yourself with other people.6) Motivation for regular practice. There are two options how you can teach yoga online: 1) When your students use camera and you see them.2) When your students do not use camera and you don’t see them (only they can see you, for example on Youtube). Both of those options are possible, they both have some benefits. Most of the live streaming programs has live chat and you can communicate with your students in live mode. If you want to inform your students about classes or changes you can use same platform (like Facebook, or Whatsapp) or use email to inform people about classes and changes. What do you need to start teaching yoga online If you want to start teaching yoga classes online, you need some equipment 1) You need laptop, PC.2) You need internet.3) You need web camera.4) You need wireless microphone.5) You need online streaming platform. So let’s talk about each part a little bit more detail. To teach yoga online you need to have laptop or PC Most of the modern computers will be able to make live streams, only if your computer is very old and weak, then can be some problems to keep live stream available. But in most cases if your computer works with main major modern programs – it’s should be good for streaming live yoga classes. The more better setup of your computer will be, the more comfortable it will be to make live streaming, but even older computers can make very good live streams for teaching yoga online. Also it is possible to teach yoga online by using your mobile live streaming. To teach yoga online you need to have internet. The more faster and stable internet you have, the better quality it will provide for your students. If internet speed is very slow, then there can be some streaming issues, like buffering and lag, audio glitches, latency and delay or low video quality. There are two options how you can use internet with your laptop or PC: 1) By using cable.2) By using WIFI. When you use internet with cable, it makes more stable connection in your live streaming. But it also depends on your internet provider. In some countries WIFI can also be very stable and strong. To teach yoga online you need to have web camera There are a lot of various options that you can use. I would recommend Logitech Brio (high quality, higher price) or Logitech C920 (good quality, lower price). Technologies get updates very often so after some time probably there will be even better solution. But actually you can use any webcam available on the internet. Prices varies depends on quality, brands. If you want to understand what video quality can provide video camera before buying, you can search on Youtube reviews for this exact camera. For example write words to Youtube search: “Logitech Brio review” or “Logitech C920 review” or any other web camera brand, model and you will find a lot of video reviews that will help you to understand which web camera better fits you. You can buy web camera online or in local shops where you can find similar products. To teach yoga online you need to have wireless microphone Now let’s understand how wireless microphone works and why do you need it for teaching yoga online because when you hear it first time it can be a little bit hard to understand what is it and how to use it. It is very simple to use when you know what to do. So when you teach yoga online, your computer and web camera are in one place, and you stand on your mat a little bit far away from your camera. To get good sound quality to your live streaming, you should have this wireless microphone somewhere near your body and mouth. Wireless microphone has two parts: 1) Transmitter. This part you should put on your body with microphone.2) Receiver. This part goes to your computer. One part you need to have on your body with microphone near your mouth and another part you need to connect to your laptop or PC. And also there is lavalier mic – it is small microphone that you put near your mouth. And then when you’re far away from computer and speak through microphone, good sound quality comes to computer and people who practice yoga with you online they hear your voice in very good quality. What wireless microphone to use for teaching yoga online There are various options what wireless microphone you can use. For example:Boya Wm8 (price around 100 – 150 USD/EUR)Rode Wireless Go II (price around 300 USD/EUR)Rode Wireless Go (Price round 200 USD/EUR)Possible to use:Sennheiser G3 (older model, but very high quality professional sound)Sennheiser G4 (older model, but very high quality professional sound)Some more wireless microphone brands:Boya (Model name: Wm8 or Boyalink)Rode (Wireless Go II or Wireless Go)Saramonic (Model name: Blink 500 ProX B1 or Blink 500 Pro B1 or Vlink2)Samson (Model name: XPD2)Hollyland (Model name: Lark M2)DJI (Model name: Mic 2)Shure (Model name: Move Mic)Sennheiser (Model name: G3 or G4 or AVX-ME2 or AVX-MKE2) Some of those systems already have lavalier microphone included, but some of them – no.What is lavalier microphone – it is small microphone that you put near your mouth. The more closer lavalier mic will be near your mouth, the better sound quality it will make. For example if you buy Rode microphone, they don’t add lavalier and you need to buy it separately (price around 70 USD/EUR). So if you will not use lavalier mic, then you will need to put your wireless microphone near your head and in some cases it can be not very comfortable (especially to show various yoga asanas). Some wireless microphones are cheaper, some are more expensive so please before buying make sure that this model will work with your equipment. If you are on budget and you want to by wireless microphone cheaper, you can take a look at on used market like Ebay or any other place where people sell used items. Choose wireless microphone with batteries or with built-in battery Wireless microphones can have batteries that you can take out and charge or they can have built-in battery. Most of the newest wireless microphones have built-in battery. If you use wireless microphone with batteries that you need to charge, then you will need additionally:1) Rechargeable batteries (AA or AAA, it depends on what batteries takes wireless microphone).2) Charger for rechargeable batteries.I use Panasonic Eneloop Pro (2500 mAh, in black color). The bigger mAh number of ampers, the longer those batteries will work.I use Sanyo charger, it is very similar to Panasonic Eneloop K-Kj17MCA4BA charger (there can be a little bit similar models and they should do the job very well). So if you use wireless microphone without batteries, you don’t need additionally to buy batteries and charger but please have in mind, that built-in microphones has certain limited amount of hours that they can work. So be sure it will be enough for your yoga classes and you will not need to charge it right after your first class. If you use older wireless microphone like Sennheiser G3, G4 or Boya WM6 or any other Now one very important moment if you buy older microphone system (like Sennheiser G3, G4). In order to get good sound to your computer, you will need to have additional device that your computer understands as sound card. For this it is possible to use additional sound card or recorder like Zoom H1n. Only then your computer will “understand” and transfer good sound quality to your live streaming. It works like this. To make live streaming, you need to connect Zoom H1n recorder to computer, then connect wireless microphone (for example Sennheiser G3) receiver to your Zoom H1n recorder and you have transmitter on yourself with lavalier mic. So only then your computer gets good sound quality. But in the most of newest wireless microphones, they already solved this problem and you connect your wireless microphone straight to your laptop or PC and it works without any problem. For example if you use Rode Wireless Go II, then you will need to use cable USB-C and when you connect it to your computer, it gets sounds from your microphone very well. Overall, nowadays there are a lot of various wireless microphones that you can use for teaching yoga online. You can decide and choose based on your needs and budget. Before buying you can watch various reviews on Youtube by searching wireless microphone brand, model and reviews. Sound quality it is very important factor when teaching yoga online. If your sound quality will be bad, noisy, with distractions, it will also be not comfortable for people to practice yoga. If your sound quality will be good, then it will give much better experience for your students. Additional items that can be useful for teaching online yoga classes Lightning kit (Softbox). It is additional lightning that light up you and make better quality of your video. If place where you make live streaming is dark, then it make lower video quality and additional lightning can help you very much. Lightning kit can have 1-3 lamps with stands, I use with 2 lamps 85W. Similar lightning kit (softbox) can cost 75-125 USD/EUR on Amazon or any other place. If place where you are going to teach yoga is very bright, have very good lightning, then maybe it will be enough, you will see it after testing. It also depends on which hours you teach yoga. If it’s day time – maybe it will be enough lightning. But if it will be early morning or evening time – probably there can be helpful additional lightning. Tripod for web camera. In some situations it can be useful because with tripod you can put camera in that place where it will be the best place. But sometimes you also can clip it just on laptop. So please decide on your situation. I would recommend to use regular camera tripod if you need it. To teach yoga online you need to use online streaming platform Streaming platform – it is a website or application that allows you to make live streaming video. Nowadays live streaming became very popular and there are various options that you can use to teach yoga online. There are free options and there are paid options. In some platforms you will need to use additional streaming software, for example OBS. I will explain how to use it below. Youtube live streaming for teaching yoga online It is very easy to teach yoga with Youtube live streaming. Youtube allows you to make live streams with webcam or mobile. After streaming you get recorded video so you can use it later for your or your student needs. There are 3 ways how to stream online on Youtube:1) Public streaming (see everybody on your channel).2) Unlisted streaming (see only people with your link, other people don’t see it).3) Private streaming (see only people that you invited with email). Tutorial how to start live streaming on Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSz5a5ryc-kYou will need to use OBS software for streaming. Setup is very easy and after setting up for first time and you’re ready. How to start live stream on Youtube1) Open OBS studio.2) Login to your Youtube Channel (studio).3) Click on “Create” and choose “Go live”.4) In OBS studio, click “Start Streaming” (your OBS studio should already be configured).5) In Youtube click “Go live”. If you want to share your stream, just click “Share”, copy link and send it to people who are going to participate in your yoga class. It’s free to use Youtube live streaming. Facebook live streaming for teaching yoga online Facebook it is another very popular platform that you can use for live streaming. Easiest way is to create group, invite people who want to practice together and make live streaming in group. Facebook Live is a feature of Facebook that lets users livestream directly to the social network platform. Viewers can react, share, and comment during the stream. So it is very easy to use for teaching yoga. How to start live stream on Facebook 1) Login to your Facebook profile.2) Go to group where you want to start live streaming.3) Click on “write new post”, then click “more” and find “Live streaming”.4) Choose go live.5) In OBS studio, click “Start Streaming” (your OBS studio should already be configured).6) Click Go live. It’s free to use Facebook live streaming. Skype video calls for live streaming for teaching yoga online Skype it is another very popular platform that you can use for live streaming. All people who want to join your yoga class should have Skype and you will need to make conference video call. So you just make a group, add people and make a video call – you’re ready for teaching yoga. Download Skype:https://www.skype.com/en/ It’s free to use Skype video calls. Yandex Telemost live streaming for teaching yoga online Yandex Telemost is a click-and-join video conferencing platform. In Yandex Telemost, you can organize online yoga classes. Just create a video meeting and share the link with your students.At the moment maximum 40 people can attend a meeting. Video meetings in Yandex Telemost have no time limits: there won’t be any sudden interruptions during your yoga class. English version:https://telemost.yandex.ru/?lang=en Russian version:https://telemost.yandex.ru Step by step guide how to use Yandex Telemost for live streaming in Russian language:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hXePtEDfso Google Meet live streaming for teaching yoga online Google Meet it’s platform that allows you to make online video calls. It is very easy to use. Google Meet is a high-quality video calling website designed to help you have quality interactions with your friends, family, colleagues, and classmates, wherever they are. It has user-friendly interface, large participant capacity, live captioning, and recording features. It offers both free and paid plans. How to start live streaming on Google Meet 1) Go to https://meet.google.com2) Login to your Google account3) Click “New Meeting” and “Start an instant meeting”4) Click on 3 dashes, go to Settings.5) In Settings, choose Audio section, choose microphone that you want to use.6) In Settings, choose Video section, choose web camera that you want to use.7) Then just copy link of your meeting and share it to people.8) When people will connect, you will get notification to accept them. Google Meet’s free version has a 60-minute time limit on group calls (3 or more participants) while one-on-one calls can last up to 24 hours. So in some situations it can also be used for teaching yoga classes online. Tutorial how to use google meet for live streaming:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KVZvUxQXMA Telegram live streaming for teaching yoga online Telegram is an application of messaging and audio calling cloud-based app that allows you to send messages, photos, videos and files of any type to your contacts for free. You can also create groups for up to 200,000 people or channels for broadcasting to unlimited contacts or audiences. It’s also possible to teach yoga through Telegram live streaming. You can easily start a live stream through the telegram desktop application. How to livestream on Telegram from laptop, PC 1) Download Telegram for desktop https://desktop.telegram.org2) Sign in to your Telegram account or sign up3) Click on the channel or group that you wish to stream.4) Tap on the Options icon present at the top of the screen.5) Click on the Start live stream option from the drop down menu. It is possible to make live streams on mobile, but when you make live streaming on laptop or PC, it gives much better stream quality, possibility to add external equipment, stability of internet, WIFI connection, better streaming controls, much larger screen for the best streaming experience. Also you can customize your Telegram live streaming with OBS program. Tutorial how to use Telegram for live streaming:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8umVHkTvj8 It’s free to use Telegram video calls. WhatsApp live streaming for teaching yoga online WhatsApp is free to download messenger app for smartphones and PC. WhatsApp uses the internet to send messages, images, audio or video. You can also use Whatsapp on your desktop to send messages and make video calls, live streaming. Many people use WhatsApp internationally, as it’s a free way to send messages to people all over the world. WhatsApp can be used without a data connection, as calls and texts can be sent over WIFI. You can download WhatsApp here:https://www.whatsapp.com/download How to make a video call on WhatsApp:Original Whatsapp website How to make a group video call on WhatsApp on Windows:Original whatsapp website Tutorial how to make a video call on WhatsApp with PC:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK2xyiUO3V4 It’s free to use WhatsApp video calls. How to setup OBS studio OBS it is free (open source) software that you need to install to your laptop, PC if you want to make live streaming in most of platforms. It allows you to add camera, microphone, customize live streaming by adding various pictures, videos, text that can be helpful for your teaching process. When you setup and configure one time, you’re ready to go for future live streams. Also with OBS you can record video to your computer. During live stream you can also share your screen with your students through OBS program. So now we will talk in detail how to configure the most important parts in OBS to start our first live streaming. 1) Download OBS here: https://obsproject.com/download2) Open OBS.3) Now we need to add web camera to our OBS system. Find ” Sources” and click add “Video Capture Device.” Then “Create New” and choose your web camera. Add resolution (if it’s Logitech Brio, it can be 1920×1080). And click OK. And then in OBS you should see view of your web camera.4) Now we need to add wireless microphone to OBS system. Find “Sources” and click “Audio Input Capture.” In the list choose your wireless microphone name and click OK. Now in the main window in section Audio Mixer you should see, that when you talk with your microphone, it shows signs that it’s working. If it’s grey and does not show signs of work, it means that OBS still did not “see” your microphone. 5) Now let’s go to Settings and find “Stream” tab. In “Service” section you need to use platform where you’re going to make live streaming. There your should add “Streaming Key” that you can find in your live streaming platform. Just go to live streaming platform, find “Streaming Key” (it should be visible in area before creating your live stream and copy this “Streaming Key” here to OBS. Click “Apply.”6) Go to Output tab. Find “Bitrate” and write (for example) “2500”.7) Go to Video tab. Enter resolution “1920×1080” if you use Logitech Brio (this resolution is related with your web camera possibilities). Add common FPS value 30. Click “Apply” and OK. So basically those are the main options that you need to enter to start streaming on platforms like Youtube, Facebook, other and it should work very well. Sometimes there can be some issues related with settings in OBS. In this case look for solution on internet or Youtube. In conclusion Teaching yoga online for yoga teacher – it is very good possibility to expand teaching and reach more students. As you see there are a lot of online streaming platforms that allow you to make online yoga classes so you can choose whatever fits you and your yoga student needs. One of the important keys to success is regular and stable practice. Teach yoga based on moral and ethic principles Yama and Niyama, Law of Karma, compassion. By helping others in yoga and self-realization path you also help your personal evolution. As Shantideva said: “All suffering in the world arises from wishing our self to be happy.All happiness in the world arises from wishing others to be happy.”Om For Teachers Teaching Yoga How To Start Teaching Yoga OnlineTeaching Yoga Online