Not enjoying teaching

I need some advice from anyone who may have been in a similar position. I've been teaching yoga for 2 years, roughly 2-3 times a week, with occasional longer workshops/events every couple of months. I also work a full-time desk job. Over the Christmas break, I felt completely burnt out, I was physically and mentally exhausted, and the thought of returning to teaching in January felt completely overwhelming and was making me really anxious. Despite all the advice online being just to practice and teach more, I decided to take a break from teaching and pause all of my classes, and I'm still on that break now.

I was originally hoping to restart one of my weekly classes at the beginning of March, but the closer that date (it would have been today) was getting, the more dread I was feeling. All of this has basically led me to question whether I even enjoy teaching at all, or whether this is just a temporary feeling. Should I force myself to return and try to push through, or is teaching maybe not for me?

This is how I'm feeling about yoga in general, and teaching atm:

  • I really haven't enjoyed planning classes, I feel almost no inspiration to come up with ideas or try things out. I know you don't have to reinvent the wheel every single class, but I have relied on just teaching what I'm comfortable with for a while.
  • My personal practice is basically non-existent (this may be controversial to say but its true). A few weeks ago, I was barely practicing at all because I was just too exhausted all the time. Now that I do feel like practicing, I mostly follow YouTube videos. I feel no pull to get on my mat and just do my own thing, I just want someone to tell me what to do.
  • I used to love learning about yoga philosophy, but now it just feels so overwhelming and like another thing I 'should' be doing that I'm not.
  • When I was teaching, a lot of the time I'd sit around all day waiting to teach my class, dreading it and feeling like I couldn't relax until it was over. Once it was done I'd feel like phew okay I can relax now.
  • I'd be exhausted after teaching my classes, even 2 evenings a week, and after sitting at my desk working all day, it was such a challenge to get myself motivated to teach.
  • I feel like my teaching and my cueing was becoming almost automatic, like I was on autopilot and just relying on stock phases I know work for my students.
  • I'd often not feel connected to my body whilst teaching, on bad days this would tip over into constant mild panic throughout the whole class.

I have major imposter syndrome anyway, and feel like I don't know what I'm doing, and that everyone can see I'm a fraud despite getting loads of nice feedback from my regulars, and them expressing disappointment that my classes have stopped for the time being. I know a lot of these things are me problems, and I am in therapy to address the many underlying issues lol.

But, I wanted to know if anyone has experienced this before, and whether you decided to stop teaching completely, or found a way to continue that didn't make you feel terrible? Any advice would be really appreciated ❤️

Posted Mar 2, 2026, 4:09 PM UTC

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