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Decide on the format of your class
Decide whether you want to offer a crowded class or private classes to just one person. You can teach a class that is available to all your students, and here’s the good news you have unlimited space, unlike a small yoga studio, to get as many students to join your class as possible. Or you can offer live online classes to your 1-on-1 students, where you teach only them. If they have a computer or a camera with a camera you can see them, and you can talk face to face.
Decide on your live streaming platform
My favorite forum for training calls or Q&A sessions is Zoom, and that’s what I would recommend to private online classes. You can easily create live classes and share the link with your students. A basic $ 15 account per month can accommodate up to 100 students at a time. It records your times automatically.
To get a free live class online, you can use Facebook Live or YouTube Live. Facebook Live is free, it is very easy to live, and you can limit access to live in a private Facebook Group so that only members of that group can see your class. But your readers need to be on Facebook and if a large number of your readers are not using Facebook, this could be a problem. Another option is YouTube Live. To be live on YouTube you need to have a YouTube channel, and you need to turn on your YouTube channel for live, which can take up to 24 hours, so you need to do this in advance. You can limit live access to unlisted videos and only people with the link can watch them.
Find your equipment
You need a computer with a webcam, or you can use your iPhone or Android phone with a tripod. Sound is also important because your students will listen more to your voice than watch you practice.
Using an internal microphone from your computer or your phone will not disconnect. It is not loud enough, and if you walk around it will not be stable. Either you need to invest in headsets with a device that sends audio to your computer, or, and this is a simple and amazing option, use Apple AirPods or any other type of headset.
Set your recording location
I recommend that you prepare your set – where you can place the carpet, your background, camera, light and sound, date in advance. Clean the clutter and remove any excess objects that you may have on the back that look bad. Tap the “safe area” cycle to get around without getting out of the frame – when you make a yoga video, you want to make sure you set up a camera so you can capture your whole body. If you only have a small space and find it difficult to move the camera far enough to fully capture it, you can buy your phone a wide camera lens and use it for recording. This will help you if you have a small space.
Natural light is best but be careful that you do not have a large window behind you and no other lights, as you will be dark. It is best if the window is behind the camera, or on the side, and you can plant a ring lamp or softbox lamps used by professional photographers. They are not as expensive as you might think and will make a big difference, they can be easily packaged if you do not need them.
Check everything
Record a 1-2 minute inspection video to see what your environment looks like and how the light works. Note that you will get different types of light depending on the weather and the time of day, so try to apply that.
This will allow you to feel calm before your class and focus on what you want to teach and not the technical setup.
Here is an additional tip: Write down your setup. For example, take pictures of where you put your car, your computer or your phone, and the lights. This way it will only take a minute to set everything up next time. Because like everything else, practice makes perfect. Being life, and teaching online, may sound awkward at the moment, but it will be easier and easier if you do it often.
Teach your class
It is helpful if you have a friend who can check that everything is working and give you feedback, so if possible, ask someone else to support you. Maybe you can work with another yoga teacher and support each other’s, online class? I recommend that you do not use music in your classroom when you are living. If Facebook or YouTube thinks you are using unlicensed music, it will not play your video. And you certainly don’t want that to happen, so it’s best not to use music.
Post the recording
When you become live on Facebook, Facebook will automatically save your video and people can watch it once you are live. You can also download the video and resume it, for example uploading it to YouTube as an unlisted video and sharing that link. If you use Zoom you can also save and share the recording with your readers, by uploading the file to Dropbox or Google Drive or uploading it to YouTube as an unlisted video and sharing that link.
