How Living in Tenerife Sparked a New Creative Chapter in My Yoga Career

As I enter my second year of teaching yoga, I’ve been thinking more intentionally about how I can expand and grow as a teacher. Along with my goal of learning to teach classes in Spanish, I’m envisioning new ways to develop my career and gain experience working with students from all kinds of backgrounds.

This past month has been an incredible time for experimentation, learning, and exploration. Not only did I move to Tenerife for a month to teach daily yoga classes at a surf hostel, but I also started my latest passion project—launching my YouTube channel for yoga classes.

Tenerife was a truly inspiring place to begin this journey. The south side of the island, where I was living, has a striking landscape—its desert climate and hilly terrain always offer a vantage point to look out over the vast ocean. It was a beautiful and motivating setting to both teach and create.

Working with students from all over the world teaching yoga at a surf hostel

In the evenings, I taught yoga classes for the hostel guests, which was an incredibly enriching experience. I was able to connect with people from all over the world, sharing what I love. Mornings became my time to experiment with recording yoga classes.

Right now, my recording setup is pretty simple. In Tenerife, I used just a tripod and my iPhone to film the classes. Capturing a yoga class on video depends on several factors—angles, lighting, and planning are all important.

I’ve started to develop a process that begins with choosing a location and creating a rough outline of the class focus. In Tenerife, this was especially fun because of the variety of beautiful backdrops. I often recorded early in the morning as the sun rose over the mountains, lighting up my body and the sea behind me.

Filming yoga classes with an ocean backdrop

After filming myself practicing the class, I import the video, edit it, and record the audio. I’ve really enjoyed this part of the process—especially recording the audio afterward.

Recording voiceovers for YouTube has been a powerful way to improve my teaching. It’s pushed me to revisit the anatomical concepts I’ve studied and refine my cues. Hearing myself has also helped me work on developing my voice.

Clear communication is a huge part of teaching for me. My voice is the tool that guides students into a place of calm and connection with their bodies. It’s important to me that my voice is both grounded and soothing—easy to follow, but confident and clear.

Creating these videos has been such a fulfilling creative process, especially given my background in journalism. While I often improvise in my in-person classes based on the needs of my students, these YouTube classes require a bit more planning. It’s been exciting to brainstorm ideas—longer classes, shorter flows, sequences focused on specific muscle groups, or yoga for cross-training with other activities like running.

Right now, I believe experimentation is essential. Any new experience is an opportunity to grow. I feel more inspired than ever by this new platform that allows me to expand my teaching in a different direction.

Recording by the water

Follow along on my YouTube channel @arabelyoga to explore my online class offerings and my journey with teaching yoga online.