How to Become a Yoga Retreat Leader: My Real Story

When I tell people I launched a yoga retreat business fresh out of teacher training — before I’d taught much of anything on my own — I usually get wide eyes and some version of “wait, what?” It’s an unconventional path. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

This is the story of how Ambuja Yoga started, the messy and beautiful parts both. If you’ve ever dreamed of leading retreats — or you’re just standing at the edge of some big leap in your own life — I hope it lights a spark.

In this post

• How did Ambuja Yoga start?
• How do you become a yoga retreat leader?
• What’s it really like to lead retreats?
• Why women come — and the ripple effect
• The real lesson: you can take the leap too
• FAQ

How did Ambuja Yoga start?

Ambuja Yoga started with a six-month honeymoon and a realization I couldn’t shake. My husband Steve and I had just gotten married, and we spent six months traveling all over Southeast Asia — trekking, dancing under the full moon, snorkeling, scuba diving, climbing mountain peaks, and practicing yoga in some genuinely incredible places. Somewhere in there, yoga became something more to me than the physical poses.

When we got back to Portland, Oregon, we were both ready to shake things up. So we packed up and moved to Bend — a place I’d visited as a kid but Steve had never really been. That first or second weekend in town, I met a woman named Jeannie who owned a yoga studio downtown. She had a teacher training starting in two weeks. I took a class, we talked, and before I knew it I was signed up. I didn’t overthink it. Something in me just said yes, now.

About halfway through that training, I had a deep, undeniable feeling that I was meant to teach — but not just in studios and gyms. I wanted to lead retreats. I wanted to create spaces where women could step away from the busyness of life and reconnect with themselves in beautiful places, the way I had on my honeymoon. So I launched Ambuja Yoga while I was still in my teacher training.

How do you become a yoga retreat leader?

There’s no single certification or permission slip that makes you a yoga retreat leader — you become one by actually leading a retreat. My path was to leap straight from teacher training into hosting my first one, a few months after I finished. Six women signed up. One was my mother, one was my aunt, one was a friend, and a couple came from the internet. It was small. But I did it — I dove in headfirst.

If you’re dreaming of this, here’s the honest version of what it takes: a solid yoga teaching foundation (get properly trained and certified), a place to gather people, a small group willing to say yes, and the willingness to begin before you feel fully ready. That’s it. The rest you learn by doing.

And it grows faster than you’d think when you’re doing something real. A few months after that first Oregon retreat, I led one in Nicaragua with ten or eleven women. The next summer, seventeen in Oregon. By my third year, thirty-six women signed up for Back to Nature — the year I had to add a second session, and the year I realized I couldn’t do it all alone and brought on Toni, who’s been with me ever since.

What’s it really like to lead retreats?

It’s deeply rewarding — and it is not always sunshine and rainbows. I say that plainly because the highlight reel isn’t the whole truth. Over the years I’ve had just about every curveball thrown my way: torrential downpours, scorpions falling onto people’s yoga mats mid-class, leading retreats all through COVID, leading retreats while pregnant with my son Atlas, and then bringing him along after he was born.

I’m not immune to the challenges every retreat leader faces — the logistics, the doubt, the constant learning. What’s changed is how I hold them. I’ve come to see the curveballs as invitations to pivot, to try something new, to get outside my comfort zone. Honestly, that willingness to do the hard things is where most of my growth has come from.

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Dreaming of leading your own retreats one day? I’m putting together resources for women who want to do exactly that. Get on the email list and you’ll be the first to know when it’s ready — plus behind-the-scenes of how these retreats actually come together.

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Why women come — and the ripple effect

Around my third or fourth year, I realized the women weren’t coming just for yoga. Yoga was the common denominator that brought us together, but they were after something more — connection with themselves and other women, rest, and the experience of being seen, witnessed, and accepted exactly as they are. That was the space I’d been building without fully naming it.

And here’s the part that still moves me. I get emails from past guests saying, remember that ceremony where I said I wanted to call in a certain thing? It happened. They named what they wanted out loud — and then they went home and did the work. They opened the boutique. They opened the yoga studio. They bought the land they’d pictured. The naming mattered because it pointed them; the aligned action is what made it real.

It goes beyond the women who attend, too. When a woman reconnects with her own strength and gifts, she carries that home — into a life that feels more connected, more joyful, more hers — and it ripples out. She inspires other women to take charge of their lives. She shows her kids what confident and compassionate looks like. Empowered women empower others. That ripple is the whole reason I do this.

The real lesson: you can take the leap too

More than a decade in, Ambuja Yoga is thriving — I lead more than ten retreats a year now, I get to travel doing work that lights me up, and I bring Atlas and sometimes Steve along. I’m living the life I pictured back in that teacher training, and it still feels surreal some days.

But the point of telling you all this isn’t the destination. It’s that the whole thing started with one unreasonable-seeming leap — launching a retreat business before anyone would have said I was ready. We’re all capable of a leap like that toward the thing we actually want. I see that for you, whether the leap is leading retreats or something only you know the shape of.

So here’s my question for you: what big leap are you taking this year?

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If this stirred something up: the email list is where I share the behind-the-scenes and what I’m building next. If you want to come experience a retreat before you ever think about leading one, see where we’re headed. And if you’re staring down a big brave decision, Episode 3 on going all in is the one to read next.

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About the author

Autumn Adams (E-RYT 500, YACEP) is the founder of Ambuja Yoga and host of The Aligned Yogi Podcast. She’s led women’s yoga retreats since 2014 — 40+ retreats and 700+ women across Oregon, Sedona, Patagonia, and beyond — after launching the business straight out of teacher training. Her work has been featured in Insider, Shape, Zappos, Asia Spa, and Bend Nest. She’s the author of The Little Book of Mudra Meditations and is mom to Atlas. Learn more about Autumn →

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you become a yoga retreat leader? You become a yoga retreat leader by actually leading a retreat — there’s no single license that grants the title. Most people start with a solid yoga teaching foundation and certification, a place to gather a small group, and the willingness to host their first retreat before they feel completely ready. Experience and confidence build from there.

Do you need to be an experienced yoga teacher to lead retreats? You need a genuine teaching foundation, but not decades of it. I led my first retreat a few months after finishing my teacher training. What matters most is that you’re properly trained and certified, comfortable holding a group, and honest about what you can and can’t offer yet.

How do you start a yoga retreat business? Start small and real: complete a reputable yoga teacher training, choose a location you can host in, and invite a small group to your first retreat. My first had six women, including my mom and my aunt. From there you learn the logistics — pricing, food, accommodations, and flow — by doing it and improving each time.

Can you make a living leading yoga retreats? It’s possible, but it usually builds over time rather than overnight. My first retreat had six guests; more than a decade later I lead over ten retreats a year. Sustainable income tends to come from consistency, repeat guests, and expanding thoughtfully — not from a single launch.

What’s the hardest part of leading retreats? The hardest part is everything the highlight reel doesn’t show — logistics, curveballs, and the doubt that creeps in. I’ve dealt with torrential downpours, scorpions on yoga mats, running retreats through COVID, and leading while pregnant. Learning to adapt and pivot is the real skill.

How many people usually come to a first retreat? A first retreat is often small, and that’s completely normal. Mine had six women, several of them family and friends. A small first group is a feature, not a failure — it lets you learn how to hold the experience well before you scale up.

Where does Ambuja Yoga lead retreats? Ambuja Yoga leads women’s retreats in Oregon, Sedona, Patagonia, and other destinations around the world. Offerings change year to year, so the current lineup and dates live on the retreats page.

How do you take a big leap toward a goal you’re dreaming of? Start before you feel ready, and shrink the first step instead of the dream. Big leaps rarely feel comfortable — the discomfort is usually a sign you’re at the edge of real growth. Naming what you want and taking one aligned action toward it is how most bold changes actually begin.