Featured Yoga Teacher Training Courses
200-hr Mexico Yoga Teacher TrainingOct 7-27, 2011October 7-27, 2011 at Present Moment Retreat, Mexico We invite you to be a part of this life enhancing experience through meditation, pranayama, asana, vegetarian meals, daily activities, and application of yogic theory into daily living. We i...
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200hr Nicaragua Yoga Teacher TrainingJanuary 8-28, 2012Nicaragua Yoga Teacher Training January 8-28, 2012 We invite you to be a part of this life enhancing experience through meditation, pranayama, asana, vegetarian meals, daily activities, and application of yogic theory into daily living. We invite ...
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In Ancient India
In ancient Indian times, the tradition was for yoga students to live, work, and study with their yoga teachers. This is the “Gurukula “ system. “Guru” means teacher and master. “Kula” means home. Yoga students were treated as a part of a family and would live in the ashram. In addition to daily lessons in yogic theories they were taught the practical aspects of yoga, āsanas, prāṇāyāma, kriyas, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, yoga philosophy, and yoga wisdom. The students were asked to do chores around the house and provide selfless services to others.
This gurukula system lasted well into the 20th century and still exists in India as a way for someone to become a yoga teacher. Since the 1970s and even more so since the late 1990′s there has been a big shift in the way that most yoga teachers learn how to teach yoga in the west. Yoga Schools have developed and they now teach specific course to train people to become yoga instructors.
Yoga Regulating & Common Teacher Standards
Yoga is not regulated in the United States and there are no official regulations on becoming a yoga instructor. This also means that you do not need to take a yoga teacher training course or be certified to teach yoga. We are not suggesting that you start teaching without proper training or knowledge of yoga, but it is important to understand that teaching yoga is not regulated. As a yoga student, this means that you should consider the credentials of your yoga teacher. We will go over some of the commonly accepted standards for most yoga teachers.
200-Hours of Yoga Teacher Training
Yoga Alliance is the most widely recognized yoga registry in the United States with over 26 thousand registered yoga teachers. In order to register as a yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance as an RYT-200 (Registered Yoga Teacher at the 200-hour level) teachers must meet certain standards. There is a 200-hour RYT level registration and this is widely accepted as the minimum level of training for yoga teachers. This is not to say that there are no good teachers who have less than 200-hours of training, but in general we agree with Yoga Alliance that teachers need at minimum 200-hour yoga training to be adequately prepared to teach yoga. At SchoolYoga Institute, we offer several 200-hr level yoga teacher training courses each year.
Yoga schools can also register with Yoga Alliance and this means that the Yoga Teacher Training Program is recognized by Yoga Alliance and that any graduates from that program will automatically be eligible to register as RYT with Yoga Alliance. Yoga School Registration with Yoga Alliance is voluntary and there are many school that have chosen not to register with Yoga Alliance for various reasons. In fact there are many great yoga teacher training programs that are not registered with Yoga Alliance. One great thing about Yoga Alliance though is that we know that any school registered with them, meets the minimum standards they set for yoga teachers and it makes it very easy to register with Yoga Alliance after the program.
Of course, there are more advanced levels of training which is good for a yoga teacher to have. Since yoga is so vast and there are endless things to learn about it, continued education is essential to be a great yoga teacher. Yoga Alliance recognizes a 500-hour level as well (RYT-500).
How to Become a Yoga Instructor: There are Many Ways.
Today, since there are no legal standards regulating yoga teachers, there are so many ways to become a yoga teacher. This is great because it means that people have choices in how they become a yoga teacher, but it can also mean that not everyone with a ‘yoga certification’ is really qualified to teach a safe and effective yoga class. There are even weekend course you can take to earn a ‘Yoga Certification’. Obviously a weekend course will not teach someone enough to be a well qualified yoga teacher, but there are still many weekend courses out there. There are also online courses that offer yoga certificates. These range from 10-hour courses to 500-hour courses. Let’s go over how to become a yoga instructor.
The ‘Standard’ Yoga Teacher Training Course
The most popular and widely accepted yoga certification course is around 200-hours and involve attending classes, workshops, lectures, practicums, and study, in order to learn how to become a yoga teacher. Often there is study in anatomy, yoga philosophy, yoga poses, class sequencing, meditation, yoga breathing, yoga and business, and much more. These well rounded course provide a very strong foundation from which to teach yoga. While much of the content is similar for many of these 200-hour programs, the format may vary.
Immersion Format
One popular format is the ‘immersion’ or ‘intensive’ format, which typically involves living onsite with other participants in the program and studying and practicing intensively for 20-30 days or so. This is a great format if you are able to get away from your other obligations and take this yoga-training-vacation. While it may feel like a vacation going into it since you are leaving the rest of your life behind, people often find immersion programs to be very demanding, and at the same time very satisfying. Often people say that it has changed their life forever. And you will almost always make some new life-long friends.
Semester Format
The semester format or weekend format is pretty popular for people who are working or have a family and they are not able to get away for a month at a time. There are endless arrangements of the semester program. Perhaps most common is meeting one weekend a month Saturday and Sunday for 10 months. This is a great way to allow yourself plenty of time to read, practice and study the content material during the program.
So after you have taken a 200-hour course from a school that is registered with Yoga Alliance, you can register as an RYT-200. Sadhana Yoga International offers several such Yoga Teacher Training Courses.
