by Kara-Leah Grant
Did you know that for $2000 and change you can sign up online for a distance yoga teacher training, watch some online videos – which count as contact hours – fill in some theory and paperwork and voila! You’ll receive a certificate saying you are now certified to teach yoga.
Surprised?
I’m thinking no. I’m thinking you’re not surprised at all. I’m thinking you know very well that there’s hundreds of yoga teacher training courses out there now, churning out yoga teachers by the thousands every year. That teaching standards are dropping, yoga’s being watered down, and the entire industry is a mess.
Or is it?
That’s what I had to find out, and to do so I sent an email out to about thirty teacher training courses, mostly based here in New Zealand and Australia.
I asked the people running those courses a handful of questions – I wanted to know what they were offering and to whom they were offering it, and I wanted to know what they thought about the state of the yoga teacher training market.
Because yoga teacher training is a market, and it’s a big market. Often, it’s not until a studio starts running teacher trainings that it begins to make any money. That’s the economic reality of yoga.
“Training courses are a way that studios can boost their income and it’s a tough business, so perhaps there may be a little less discernment in recruiting trainees than there could be,” says Barbara Coley of Svastha Yoga, who runs a 200HR course from her studio in Auckland.
Richard Clark, of Yoga Shala Brisbane agrees. “Currently teacher training is where the money is. I often hear of students who have been urged to take on yoga teacher training after their first class.”
Every person I spoke to agreed on one thing – 200HR courses do not a yoga teacher make. Even those who run 200HR courses were clear on that.
“This is the very first stepping stone on your journey in becoming an amazing teacher,” says Justine Hamill, of Power Living, which runs 200HR and 500HR courses. “It’s enough to gain the knowledge and confidence to step into the classroom, however we believe that continuing education, retreats and trainings are really important. Most of the senior Power Living teachers attend ongoing trainings at least once per year.”
Other teachers were forthright in the dangers of unleashing teachers with 200 hours of training under their belt into the classroom.
“We employ teachers we have trained at our school, however in recent years, teachers trained elsewhere approached us for jobs or to up skill by participating in our Yoga Alliance 300HR Course, so, we interviewed them, ” says Peter Nilsson of Yoga Academy in New Zealand.
“We asked them to share their knowledge of applied anatomy – that is how they are able to keep people safe and their knowledge of the psychology and philosophy of yoga – that is their ability to bring the understanding of yoga theory, through practice into their life and into the life of our students. Teachers who had done the fast track courses, gave answers which dismayed us.”
“Clearly they had little understanding of applied anatomy. For example when asked how to keep a person with a
torn cruciate knee ligament safe in asana class safe, a teacher replied, ‘I would get them to keep their knee bent throughout the class’. When asked how to advise a 50 year old with a neck issue, about how yoga can assist her to heal, the teacher said, ‘I would tell her to do headstands to strengthen it’. Scary!”
The Yoga Academy teaches a Yoga Alliance 200hr course which focuses on training participants to teach beginner students, however those 200HRs have evolved into a 900 hour part-time course over 11 months. The Yoga Alliance 300HR course that focuses on teaching participants to teach more advanced yoga practitioners has evolved into an 1100 hour part-time course over 12 months. Peter says this is because they found 200 hours to be far from satisfactory to train a yoga teacher.
Yet 200HR courses are touted as all that’s necessary to become a certified yoga teacher. And while this is true, that’s because you don’t actually need any kind of certificate to teach yoga.
Anyone can start teaching yoga just by showing up at the front of the class.
However if you wish to register as a yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance in the USA, you need that 200HR certificate. If you wish to register with Yoga Australia, which calls itself the national peak yoga teacher body in Australia, you need to have done a minimum 350HR course.
“Many training providers in Australia now offer 20o hour courses, which can be registered in America with Yoga Alliance. They are often promoted as internationally certified, which is incorrect,” says Michael de Manincor, Founding Director of the Yoga Institute and past President of Yoga Australia.
“What most people do not realise is that there is no such thing as international registration or certification, they are simply registered in America, but not able to be registered in Australia. Several years ago, Yoga Australia responded to this growing concern by introducing a level of Provisional membership based on 200 hour training, to enable people to become members (but not registered), and require a further 150 hours of training to be able to become registered.”
The Yoga Institute refuses to offer a 200 hour teacher training course because they consider it insufficient to train a teacher. The basic level training offered is 500 hours, over a minimum of one year. “The growing number of providers offering 200 hour courses is of great concern,” says Michael.
Part of that concern is perhaps because 200HR courses are faster, easier and cheaper, plus usually offer the benefit of spending time somewhere hot and beautiful and preferably with a gorgeous beach or at least swimming pool. Why bother with a year or two year course in a city when you can get away and tick the Trained Yoga Teacher box in three sunny weeks?
Often there’s very little prerequisites required for yoga teacher training courses – of the responses received, prerequisites generally ranged from having 6 months to three years of practice. Annie Au of All Yoga Thailand said “We require our students to have basic experiences in yoga such as taking a classes at a studio, DVDs, or self-practice.”
The implication is someone could be accepted on to the teacher training program after watching a couple of DVDs and decided that yoga looks like fun.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Ashtanga Yoga Shala Brisbane. While most providers turn down between 5% to 50% of teacher training applications, in recent years, Yoga Shala’s rejection rate has been 100%.
Why?
“Because there are too many, quick, 200HR, 4 week programs enticing people with (deceptive) claims that they will become yoga teachers,” says Richard Clark. “Consequently no one seems to want to join a three year teacher training. Additionally most who make contact neither come to class, have a personal practice or have any experience in the method.”
Ashtanga’s requirements are tough. Potential teachers must have a minimum of two years daily practice – and that daily practice must be a minimum of two hrs per day, plus attendance in at least two classes per week. Ashtanga is unwavering in this.
“How can a school offering teacher training accept students with no home practice?” says Richard. “All students must not only have home practice, but in class practice prescribed by the teacher and be able to demonstrate a working relationship with the teacher and commitment to practice before they could be considered.”
Richard is also unequivocal about the impact low-requisite yoga teacher trainings are having on how yoga is taught.
“The range of postures now offered in many general classes are out of range for new students – no matter their flexibility as there’s more required in asana than flexibility – poorly articulated and instructed and ill-considered for the class format – but they are added in to make people think that they are advanced or to make people feel like they have had a good workout,” says Richard.
“Do people realise that headstand should never be taught to beginners? But headstand is offered in large group classes with off the cuff comments that if you cant do it this way use a wall or do this modification… but when does the teacher provide the individual instruction required?”
Mark Whitwell, who graduates approximately 60 students a year from his teacher training courses concurs.
“It is too easy in an unregulated market for people to imagine that they are qualified to teach and many unverified claims are made by teachers making their way in the business of merchandising yoga,” says Mark. “In short the public are being short changed and not getting yoga. At best they are getting fitness workouts or gymnastic. Yoga needs to be studied sincerely with much more academic rigour like any other important subject.”
However, other teachers are more pragmatic in their outlook. Barbara Coley graduates only a handful of students each year through her 200HR training, and she is both away of it’s limitations but also it’s value.
“At the end of 200 hours you may have gained the skills and competence to be a yoga ‘instructor’ and capable of teaching relatively healthy, fit people, but it takes many hours of teaching to transition from instructor to skilled and competent teacher,” says Barbara.
“I don’t think this means that you shouldn’t be teaching after a 200 hour program, otherwise how would you gain those skills, but I do think you need to be realistic about who and what you teach, and of course continued education is vital. Obviously, the quality of training you have received also plays a big role in how you make the transition– I don’t think this can be judged by number of hours training alone.”
Even those who teach 350HR courses, like Swami Prema Ananda of Inner Cor are clear that learning to be a yoga teacher happens over a long period of time.
“I teach 350 hour courses but I still don’t think it is long enough to truly develop real devotion and a great command and discipline of the Asana nor the background,” Says Swami Prema Ananda.
“If only we could have the perfect training. The training would consist of the student spending much time with the Swami learning basically by example, in the class room and taking their learning over a two year period giving them time to soak up the learning. This would then allow for greater depths of knowledge and the ability to retain the information longer. “
Some yoga teacher training programmes do facilitate that kind of mentoring, although it may not look exactly the same as living with a Swami.
Power Living encourages mentoring relationships between newer teacher and more experienced teachers.
“We feel that to become a safe and effective teacher in the classroom it is really important to have live mentoring, coaching and learnings from senior and master facilitators and teachers, as well as learning through experiencing in your own body with your training community,” says Justine Hamill.
The Yoga Institute also builds mentoring into their programmes, as does the Yoga Academy and Mark Whitwell. In fact, that on-going mentoring and relationship with a senior teacher may be the biggest indicator of a quality yoga teacher training course. Doing three weeks and then being tossed in to the world of yoga all by yourself to sink or swim does no service to either the new yoga teacher or their potential students.
The difficulty then arises that a 200HR certificate from one provider is completely different from a 200HR certificate from another provider.
“How does the public differentiate between the quality and standard of teaching between a 200HR Course and those who have done more hours such as our 900 hour Course?” asks Peter Nilsson from the Yoga Academy. “How does one teacher receive the credit they deserve for all the hours they did in fact train for? Is the public being duped, are people in safe hands, are they receiving safe teaching of yoga?”
Which brings us around to the tricky topic of regulation. Yoga teaching is completely unregulated in both New Zealand and Australia, although Yoga Australia is encouraging yoga teacher training courses to register with them according to set guidelines.
“There should be regulation – this allows for continuity of training and assessing of trainees,” says Margaret Willcocks of Greenwood Yoga Academy. “Currently there is nothing like this for the general yoga teacher training courses other than those from a lineage such as Iyengar, Satyananda, Ashtanga and Desikachar styles etc.”
Margaret teaches a government accredited course that takes two to three years to complete so is used to meeting set standards. However, she wasn’t the only provider calling for regulation.
“It seems like regulation is becoming more and more necessary. However, external regulation can have its own set of problems. It would be preferably to see the development and adherence to a self-regulated professional. Perhaps a government requirement for self-regulation and registration within the profession would be helpful,” says Michael de Manincor.
“The needs for regulation are largely about professional standards – of yoga teachers, as well as training providers. If yoga teaching is to become more recognised as a professional, including recognition by health insurance providers, rather than being a hobby, fitness or recreational activity, then some form of regulation seems necessary. The present and unfortunate reality is that anyone can train anyone to become a yoga teacher, any way they want, to do whatever they want.”
Other providers were wary, indicating that if self-regulation was the way to go, it could be a long, drawn out conversation to agree on what that regulation looked like.
“That’s a tricky question – the word regulation doesn’t appeal, but I do think having some standards could be relevant,” says Barbara Coley.
“What those standards should be is a big question! The issue for me around standards/regulation is that even if a course meets some predefined standards it doesn’t necessarily mean that the content will be well delivered or that it will be well received and understood by the trainee – so I’m not completely convinced that standards or regulation equate to quality. Probably a better chance than no standards at all though.”
For now, the yoga industry is seeing the results of no real standards – anyone can teach and anyone can teach a student to become a teacher.
Plus the quality of a yoga teacher – certificate or no certificate – varies enormously. It is difficult for the general public to assess the competency of any given yoga teacher – especially if they’re brand new to yoga and have nothing to measure their teacher against, and no understanding of yoga safety or that yoga is about far more than just asana.
Perhaps instead of seeking regulation of yoga teacher training courses, we need to assess yoga teachers and give them some kind of title or award if they pass.
After all, there are many skilled yoga teachers out there in the community who have never done any kind of teacher training certificate. Two students who have done the same course will have had a different experience of that course, and be teaching at a different level.
Would it make more sense for a national body of yoga teachers to administer standardised testing of potential yoga teachers?
Sit the test, pass the standards, and receive some kind of recognition that you’re a competent and able yoga teacher.
You wouldn’t necessarily have to even go to a yoga teacher training – some yoga students are natural born teachers and pick up enough know-how along the way.
That way, no regulation of teacher training courses is required, yet the standards of yoga teaching are maintained.
What do you think? What’s your experience of yoga teacher training programs? Is the standard of yoga teaching something to be concerned about? Does the industry need to be regulated? Should we be testing our yoga teachers?
Great article and very timely. I have been self practising yoga for about 20 years both at home and at classes. Yoga has turned into a big industry now and I believe it needs to be regulated. Yoga is a lifestyle and encompasses a holistic approach both spirtually and physically but I have encountered instructors who compete against their own class and some who get some weird sexual satisfaction out of placing students in comprimising positions or as mentioned in your article not having the proper training or understanding to advise you an alternative move.
Yoga has helped me enormously in my life with a serious back injury and the meeting of mind, body and soul. I have often thought of becoming an instructor and will await the future of the inevitable regulation, it would be wise to self regulate rather than have it enforced by the government.
The west is only just waking up to the many benefits of this wonderful practise so it can match our new energy going forward, it just needs a little help.
Namaste
Interesting article. As you rightly state, not all 200 hours are the same. The issue is that folks want an objective metric to base standards on. So we default to hours. But what we really need to focus on is competencies. And the idea that a governing body (be it Yoga Alliance or Yoga Australia) is going to be able to enforce a standardized curriculum based on hours across the diverse landscape of yoga practice runs contrary to foundational principles of many traditions..
Of course, they are well into the process of doing this at the IAYT. But the standardization and formalization of yoga training in a academic model does not necessarily mean we will see more qualified yoga teachers, so much as we create another hierarchy and power structure that belies its intention.
I think that there are some structural things that could potentially be done to both educate the public so they can make informed decisions and hold teacher training programs to account for what they say they are teaching. However, I think it is a mistake to create a yoga police or think that making more time hoops to jump through is going to make a difference.
“If a yoga teacher training program is providing instruction in practice that is injurious in nature, adding more hours to the program, regardless of what areas of study the hours are dedicated to, will accomplish nothing towards making the practice they teach any safer.”
http://www.jbrownyoga.com/blog/2013/04/giving-yoga-alliance-a-chance
“When it comes to training teachers, most of the professionals I have spoken to agree that the key to teaching yoga safely boils down to the sensitivity and adaptability of the instructor, his or her capacity for dialogue with and responsiveness to a student, and the humble confidence of knowing what you know and what you don’t know. ”
http://www.jbrownyoga.com/articles/does-studying-anatomy-make-yoga-safer
Thanks for the engaging consideration.
Cheers.
Hey J,
Great points. Does it make more sense to test the potential teacher then? Let teacher training programmes be whatever they want and teach whatever they want… but for students to attain a certificate that says they’re fit to teach, they must be tested.
That way, we’re focusing on competency, rather than hours.
Thanks also for linking to the articles you’ve written on this topic – widening the scope of voices and content adds more depth to the discussion.
Hi Kara-Leah,
Thank you for the thoughtful story and for giving us an opportunity to clarify some of the aspects of our credentialing system. We’d like to respond to a few key points:
“Did you know that for $2000 and change you can sign up online for a distance yoga teacher training, watch some online videos – which count as contact hours – fill in some theory and paperwork and voila! You’ll receive a certificate saying you are now certified to teach yoga.”
Although we can’t control what yoga schools that don’t register with us do during their teacher training sessions, we require a minimum of 180 hours of in-person face-to-face training for Registered Yoga Schools at the 200-hour level (RYS 200s). Also, as a point of clarification, Yoga Alliance Registry does not “certify” teachers. We register them based on their level of experience and training completed with Registered Yoga Schools. Those RYSs meet educational standards set by YAR. We have more information about what’s included in our standards here: https://www.yogaalliance.org/Credentialing/CredentialsforSchools and here: https://www.yogaalliance.org/Credentialing/Credentials_for_Teachers.
“Yet 200HR courses are touted as all that’s necessary to become a certified yoga teacher. And while this is true, that’s because you don’t actually need any kind of certificate to teach yoga. Anyone can start teaching yoga just by showing up at the front of the class.”
As we noted above, Yoga Alliance Registry does not certify teachers and has never suggested that meeting our standards makes someone a great yoga teacher. As Barbara Coley noted in your article, meeting the RYT 200 criteria is just the start of a teacher’s training, it’s not the end of it. Also, not just anyone can teach yoga by showing up at the front of a class. A yoga studio, health club or gym has to hire them first, and it’s in their economic interest to provide proof of formal training and professional competency before allowing someone to teach a class.
The goal of a credentialing system like ours isn’t to guarantee that teachers are qualified to teach safely and competently — no system can do that regardless of its rigor. And of course, government regulation can’t provide guarantees either. The goal is to increase the likelihood that those who are credentialed to teach will do so safely and competently.
Lastly, we’d like to cite Barbara Coley’s other point about the relevance of standards as a perfect example of how we’re changing to meet the needs of the yoga community and its desire for oversight of standards in yoga. We introduced “Social Credentialing” (https://www.yogaalliance.org/Credentialing/Social_Credentialing) to gauge the effectiveness of the programs that our schools offer and provide oversight and accountability by having trainees report back to us about the job their schools are doing.
Best wishes,
Yoga Alliance
Hey Yoga Alliance,
Awesome – thanks for commenting and clarifying how your system works. Thanks too for the links to relevant information on your website. Always handy!
To be clear – a yoga teacher training programme issues a certificate based on hours – ie. a 200HR certificate. A student can then choose to also register with a national body like Yoga Alliance in the States or Yoga Australia. Then they become a registered yoga teacher with that national body, assuming they meet the standards each organisation requires, which is sometimes more than just the certified hours.
Plus it’s important to note that your yoga teacher training must have been done with a registered school for it to count, for both Yoga Alliance and Yoga Australia. So even if you don’t plan to register as a teacher, it pays to do your training with a registered school because you know they’ve had to meet the national body standards for yoga teacher training, and you always have the option of registering later.
For example, I taught for many years without any formal training, then I completed a 200HR Certificate with Shiva Rea, but I’ve never registered with a national body… so I’m a certified unregistered yoga teacher. If I wanted to get registered with Yoga Alliance, I could, as Shiva Rea runs a registered school.
Thanks for bringing this topic up!
One aspect I didn’t see mentioning before: what about those teachers who started teaching 20 years ago ( with or without a certificate) and never did any further training ever since to refresh their knowledge and stay up to date so they are instead putting practitioners into poses dangerous to their health?
Soit’s not just those poor fresh 200hr graduates who can be dangerous…! Talking from experience unfortunately….:-(
cheers
Hey Julia,
Interesting – I would’ve assumed that teachers who’ve been teaching for 20 years have the practice solidly grounded into their own body so are teaching from an experiential understanding of the practice that puts safety first. It sounds like you’ve experienced something different though. Many teachers I know continue to attend workshops & trainings to stay abreast of new developments, constantly up-skilling. Of course, this isn’t cheap – even a one week training can set you back $5000 once you pay for the training, flights, food, accommodation etc.
Hey Julia,
Dis you know that for teachers to maintain their registration as a teacher under Yoga Australia, they need to undertake and provide evidence of continuing education (professional development) EVERY year, irrespective of how long they have been teaching. This is part of our best-practice policy and is an accord with other peak bodies in many other professions. We believe that when you stop learning, you lose the ‘cred’ as a teacher.
It’s interesting that since having these world’s best standards, the membership numbers have increased markedly and we have not had a single complaint about any of our Registered Teachers in the past couple of years (nearly 3,000 of them).
Namaste
Kara-Leah:
I really appreciate how you presented a wide range of differing perspectives and weren’t overly prescriptive about potential solutions to the difficult issues you raised. I’m not surprised that you have journalism experience!
I do want to take issue with the characterization of Yoga Alliance as a “national” organization. Although we’re based in the U.S., Yoga Alliance Registry is an internationally recognized credentialing organization with Registered Yoga Teachers in 145 different nations or territories, including countries like Azerbaijan, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Nepal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. In fact, almost 18 percent of our ˜48,000 active RYTs reside outside the U.S., including thousands of registrants in Canada and hundreds in my friend Michael de Manincor’s homeland of Australia. In addition, over 28 percent of our ˜3,000 Registered Yoga Schools are international. These teachers and schools clearly find value in our credentialing system.
You also asked whether testing would lead to more able and competent yoga teachers. Although testing certainly has some value, it also comes with its own set of limitations. (My friend J. Brown has many wise things to say about the limits of traditional credentialing.) If you are interested in learning more about the pros and cons of traditional credentialing systems like registration, certification and accreditation, and why Yoga Alliance chose our current path, you may be interested in this online worksop we recently presented:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03cmnogU6B4
Thank you again for starting this discussion.
Warm regards,
Richard Karpel
President and CEO
Yoga Alliance and Yoga Alliance Registry
Hey Richard,
Ah… so it sounds like both Yoga Alliance and Yoga Australia are international organisations. The difference between them isn’t so much nationality but the way they’re run and the standards they offer.
It feels like with every comment I learn more, which is awesome, because so do the readers.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment and leave the link to that workshop.
KL
An important discussion to have to help clarify numerous misunderstandings as well as further our profession with integrity and professionalism.
My comments come from the perspective of a 45-year background in yoga, over 35 as a teacher, nearly 20 as a provider of teacher training and several year as an assessor of training programs against recognized standards for the purpose of accreditation or registration.
In my current role as President of Yoga Australia and member of the IAYT Accreditation Committee, I first and foremost need to ‘de-bunk’ the notion (mentioned by one of our esteemed colleagues in this blog) that having a set of minimum competency standards equates to standardization! This is simply NOT the case with Yoga Australia or IAYT (or to Yoga Alliance to the best of my knowledge). A set of standards that are written in such a way that allows for the various approaches, nuances and ‘flavors’ of different styles/traditions is inclusive rather than exclusive. Among the 70+ Yoga Australia registered TT programs, there are traditions including Satyananda, Integral, Anusara, Dru, Krishnamacharya and many more, all of whom find that registration supports their work and in no way restricts the uniqueness and authenticity of their tradition.
With the IAYT accreditation process, the standards are considerably higher than those of any other body, with the competencies articulated in more detail and requirements for practicum and quality assessments quite rigorous. Nonetheless we have received excellent applications from a diverse range of traditions, who recognize that complying with the standards does not limit or dilute their tradition. FYI, the first round of accredited programs will be announced at SYTAR first week of June (www.sytar.org).
I was interested in our friend and colleague Richard Karpel’s comment that Yoga Alliance is an internationally recognized organization (which indeed it has become world-wide). This is no less the case with Yoga Australia, that is widely recognized as a credentialing body in our region with members/registered teachers from many countries including New Zealand, Singapore and New Guinea and with the British Wheel of Yoga that has wide recognition in Europe.
The key is that a credentialing body needs to be able to support its members or registrants, by more than just providing a registration number for a fee. This support is best provided by a credentialing body that is most appropriately located for its ‘constituents’. This way the organization can, through local knowledge and outreach, address needs that are specific to teachers and training providers in their region, providing various types of support and ensuring the ongoing quality of its registrants.
Yoga Australia is rapidly gaining a reputation for its high training and membership standards, as well as for the support it provides schools and teachers, through continuing education, forums, sanga, advocacy etc. Part of this strong reputation comes from our commitment to a process of auditing of registered programs and registered teachers to ensure that those who are registered do in fact meet the standards and that registration is NOT a ‘rubber stamping’ exercise.
As a result of this commitment to best practice, the majority of health insurance organizations in Australia now require Yoga Australia registration as a teacher for benefits to be paid to students. A similar requirement is not starting to occur in other agencies such as cancer councils and some government departments.
These and other benefits for our field/profession and all who are part of it are the result of a strong, regionally-based organization and I believe it behoves all yoga teachers and teacher training providers to support and meet the endorsed standards for their field and to become members of, or register with the peak body in their region.
Further I strongly believe that peak bodies in different regions ought to be working toward a form of ‘mutual recognition’, whereby (assuming some commonality of standards) a teacher or program registered in one region can be equally recognized and able to teach in other regions where mutual recognition arrangements are in place. Surely this is in the spirit of ‘unity’ that is one of the underpinnings of yoga.
Lastly on the point of “self-regulation”. Some years ago I sat on a national government steering committee looking into standards of practice and teaching in a number of field (that included Ayurveda and yoga). That committee determined that yoga (the field) and those who practice it would be best served by self-regulation and that self-regulation would include a set of minimum training standards, an organization that was fully independent (from any one training program or tradition) to manage the processes and governance.
So I don’t believe there is a question of whether the teaching of yoga should be self-regulated (in the region Yoga Australia operates in at least), because it already is! And by supporting peak bodies that are the crux of self-regulation in their commitment to and promotion of ‘best-practice’ we increase the likelihood of our field/profession remaining self-regulated, rather than have external regulation imposed upon it.
Thank you for considering these thought and to Kara-Leah for starting this thread
Hey Leigh,
I read your comment with great interest. Do I detect some subtle rivalry between yoga bodies?
I do appreciate the clarity of Yoga Australia’s reach – I guess that means that here in New Zealand schools could choose to register with Yoga Australia, and teachers as well. Indeed, as you say, it may make more sense for Australasian teachers & schools to register with an organising body with is specific to their location, as Yoga Australia is. It does come down to understanding what one gets for one’s money as such. I never registered with Yoga Alliance because I couldn’t see any material gain in doing so, just an annual cost. Would I register for Yoga Australia? I don’t think I’ve got enough training hours under my belt yet… though I have been teaching for 8 years.
Thank you too for that insight into the national government steering committee you sat on – great information!
Feels like there’s much more that could be written on this topic…
Many blessings,
Kara-Leah
Hey Kara-Leah,
Not really any ‘rivalry’, but just trying to add some clarity about best options for teachers in respective regions. In fact Richard Karpel and I will be having dinner together in a few days time in the U.S., as we both attend the SYTAR conference.
Yoga Alliance and Yoga Australia are both vitally important organizations for the profession of yoga teaching and both have specific roles to play in their main regions of operation.
The key to ‘recognition’ of teachers in countries that don’t have their own peak association, is that teacher wanting to teach in those countries can demonstrate that they have registration with an appropriate peak body that maintains the necessary standards.
Yoga Australia has members in New Zealand, Singapore and other countries in our region and our members generally find they are well accepted to teach in most places around the world once they show their registration and the standards they have met to be registered. It clearly makes sense for teachers (and training programs) in our region to register with Yoga Australia, just as it makes sense for someone in the Americas and nearby regions to register with Yoga Alliance. It would make no sense for someone in Hawaii, Canada, Central America, Mainland U.S. etc to register with Yoga Australia, just as it is questionable whether it makes sense for someone in N.Z. or Australia to register with an organization whose main area of focus is the U.S and nearby regions.
This is not to say that some folks shouldn’t belong to both organizations – some do and find that beneficial.
What does make sense to the Yoga Australia Committee is that peak organizations ought to work toward some form of co-operative mutual recognition, so that there is more ‘globality’ of teacher recognition (assuming certain minimum standards are met). This is a conversation we have had in the past and hop to keep having in the future.
A great article Kara-Leah, and an important topic.
Yoga teachers need to lead a safe and fulfilling class for people healthy enough to attest good health on the studio’s liability waiver. They don’t need to be their students’ spiritual guide, pastor, doctor, nutritionist, masseuse, life coach and personal trainer.
Is medical advice appropriate for yoga teachers without formal medical training and certifications? I’d say no. Is three years of training necessary to lead a stretching class or breath-based meditation at your local gym? I’d say no to that, too.
Lengthy yoga teacher training doesn’t substitute for formal medical training and licensing. A person with a “torn cruciate knee ligament” or a neck injury should discuss yoga practice with a licensed yoga therapist or other medical professional.
For spiritual guidance, students can consult priests, pastors and life coaches.
Why not train to teach a 60-90 minute class that’s safe for students healthy enough to sign the studio’s liability waiver, and fun enough that students come back for more?
Basics are best. Teach the class you know. Know the class you’re teaching. Recommend additional resources to those searching for something you can’t provide.
Hey Mechelle,
You raise some great points. I love this line: “Teach the class you know. Know the class you’re teaching. Recommend additional resources to those searching for something you can’t provide.”
Sums it up beautifully.
However, my expectations of a “yoga teacher” are higher. To me, they’re not a fitness instructor. They are able to see aspects of the student which the student can’t see, and guide them appropriately – whether it’s of the body or the psyche. We’re not just working with people’s bodies in class, we’re also working with their psyche and their egos, whether we like it or not.
Good point Kara-Leah,
Expectation management is key.
Yoga teachers with an honest calling to serve as social workers, therapists or counselors will pursue professional credentials and licensing.
They won’t claim 200 or even 20,000 hours of yoga training substitute for the graduate level education and clinical internships required in healthcare fields.
Yoga can be medicine, and only when taught by doctors. It can help heal mental instability, and only when guided by a mental health professional.
Students trust yoga teachers and the advice they provide about matters on and off the mat.
It’s up to teachers to set boundaries that respect students as practitioners instead of treating them like patients.
Hey Mechelle,
There’s a few absolutes in your statement (only when… ) and I would be to differ, or at least offer an alternative perspective. Yoga has been instrumental in my healing from psychosis, and all without any guidance from a mental health professional. It’s also helped me heal my chronic back issues, again without being taught by a doctor.
And, even without training, because of my experiential practice and learning, I understand psychology at the level of a graduate – all through yoga.
Are yoga students patients? No. Can yoga be taught and positively impact health by non-health professionals? Yes.
200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training is really just the beginning. It takes years, if not decades, to really become a yoga teacher. A 200 Hour teacher training course is a good start, and the next step from there is really to apprentice and to assist.
But you don’t expect to be any kind of professional after only 200 hours. Maybe after 2000 hours…. I agree that it’s about expectation management.
For many people, teacher training is really about a deeper practice. For yoga studios it’s not economical to serve the market for “advanced yoga classes”, because it’s so small. If you have advanced yoga classes your numbers will drop dramatically. Bikram has made an entire empire out of serving yoga first-timers.
However, call your advanced classes a “teacher training” and charge a premium for it, and it becomes economically viable. The smaller number of people who want that depth and breadth of exposure pay for it, and it works.
I don’t think that it makes them teachers though. For that you need experience, rather than just a course.
I have been practicing yoga for 65 years and teaching for 45 years, long time before any of the so called Yoga Alliance Organisations, Yoga Australia, the British Wheel of Yoga or similar organisations/associations, thankfully, didn’t even exist. I am a proud scholar of BKS Iyengar whom certainly condemn the new era of “Yoga Circus” and its emptiness! Yoga has been commercialised to the extent that heated debates over who’s who, what’s best and what’s wrong are found everywhere across blogs and social media. I think the biggest problem is that this drive-thru, inauthentic stuff is what’s currently dominating the yoga scene. Yoga is BIG business right now and while I agree there is a movement towards more genuineness in certain circles, I can’t help but have a bad feeling that it may take more controversies. I question the ideas that are regarded by many folks in the yoga world with such respect and veneration that they do not like them being criticized by anyone in any way. A false Guru market is growing because the false disciple market is growing. Because of his blind selfishness, a false Guru drowns people, and because of his blind selfishness and wrong understanding, a false disciple gets trapped. Anyone who establishes himself as a guru to be worshipped, is not a guru. If you want to become a yoga teacher, there are no shortage of training programs offering certification. Most urban studios offer a 200-hour training. You can get a generic YogaFit® training in no particular tradition. You can do a convenient online training program with Sadie Nardini, via streaming video/audio, newsletters and downloadable PDFs. Or, if you’re in New York City, you can train with Tara Stiles to become a Strala Yoga-certified teacher in one month ~ 20 hours of workshop time for $2,500. Yoga has been historically taught (“chest to chest,” through the relationship between teacher and student, and by personal, close experience). What does it take to become a teacher of yoga? What does the typical Yoga Teacher Training currently qualify one to do? Has business and profit taken over the Indian tradition of passing on yoga and training teachers? What are the pitfalls of trying to regulate teacher training across lineages and traditions? Can anyone actually come up with regulations in a tradition with so many different points of view? Tara, Sadie etc. are considered big names in the industry of modern Yoga, so, does this automatically implies their training courses are of higher quality and thus produce knowledgeable and experienced teachers than any other training on the market? I’ve noticed that criticism is always directed to providers and yoga teachers that are not famous. Yoga is pretty much unregulated anywhere in the world, there are no Yoga Governing body recognised by a government anywhere in the world. Some Yoga Organisations has the audacity to proclaim themselves the peak body of Yoga based upon “standards” they specifically design to meet their pockets, rather than assisting the yoga community. In the UK, a well-known Yoga Organisation for decades falsely placed itself as the ‘National Governing Body for Yoga’ until their claim was legally challenged and the UK’ s Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the statement that ‘was misleading’. That very same Organisation, has only 300 followers on their official FB page. Anything to do with misleading the yoga community and the general public?
I believe that we don’t need yoga to be one thing or another, but in the absence of any real cultural cohesion the whole endeavour sometimes feels like every other postmodern magnet of interest – something that distracts us from our issues rather than addressing them. We need to figure out as a community how to base the teaching of yoga in sustainable relationships, rather than available weekends and disposable income. Rick
hmmm….I took 2 teacher trainings in India last year, both 200HR and both YA approved. One taught a set sequence (90 min class), plus lots of anatomy and much emphasis on the 8 limbs. Many students from that training have gone on to teach.
The second 200HR was at a school in rijikesh also YA approved. Of 40 participants 0 have gone on to teach. In a market flooded with TTC’S I do wonder how YA can possibly check on schools using their name. I went on to spend months in rijikesh and took some amazing classes however that town is literally flooded with YA approved TTC’s. There must be 100’s of them. I guess my question is what does YA accreditation actually mean? And what is the difference between an asana instructor and a yoga teacher? This is an important discussion I think because as you mentioned studios need to run TTC’s to survive financially. Much more to write on this one! namaste x