Deciding to “do what I love” was one of the hardest things for me because I love doing so many things. It would nearly be dishonest to leave out the fact that choosing what I love as a career might also be difficult because it means less income for my family. I was blessed to have a support mechanism around me that encouraged me to pursue yoga as something I could share with other people, and yes, slowly make a life’s work. Many people wonder how one goes from being a yoga student to a yoga teacher. Hopefully, I can dispel some of this mystery.
For every kind of yoga, there seems to be twice as many schools and training programs to train you in that specific kind. Many of these schools offer one month, weekend or weekday trainings. YogaFit, which is the company I train with, offers weekend trainings around the world and some additional, longer trainings as well. You can find trainings near you and progress as you have time. Another popular teacher training program in my city offers one weekend a month trainings for one year. For the majority of these trainings, the goal is to reach either 200 or 500 hours of training which allows you to be an official R.Y.T. (Registered Yoga Teacher). In the meantime, many gyms will allow you to teach, depending on your experience, other group fitness training, like ACE or AFAA, and a teaching audition.
The organization which oversees the accreditation process is Yoga Alliance. If you are interested in teaching yoga, searching through their list of approved teacher trainings will open up the right doors for you. If you find a teacher training program in a magazine or online, make sure that it specifically notes that it at least has a 200-hour certification that is approved by Yoga Alliance.
One of the ways that you can decide which training you want to go through, is to ask your favorite yoga instructor where they had theirs. You may find that you can’t work that program’s schedule into your own. Continue to ask around while you learn as much as you can about yoga through practice, reading and research. If you would like more information about finding a training or what being a yoga teacher is like, please feel free to leave a comment, or to send me a private message.
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