How To Get Certified To Teach Yoga

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If you are willing to get into How To Get Certified To Teach Yoga, but not really sure How to get, then this article is for you. Here we talk about the mental and other preparations that you need to take How To Get Certified To Teach Yoga, turn it to be a virtuous habit. Stay Tuned. 

Yoga is an ancient art of living a healthy and prosperous life. It was designed by the yogis of ancient India thousands of years ago.

Practicing yoga gained popularity in modern time because most people have understood that the key to living a happy life mostly lies in good health.

How To Get Certified To Teach Yoga

How To Become A Yoga Instructor

Before moving onto the path of becoming a certified yoga teacher it is important to clarify the following questions with yourself:

  • Do you really want to teach yoga to the people?
  • Why do you want to teach yoga?
  • Are you fit enough to become a sound yoga teacher?
  • What are the standard criteria to apply for a yoga teacher job in a yoga studio?
  • Is the certificate necessary to make a career in yoga teaching?
  • How to get certified to teach yoga?
  • Which are the best institutes to get the authentic yoga teacher training?
  • What is Yoga insurance and how can you get that?

Do You Really Want To Teach Yoga? Why? 

First of all, make it clear to yourself, why are you looking for this certification. Do you really want to make a career out of it?

If yes, then it is important to understand, teaching yoga is not a great way to earn a lot of money. If money is your goal to earn this certificate, then you are on the wrong path.

How Much Can You Earn Being A Yoga Teacher

How Much Can You Earn Being A Yoga Teacher?

Proper yoga certification needs at least 200 hours of rigorous training and a whole lot of practice. This costs around $3000 to complete the certification.

After completion, you can start taking classes with $15 an hour and teach two classes per week. Though it’s part-time fun for you, still it will take you more than two years to get back the invested money and profit over it.

So the irony is, you shouldn’t opt for this certification if you are looking into it as a money-making business. You should go for it if you are really passionate about it and are really looking to make society a better place to live in.

The money you are going to invest, to get this honourable certificate is most definitely worth it because it will eventually transform yourself into a greater being. You would get access to a different dimension of unimaginable life.

So, when you enter into yoga room, full of students, and all you are concerned is about your students’ well being, then you would become a great yoga teacher. You have to keep aside the thoughts of your own business profit.

Also Read our Post on Meaning of The Word Yoga

Are You Fit Enough To Become A Yoga Teacher?

If you have such a question in your mind then let me tell you, that, a great yoga teacher does not need to have a six-pack body to start with. Yoga is for everyone. It is not about performing a posture with perfect accuracy but is more about observing how it is positively changing the way we live our lives and our relationships.

If you are not much willing to become a yoga teacher you can still attain the teacher training program. It will definitely help you to evolve your inner being into a greater one.

Asanas are just a single limb of the 8 principles of ‘Astanga yoga’ offered by the great sage Patanjali. Besides asanas, a Yoga teacher training program will offer you wisdom, stability and balance in life.

This will, in turn, take your inner being to a higher level of perception and realization. It is true that every human being is different.

So, while you might need only one year of rigorous practice becoming a confident yoga teacher, your neighbour may need 5 long years for the same. But you should spend at least one year of continuous yoga practice before teaching yoga to your students.

What Are The Standard Criteria To Apply For A Yoga Teacher Job In A Yoga Studio?

If you are thinking of making a career as a yoga teacher then you have to meet certain criteria before applying to a yoga studio. It is like the MD degree for doctors.

The degree confirms that you have successfully completed a certain duration of time to get the necessary training. So no certificate or standard like RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) can determine how much experienced or confident you are to teach Yoga to your students.

Yoga is not only about learning or teaching asanas only. So you should only go for a Yoga teaching job once you are fully confident.

This will include your knowledge and wisdom about all aspects of the postures you are practising and emphasizing on. You should know how they can impact your body, as well as your lifestyle too.

If you have this understanding and realization within, then, that will be the best teaching standard for you to apply. Still, if you want to know more about the RYT standard, please go through the following:

What Is The Necessity Of RYT

What Is The Necessity Of RYT?

The concept of Yoga Alliance is very new to modern society. There are some big-government Yoga alliances like USA Yoga Alliance and numerous smaller local yoga alliances. The local yoga alliances are also registered with their respective government alliance.

Each local yoga alliance has its own rules and regulations. If a certain Yoga school can meet all those regulations then they get registered with that alliance and is called a Registered Yoga School (RYS). Completing 200 or 500-hour certification from any of these schools automatically gets you an RYT certificate.

Otherwise, you can even individually register yourself to that alliance. For that registration, you have to meet some eligibility criteria. So it’s totally up to you to decide whether you would go for this registration or not.

Is The Certificate Necessary To Make A Career In Yoga? 

A Yoga teacher training program of 200 or 500 hours may not be enough for you to understand all the aspects of Yoga. Also officially you don’t need a 200-Hour RYT certificate to teach yoga.

But nowadays, most of the yoga studios look for instructors who have an RYT certificate. Only because it carries assurance, reliability, and professionalism to the students.

Yoga certification has emerged recently in the late 1990s. So, you will find a lot more renowned yoga teachers who are not certified yet. If you are not one of them, you might need this certificate.

If you make yoga a part of your day to day life you will naturally feel that you’ve become a lot more proficient in this field. The more you get trained; the better you would be able to lead your class.

You’ll see that it’s becoming easy for you to communicate the intricacies to your students. So if you can earn an RYT certificate, it would never get wasted. It would, in turn, help you to start your career as a confident and reliable yoga teacher.

How To Get Certified?

Before you do your certification in a certain style of yoga, you should first go through various courses. This way you will understand which style of yoga suits you the most.

These types are namely, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Anusara, Hatha, and Bikram yoga. You should attentively notice the basic differences between these styles. Once you are convinced with a certain style, then go for the certification for that specific style.

There are various RYT standards like RYT 200, RYT 500, E-RYT 200, E-RYT 500, etc. There are various other certification standards among yoga alliances.

1. RYT 200

You can register as an RYT 200 if you have successfully completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training from an RYS.

2. RYT 500

You can register as an RYT 500 if you have successfully completed a 500-hour yoga teacher training from an RYS. It’s considerable if you have done this at one go or in a combination of 200 hours and 300 hours of training.

3. E-RYT 200

You can register as an E-RYT 200 after successful completion of a 200-hours of yoga teacher training with an RYS. You should also have at least two years of teaching experience after the successful completion of training. These 2 years should have at least 1000 hours of teaching experience.

4. E-RYT 500

You can do register as an E-RYT 500 after successful completion of a 500-hour yoga teacher training from an RYS. It’s considerable if you have done this in one time or in a combination of 200 hours and 300 hours of training.

You should also have at least four years of teaching experience after completing training with an RYS. This 4 year should contain at least 2000 hours of teaching.

Besides these major certification standards, you will find a lot of other standards existing in different alliances.

Which Are The Best Institutes To Get Authentic Yoga Teacher Training?

Let’s have a look at the renowned yoga institutes throughout the world. The following are some of the most popular yoga schools offering the best Yoga teacher training.

  1. Isha yoga centre (Both in India and USA)
  2. Aadi Yoga School, Rishikesh
  3. Drishti Yoga School, Tapovan, Rishikesh
  4. Sarvaguna Yoga Himalayas, Dharmasala
  5. Devvrat Yoga Sangha, Kerala
  6. Adwait Yoga School
  7. The Himalayan Yoga Institute Nepal
  8. Prana Casa Algarve, Portugal
  9. RYT Pahoa, Hawaii
  10. 200 Hour RYT Arcata, California
  11.  Asheville Yoga center

What Is Yoga Insurance

If you really want to be a reliable yoga teacher, you should also get the Yoga liability insurance. It will help you overcome any unfortunate situations, which may happen with you or the students in any yoga studio.

With yoga insurance, you will be able to teach peacefully. It would also help you in recovering unforeseen cases of injury or accidents. This insurance basically covers:

  • student’s medical bills,
  • equipment loss,
  • negligence lawsuit

So as a yoga teacher if you get the insurance, you will always be protected from such hazardous situations.

Also, read our popular post in Yoga Therapy 

Conclusion

So, if, “how to get certified to teach yoga” is a big question for you, you should go through proper planning and a certain level of research before moving towards this investment of a lifetime.