Ready to Take Your 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training?If you’ve decided to take the plunge and get your 200-hr yoga teacher training, chances are, you’re researching yoga schools in your area. Perhaps you live in a large metropolis, where your choices of yoga teacher training programs will be many and varied; or maybe you’re located in a smaller city or town, where your choice is between just a few schools. Whatever your environment, there are some important things you should look for in a 200 hour yoga teacher training program before forking over your non-refundable deposit. On top of these basic considerations, you’ll also have some personal options to think over that will help to better shape your pathway to becoming a yoga teacher.
One of the first shocks you’ll get when researching a 200-hour yoga teacher training program is the cost. Holy cow Batman! This is no weekend CPR course, folks; yoga school today is more like college. Expect to pay anywhere from two to four thousand dollars, depending on your area, the quality of the school, and who is teaching the yoga training program and how well known they are. Unfortunately for some 200 hour yoga teacher training programs, you might be paying for their brand name and “how well known” they are in the yoga community. Is this necessarily bad? It depends. Coming from a reputable school does carry weight should you decide to build your career as a yoga teacher.
In fact, cost considerations segway us nicely into this list of five basic requirements and things every 200 hour yoga teacher training course should have before you seriously consider attending: Be wary of a Yoga teacher training program that charges either too much or too little. To get an idea of what too much or too little means exactly, do some research online. Our site offers an extensive list of upcoming 200 hour yoga teacher training programs and should give you an idea of how cost varies. A yoga school’s teacher training program whose cost is exorbitant is looking at you, the student, as income; a yoga certification course whose cost is way low might not meet minimum standards set by the Yoga Alliance. On average a good 200 hour yoga teacher training course costs around $3000. Some a little bit more and some a little bit less depending on what they offer during the course. Also, if you are really serious about becoming a yoga teacher, most schools offer early bird specials that can save you hundreds of dollars on a 200 hour yoga teacher training. Just make sure you ask ahead of time.
Speaking of standards, check to make sure the yoga school is accredited by the Yoga Alliance. In order to become an accredited Yoga Alliance teacher training program, yoga schools must submit a curriculum that meet the Yoga Alliance’s RYS (Registered Yoga School) standards. Also, most studios require their teachers to be registered with the Yoga Alliance. To be registered with YA, you must graduate from an accredited yoga school. Click on this link to learn more about the Yoga Alliance.
This may sound absurd, but make sure the accredited 200-hour yoga instructor training course is being run out of a legitimate, working yoga studio with actual students! Many trainees have reported horror stories of paying upwards of $2500 to attend a 200-hour yoga teacher training program that, due to the yoga studio closing, ended up being run out of someone’s tiny apartment. While there are many reputable teachers who travel the world and work out of other studios (which is totally fine), if you are looking for a legitimate teacher training that you plan on using to build a career as a yoga teacher, then you need to make sure it is not just being run out of someones home. There is nothing wrong with a workshop or retreat run out of someones home to “enhance” your learning experience. In fact, the origins of Yoga was based on students camping out at gurus shacks and caves in India. But a proper yoga training course where you are spending over $1000 and expect to build a career from should offer not only plenty of weekly yoga classes for you, the trainee, to take, it should also have a studio for you to actually practice your yoga teacher training in, and ideally a large and devoted client base.
Of course should you just want a more intimate approach to your 200 hour yoga teacher training and are not concerned about becoming a yoga teacherand teaching professionally, then a home based program will suit you just fine. In fact, there are many benefits to a more intimate approach. But bare in mind that you are practically paying the same price so you really need to ask yourself what your intention is and how you plan to use the experience from the course later on.
Another what might seem “obvious” consideration is (yet so many are unaware of), who’s training you? Who is actually leading the 200-hour yoga teacher training? A proper yoga certification program will offer a list of which yoga teachers who will be training you; usually, different teachers have different specialties. Some programs might even bring in guest lecturers for anatomical or philosophical topics, and this is awesome, provided they’re qualified in their field. Check out who will be training you and if possible, take a class from them ahead of time! You want to make sure the teachers are a good fit for you. Remember, each yoga teacher has a different take and perspective on what yoga is and you want to make sure you resonate with his or her “flavor” of yoga.
In addition to the studio space and qualified yoga teacher trainers, the 200-hour yoga teacher training program should provide a well thought out training manual and unlimited yoga classes during your certification period. One of the biggest issues with some 200-hour yoga teacher trainings are their manuals. Many yoga schools do not take the time to have these done up professionally and what you get is a homemade scrap book filled with their philosophy and teachings. While this might be ok for a few hundred dollar weekend workshop, this is not acceptable for a 200-hour yoga teacher training in which you will be spending thousands of dollars and want to launch a career with. The yoga industry has been noted as not handling its business components as professionally as it should be as seen with the attempts of local federal agencies trying to impose yoga teacher training regulations in many cities around the country such as the NY Vocation Law which was almost passed. While its nice to view yoga as something simple and humble, this does not mean the school and teacher cannot take the proper amount of time to develop a proper yoga training manual.
What should you look for in a 200-hour yoga training manual? The Yoga training manual should be well written, professional, and cover all the major components of becoming a yoga teacher. If you feel it is poorly written or produced, you have every right to bring this to the attention of your teacher and express your concern. With the US government looking to get more involved with yoga training schools, it is in everyone’s best interest that these schools take every aspect of their 200-hour yoga teacher training program serious, especially the yoga training manual.
Second, most 200-hour yoga teacher training programs will require you to take a minimum number of classes at their studio per week while you’re being certified. They do this so you can deepen your personal practice and get a feel for different teachers’ approaches. Beware the yoga school that offers no classes for you to take. As they say, “Proof is in the pudding” and your school should offer you a sample of their pudding.
Looking for the right 200-hour yoga teacher training program can take some time, and hopefully this list of basic requirements speeds you along in your search. If you are ready to learn more about our teacher training programs, please feel free to contact us using the contact form on this site.
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Useful Links
Yoga Teacher Training Schools – Are you interested in becoming a yoga teacher and taking a yoga teacher training? Then check out our list of schools from around the world offering yoga certification programs.
Yoga Teacher Training Scholarship – Learn more about our scholarship program where we offer one lucky student the opportunity to win a free yoga teacher training.
Amazing Yoga – Power Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Amazing Yoga is an incredible opportunity to learn how to facilitate transformation—physical, mental, and spiritual. You will leave the training radiating and filled with confidence and joy. Whether you aspire to teach, are an experienced teacher or simply want to deepen your practice, this training will empower you. Our trainings are held in exotic locations such as Tulum, Mexico and Costa Rica. Get ready for a full immersion into yoga at the most peaceful and magical places you can imagine. Click here to learn more about Amazing Yoga Teacher Training
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