“Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.” Mahatma Buddha

The path of yoga is an ongoing path of self-discovery, ever-engaging and forever motivating one towards betterment. But when you start to share the knowledge and wisdom of yoga through teaching, you not only help others grow at the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels but you grow with them. So, by becoming a yoga teacher you also become a better yoga student and a good teacher is the one who is always open to learning.

One thing that most yoga practitioners would benefit from through an intensive training is the alignment. One may see a pose on TV or a book and know what it looks like but what muscles are to be engaged, where the body weight should be and what is the correct alignment; can only be learned in the presence of an experienced teacher who has the knowledge of correct alignment. Even if you do not want to teach formally, going through teacher training would help you improve your own practice because in this training you would be taught how to get into and out of a posture, where to focus as you hold the asana and how to breath.

Ayurveda is a sister science of yoga and one can not ignore that aspect of practice. Every practice must inculcate the Ayurvedic principles and pay attention to the practitioner’s constitution.

Even though any reason to practice yoga is a good reason yet, it is an incomplete practice if one ignores the other seven limbs of yoga and focuses only on asana practice. When you get training as a teacher you have the opportunity to practice more than just yoga postures. You learn many pranayama techniques as well as Yama, Niyama, Pratyahar, Dharna, Dhyaan and Samadhi.

Trainees learn how to relax, detach, let go and meditate. There are many meditation practices out there and there must be one that feels right depending on where you are today. In Yoga there are many cleansing techniques and through this training you learn them so that every system in the body functions at the optimum level.

Sound can have positive healing qualities. The wisdom of yoga lying in the ancient texts is beautifully organized in Sanskrit verses that can be sung to free the channels of the body. As a yoga Teacher Trainee you would learn many verses that are profound in meaning and melodious in vibration with correct pronunciation.

Consider the joy of living and growing while sharing and working!

If you want to become a certified yoga teacher you need to go through a training program that is certified and approved by Yoga Alliance. You can go to their website and look for schools close to you. http://www.yogaalliance.org/school_search.cfm Yoga Alliance has established certain criteria for yoga schools and a good program will meet those criteria pertaining to number of hours of training, anatomy, physiology, philosophy, teaching methodology etc.

Broadly speaking there are two levels of yoga teachers: 200 level and 500 level. A 200 level training includes 200 or more hours of yoga training in practice of hatha yoga, anatomy, philosophy and teaching methodology. After completion of this extensive training a teacher can write CYT with their name which means Certified Yoga Teacher. It is the first level of training a yoga teacher gets.

It is the advanced level of training for a yoga teacher. A 500 level training includes 300 or more hours of yoga training in practice of hatha yoga, anatomy, philosophy and teaching methodology. After completion of this, a teacher can write CYT 500 with their name which means Certified Yoga Teacher at the 500 level.

A yoga teacher trained at the 200 level becomes an ERYT 200 after they complete 1000 hours and two years of teaching. ERYT means ‘experienced registered yoga teacher’. Similarly, a CYT 500 or an ERYT 500 is a yoga teacher who has gone through a yoga alliance certified training at the 500 level. To become an ERYT 500 they have to complete 4 years and 2000 hours of teaching.

There are no set prices for a yoga teacher training. Different schools charge different rates based on their location, state requirements, rent etc. Most yoga trainings cost about 3000 to 5000 dollars. It is not necessary that an expensive school will provide good training. There are schools that are authentic and want to make the wisdom of yoga accessible to more and more people and therefore offer their trainings at low prices.

1. Make sure that the program is approved by Yoga Alliance. There are schools that may claim that they are approved but you can double check them by going to the Yoga Alliance web site. The school should have the RYS symbol displayed for 200 or 500 levels of training.
2. Look for the training, experience and background of the main Faculty.
3. Ask for the course content or outline.
4. School should have a catalog, clearly stating the policies regarding grading, attendance and payment.
5. School should have a code of ethics.

A good yoga teacher should have the following characteristics:

1. They should have good and authentic training. If your interest is in learning more than just yoga poses than you should look for a teacher trained in traditional ways.
2. They should acknowledge that they are life-long students. Yoga is over 5000 years of wisdom and one life time is not enough to learn everything. A good yoga teacher is the one who is open to learning new things and receives trainings while teaching.
3. A good yoga teacher should be able to teach you about all the 8 limbs of yoga. Asana practice is a small part of what is yoga. Pranayama is an important part of yoga and most teachers do not have much pranayama practice themselves. Similarly all the yamas and niyamas should be understood and explained at the practical level.
4. A good teacher should have some knowledge of Sanskrit and should not be afraid to use Sanskrit words in the class. Most yogic texts were written in Sanskrit and to be able to read and understand them in the original is a very special.
5. Yoga is a a very individual spiritual practice. A good teacher should reflect those virtues in their living. They should walk the path of yoga off the mat as well.