by Do you love yoga and want to become a yoga teacher? Here is the ultimate checklist with all the questions you should ask yourself before you book an apprenticeship. And you ask yourself, how long does it take to become a yoga instructor?
According to the stereotype, yoga teachers are almost enlightened, in top shape, always balanced, and live in a parallel universe of incense sticks and colorful leggings. But being a real yoga instructor is a challenge for which you need a lot of yoga.
When you enter your favorite yoga studio, you immediately feel like in another world: quiet relaxing music, a delicate scent of fresh flowers, candles, and incense sticks greet you. Even now at the pandemic time, when contact restrictions and closed yoga studios are part of everyday life, stress, anxiety, and tension fall away from you when you log in to your yoga class online. How nice would it be to have this feeling around the clock and in any situation?
The profession of a yoga instructor is a mystery. On the one hand, he is not protected, that is, anyone who wants can call himself a yoga teacher. On the other hand, the tradition and the knowledge that is passed on from teacher to teacher still plays a big role, because it is thanks to this mediation that we practice yoga today.
Here is a checklist for all those who are thinking about starting a yoga teacher training:
How long does it take to become a certified yoga instructor?
How much does it cost to become a certified yoga instructor?
Is it difficult to become a certified yoga teacher?
How to become a certified yoga instructor?
How long does it take to become a yoga instructor?
How do I know if the teacher training is good?
Find out from your teachers where they were trained, which teachers and registered yoga school they recommend, and don’t hesitate to ask newly trained teachers about their teaching experience or yogic experience. But above all, you should know the teachers with whom you will eventually do the teacher training, and have previously done at least one intensive workshop with them.
You can also recognize a good education by the fact that it is not thrown after you, but comes with a lot of work and effort. You will have to read several books beforehand, get written homework as well as practical teaching exercises, and in the end you will have to take an exam, usually theory and practice, before you receive a certified yoga teacher certification (or yoga instructor certification).
How much time do I need to spend?
We all know that there are many possibilities in the field of yoga. There are many different types and levels of yoga certification, but to become an effective yoga teacher requires a good education to become one. Therefore, if we assume that thanks to excellent education and yoga certification, you will become a teacher that every yoga student wants to be with. Here, we will describe a little the issues related to yoga certificates.
As I write this, there are no authorized legal requirements for certification anywhere in the world. In essence, this means that you need to choose a program that matches your aspirations and passionately strive for it in order to gain knowledge that you can use to teach students yoga practices!
Most gyms are preferred by students of schools accredited by the Yoga Alliance, so attending a teacher training course or TTC at a school (RHYS) registered by the Yoga Alliance can be very beneficial for their yoga teacher career. The Yoga Alliance has various certifications.
There are different learning models. In general, we advise you to refrain from questionable activities that promise to “become a yoga teacher certification in 10 days.” Lasting training takes at least 200 hours of time, BDY (Professional Association of Yoga Teachers in Germany) insists on 720 lessons, which can last for four years. Some intense workouts also create 200 hours in four weeks (for example, Jivamukti Yoga, Yoga vidya, or Bikram).
200-hour Yoga Teacher Training is an intensive program designed to give you the knowledge, teaching skills, and confidence for your yoga self-practice and to teach classes based on the Ashtanga Primary Series and Vinyasa Flow. In this yoga teacher training, focus on the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga, not just on the Asana practice, but also on philosophy, pranayama, and meditation techniques.
The Yoga Certification offers yoga teaching and the possibleness to deeply complement your practice and become a famous knowing yoga instructor.
Whether you focus on your education, away from home, or getting involved in your professional and family life depends on what suits you best. Each option has its pros and cons. Everything you study intently can be compact and make a deep impression, but it can also overwhelm you.
Everything you learn over a long period of time can add up, but, of course, it also risks making only a fleeting impression or plunging into the chaos of everyday life.
There is certified yoga teacher training course for six weeks, six months, more than two to three years, study abroad, especially in India, special and additional yoga instructor training, such as yoga for children, for pregnant women, for fat people, for people with depression and so on.
Consult with your question, how to become a certified yoga instructor. The more willing they are to provide you with information about possible learning disabilities (too many students, too little anatomy, too much group pressure), the more reliable their information will be. Any education, even the best, has disadvantages (sometimes only geographical, because in Puerto Rico …), but they should not continue to fall in weight if the basic orientation is correct.
Also, when considering how much time you need, you should add to this that nothing has been won with the actual teacher training program yet. Only yoga practice will make you a good certified yoga instructor, and it can take years.
How much does it cost to become a yoga instructor?
How much money do I need to invest to stay a certified yoga teacher?
Yoga classes are expensive and can cost up to 10,000 euros. If you plan to work exclusively as a yoga teacher certification, you will also need to adjust to a long-term financial thirst until you become so established that you really love yoga.
For example. One of the most popular yoga registered yoga schools in Germany: Lucie Beyer & Angelina Quadflieg. In this holistic certified yoga teacher training program, you will learn and develop your potential: Professional and grounded, loving and sincere, Lucy and Angelina will help you immerse yourself in important aspects of teaching yoga – from anatomy and acro yoga to sequence and meridians, yoga philosophy and yin yoga.
The yoga teacher training program also introduces you to topics such as digital learning, aromatic yoga, and gender, and gives you important knowledge on social networks, as well as an idea of Thai massage techniques.
Number of hours: 300 hours in 14 months (12 days off and one intensive week)
Cost: 4320 euros (the cost of the course excluding travel, accommodation, and meals)
Location: Rauchenstein Yoga School in Wiggensbach (registered yoga school)
Is it difficult to become a yoga teacher?
What will I do as a certified yoga teacher to earn?
Since yoga instructor is not a protected profession, there is no payment at a fixed rate. But, as a rule, if you are not one of the few star teachers, you will probably earn much less than in your old profession. Many small yoga studios and fitness centers often pay no more than 25-30 euros per hour (90 minutes). Thus, even if you spend three hours every time for six days (3 x 90 minutes plus 60 minutes of your own practicing yoga plus the road, preparation), you get only 2160 euros per month, which you have to tax with 19% VAT.
In addition, you should purchase liability insurance and find out if you need to pay for pension insurance (you are usually subject to insurance as soon as you earn more than 450 euros per month). This includes the costs of web pages and everything related to the commercial sphere in the life of freelance yoga instructors.
We don’t want to be spoiled by games, but you should also save money for those days when you are sick, want to go on vacation, and, of course, for your retirement. If you are serious about this, additionally take a course at an Employment Agency or Chamber of Commerce to find out what expenses cover you, what is the legal situation and what insurance you need.
Why do I want to become a certified yoga teacher?
To deepen your practice. This is actually the first, even very honorable reason that they name for many people who are trained as a yoga teacher. In fact, many come to taste in the learning process and still want to teach. So listen carefully to yourself. If you just want more yoga, you can also just more yoga practice, attend retreats and read good yoga books.
Thus, it remains a hobby or a heartfelt affair, without the need to turn into a profession. However, intensive study of yoga, how it shapes education, is a great opportunity to learn something not only about yoga but also about yourself. Devoting this time without yoga teacher training program after that is a legitimate reason and in no way worse than striving for a new career.
Another reason is to do something meaningful. This is also an honorable and serious reason. Most of the society still does not use yoga because it is too expensive or too far from the mind. There is a lot of work waiting for us here, and you, in principle, could get to work.
There is nothing better than doing good to people, and in fact, you can and will help people as a certified yoga teacher. If you have the desire to help others achieve their health and fitness goals become an Orangetheory coach.
But you will also be dealing with ignorant students: inside, by stingy studio owners and envious colleagues. So don’t expect the yoga world to be much better than the one you may be so desperate to leave. Even yogis are just people.
To become famous and rich. Even if no one admits it, the image of famous yoga instructors: inside, at whose feet everyone is lying, secretly can be crucial for some to also follow this professional path. Attention: if you are not a marketing specialist or do not hire someone who develops a PR strategy for you, it will probably be difficult. There are already many yoga teachers there: inside, and no one was waiting for you.
How do I know if it suits me?
If you want to deepen your Asana (yoga pose) practice, it is also enough just yoga practice more.
When it comes to delving into philosophy, it is enough to read the right books and perhaps create or join a conversation circle (Satsang) to discuss relevant issues.
As for stopping tantrums, having to go to the office, or dropping ten kilograms, it may be better for you to consult with a psychotherapist or have a long conversation with a good friend.
According to the stereotype, yoga instructors are almost enlightened, in top shape, always balanced, and live in a parallel universe of incense sticks and colorful leggings. But being a real yoga teacher is a challenge for which you need a lot of yoga.
How to Be a Yoga Instructor?
What requirements do I have to meet to become a yoga teacher?
A multi-year intensive yoga practice, typically a minimum age of 25 years and certain personal maturity. This is a basic spiritual interest. Basically, yoga is not a craft that can be learned quickly, but requires a deep inner attitude.
And yet, there are techniques and standards that you can and must learn and practice yoga very well. What you don’t have to be able to do: jump into the handstand, a perfect balancing act.
What should I learn in a good certified yoga teacher training? Different yoga:
Asanas (yoga poses): anatomically precise alignment and basic understanding of the asanas
Pranayama: Understanding the most important breathing techniques and the concept of Pranayama
Meditation: How do I teach yoga meditation?
Anatomy: practical basic knowledge of the body
Didactics: Teaching yogadidactics and sequencing. How do I teach yoga safely and meaningfully? Use of aids?
Psychology: what can yoga do and what can’t? How do I help my students? What can I teach students? Where are my limits as a teacher: in, and what is my responsibility?
Philosophy: The foundations of yoga and the study of central source texts such as the Yoga Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
In addition -Therapeutic yoga: Insight into the diversity of therapeutic yoga
Often, for such specialties as anatomy or philosophy, experts are invited, whose names and quality are responsible for the quality of the entire education. The scene is still manageable in Germany, and typically you can already tell from the publications of the experts or their other engagements how much teaching experience they have.
What will I do as a yoga teacher to earn?
Because yoga teacher: there is no more protected profession, there is no payment at a fixed rate. But, as a rule, if you are not one of the few star teachers, you will probably earn much less than in your old profession. Many small yoga studios and fitness centers typically pay no more than 25-30 euros per hour (90 minutes).
Thus, even if you spend three hours every time for six days (3 x 90 minutes plus 60 minutes of your own practice plus routes, preparation), you get only 2160 euros gross per month, which you have to tax with 19% VAT.
In addition, you should purchase liability insurance and find out if you need to pay for pension insurance (you are usually subject to insurance as soon as you earn more than 450 euros per month). This includes the costs of web pages and everything related to the commercial sphere in the life of self-employed yoga teachers.
We don’t want to be spoiled by games, but you should also save money for those days when you are sick, want to go on vacation, and, of training courses, for your retirement. If you are serious about this, additionally take yoga instructor training courses at an Employment Agency or Chamber of Commerce to find out what expenses cover you, what is the legal situation and what insurance you need.
Yoga teachers also pay rent
But as always, not everything is black and white here either. As always, there are shades of gray, there is a “both and”. Because: As beautiful and enriching as the job as a registered yoga teacher maybe – it is always challenging. Because what the yoga student sees at first glance and what seems so effortless and easy is usually the result of hard work. Work on yourself and your own personality, but of course, also work in the classical sense.
Being a yoga teacher does not mean giving enlightened advice sitting in the fog of incense sticks. Yoga teachers are not exempt from stress and the challenges of everyday life. You too have to pay rent, take care of your pension, provide for your family and yes – you also need a holiday every now and then to recharge your batteries. In order for this to work out, it takes a lot of work, discipline, flexibility, and perseverance.
The Challenges of Yoga Teacher Life
And not only that. In concrete terms, many yoga teachers are struggling with the same challenges. On the one hand, there is the most manageable payment when you work as a freelance yoga teacher, rushing from yoga studio to yoga studio in order to get an income that supports you (usually just like that). And yoga teachers with their own studio must already be lucky to find suitable premises, the rent of which does not automatically ensure that they can not make a profit – no matter how well the studio is running.
In both cases, it means: calculate well. And have no illusions. Very few teachers get rich with yoga. And they don’t make their money with yoga lessons, but with well-marketed retreats, yoga teacher training, yoga videos – or by advertising products on their social media accounts as yoga influencers. To what extent this is still yoga, everyone must decide for himself.
And on the other hand, there are all the other jobs that are connected with the existence of a yoga teacher and that you almost have to fulfill as well. Because, of course, a registered yoga teacher is not just a spiritual “yoga performer” on the mat, to whom the students fly just like that. No, in order to make ends meet as a yoga teacher, much more is needed.
What does a yoga teacher need to be able to do?
A yoga teacher also needs to market himself, advertise himself and his offers. The know-how in online marketing is just as much a matter of course as the creation of texts for flyers and websites, the development of your own USPs (Unique Selling Point), regular competition analysis, social contacts at trade fairs, festivals, in other studios, regular further education and yoga training, expertise in the field of accounting, insurance and taxes and, and, and.
And then the corona crisis! It also demands a lot from the yoga teachers and constantly demands their flexibility anew – and not the flexibility on the yoga mat. Closed studios, fear of existence, the switch from studio operation to online courses, and back again now determine the yoga everyday life.
That’s why it’s not so rare that yoga teachers land in the burn-out or throw the shotgun in the grain (even without The Corona Crisis! ). It is not uncommon for most yoga teachers to have the question at some point whether the passion for yoga is big enough to put everything on this one card, or whether you would rather be a part-time yoga teacher or stay a yoga student.
Sure, every job has its challenges, ups and downs, something that’s fun, and something that’s annoying. Right now, many are in crisis. As a self-employed person, there is also a permanent fear of existence and the burden of working around the clock.
How yogically do I shape my life?
With the registered yoga teacher, it is also the case that what he does is not just a job, but his attitude to life. It doesn’t mean: “So, now after work, away with the yoga costume, into the feel-good clothes.” No, you are always a yoga teacher. With skin and hair, whole soul. In an optimal case, a certain posture is not only adopted in the yoga classes but is lived always and everywhere.
Water is not advertised on the mat – peace, relaxation, peace, and mindfulness – and wine is drunk at home – stress, negativity and hatred – (even if a little wine is not to be despised even as a yoga teacher!). Yoga teachers work around the clock – and on themselves. It’s not just about planning logical and appropriate yoga classes, the next workshop, the future yoga trip, it’s all about working on the inner attitude, looking at the (surrounding) world, transporting the theoretical yoga philosophy into everyday practical life.
The question of how yogically you actually design your life is always in the focus. Does what I want to give my students coincide with how I live myself? What are the motives for going to the mat – from a purely monetary point of view or from a vocation (and does one have to automatically exclude the other)?
Do I take the time-outs that I advise my students so urgently? Do I really understand stress as something that I do to myself and not as something that comes to me from the outside? Am I in fact always free of envy, resentment, and fear, or do I admit them to myself and work on them? Do I get disciplined on the mat every day or do I neglect my own practice? Am I still taking good care of myself while I am concerned about the well-being of the students?
The list could be supplemented with a few more items. All this is included in the (working) daily life of a registered yoga teacher. In addition, there is also a lot of passion and fire on the front itself. So you see: being a registered yoga teacher is more than likely that many yoga students suspect it at first sight.
But for many, it’s just a real dream job, for which all the work is worth it, as well as all the ups and downs. And maybe you’ll just dedicate your next om to your favorite yoga teacher.
I would like to summarize.
How long does it take to become a yoga instructor? A registered yoga teacher can be a dream job. Because of course, dealing with a millennia-old philosophy that carries you as a yoga teacher through everyday life and probably through your whole life, caring for your body and mind around the clock and the opportunity to pass on this knowledge to other people, to support them and to receive their immediate feedback, make this job so special and enriching among many other points.
Whether supermanager, artist or student – everyone has worries and needs and often turns to you with confidence. How fulfilling to see that you can support them in their everyday life through yoga, pranayama, and meditation. And how enriching is the idea of contributing to a positive change in the world by working on people.
In the article, you also found out How much it costs to become a registered and certified yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance?
Most yoga teacher training programs cost between $1,200 and $5,000 or more. If you want to register with Yoga Alliance, a standard fee of $50 is charged for registration. And then another $65 annual fee is charged to maintain your certification status.
Perhaps, you are also looking for information on how to become a flight attendant with no experience, then follow this link.
