Destination teacher trainings are a popular way to combine travel with continued education. If you want to explore an exotic (and probably tropical) country, yoga teacher trainings are being offered all over the globe. Have you always wanted to go to Bali? India? Costa Rica? While the flight can be pricey, the cost of staying in these countries tends to be much lower than being at home or in another city in the Western world. Research the destination of your choice in regard to culture, best time to visit, logistics of getting there, and safety.
Maybe this is not the best time for you to be traveling extensively, for whatever reason. Chances are, your local yoga studios are offering in-house teacher trainings. It may be easier to enroll in a program in your home town, especially if you’re juggling family, pets, a demanding career etc.
Most destination yoga teacher trainings are offered in an intensive format. That means you’ll complete your course in anywhere between 2 and 6 weeks. If it’s possible for you, job-wise and family-wise, to get away and completely immerse yourself, this format offers a huge advantage. Truly experiencing yoga goes a long way to an intellectual understanding of the practices. The deepest techniques of yoga demand uninterrupted and dedicated practice, in a way that is almost impossible when you’re trying to attend to your daily affairs on the side.
The inward journey requires freedom and space. At most retreat centers, you’ll be completely taken care of. You don’t need to shop, cook, clean, do laundry, or run errands. Everything is pre-paid and you can focus on the yoga. And you only need to fork out the cash for one flight, rather than taking multiple trips for several separate modules.
Even if you don’t have the luxury of taking an extended vacation, you can still get certified. Standard formats allow you to keep your job while immersing yourself in a yoga teacher training from Friday evening through Sunday. These programs generally extend over several months. So you’ll be working your way slowly, but still surely towards your goal. This format also allows you more time to absorb the information intellectually. Ideally, you can enroll in program in your home town, as the cost of flying back and forth to another city for multiple sessions can really add up.
Destination teacher trainings are a popular way to combine travel with continued education. If you want to explore an exotic (and probably tropical) country, yoga teacher trainings are being offered all over the globe. Have you always wanted to go to Bali? India? Costa Rica? While the flight can be pricey, the cost of staying in these countries tends to be much lower than being at home or in another city in the Western world. Research the destination of your choice in regard to culture, best time to visit, logistics of getting there, and safety.
Maybe this is not the best time for you to be traveling extensively, for whatever reason. Chances are, your local yoga studios are offering in-house teacher trainings. It may be easier to enroll in a program in your home town, especially if you’re juggling family, pets, a demanding career etc.
An RYS is a “Registered Yoga School” Check the Yoga Alliance school directory to confirm that the yoga teacher training is accredited. Registration by a school with YA assures that the training program meets standards for curriculum developed by Yoga Alliance and that training is conducted by experienced instructors. Only graduates of a registered yoga school are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance as RYTs®. You don’t want to spend a lot of money (not to mention blood, sweat and tears) only to find out your school isn’t legit and you can’t get your RYT certification.
Check the credentials of the primary instructors. How long have they been teaching? Where did they study? What other professional or educational background do they have that gives them perspective as a yoga teacher? The lead teacher training facilitator must be a Yoga Alliance certified ERYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher). The highest level of certification possible is ERYT 500, which means the instructor has at least 2000 hours and a minimum of four years of teaching experience since graduating.
Carefully read the school’s syllabus. The Yoga Alliance defines minimum hours and loose content requirements. Each school is free to place emphasis wherever they choose, as long as they meet YA minimum hours. For example, “anatomy” could mean bones, muscles and joints, or it should mean subtle body anatomy (chakras and nadis). The same school might work with a variety of teachers, each with their own specializations. Read the program facilitator’s blogs to get a better feel of who’s leading the training. Also, check the training program’s required reading list. Go to amazon and read the descriptions and previews the books. This will give you a good indication of the focus of the training.
Class size is an interesting consideration. You might think that a small class (less than 10) is better for learning as you might get more attention from the primary teachers. This might be true but what we have found is that a class size around 30 not only offers students more body types and personalities to work with, it also offers a greater sense of flexibility and experience when it comes to practice teaching.
Classes larger than 36 seem to invite more separation than opportunities for community building as people tend to break up into smaller social groups. So for us 36 is Max. But could be smaller depending on the venue and type of training we are offering.
So consider these ideas carefully. If it’s not clearly stated on the schools website, don’t be afraid to ask. The numbers vary greatly, and can have a big impact on your experience. Also ask about the teacher to student ratio. Certainly the more personal attention you get, the more you’ll learn
Yoga teacher trainings are not appropriate for beginners. Period. You will not benefit from learning yoga basics while trying to learn to teach at the same time. Would you try to become a Spanish teacher while taking beginner Spanish classes? No you wouldn’t.
Make sure the school requires applicants to have a solid foundation in the basic and fundamental yoga postures. You don’t need to be an expert yogi with a perfect practice, but you and your fellow teacher trainees should have solid footing and a level of maturity and body awareness. Any beginners in the mix would not be able to keep up with the group, which would ultimately depreciate the experience for everyone.
Yoga teacher trainings may be a dime a dozen, but they’re still not cheap. Expect to pay anywhere between $2500 and $10,000 for a 200 or 300 hour certification course. As with any product or service, a big price tag does not necessarily equate to a better training. Big brands command higher prices, even in the world of yoga. Some schools will offer payment plans, work exchanges or scholarships.
Be cautious of bottom rung pricing as it is not cheap to host a training. So if the price is too good to be true, there’s a reason for that and you might not want to wait until you arrive at your training to find out why. The experience of the teachers, the venue and its facilities, food, location and other amenities all add up. Be a smart shopper, do your research, and read as many reviews as you can be fore you decide.
You’ll want to read blogs, testimonials and reviews of previous graduates. With the rise of social media, student feedback is published on a variety of different platforms, including Facebook, Yelp, Yoga Trail, and the Yoga Alliance website. You can also ask the yoga school to connect you with their training graduates for additional assurance.
Investigate all the training programs being offered by the school. What classes, workshops, retreats, and advanced trainings are on offer? A school that also offers 300 hour, 500 hour programs and beyond will tend to have more experienced facilitators and a stronger community than those only offering 200 hour programs. Satisfied 200 hour graduates want to continue on to their 300 hour program with the same school. 300 hour graduates are looking for other advanced training opportunities.
Also, more program offerings means more opportunities for graduates to assist and gain valuable teaching experience in a training environment. If the road ends after the 200 hour yoga teacher training, the community can never really build.
Once you’ve done the research and have all the facts, let your intuition play a supporting role. Some yoga teacher trainings and teachers will simply speak to you more than others, for reasons you may not yet be able to define. A regular practice of yoga connects us with our truest self, and allows us to tune in and listen to what our soul longs for. “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” -Rumi
Zuna Yoga offers yoga teacher trainings in Bali
