Question for Instructors

[sunshine]

Hello! I am working at a fitness center as a Yoga instructor. I have 5 years yoga experience but no certification. They provided on the job training for me. The fitness center recommended getting the AFAA certification as a general fitness instructor. I have an interest in the Yoga Alliance certification but I am having trouble finding time in my schedule to commit to that many hours of classes. I am unsure what certification is important as a yoga instructor.

What types of certification do you have? What do you suggest for me?

Thank you so much!

[suryadaya]

I like your name, sunshine.

If your facility recommends getting the AFAA certification, then you should probably get it. There are a lot of yoga alliance certifications that offer modules and intensives you can attend throughout the year, split up into smaller segments. This makes it easier for some people to achieve their requirements. Many of them have home-study requirements to go with them, and there are some only-home-study programs available through the internet. The home-study-only ones do not meet yoga alliance certification, however.

I'm getting certified in India in November with a 300 hour certification but I am not sure that its going to meet the standards set by the Alliance, as I can find no record of anyone submitting for it before. I am really not concerned because this is the school that I feel I must go to; and from the research I have done, what they teach surpasses the requirements. My best advice would be to find the school or training program that you are connected to, and is the most available to you schedule and financial-wise, and stay with that one. If all else fails, you can always train through YogaFit when it comes through your area.

[InnerAthlete]

I'll offer a slightly different approach. And that is "what do you want to be when you grow up"?

You may, of course, do whatever your employer tells you. And that's fine. However when it is all said and done you will be what your employer wanted you to be and that may or may not be what you want.

If, in your heart, it is your dharma to be a fitness teacher then do that. Get a fitness certification and teach (if it suits you) wherever they accept such certifications.

If on the other hand your heart tells you to be a teacher of Yoga then your study will never cease. You will study, learn, and grow...sometimes in small measure other times in quantum leaps. But you will never reach an end. And you will have accepted a responsibility to serve as a conduit through which yoga will pass to those who study with you. In that scenario any "venue" that wants yoga to be shared with its clients will be interested in working with you.

My path began with a vinyasa training of only 40+ hours. In looking back it is obvious I was not qualified to teach yoga (or asana perhaps). However I was empowered enough to seek additional training and I'm now a certified Purna Yoga teacher at the 2,000 level and an RYT-500 with YA. But not so I could be hired by this place or that place. Only because this seemed like what I am here to do.