If you do yoga, you’re well aware that there are many styles - vinyasa, hatha, iyengar. Vinyasa is the style of yoga most often used in American yoga studios and what you’ll learn in most yoga teacher trainings.
But if you really connect with a specific style of yoga, you might want to consider getting a certification specific to that style.
There are also lots of yoga specialties you could explore: prenatal yoga, super sculpt etc. We’d recommend getting your 200-hour yoga teacher certification first and teaching for a few months before you get a specialized certification.
There are essentially four formats for yoga teacher trainings:
In-person yoga teacher training that’s in your city
Over the course of weeks or months, you attend in-person yoga teacher training classes at a studio in your city. Depending on your training, you might meet once a month for 9 months or multiple times a week for a few weeks.
Usually, your training classes meet 2 - 3 times a week, for 2 - 4 hours each time. There will usually be a final training session where you “test out” and graduate!
Pros of in-person yoga teacher training
You’ll have tons of outer accountability - your coursemates and instructors are expecting you, which is the motivation some of us need to show up. You’re also building a relationship with the studio where you’re getting your certification, which will come in handy if you’d like to work for them.
Cons of in-person yoga teacher training
It can be pretty expensive; costs range from $1,900 to $3,700. In-person YTT also requires you to drive to the studio, find parking, and potentially find childcare. If you work evenings or weekends, it can be hard to find an in-person YTT program in your city that accommodates your schedule.
Also, if you’re doing an “only meets on weekends” training it can take a looooong time to get certified and start teaching.
In-person yoga teacher training retreat in a cool location
Travel someplace cool - Thailand! India! Costa Rica! - and get your yoga teacher certification in a few weeks, studying in an intensive, condensed format.
Pros of an in-person yoga teacher training retreat in a cool location
You have an excuse to go somewhere cool and a program and itinerary already in place! If you’re a self-employed fitness instructor, you could potentially count this training and trip as a tax write off for your business, the same way an accountant could write off a trip for a conference or professional development.
You’ll also be able to complete your training faster because you’ll be spending all day, every day working through the curriculum, rather than fitting it in around your “real life.”
Cons of an in-person yoga teacher training retreat in a cool location
Again, it can get expensive. In addition to the cost of the training itself, you’ll be paying for flights, lodging, and food for the retreat. You also need to take significant time off of work and away from family and responsibilities to make these retreat work - they’re usually at least three weeks long.
From a learning perspective, it can also be hard to retain this much information without time to integrate, review it, and experiment with it on your own. Depending on your learning style, it can feel like a fire hose of information.
Online-only yoga teacher training
Pros of online-only yoga teacher training
These training are Inexpensive can be done at your own pace since you are totally left to your own devices. You can take a break if life gets in the way and come back when you have the time. If you're not very social, you don't have to talk to anyone at all!!
(But, if you're not social, you probably don't want to be a fitness instructor! 😉)
Cons of online-only yoga teacher training
Again, you’re totally left to your own devices. So, if you take a break and forget to come back to it, you're out that money and there's no one to encourage you to finish. That's how they're able to keep these trainings so inexpensive!
You don't get many opportunities, if any, to discuss what you're learning with anyone and to make sure you're comprehending it correctly. Also, there's no community aspect since you move through it alone.
Online + in-person yoga teacher training hybrid
These types of trainings allow you to do the majority of your training from home, on your own timeline, with an in-person weekend intensive and graduation at the end of the training.
Pros of online + in-person yoga teacher training hybrid
You don’t have to drive across town, find parking or childcare! You can fit your training around your other responsibilities, whether that’s kids, a fulltime job, caring for aging parents, or college.
You will often retain access to the YTT content, so you can reference it again anytime you need it.
This format is also great for anyone who lives somewhere that doesn’t offer an in-person YTT that fits their schedule. It’s also often much more affordable than the 100% in-person format because the studio has much lower overhead, so they can charge less.
This hybrid format also gives you the benefit of community; you can join zoom sessions and chat about what you're learning with your cohort and meet them in person during the in-person weekend. Even though you can do the homework and reading at your own pace, you're not totally alone during this training.
Cons of online + in-person yoga teacher training hybrid
Online YTT requires a certain amount of organization and self-motivation (though we’ve built as much accountability and support into our YTT as possible!). It also requires a decent amount of tech knowledge. You’ll be asked to tune into Zoom calls, record, send videos, etc.
Find a price point that works for you
Like we mentioned above, 100% in-person yoga teacher trainings are usually more expensive because the studios running them have a higher overhead. You’ll also need to factor in the price of driving, parking, childcare, and missed work shifts.
Remember: if you’re a self-employed fitness instructor, you might be able to deduct the cost of your yoga teacher training from your taxes!
You might be able to find a yoga teacher training that offers scholarships for single parents, BIPOC, former military, etc. Barre & Soul offers tuition assistance for our online / in-person hybrid yoga teacher training program for people experiencing financial need, BIPOC and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
If you’re already a fitness instructor and your studio needs more yoga teachers, they might be willing to pay for part - or all! - of your training with the understanding that you’ll be using your certification to teach yoga for them. It’s worth asking!
Choose a training that is certified by the Yoga Alliance
I mean, you could take a yoga teacher training that isn’t certified by the Yoga Alliance, but that’s kind of like going to a college that’s not accredited. Why spend all that time, money, and energy getting a certification that many yoga studios won’t honor?
A good rule of thumb: if the yoga teacher training is less than 200 hours, it’s not Yoga Alliance certified.
Be on the lookout - there are yoga teacher training programs that cost $1,000+ and are being offered by well-known yoga studio chains that aren’t Yoga Alliance certified!
For a yoga teacher training to be certified by the Yoga Alliance, it must meet this criteria:
In Barre & Soul’s online yoga teacher training, we meet these criteria during our weekly 3-hour Zoom calls, office hours, 1-on-1 video submissions, and our in-person intensive at the end of the training.
Decide if you want to learn how to design your own classes or learn specific routines that you’ll repeat from memory
Some yoga studios standardize specific yoga flows across their classes and studios, so if you go to a yoga sculpt class at a different location, you’ll still get the exact same workout. These studios teach the specific routines in their yoga teacher training, so you can memorize them and then use these routines in their classes. If coming up with your own yoga flows feels overwhelming, these trainings may be right for you!
Other yoga teacher trainings (like ours) teach you the tools and framework to design your own classes. We’ve found that many of our yoga teacher trainees view teaching yoga as a creative outlet, so we wanted to give them the tools to build classes that were unique to them.
Whew! We know that’s a TON of information, but yoga teacher training is a big commitment - logistically and financially, so we wanted to make sure you had everything you needed to make the right choice for you.
If you think Barre & Soul’s online yoga teacher training might be right for you - affordable price point, do it on your own timeline, Yoga Alliance approved,gives you the tools and framework to create your own classes - learn more or our no-pressure information session!
Any questions? We're here to help!
teach@barresoulacademy.com
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