Hello,
I’m a new member to the forum.
I introduced myself in the new members part.
I was wondering if anybody knows what is the best certification to teach yoga. There seems to be a few schools out there and I’m wondering if one or a couple of schools are better regarded than others.
Thanks
Philippe
paper certification does not mean much, when you heart tells you that you are qulified enough to be an authoritative figure in something as important as this, then you are ready
What does “best” mean?
Best means:
Does the training teach anatomy, anatomy of the spine?
Will you be able after your training to tell which movement will destroy somebody’s already weak rotator cuff? As for the first answer on this thread, well, i agree,. I “feel” ready to perform brain surgery on you, are you ready?
As a fitness instructor and personal trainer I’ve taken many physiology classes, on top of my B.S. in Biology and If I’m not always sure how to improve somebody I’m always sure how NOT to destroy them. And yes, I see people at the gym who got hurt doing Yoga. They go to the instructor and tell them they have a particular kind of injury and the Yoga instructor is more or less always clueless, much much less competent that your average fitness instructor.
By best I mean which one gets the most respect by the most disciples.
I think you know exactly what I meant, why play smart?
phillipe,
Inner athlete was not being smart, he was reffering to ego. the term “best” is an egotistical term. In yoga subduing ones ego is of the utmost importance. So you understand a lot of about the human body, you have told us of your accolades, but you focused solely on postures. What do you know about fasting, chakras, energies, prana, diet, etc…
you say your heart says you are ready to give brain surgery, is that you heart saying that or your ego? study yoga, all of it, and when you heart, with no blinders of your ego, says you are ready, then you are ready.
[QUOTE=Philippe;4957]
I was wondering if anybody knows what is the best certification to teach yoga. There seems to be a few schools out there
[/QUOTE]
Hello Philippe,
I don’t think that you can judge a yoga education to be the best. This is a very individual thing.
Yoga is a very big subject and every yoga school has its preferences and every teacher is different.
Anyway even in getting a lot of certificates does not really make you a “good” yoga teacher.
I think the most important thing is your OWN EXPERIENCE.
How can you teach if you havn’t really experienced it yourself?
Then it is about how you teach, how do you present it to people and most important how do you relate to your students. Are you compassionate without feeling pity? Are you authentic and professional at the same time while you teach?
After that comes the knowledge about anatomie, historie, …
My teacher just talked about that it is an art to teach … .
Well I’m doing a second yoga teacher education in the moment. One reason why I choosed this one was that I wanted to learn more about this technikes they use in that tradition. But the more important thing is: my teacher lives yoga and I have a good connection to her! And thats werefrom I’m learning the most.
My suggestion: go to different yogaclasses and find YOUR teacher before you enrole somewhere.
and I’m wondering if one or a couple of schools are better regarded than others.
This point might be important if you want to teach in centers where they want to have a special certificate.
In Europe you could look if it is following the guidelines from the European Yoga Teacher Fellowship (which is a member of the International Yoga Federation).
Or best ask in the places were you would like to teach what certificate you would need.
But often teachers don’t have to show in any certificate, but have to do give a lesson.
Wish you a successful search!
Karin
Ah the tangled webs that we weave.
My inquiry as to “best” was a clarification question to the OP.
To some, best means they can get a yoga teaching “job” immediately. To others best means popular. In this case the OP responded appropriately about his definition of best.
I have several very close friends who are currently Personal Trainers. The two that come to mind have similar backgrounds to the OP - a biology degree and appropriate professional certifications for their industry. Both are very good at what they do.
I would, however, use care with this sort of statement:
the Yoga instructor is more or less always clueless, much much less competent that your average fitness instructor.
That having been said, I agree with the basic premise (not the premise in contrast to trainers) which is that there are many and some do not have proper training to be able to work safely with injured students. This is a function of a) an absence of yoga teacher regulation and b) the presence of “teacher training” businesses that crank out several thousand “teachers” per year.
Coming back to the OP’s question…there are teacher trainings that have robust curriculums which include A&P. The process is much like finding a college. You can go to beauty school, community college, a four year school, or get a masters.
The programs that have additional hours (the one I am working on is 2,000 hours) obviously have additional room for material to be covered. Most people do not take yoga instruction seriously enough to commit to anything over 200 hours, some not even that commitment. Therefore it depends on one’s intention. Look deeply into the syllabus.
The first teacher training I did back in 2000 had very little to offer in terms of A&P but it was an eight day boot camp (as I was unwilling to commit to more). It was fine for where I was then, today it would be fun but educationally insufficient. My current program exceeds my anatomy expectations.
The Yoga Alliance has a spot on their web page where you can search for registered schools. This isn’t the only valid way but it’s a good start.
One last thing, and that is this “I feel ready” piece. The mind is a crafty master - unless you’ve done the work to make it a servant. And thus it can make you feel however it wants. This is how ego rises in the practice. For weight training ego is completely acceptable. Perhaps even desired. In yoga it has no place. This is not a good/bad evaluation. The feeling of being ready to teach, be it brain surgery or yoga FOLLOWS training and education. it is possible, in certain contexts, to be an amazing yoga teacher without this sort of training but it is remote and unlikely.
You may find additional relevant info on my FAQ section.
i’ve always kind of thought…
if the third eye or heart center is open and one has deep awareness of the subtle dynamics of their surroundings, then one is qualified to teach and broadcast not just a rhythm, but enlightenment itself through understanding the process by direct gnosis
i am not sure how many teachers there are like this, maybe many, maybe few, but if i were not somewhere around that cultivated enough to be able to sense the energy of the students, perhaps even the mental content, to really have some sort of something then i would feel like i had too much ego
it is by too much ego that i envision these scenarios of enlightenment though in the first place…
i would say if one has done the process of yoga enough to have open chakras to show for it, then they can take the students by intuition up to equality with their current level of cultivation.
That may be so DY.
Put in the way you put it, it would be tough to take another position.
If the work is done and the teacher is enlightened (open chakras, which may or may not be “enough”) then they might go anywhere they pelased, with or without their students. Who knows?
Many claim enlightnement. But the issues of the white shadow are ever present. (The shadow parts masquerading behind enlightnement or piety).
What is the “best” yoga teaching curriculum? Different people will answer different ways, as you have heard already. Many will claim with certainty just exactly what should be done, and how, and with whom. Aspersions will be cast upon any who diverge from the formula prescribed. For the most excellent reasons that logic can offer, These. People. Are. Correct. And they will happily take your money, a lot of it, and they will send you out into the world with a piece of paper that says you are qualified to teach yoga Better. Than. Those. Other. Teachers. You gain entry into a society of other yoga teachers who have completed the same curriculum that you have. You get together. It’s a good thing. It really is. Except . . . it is easy to forget that this is a Western interpretation of Yoga. As such, it leaves out the meat of the nut.
Yoga means Union. A union between mind, body and spirit. No matter how many training hours or certificates you have, without the element of union present in your teaching, you are a physical therapist or an exercise physiologist or a pilates instructor. Union is not something that can be dispensed by a training curriculum ! Please don’t be dazzled by thousands of hours of training, and by the same measure discouraged at your prospects of ever being an adequate teacher short of the most teacher training hours from the most (ivy-draped?) schools. Instead know that the very best yoga teachers have spent many thousands of hours in personal, solitary [U]practice[/U], using, developing and synthesizing different aspects of their learnings within the crucible of their own mind/body/spirit experience. Like the person who goes back to gain multiple BA, MA and PhD degrees, this can be a good thing and it can be a way to avoid life outside of school. The best yogi comes from any background you can imagine. You will know them by the way that they exude peace, encouragement, gentleness, kindness, and by the way that their life reflects the principles of yoga. How do you become [U]that[/U] teacher?
Look for a curriculum that actively fosters the union of mind/body/spirit, humility, non-materialism, and way too much happiness for no apparent reason, no-one should be able to be that happy in public ! The best yoga teacher for your training is the one that resonates with you. Different teachers will teach you different things, and their personalities will attract different types of people. But most especially, [U]practice[/U] yoga as the curriculum to take you toward “best yoga teacher” status. For years, take some yoga classes, and practice a lot of yoga at home. Make it yours. Don’t worry about teacher trainings until others perceive you as a yoga teacher. Wait to be asked, noticed as a standout in your practice, by other teachers. Then, you are not striving to teach as a way of displaying egotistic superiority, but as a way of offering a service to others, at their request. Let your teacher(s) offer guidance toward a style of yoga that fits you. Try it, see if it fits. Let your practice evolve organically without ego. Then, once you distinguish yourself from the garden variety yoga practitioner, you will be on your way to distinguishing yourself from the garden variety yoga teacher in whichever training curriculum you encounter! You see, no matter how insistent our yoga associations and teacher training schools are to the contrary, it is not really the curriculum that gives you the “best yoga teacher” label - - that really, in the end, is up to you.
Many thanks to all who answered and some took the pain to give me very long answers. Very nice. What was said made sense to me. Thanks again.
Philippe