How to become a yoga instructor

[cornflake girl]

I have been thinking that I might really enjoy teaching yoga and best of all I could do it very part time. Is there any special certification that you need, or do you just go apply at a studio? Thanks!

[dfoy]

I'm not a yoga instructor but I have been doing yoga for quite awhile- at home with tapes and in a studio with an instructor. I, too, have been interested in teaching to special populations (I'm a special ed teacher and think some of our special needs kids could benefit from yoga) through our local Parks & Rec dept. I asked one of my instructors a while back how to go about getting started. She said that you do need teacher training and certification. There are yoga institutes all over the world and you pay a pretty penny to attend one to be certified, or you can ask at one of your local studios where to be trained and certified. There is a studio in my city that does training and certification. Good luck to you! Now that I've had my babe it will probably be awhile before I persue it.

[mamarain]

Where are you located?
The nov/dec issue of Yoga Journal had a whole bunch of info on studios and teacher trainings, and the mag is a great resource on yoga anyways (or try the web site www.yogajournal.com ) Unless you are already set on a certain style of yoga - do your homework well, there are plenty of trainings around, but i feel that it's essential to get a sound knowledge on anatomy & physiology as well as the asana-practice - to stand above the crowd, so to speak.
Good luck on your search on the path of yoga - and here's my personal reminder - i feel a teacher is never really ready. It's your own practice and example that counts - make it a good one.

[christiana]

It depends on what kind of yoga you want to teach... Bikram requires 2months in CA (bikramyoga.com), iyengar requires several years of learning by a certified teacher then teaching before you can get certified (bksiyengar.com) kripalu has their own courses held in MA (kripalu.com or .org. Many astanga instructors hold trainings (ashtanga.com) The yoga alliance has a listing of all types of styles and training at yogaalliance.com or .org. Most certs require 250 hours. Ask your local instructors where they got their training too.

Hope this was a help. I just finished an in depth article on yoga (different styles, training etc.) for a natural living website called naturalwebguide.org. It will be up and running in several weeks so bookmark it and check back for more info.

Christiana

[yogini]

Yoga Teacher Certification

I've been a yoga teacher for many years, and it's a great way to keep in shape and help others!

The best yoga teacher certification program I've found is through The Expanding Light, where I got certified. They are one of the most respected yoga teaching facilities in the world. They have many different kinds of yoga teaching certification. Here's their link

http://www.expandinglight.org

Being a yoga teacher is very rewarding. There's also another group that certifies teachers to teach yoga & meditation to kids, which you may be interested in, too:

http://www.livingwisdom.org