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Choosing a Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training

Choosing a Vinyasa yoga teacher training can be a little confusing until you figure out a few appropriate questions to ask of yourself and a potential yoga studio or ashram before making your final choice:

  • Do I need to stay close to home? Can you travel? Do you have the appropriate passports to go to a teacher training abroad? Do you have vacation or leave time you can use to go to a yoga teacher training away from home? Do you have childcare lined up with family members or friends for an extended leave?
  • What is my budget for getting my certification completed?
  • How much time can I spend away from a job, family responsibilities or socializing with friends that I am used to seeing. Intensives, as they are often called, are yoga teacher trainings that are just as the word describes – intense. Some start as early as 5am and don’t end until well after 11pm. You would be wise to let your social circle and family know that you will be unreachable for several days, or even several weeks since you will be undergoing an intense regime of study to gain your certification.
  • Do I want an Ashtanga yoga certification or just a Vinyasa style certification? There is a difference. Be sure to ask if they are a Pattabhi Jois school or one form its lineage or another style of Vinyasa yoga.
  • Decide if you want to do a weekend intensive, get your 200 or 300 add on for a 500 hour yoga teacher training.
  • You can find fully residential teacher trainings or day-long programs. Decide what works best with your budget and time constraints.
  • If you are drawn to a certain teacher, then you may be able to follow them around the world to a teacher training. Really popular, though not always famous yoga teachers often teach many places instead of standing still at one studio.
  • Ask about class sizes and register for a program early to guarantee your spot.
  • Look for a style that works for you – if you need structure, you may be drawn to Ashtanga, which requires you to learn one full series, in order, before progressing on to other postures or flows. You may; however, want something more creative and dynamic, where you try on a different pose and a different flow from one movement to another each time you practice. This will require a teacher with a different style. If a website or promotional materials doesn’t make this clear to you, then ask.
  • Flow yoga should still have an emphasis on anatomical alignment and correct body mechanics. You will know the teachers that stress these important details of yoga by reading up on the teachers that will host a teacher training.
  • You may also want to know if aside from the purely yogic teachings usually available at a yoga teacher training, if they will cover the how-tos of running a yoga business. These are important aspects of teaching yoga also.

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