If you are thinking of becoming a yoga teacher, you may be wondering whether it is important or not to become certified, and perhaps who grants the certification.
The Yoga Alliance was established in 1999 to recognize and promote teachers with basic and advanced trainings that meet their minimum training standards. The Alliance is a non-profit organization with an emphasis on mutual respect, sensitivity and support of the many different approaches to yoga.
To be a certified teacher, you must complete at least 200 hours of education in techniques, teaching methodology, anatomy and physiology, and practicum as well as yoga philosophy and ethics for yoga teachers.
How do you know which yoga teacher training programs are certified? Yoga Alliance maintains a Registry of Yoga Schools to recognize yoga teacher training programs of at least 200 or 500 hours. Registered schools must satisfy or exceed Yoga Alliance’s minimum training standards.
By choosing a yoga teacher training program that is registered with Yoga Alliance, you will receive training in the minimum training standards set by the Alliance. (Just to note we are registered with the Yoga Alliance). After successfully completing the program, you can then promote yourself as a teacher that has been certified with an excellent yoga education.
After you are certified, you may choose to register with Yoga Alliance. As teachers progress in their careers, Yoga Alliance continues to recognize the significant milestones in education and experience. Designations are at the 200 hour and 500 hour levels of study and teaching experience.
More and more people are choosing yoga to improve the quality of life, and yoga is included in many organizations’ wellness and fitness programs. Teachers that are certified help take the guess work out of hiring a yoga teacher.
As a teacher you will find it quite fulfilling as students experience benefits such as stress relief, more flexibility, and inner peace.
Moksha Yoga is also known as “Hot Yoga”. Moksha actually means freedom, liberation.
Moksha Yoga hot yoga is a series of postures practiced in a heated room. All classes follow a basic structure that is fundamental to the Moksha Yoga practice. Classes begin with Savasana, this is followed by a standing series, a floor series, and ends with Savasana.
The first Moksha studio opened in Toronto in 2004 and in 5 years there are 30 studios including ones in U.K., Trinidad, Austria, Thailand, China, and Switzerland. The yoga studios are independently owned.
Why is Moksha so popular? It is founded by Ted Grant and Jessica Robertson who as social activists and yoga revolutionaries, have a vision to communicate that the benefits of yoga are limitless and accessible to all.
The Moksha press kit lists 4 reasons why their movement is popular:
The enviro-friendly approach
Hot Yoga is “anti-aging, calorie-burning, disease preventing goodness. It addresses a whole slew of common ailments experienced by the every day workaholic, athlete and anyone over the age of 13.”
Their series is designed so that any-one can participate. Even the Arthritis * Autoimmunity Research Centre Foundation chose Moksha Yoga as their yoga partner in their annual “Power of Movement” giant yoga class.
Giving back to the community through the New Leaf Yoga Foundation.
Yoga Teacher Training
Moksha offers 4 week teacher training programs in Toronto, Thailand, Hawaii and India.
Yoga is a philosophy of life and a process of transformation. It is both theory and practice. There are many types of yoga available in the West.
Prana Yoga is an effortless yoga dance with your body mind and spirit. This is the feeling that touched me as I read shakti mhi’s article on Prana Yoga. Who is shakti? She is a spiritual teacher who has taught yoga for 3 decades and is the founder of Prana Yoga Teacher College, located in Vancouver, B.C.
The College offers an opportunity to learn to teach asanas with a balance between the physical and the spiritual. The founder is passionate about spreading the spiritual path of yoga and to this end has devoted her time to training yoga teachers.
There is a flow and ease in yoga, when the yoga student connects with deeper aspects of his or herself through the physical body. This is the main message of Prana Yoga, says shakti. Movement from one pose to the other is carried out in slow motion in order to move deeper within. And when the pose is held, again the mind is taken within to rest in the inner silence.
In Prana Yoga one is encouraged to maintain this connection with the subtle pranic body throughout the practice. This connection can easily be broken when transition from kneeling or lying to standing; and when moving from standing down to the floor. A yoga instructor may give a simple instruction like, “come to standing”. In Prana Yoga however by using a series of postures, the connection to the pranic body can be kept.
Prana Yoga is described as having the precision of Iyengar, the style of Sivananda, and the flow of Ashtanga. Prana Yoga level 1 200 hour teacher training programs are offered in Vancouver, and other beautiful and spiritual locations in Thailand, Italy, and Bali. The program is delivered in 4 weeks. For further information, visit the website.
Yoga is a philosophy of life and a process of transformation. It is both theory and practice.
Ashtanga Yoga is a powerful system of yoga that makes the body strong, flexible and healthy. It also brings clarity of mind, peace and happiness. The teachings were spread by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (1915 – 2009) who studied extensively with his teacher Krishnamacharya and devised three groups of sequences under his guidance based on information contained in an ancient scripture known as the Yoga Korunta.
“Ashtanga” means eight limbs. These limbs are specified in the yoga sutras of Patanjali: Yama (abstinences), Niyama (observances), Asana (postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (contemplation).
The initial focus in Ashtanga is asana and pranayama, with the yamas and niyamas growing out of the practice. The three groups of sequences are: The Primary Series (Yoga Chikitsa) detoxifies and aligns the body. The Intermediate Series (Nadi Shodhana) purifies the nervous system by opening and clearing the energy channels. The Advanced Series A, B, C, and D (Sthira Bhaga) integrate the strength and grace of the practice, requiring higher levels of flexibility and humility.
Movement in Ashtanga is synchronized with the breath, and is designed to create intense internal heat and to detoxify. Vinyasa is the word used to describe breath-synchronized movement. Two yoga techniques used within Ashtanga are Bandhas and Dhristi. These techniques increase intensity, as well as project and seal energy.
Bandhas are muscle contractions or energy “locks” used within yoga. They create inner strength to encourage energy to move freely within the main spiritual energy channel. Bandhas create correct alignment therefore protect, and project the energy. Bandhas and are used within Ashtanga.
Dhristi is eye focus. Some places of focus are at the top of the head, the brow point, the tip of the nose, and the center of the chin. Dhristi projects the energy to where you want it to go.
Yoga has been well documented to show great benefits. There are many benefits to practicing yoga including, physical, psychological and biochemical. From a holistic approach, yoga provides complete health benefits, and has done so for people from all walks of life.
Like many people who find themselves complaining about back pain, yoga and the stretching involved, can combat that pain. As you may know, yoga focuses on good posture. Good posture is one of the elements that can relieve back pain. Often chronic back pain can be due to bad posture and weakness of the back muscles and spinal column, by practicing yoga regularly, your spine and the muscle surrounding it will strengthen and help to reduce back pain.
We have been told for years about the importance of reaching and maintaining a healthy weight for our age. In order to lose weight you must speed up the rate at which your metabolism stores and burns up fat. Along with a healthy diet, yoga can not only get you to your ideal weight, but help you maintain it over time.
Yoga is not only a good alternative or addition to a weight loss program, it can also be used to help those suffering from painful conditions such as arthritis. With the different positions practiced in yoga it helps to keep joints supple and improves muscle joint mobility. This in turn with the increased blood flow to all the major organs helps to improve conditions like arthritis, at the same time improving overall health and body maintenance including lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Having looked at the benefits to the physical body, organs and joints, we should also note that the benefits to yoga are also seen from a psychological stand point. Taking the time to practice yoga daily, or a few times a week will lower stress levels and help you deal with your daily routine. Yoga has been shown to improve mood and overall happiness. it is important in a busy life to take time for ourselves. A few hours a week to ourselves will help improve our sense of well being and help us centre ourselves so we can take on challenges that home or work life throws at us. Oftentimes in our busy lifestyle we do not take the time to spend a few hours a week relaxing and getting in touch with ourselves. Practising yoga can not only help us lower stress levels, but can also improve our overall mood. It is important to take care of yourself if your are expected to take care of others. Yoga is a good way to make an overall improvement.
As you can see, yoga is a great way to improve your overall mental and physical health. It has been practiced for centuries and used by all different types of people from around the world to improve their health and their lives. I hope after reading this article you will consider taking some time for yourself and look at yoga as a great addition to your life and health routine.
Why not register for one of our yoga classes? We offer classes for all levels of experience from beginner to advance.
We’ve all had the experience of sitting hoping to get to “that place” of cozy feelings and the opposite happens. Thoughts and images of a recent incident haunt. To put the incident to rest, we need to either understand it or get to a place of compassion and acceptance.
Wise ones figured this out long ago; thousands of years ago. They realized that to feel cozy it really helps to have some knowledge of how the mind works and how the universe is set up. And also it makes it so much easier to still the mind if we have a garland of virtues around our neck. Counting up to ten or down to one just isn’t enough sometimes.
How fortunate we are that at this time and place to be blessed with teachings from those wise ones gone before! How lovely it is that the many different points of views, principles, and practices all around he world, have a common thread of loving kindness.
It will be thanksgiving in my corner of the world very soon. I am thankful for the gift of yoga from the wise ones of old. In classical yoga the first of ten principles is ahimsa, non violence. The second is satya, truth. Another voice of the past reminds us:think on these things.
In gratitude and appreciation; giving thanks for modern ways and ancient traditions.
A yoga beginner can make these 3 mistakes, and loose an opportunity to increase the storehouse of inner peace and vitality.
Mistake #1. Not recognizing the value of paying attention to the breath – Inevitably at the very least you are probably becoming more aware of the inhale and exhale as you practice yoga. Sometimes you are instructed to hold the pose for 5 breaths, and you follow the instructions perhaps without understanding the impact of this simple action.
Fact - Paying attention to your inhalation and exhalation trains the mind and increases drops of peace. It also increases your awareness of the subtle aspects of your being.
Mistake #2 – Undervaluing breathing exercises – Without an appreciation for the positive and far reaching effects of breathing exercises (pranayama), it is easy to undervalue this subtle practice.
Fact – Pranayama increases our chances of breathing with the diaphragm instead of with the chest, and even belly. Diaphragmatic breathing massages the organs in the abdomen, and increases chi, prana or life force within your body.
Mistake #3 – To exclude pranayama from your daily yoga practice - It is easy to exclude the breathing exercises from your yoga routine when you are ignorant of the profound benefits of this practice.
Fact – You can surround your movement practice with the breath. Start and end your practice with breath awareness and/or a breathing exercise. Deepen you practice even more by beginning each phase of the breath (both inhalation and exhalation) first, and then moving after the breath has begun.
Increase finding inner peace and vitality through breath awareness and a breathing practice. Your treasure store will grow.
It’s the beginning of the school year and students of all ages will experience stress at one point. Good stress lights a fire and gets us moving. It becomes bad stress when the mind fixates on the situation.
When the mind is boss, it shows up in the body as headaches, digestive problems, poor sleep, lack of concentration, muscle tension, difficulty breathing, anxiety and many other symptoms. Interpersonal relationships suffer, and you become an unhappy camper.
Meditation offers great relief from these symptoms. A regular daily practice of 10-20 minutes can make a huge difference. There’s a smile in my heart when I see students interested in learning to meditate and taking the time to develop this life skill. I know first hand just how important it is to have the mind as a friend.
Here in Hamilton there are many types of meditation offered, for fee and for free. Here are two group classes:
If your schedule is quite inflexible, private meditation classes are offered throughout our city as well. If you’d like to learn meditation in a semi-private or private class, you may call 905-628-6463 or email us.
Rather than a style of yoga, Integrative Yoga Therapy is a process. A graduate from the IYT yoga teacher training program will be able to select and arrange yoga techniques in a way that the yoga classes fulfill a particular aim.
For example, the teacher decides on “Breath, the Heart of the Class” as the theme of the class. Which inspirational poem, mudra, pranayama, relaxation, meditation and affirmation will be selected? And what order will they follow?
I practiced Ashtanga yoga as well as hatha yoga, can I study in this program?
Yes, you can. The Integrative Yoga Therapy yoga teacher training program will prepare you to teach yoga for total wellness. Students practicing all styles of yoga have completed this training successfully.
Can I teach regular yoga classes with this training?
Yes. In addition to offering yoga classes to the general public, graduates teach yoga-based wellness programs in hospitals, businesses, universities, clinics, and complimentary health care settings.
How much time is required for home study?
There are 3 parts to the home study: reading and answering at least 2 questions, journalism, and practice.
Reading - One chapter of the manual is covered each month. Chapters include The History of Yoga, Ayurveda and Yoga, Stress Management, and Meditation, Imagery, Relaxation and Yoga Nidra. How quickly you integrate the material and answer questions will depend on how familiar you are with the topic.
Journaling – What prepares you to be an effective yoga teacher is your own personal experience and journey of transformation as a student of yoga. As you explore the topic for the month, you capture and share whatever you are comfortable sharing of that experience. Sharing may include creative drawings.
Practice – The foundation of yoga is practice, practice, practice. For this time is required. The yoga techniques are learned systematically and by actually doing them. Developing a daily practice brings many benefits. As you begin to appreciate the value of this, creating practice time becomes part of your flow. In addition, practice teaching to family and friends starts you on your teaching path.
How much time are you willing to devote to get the most of your teacher training? Some find 4 hours a week adequate.
I have just discovered yoga and got so much benefit that I want to share it with others. Am I qualified to take the training?
You must know the basics of yoga before you can train to be a teacher. While in training, you will learn the names of the poses and how to perform the pose correctly. Sometimes students feel they can never teach like their teacher, and are intimidated by this. This program assists teachers in developing their own unique vision and mission, along with the maturity and insight to clarify this vision.
Take the support of family and friends as you can dedicate the time necessary to complete the program thoroughly.
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