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Finding The Best Yoga Teacher
for You
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Tips
& Information to Find the Best Yoga Teachers |
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by
Marianne W. Cirone, M.S., R.Y.T., Certified Yoga Teacher |
Click
Here for a List of Yoga Teachers Worldwide
Finding
a great yoga teacher can be like finding a good doctor or hair stylist:
challenging, but rewarding when the
right match is made. Unlike
these professions, yoga teachers are not required to be licensed, although the
responsibility that they bear can be considerable.
While your hair may not be a matter of life and death, the
licensure requirements for your hair stylist are greater than those for a
yoga teacher. Yet, to a degree you are putting your body, mind and
spirit into the hands of a yoga teacher.
Because of the importance of finding a good fit, this article
provides some guidelines to consider when looking for a yoga teacher.
There is no single element to consider in finding the right yoga
teacher, as it is often a combination of interest, styles, experience,
qualifications and chemisty, as described below:
Word
of Mouth
- Probably the easiest way to find a good yoga teacher is through word of
mouth. Just like when you
move to a new town and ask your neighbor if she knows a good dentist, you
can ask around to see if people know of a good yoga teacher.
The difference here is that while most everyone has a dentist, a
considerably smaller percentage have a yoga teacher. Some places to check or ask around are always health food
stores, health clubs, yoga studios, and
dance studios. While it may
be a lot easier to find a yoga class, it may take longer to find that
special teacher.
Qualifications
- Most good yoga teachers have achieved a combination of training and
experience. Training may
include formal yoga teachers training programs, miscellaneous yoga
workshops or classes, apprenticeship with a teacher or master, self-study
and personal practice. All of
these possibilities can vary greatly, and will be further explored in
certification and registration of yoga teachers.
Experience
- Experience would include the classes and populations that have been
taught and studied and the greater the experience, generally, the better. For example, just as you would want to go to an obstetrician
or midwife rather than a dermatologist to deliver your baby (and would
probably prefer to hear that they had successfully delivered hundreds of
babies), it would be best to go to a teacher that has had experience with
pregnant students, and has studied the requirements of teaching yoga to a
pregnant student. The same
holds true if you have any particular areas of concern or interest. You can ask a teacher what types of classes they have taught
or whether they have any particular areas of interest. This is not to say a new teacher can’t be better than one
who has taught for years, just as a new doctor can be better than one who
has practiced for years. Again,
it is part of the overall picture.
Certification
- Certification connotes that a teacher has gone through a formal yoga
training program. These
however, vary greatly. The
shortest program that I am aware of is YogaFit, which can be
completed in a weekend and addresses only a brief overview of poses.
The longest programs that I am aware of are the Iyengar programs
which take two-to-five years to complete.
There may in fact be certification programs that take more or less
time, but the point is, there is a huge range in the content and
requirements of certification programs.
In general, a certification for a yoga teacher indicates a certain
level of formalized training, covering a variety of areas from anatomy to
philosophy. While it
doesn’t guarantee a better teacher, it is an indication of a teacher who
has formally trained to some extent.
Registration
-
Several years ago, an organization called the Yoga Alliance,
was developed to “provide support, standards and recognition for yoga
professionals” and they now “register” yoga teachers who have met
requirements. This
organization was created by yoga teachers wishing to avoid regulation by
outside parties who developed a set of requirements for a yoga teacher to
become “registered”. The
minimum amount of training would include 160 contact hours (on site
training) with a qualified yoga school plus an additional 40 hours of
training for a minimum of 200 hours of training.
The Yoga Alliance also provides a designation for those who have
received 500 hours of training.
There
are three ways to become registered.
The first way is to complete a formal teacher’s training program
that is recognized with the Yoga Alliance and to complete the minimum
number of contact and non-contact hours.
The second way is to document training that one has completed on
one’s own through classes, workshops, etc. to meet the minimum number of
hours. Both of the latter methods require a certain number of hours
in the areas of techniques, teaching methodology, anatomy and phisology,
philosophy, ethics and lifestyle, practicum, and electives.
In the third way, the Yoga Alliance has grandfathered in teachers
who have taught 5000 hours of classes, to accommodate those who have been
teaching for significant periods of time.
I believe 5000 hours would roughly translate into ten years of
teaching 5-10 classes a week. The window for grandfathering I believe is now closing.
Registration
and certification would indicate the completion of a formal program which
adheres to a minimum set of standards delineated by the Yoga Alliance.
Attitude
- Once you know the basics about a teacher (or even if you are going into
a class without any knowledge about them) one of the main things you will
notice is their attitude, in general and toward their students.
I think the only thing that can be said here is that the teacher
should respect the student’s limits and encourage them to respect
themselves. I wish I could
say that finding a teacher with a positive attitude was essential, but I
have heard through word of mouth that some of the living yoga masters have
described themselves as “crabby” and others corroborate.
The founder of my teacher’s training program, Goswami Kriyananda
says (I am paraphrasing here) that the most enlightened person is the one
who can laugh the most, and I like that attitude.
I think each person has to find someone with whom they are
comfortable, whatever they define that as.
The main quality which Kriyananda emphasized with his students is
BE YOURSELF, because a teacher who is able to be him or herself allows the
students to be themselves also. I
would say that in looking for a teacher, then, it is of utmost importance
that you feel that you can be yourself around them, and that you feel safe
and respected.
Skills
- There are two keys here: first,
the amount of knowledge which a teacher appears to possess, and second,
their ability to apply this knowledge to students and teach it to them.
It doesn’t matter how educated the teacher is if they cannot
relay this knowledge in an appropriate manner.
Some of the skills that a teacher should bring to the class is a
good understanding of the poses which are being taught, the way in which
they relate to each other, their purpose and the safe application of the
techniques. The teacher
should be familiar with the general benefits of the techniques and be able
to provide basic precautionary information, such as what medical
conditions would serve as a contraindication for the poses.
The teacher should be able to provide some degree of modifications
or adaptations to meet the needs of the population being taught.
These
should provide some general guidelines for finding a good yoga teacher.
Don’t forget to follow the most important guideline of all, and
that is to trust yourself and your own intuition.
Your gut feelings are very important. Also, the old maxim states,
when the student is ready the teacher will appear, so remember to look
within, set your intention and have an open mind.
The teacher for you may not be exactly what you are expecting.
Click
here for a List of Yoga Teachers
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