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Fall 2010
NAMASTE,
Everyone knows that the economy has been in the toilet for the past couple of years. It does seem to be coming back, but many state, city, and local governments have suffered substantial losses in revenue over that time. To make up their revenue shortfalls, they’ve cut programs and personnel and have been scouting around to see what fees and tax increases will be tolerable to their constituents.
One thing a number of jurisdictions have considered is licensing and/or taxing yoga teacher training programs. Their argument is that teacher trainings are vocational programs; most other vocational schools and programs are licensed and taxed, so yoga teacher training programs should be, too.
The counter arguments are that most schools or centers that offer these programs are so small and financially iffy that the costs would do them in; most of the students in the programs don’t really intend to or won’t become teachers; and/or that yoga is a spiritual and/or artistic endeavor that, like dance or religion, ought not be subjected to taxation and regulation by the state.
Both sides of the debate have some merit and a bit of foolishness as well. In any case, as far as I know, only Michigan has passed such a law. Organizations in DC, Virginia, New York, and several other states have beaten back attempts at licensure or taxation.
But this article isn’t about that. Most of you really don’t care about that stuff. Instead, I want to address yoga teacher training itself.
(Maybe you don’t care about that either, but you should. If you are a yoga student, you trust your body, mind, and spirit to a teacher, even if only for an hour or two. And if yoga has the power to improve your health, calm your mind, and put you in touch with your innermost nature [It does.], then it has the power to do harm on all those levels as well. Do you really want to put yourself in the hands of someone who is poorly trained and incompetent and can do you harm?)
There are an astronomical number of teacher training programs in the US. I have no idea how many. I don’t know if anyone does. I just know there are lots. However, this is not going to be an in depth examination of teacher training in the US. I haven’t the space, time, or knowledge to do that. (It would, however, make a great article for Yoga Journal or Time Magazine or somebody, since yoga is a multi-billion dollar business in this country.)
Nor is it my intention to write a sensational expose of “How Greedy, Unscrupulous Yoga Charlatans are Taking Your Money and Endangering Your Life!” I truly believe that, while there are probably a few bad apples in the yoga teacher training business (Where there’s money, there are bad apples. [See Wall St., Big Oil, etc.]), nearly everyone running a teacher training program is well intentioned.
So, given the abundance of teacher training programs, what kind of training has your yoga teacher had?
I suspect that most folks don’t really know. My purpose in raising the question is to prompt you to think about the person(s) to whom you’re trusting some of the most important things in the world: your own health and well-being. Let’s take a brief look then at some aspects of yoga teacher training here in the US.
First: There are no national standards nor, as far as I know, are there regional or local standards, either. Any one who wants to can hang out their yoga teacher shingle. Whether such standards should exist is an interesting and, within the yoga community, hotly debated subject. In any case, although I don’t think this happens much, you could read an article in a magazine about yoga, decide you want to be a yoga teacher, and start up some classes. Actually, you don’t even need to read an article.
But I think most folks are a little more sensible and scrupulous than that. They take classes for awhile (How long varies. We do get calls from people asking about teacher training WHO HAVE NEVER HAD A CLASS OR DONE ANY YOGA AT ALL!), and after a while, for whatever reason, decide that they would like to teach.
Then what?
Well, if you want to learn how to do something, you go to school, right? Many prospective teachers look around a bit to find out what kind of training is available and then pick the one that suits them. Criteria for choosing can vary from geographical convenience, to amount of time required, cost, style of yoga, the qualifications of the teacher(s), and more.
Here are a few things I think are worth considering in judging (yes, judging) the quality of a teacher training program:
What qualifications does someone have to have to get into the program? If the only requirement is having enough money to cover the tuition, then be suspicious of such a program and the products thereof. For many teacher trainings, NO PREVIOUS YOGA EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED! This is unimaginable to me. Someone could walk in off the street without having taken a single class, sign up for teacher training, and by the end of the program, be a certified teacher. This is preposterous because, believe it or not, good teaching isn’t based primarily on knowledge. Knowing how and what to teach well comes from the experience gained in the teacher’s own practice. This is very different from memorizing a few details about a pose and then reciting them to the student. If a teacher training program is a one month course and complete novices can join, there is not enough time to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary to teach safely and effectively. It’s just not possible. Substantial time (read years) spent practicing is necessary before embarking on teacher training and should be a prerequisite of any meaningful teacher training program.
Duration of the teacher training program is another consideration. Some are as little as a weekend. Many are a month. I wouldn’t want to trust my well-being to someone with only a month’s training, no matter how intensive. It not only takes time to acquire the knowledge needed to teach, it takes time to absorb that knowledge, to practice it, understand it, to experience the variations and subtleties. Six months would be a bare minimum in my estimation, and even that isn’t really enough.
Who is teaching the teacher training program? If the teacher(s) running the program are not knowledgeable and deeply experienced themselves, then there is no chance that they are going to produce knowledgeable and skillful teachers. They can’t give to the trainees what they themselves haven’t got.
How can you tell what your teacher(s)’ training and qualifications are? Ask! You ask questions when you shop for anything else, don’t you? If the teacher evades or resents your questions, find another teacher. S/he should be happy and proud to give you his/her qualifications. To go a step further, don’t be satisfied with just seeing some letters after a teacher’s name. For instance, lots of teachers have RYT200 or RYT500 after their name. What’s that mean? RYT is a designation from an organization called the Yoga Alliance that means Registered Yoga Teacher. It does NOT mean they are certified. Despite suppositions to the contrary, Yoga Alliance is not a certifying body. It registers teachers as having completed 200 or 500 hours of some kind of study. That training can vary widely and is not really monitored in any thorough or systematic way.
Large organizations and longstanding tradition tend to have more extensive and organized training and/or certification processes. Anusara, White Lotus, and YogaWorks, for example, have relatively comprehensive training programs. But size and longevity are no guarantee. The Sivananda teacher training program, one of the oldest around, is a one month course.
Here at Unity Woods, most of our teachers are certified through the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS). If you look at the teacher page in the newsletter and/or on the website, you will see the term “certified Iyengar yoga teacher” in their bios. Here’s what that means.
There are five degrees of teacher certification in this system with the most basic being the Introductory level. Intermediate Junior, Intermediate Senior, Advanced Junior, and Advanced Senior are the other levels containing subsets within each degree (e.g., Intermediate Junior I, II, or III).
To be certified at the Introductory level (the most basic of five progressive degrees), an applicant must have had a minimum of three years of study with certified Iyengar yoga teachers while maintaining a continuous regular practice during that time. After three years or more of study, s/he must complete a two or three year teacher training program, 150 hours of apprenticeship, or a combination of the two; be recommended by two certified teachers; and pass an assessment by three Intermediate or above certified teachers. The assessment includes: a written exam covering aspects of anatomy, philosophy, and teaching; a 1.5-2 hour demonstrated practice of basic yoga asanas (postures) and pranayamas (breathing techniques); and teaching a forty minute class. The candidate is graded and passes or fails. If s/he passes, s/he then studies with a mentor for at least another year and takes a second assessment similar to the first in format with more difficult asanas and a more challenging written exam. After passing the second assessment s/he is awarded an Introductory teaching certificate. S/he must teach only Iyengar yoga without mixing in other styles, must observe the IYNAUS Ethical Guidelines, and must continue to study with a more senior teacher. Only then can s/he legitimately claim to be a certified Iyengar yoga teacher.
If you do the math, you will see that it takes a bare minimum of five years of study to become a certified Iyengar yoga teacher. Most people take longer. As far as I know, this is the most rigorous training and certification process in the US.
Unlike a number of centers in the area, Unity Woods does not have a teacher training program. We have an apprenticeship program instead. Students who want to become certified teachers apply for apprenticeship. If they are selected, I mentor them for a minimum of two and a half years, overseeing their practice, giving them reading and writing assignments, and having them assist and practice teach in classes. When they are ready, I recommend them for assessment.
I prefer the apprenticeship method because I am more directly involved with the apprentice than I might be in a teacher training class with a number of students. I hand pick the apprentices, selecting those who I believe will be most likely to become excellent teachers. This means, first and foremost, that they are dedicated, outstanding students with a passion for yoga. Over the years, I get to know them well and can guide them individually, building their strengths and addressing their weaknesses, preparing them for the rigors and challenges of teaching. This is the traditional approach. Almost all the teachers at Unity Woods have followed this path.
All that being said, credentials, no matter how impressive, do not guarantee the quality of a teacher. They do, however, give you an idea of the depth of training a teacher has had and an indication of the likely knowledge and competence the teacher brings to her/his teaching. I urge every prospective yoga student and even current students to investigate a bit. Find out what your teacher’s training is, what her/his qualifications are, and what those letters after their name or the diplomas on the wall really mean. It makes good sense and is worth the time and effort. And you will happier and healthier in the long run.
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