Do You Need To Be Certified To Teach Yoga? Yes & No!

So many yogis (and yoga teacher training students) ask, “Do I need to be certified to teach yoga?” While technically, yoga teachers are not required to have a certification, it's really not that simple.

It's not black and white because, to actually get a job teaching yoga, yes, yoga teachers will need to have a certification to prove that they have the skills and knowledge required to lead students in a yoga class. Does that make sense?

So essentially, yes, yoga teachers must complete a yoga certification course and hold a yoga teaching certificate. Or rather, to be employable as a yoga teacher, they will need to have successfully completed a minimum of 200 hours of yoga teacher training.

If you’ve been curious to learn more about the certification requirements that yoga teachers should meet to actually get hired as a yoga teacher after YTT, this is for you!

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Do yoga teachers need to be certified to teach yoga?

Yoga teachers technically don't need a certification of any kind. However, yoga studios will require their teachers to have a certification to ensure that their students are guided safely and sensibly through class by a certified yoga instructor.

Why yoga teachers should have a teaching certificate

Yoga studios want to know that their yoga teachers are competent in guiding students through asana classes skillfully and safely. This is ultimately why yes, yoga teachers should have a certification to actually get a job.

Anyone who successfully completes a YTT will be a Certified Yoga Teacher because all yoga schools issue their graduates a certification.

Is yoga a legally regulated industry?

Yoga is not a legally regulated industry in most places. However, organizations such as Yoga Alliance and the British Wheel of Yoga, which are paid membership associations made up of teachers and schools, have created a self-regulating yoga industry.

Those two organizations set standards for core education courses, which are 200-hr, 300-hr, and 500-hr YTT. They create requirements for what should be included in the different levels and types of yoga teacher training.

They also create guidelines for continuing education requirements for yoga teachers to ensure that certified yoga teachers remain active in their personal and professional growth.

Again, although certification is not required by law, any yoga studio or online yoga platform will require that you be a certified yoga instructor to actually conduct yoga classes.

Is 200 hours of training enough to teach yoga?

A 200-hour yoga teacher training (YTT) is the minimum training and certification employers are looking for. It is the foundational education necessary for yoga teachers to guide students skillfully through yoga classes. Any yoga teacher who completes a 200-hour course will be certified at the 200-hour level – they will be a CYT-200.

Nearly all studios, yoga students, yoga apps, and online yoga platforms will look for a foundational 200-hour yoga teacher training certification to consider you for a yoga teaching job.

Of course, having advanced yoga certifications can make a yoga instructor an even more ideal candidate when it comes to getting hired, but a 200-hour certification is indeed enough to begin teaching in a professional setting.

How long it takes to get certified

You can complete a 200-hour intensive in-person training in four weeks. There are two main formats of YTT – intensive and part-time. Here's an estimate for how long it takes to get certified at the 200-hour, 300-hour, and 500-hour certification levels:

• 200-hour: 1 month
• 300-hour: 3 months
• 500-hour: 9 months

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Yoga Alliance’s role in yoga certifying yoga teachers

One thing to understand is that Yoga Alliance does not issue yoga teaching certifications. It's an organization that serves other purposes, but they do not conduct yoga teacher trainings. Therefore, they do not issue yoga teaching certifications. Make sense?

Yoga Alliance is a paid membership organization that has created guidelines for different levels of yoga teacher training and guidelines and standards for yoga teachers who choose to join the Yoga Alliance registry. Ultimately, one of the goals of Yoga Alliance is to create consistency in the yoga industry.

Takeaway on can I teach yoga without a certification

So, to get back to the real question of whether yoga teachers are required to have a certification to teach yoga, essentially, yes, they do need to be certified. Yoga teachers will likely need to have a certification to get hired as a yoga teacher.

For further questions and explanations about yoga teacher training, take a look at basic questions about yoga teacher training where I cover more Q&A about yoga teacher training.

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