If you are an aspiring yoga teacher or certified yoga teacher, you may be curious to learn more about the various titles and credentials yoga instructors hold such as, RYT, CYT, E-RYT, E-RYT 500, and YACEP to name just a few. I don't know about you, but before I did yoga teacher training, it took me a bit of research to grasp all of this new jargon because the world of yoga (and especially Yoga Alliance) is abundant with abbreviations and acronyms!
In this article, I describe the various titles held by yoga teachers who have completed yoga teacher training.
So, without further ado, let's demystify some of this Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher lingo.
Article content:
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Difference between a CYT and RYT
What is a CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher)
What is a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher)
What is a E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher)
What is a E-RYT 200 (Experienced Yoga Teacher 200)
What is a E-RYT 500 (Experienced Yoga Teacher 500)
What is a YACEP (Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider)
What is a RPYT (Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher)
What is a RYS
Difference between RYT & YTT
Takeaway on the different yoga teacher titles
Yoga certification vocabulary
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Difference between a CYT and RYT
CYT, which stands for Certified Yoga Teacher, and RYT, which stands for Registered Yoga Teacher, are often interchanged but are not exactly the same by definition. RYT signifies registration with Yoga Alliance, while CYT does not. While they are both yoga teacher titles, here's how they differ:
- CYT: A Certified Yoga Teacher who has completed yoga teacher training.
- RYT: A Registered Yoga Teacher who has completed yoga teacher training and registered with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher.
What is a CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher)
A CYT is a Certified Yoga Teacher who has completed any all-encompassing yoga teacher training and has a 200-hour teaching certification from their school.
What is a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher)
A RYT is a Registered Yoga Teacher who has completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training with a Registered Yoga School and registered with Yoga Alliance.
A yoga teacher who attends teacher training at a Registered Yoga School can decide to register with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher after completing yoga teacher training.
To simplify it, anytime the title begins with R, it means Registered and indicates that the teacher has registered with Yoga Alliance. This includes:
- RYT 200
- RYT 300
- RYT 500
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What is a E-RYT 200 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 200 hour)
A E-RYT 200 is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher who has a 200-hour certification and has:
- Accrued at least 1,000 teaching hours
- Has taught for two years
What is a E-RYT 500 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 500 hour)
A E-RYT 500 is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher who has a 500-hour certification and has:
- Accrued at least 2,000 teaching hours
- Has taught for at least 4 years
What is a YACEP (Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider)
A YACEP is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider. This designation is reserved for instructors who are experts in the yoga community. To qualify, a YACEP must be an E-RYT. A YACEP is authorized to teach Continuing Education courses.
What is RPYT (Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher)
A RPYT is a Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher. To qualify, teachers must complete an 85-hour prenatal yoga teacher training.
What is a RYS (Registered Yoga School)
A RYS is a yoga school that is registered with Yoga Alliance. The designations for this include:
- RYS 200 (authorized to offer 200-hour yoga teacher training courses)
- RYS 500 (authorized to lead 500-hour yoga teacher training courses)
- RPYS (authorized to offer prenatal yoga teacher training)
Difference between RYT & YTT
The difference between RYT and YTT is easy to understand: RYT stands for Registered Yoga Teacher, and YTT stands for Yoga Teacher Training.
RYT refers to a yoga teacher's registration with Yoga Alliance, while YTT refers to the training they took to get certified.
- RYT: Registered Yoga Teacher
- YTT: Yoga Teacher Training
Takeaway on yoga teacher titles
Understanding the different yoga teacher titles, such as CYT, RYT, E-RYT, and their respective requirements is useful for anyone pursuing a career in yoga instruction.
If all of this seems overwhelming to you, you’re not alone! You will come to understand all of this even better during the business portion of your yoga teacher training. Certification is not required for yoga teachers, but it is strongly recommended.
Learn more about the meaning of different certifications and the different levels of training if you're unsure of which teacher training path to choose or if you simply want to learn more.
If you're already certified, learn more about how to earn a living as a yoga teacher and how some yoga teachers are crushing it!
Yoga certification vocabulary:
CYT: Certified Yoga Teacher
E-RYT 200: Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (200 hour certification)
E-RYT 500: Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (500 hour certification)
RYS: Registered Yoga School
RYT: Registered Yoga Teacher
YACEP: Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider
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