hot yoga teacher training buyer's guide

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#1 Choose a Course that Teaches You

How to Teach

Your first and most important consideration when joining a yoga teacher training course is to make sure the course is designed specifically to train

you to teach.

This sounds obvious, and it seems like every teacher training would train you to teach; but oddly, most training courses are not trainings

at all. Instead, they are long yoga holidays where you practice, relax and

do personal growth exercises.

To spend a month doing yoga and growing personally is amazing, for sure, but if your goal is to teach yoga, you want to make sure you’re in the right

course, so choose one that is focused on the practical, technical skills you

need to teach a real class.

So How Do You Know if the Course is Professionally-Focused?

That’s easy, just contact the course manager and ask them about the

success rate of their graduates. Ask for a graduates list, ask how many graduates have opened studios, and see what they say.

A good course will have a long list of graduates, teachers all over the

world, and a growing network of teachers with their own studios. These graduate-run studios, by the way, are great places where you could

potentially work after graduation.


#2 Choose a Great Teaching Team (not just a single great teacher)

Your next big decision is finding a course that is conducted by a strong

teaching team. The “one man” or “one woman” show teacher trainings are

very out-dated and terrible for learning—but they are still the most common type of course available.

Imagine for a moment if you were accepted into a university only to learn

you would have one and only one teacher during your studies. That would

be crazy. In yoga, it’s also crazy. You need a large and varied teaching team, people with different backgrounds and expertise.

On a personal note, you can’t imagine how bored you’ll get if you have just

one teacher to listen to day-in-day-out for a month. It’ll drive you crazy. Great courses, like great schools, have diverse and large teaching teams

while amateur startups schools are often led by just one instructor who is

making it up and he goes along.

You also want to make sure your trainers have extensive experience

meaning they’ve taught at least 1,000-3,000 public classes themselves.

This is important because believe it or not, some trainers are not real

teachers; they just do trainings as a business and don’t understand the

day-to-day dynamics that you need to be a working professional.

So how do you find this information out? Just ask! A good course director

will be happy to answer any and all questions you might have, even

questions about the training teams’ qualifications. It’s a big decision, and you have the right to ask.


#3 Make Sure You Get Personal

Attention During Your Course

Yoga was traditionally taught in small groups, but somehow the Western

influence has made classes bigger, and bigger, and bigger until now there are training courses with 300 students and sometimes just 2-3 teachers.

This is crazy. You might as well stay home and watch a DVD.

A good course will always maintain a student to teacher ratio of 10-to-1 or less, that means 10 students maximum for every 1 teacher. If you’re

considering a course with 20 or 30 or 50 of more students for every

teacher, forget it. The teacher won’t even remember your name.

Why is this important?

Your personal relationship with your teachers is extremely important, not

just during the course for your learning, but also after the course when

you go out and teach. Many students keep in touch with their first teachers for many years, sometimes for their entire career. If your teacher doesn’t

know you (because the course is too big), that’s not going to happen and

you’ll truly miss out.


#4 Make Sure You Do Your Course

at a Real Training Facility

You already learned one of the drawbacks of huge courses with hundreds of people is that you don’t get any personal attention or help, but the next

problem is just as bad, and it’s that the yoga practice space is often

terrible.

Many training courses will rent inflatable tents or giant warehouses, and

students spend weeks practicing inside a blow-up dome or what should be

a storage facility. As crazy as this sounds, it really happens so you need to

be aware and make sure you know what you’re getting into.

More common still, a training program will rent out a conference hotel and

hold their entire teacher training course in a conference room. Ugly

carpets, no windows, recycled air… you know what those rooms are like.

It’s not a good place to do yoga. So just remember to ask about the studio practice room itself.

Lastly, and most importantly, you need to make sure the facility has

professional heating. You’re training to become a Hot Yoga teacher after all, so it should go without saying that you need to train in a studio with

proper heating.

And yet almost all Hot Yoga trainings are held in makeshift studios, conference rooms, or even outdoors without proper heat, and as you

know, Hot Yoga without the heat loses all the magic.

And as a teacher, you’re really not learning to teach the right way without

the right heaters, so choose a facility with an indoor studio, with windows, nice floors, and a modern, professional heating system.


#5 Don’t Give Up Your Freedom…

Get an International Certification

Yoga Alliance is the largest, independent accreditation board for yoga

teachers in the world, and your teacher training school should be accredited at the 200-hour level. Unfortunately, many Hot Yoga schools

are not accredited because they don’t want to follow the required

curriculum structure, so that means you are always tied to your school and

lose your freedom.

In many cases, this means that you cannot work wherever you want, and

some schools even require you to come back every year or two to pay

them more money to “update” your certificate. Remember why you

wanted to be a yoga teacher in the first place. Keep you freedom and get certified independently.

If you want to open a studio, teach in a gym, or even create your own style

of yoga, that’s up to you. Your yoga training school cannot and should not be able to control your career after graduation—but many schools do try.

If that’s the policy of the school you’re considering, it’s probably not a

good choice for you. Choose a Yoga Alliance School so you’re in charge of

your future.


#6 Earn Back Your Tuition

Yoga training courses range widely in price, but after you factor in food and

accommodation, you’ll be surprised to learn that the prices for most

courses are actually very similar.

Of course, there are always “budget” course options available, but in

almost all cases, they cut corners on teachers and facilities, and you get

what you pay for—and poor quality training.

For most students, a yoga teacher training is a pretty big investment, but

the good news is you can earn back that investment very quickly. Some

students earn back their tuition in as little as 1-2 months, but the average

is more like 3-5 months which is still very fast all things considered.

Your ability to earn money as a teacher is determined largely by (a) your

ability to teach, (b) your actual teaching skills, and (c) the type of teaching

certificate you have. If you only have a certificate from ACME Yoga, as an

example, then you can only teach in ACME Yoga studios. As you can imagine, that’s going to make your life very difficult with such limited

options.

On the other hand, if you have a Yoga Alliance certificate, you can teach in gyms, health centers, yoga studios, fitness center, schools, and even

privately. One of the biggest current problems in the yoga community is

that there are not enough qualified teachers to meet the demand.

Yoga has been booming since 1998 and shows no sign of slowing down. As

an internationally certified teacher, you’ll have many options to quickly

recoup your training investment and then build a very comfortable living

for yourself working just part time.


#7 Choose the Course You’re Most

Excited About… it’s That Simple!

Hopefully you’ve got some good ideas about what to look for and what to avoid in a Hot Yoga Teacher Training course, but I also want to emphasize

how important it is to choose a course you’re excited about.

Passion for yoga is the most important quality in a good teacher, so make sure you honor and nurture that in yourself.

In case you’re wondering who I am, my name is Lucas Rockwood, and I’m

the largest yoga training event producer in the world. That means I hire teachers, organize courses, and create certification programs just like the

ones we’ve been talking about.

I’m also a teacher and a teacher trainer myself, and all of this started just

a few short years ago when I was making the decision to take my first yoga training course just like you are doing now.

Choosing your first course is a big decision, and it’s an important one, so I

do hope this report has been helpful. If you’d like to learn more about the courses I run, manage, and co-teach, please take a look at the links below.

As you’ve probably already guessed, I think my courses are the best in the

world, but I’m biased since they are very near and dear to my heart. Our Absolute Yoga Academy teaching team is constantly growing and

improving our curriculum to archive our mission to create exceptional

teachers who are prepared to lead tomorrow’s yoga students toward

mind-body fitness.

Before I go, I just want to leave you with one thing that must be said which

is that your teaching has to start with your practice. So as you’re looking

for the right course, thinking about your future and your life; no matter

what you do, keep practicing, practicing, and practice some more.

Your practice will always be your greatest teacher.


ABSOLUTE YOGA ACADEMY Professional Teacher Certification Courses

Absolute Yoga Academy’s (AYA) teacher certification programs create

professional teachers who serve their local communities all over the world.

As a testament to the quality of their courses, more than 80% of the

current Absolute Yoga Academy instructors are Absolute Yoga Academy training graduates. To date, there are Absolute-trained teachers inspiring

students in over 40 countries.

If your goal is to teach, to deepen your practice and learn real-world skills— Absolute Yoga Academy offers an exceptional curriculum. Below

you’ll find course information for training certification programs. The

200hr certification is the standard for most teachers, and the 500hr

certificate is for students serious about a life-long yoga path.

Training with Absolute Yoga Academy will challenge and transform you,

and the rewards and the benefits you’ll experience make your hard work

and dedication all worthwhile. Teach yoga, inspire students, change lives…


Why Become a Certified

Yoga Teacher?

Inspire Students & Change Lives – There are very few jobs that

provide you with the opportunity to impact the lives of so many people on a daily basis. Every time you get up in front of a class of yoga

students, you’ll have the opportunity to truly inspire people. What an

amazing gift, and what a great job!

Deepen Your Practice – You’ll be amazed how much you learn from

teaching yoga. Students come to class looking for guidance, but they

also give back an incredible amount of energy and insight.

Enjoy a Flexible Schedule – many yoga teachers are former office rats who are looking for something different, a new lifestyle. Most yoga

teachers I know only work for 3 or 4 hours per day, and the rest of the

time is yours to do as you please.

You’ll then have time to explore your other interests that you love but

haven’t had time to pursue because you’ve been working at a fulltime

job that doesn’t fulfill you.

Live & Breathe Yoga – Living a healthy lifestyle is not easy. When

you start down the path of yoga, friends and family are often unable to

relate to what you’re doing. One great things about teaching is that

your new co-workers are on the same path as you, so you have a new social support system to keep you on focused on living and breathing

yoga.

Earn a Good Salary – Years ago, most yoga teachers hardly earned

enough to get by; but today, Yoga Alliance certified yoga teachers are high-specialized and highly-valued employees who are paid very well

for their work.

Live/Work Anywhere – The world is a big place, but the yoga community is very small. As a yoga teacher, you’ll meet people from

all over the world, and you’ll discover that there are opportunities to

teach yoga everywhere.


Is Absolute Yoga Academy Right for You?

If you’re a passionate yoga student that’s serious about pursuing a career as a teacher, then welcome to Absolute Yoga Academy.

Founded in 2002, the Absolute Yoga Academy Group has grown into an

international movement. Along with 10 studio locations, Absolute Yoga

Academy now has one of the largest professional yoga training centers in the world welcoming students from over 40 countries.

Here’s Why You’ll Love Training with Absolute Yoga Academy:

Quality – All our courses are Yoga Alliance accredited, and our teaching team includes Ph.D.’s, international experts, and some of

the most sought-after yoga trainers in the world.

Professionalism – In the yoga world, Absolute Yoga Academy

stands out as a true center for learning and professional training. While some fly-by-night yoga centers offer nothing more than

glorified holidays, Absolute Yoga Academy is truly a place to learn,

grow, and change your life.

Community – If we had to choose one reason why Absolute Yoga

Academy has been so successful, it would undoubtedly be our

people: the students, teachers, and operations staff. Absolute

graduates are teaching yoga all over the world. They teach in studios, gyms, on yachts, and in resorts. Many have opened their

own studios, and many more are opening each year. While most big

studios are impersonal and cookie cutter, Absolute Yoga Academy

maintains those special student and teacher relationships in all its

classes, and every studio has its own close-knit student body.

Network – Absolute graduates are now opening studios all over

the world as part of the Absolute Yoga Academy Network. This

non-franchise, unique program allows business-minded teachers to get up and running with their own yoga business extremely quickly.

hot yoga teacher training buyer's guide

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