| there are many ways to do it, honestly. most people do some sort of teacher training or apprenticeship and after completing a set number of hours, they are able to teach.
generally speaking, the law in the US requires that teachers be over the age of 18. this is for hte purpose of liability and liability insurance. so, technically, you could simply study yoga, find a good teacher training for you, and then become a yoga teacher.
now, i'm not discouraging you not to go to college, but you don't have to go to college to become a yoga teacher. One of my colleagues is a very good yoga teacher. After gradutating from high school, she joined an intentional community in California (1/2 way across country from where her parents lived). There, she studied and practiced yoga and worked in the community. After staying there for three years, she decided to backpack across europe and stayed with yoga people whom she connected with through her intentional community. After a year or two of this, she came back to the states and went to Kripalu center. She lived and worked there for a year, completing the teacher training. She then moved here, and started teaching locally. She worked part time at a book store and part time as a yoga teacher and was able to share an apartment with a couple of other people. and now she teaches yoga full time and lives in a vegetarian co-op.
most of the yoga teachers i know, including myself, have some form of college degree. some are focused in yoga, eastern religions, etc, and others are focused in exercise and sports science and related. A few of us have graduate degrees--some related and some unrelated to yoga--and even fewer of us have PhDs in psychology, exercise and sports sciences, divinity, and religious studies.
so, there are many paths. |
| What do you, as a student, think are the qualities of a good teacher?
Perhaps you've got one or two that you really fancy for their efforts to teach you in the classroom?
What traits stand out about them?
I could give you a list but I think your list is much more important as it will eventually guide you. Mine will not. I will however give you a few examples of things to get you started in the thinking..
Expert knowledge of subject matter.
Understand repetition with out being repetitous.
Proper use of the language of instruction.
Succinct communication skills.
Thoughtful and organized.
Heartfelt interest in helping others.
Understanding of ethics ( boundaries and limitations).
Lineage
Once you develop your list, make it specific to Yoga. For example "know the subject matter" might include asanas, yoga philosophy (Vedas, Sutras, Bhagavad Gita), meditation, anatomy and physiology, etcetera. If you fully develop this listing you'll have a road map of what you need. Then you can freely choose how to get it. And there will, of course, be some surprises along the way.
There are educational offerings that might support teaching yoga. I believe Naropa University in Boulder has one and Maharishi University in Fairfield Iowa has one also.
Right now yoga teacher training is really left up to the individual. That is you can train in what ever manner you see fit and it's often relative to how serious you take the instruction. Some go and take a weekend YogaFit training and start teaching after that. I personally don't think this is enough training for me and would not hir an instructor at my studio who had only a YogaFit training.
Talk to ten teachers you'll discover ten different paths.
yogagirl - 2006-08-11 12:34 PM
do u have to go to a yoga college or something ??
see my yoga teacher got ask a question like " how did u become a yoga teacher"
and she said she had to work hard she didn't even tell us how ???? weird alwell maybe she was having a bad day
so awnser my question plz plz
Edited by purnayoga 2006-08-13 12:12 AM
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How do u become a yoga teacher
