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| My teacher has repeatedly requested that I get certified to teach yoga at our local park district. The certification that they honor is yoga-fit, and a yoga-fit certification is coming to our area.
Other teachers have told me to do it also; I never solicited advice from anyone on this area.
My concerns:
1) I've been practicing since August, 2003. I feel as if I am a novice.
2) Quite frankly, some of my asanas suck. For example, I wobble all over the place when doing Warrior III on my left leg; I've yet to do handstand or peacock; my attempts to do the Bikram standing head to knee were horrible.
3) I wonder how someone can become certified to teach in 18 hours.
But
1) we desperately need yoga teachers in this system; sometimes classes have to be cancelled due to no subs being available
2) some of the local teachers (not mine!) really don't know much about yoga (even the basics).
Any thoughts or helpful advice that you wish that you would have heeded?
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| Hi Ollie,
Many of my asanas suck too.
In my opinion, a person may be able to get certified in 18 hours but they definately won't be qualified!
I do recognise your commitment to Yoga on this forum and do believe you'd be a good teacher.
Jonathon |
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| So while admiting that yoga fit is a fast certification at the lower levels, I believe that the real issue is yoga experience and interest. The problem people I've seen with yoga fit are those who are aerobics instructors and want to add yoga quickly to their repetoire just like they would add a pump, or spin class certification.
I've had several yoga fit instructors, and the ones that had a yoga background were more than fine. Those who didn't quite honestly got creamed by the members. ?They ended up quiting. In our area even the gym members know the difference.
Everyone has poses they are strong at, and some they aren't so good at. I've been to severalworkshops with national figures, like Anna Forrest, Baron Baptiste, and John Friend. and some never even attempted an Asana during the entire workshop. They used people they knew could do the pose. The key is abiltiy to describe it well.
For you, since you already have a yoga foundation you'll teach it like a real yoga class. |
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Location: Upstate NY | Om namah Sivaya
Ollie,
I think that if you used the YogaFit as a precursor that it would be quite fine. As it was mentioned you yourself really should not be going into the Asanas but explaining how one should enter into each asana then look for anyone who has alignment issues.
But I would not use this certification as the foundation to your journey into teaching. I would use it as a temporary solution to help your "community" you could almost view it as Karma Yoga. I would also suggest that in due time you research and find a Yoga Center that may offer an apprenticeship program that will result into a more, pardon my French... recognizable and acceptable Yoga teacher certification. It is in my opinion that YogaFit is just a fad and get rich quick scheme and truly does not understand the true essence of Yoga.
Om Shanti,
Ravi |
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| Agreed, Ravi. It's a good place to get a certificate to start the journey. Expand from there when you're ready. |
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Location: Upstate NY | The fitness director ( the "boss-lady") at the YMCA where I teach, attended a YogaFit certification class just to be certified and was very dissapointed with what she walked away with. Granted how much can one take with them with only a few hours of training.......
I don't mind, I just call it job security 
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| Hi Ollie. All the preceding comments are well thought out and many of them echo my own ruminations about your question. It is a very sticky issue, right? I mean it's the very soul of it that this question begs.
So let me ask a few rhetorical questions.
How will you continue to train as a teacher after your 18 hours?
How much will you be teaching?
How will the teaching responsibilities flourish without interfering with your own practice?
What ramifications would there be if your instructions injured someone?
Would the rationale, "well it was either that or the class would have been cancelled" help ease those ramifications?
What is preventing you from another training? Is it the YF certification and it's acceptance by the park department? Perhaps you could be the chap that pushes for them to recognize other trainings. Open their eyes.
I personally don't think it's appropriate to teach until it's appropriate to teach. And I think this is a deep personal decision only you can make about you and I can make about me. You are either qualified to teach the subject or you are not. I do not take the Park District into consideration. I take ethics into consideration. What will I feel around the responsibilities that come with the title? I have to meet the ones I feel are appropriate - authenticity, study, my own practice, ethics, honesty.
That having been said my dear friend; I think you'd be an outstanding teacher. You are mindful, humble, and focused. Clearly you are a compassionate person and as my teacher would say "we need more people with kind hearts to be teachers."
No one will notice another yogafit instructor in the already swelling tsunami of teachers looking under their mat for a clue. Ruminate over the rhetoricals. Find what is right for Ollie not Ollie's teacher or the park district. If it's yogafit training and teaching then you should pursue that with all the tapas you can muster. Pour yourself into it.
What possible thing can we train ourselves to do in 18 hours?
Edited by purnayoga 2007-01-09 8:43 PM
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| Thanks everyone for your responses.
I have been feeling a need to give something back, and this certification might be a way of doing that, so long as I see it (getting this quick certification) as a bare start.
AS far as a longer process: unless I can do that at a local studio, (and the local studios tend to have short half-lives), that will have to wait until my daughter is grown.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 418
Location: New York | Ugh, here we go again- let the YogaFit bashing begin! As I've posted before (and will again, at the risk of being stoned in the public square), I am YogaFit trained- I'm pursuing my 200 Hour RYT with them. I've gone through a number of trainings with them and find that they do a really good job. Yes, Level 1 is the bare bones basics, giving you the most rudimentary foundation. But they really don't claim that it is designed to do anything more than that. Plus, they really have developed their program over the years- Level 1 is now quite different and better than it was 4 years ago.
To close, I have to chuckle when people start throwing around phrases like "the true essence of Yoga"- who DOES understand it? I certainly look askance at those who profess to.
I know I'll never change the minds of many posters on this board that are anti-YF, and I don't really care to. I just feel obligated to speak up when the (often uninformed) bashing begins. |
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| Hi Jackie,
You have explained that well.
It's not my intention, to knock Yogafit. I actually know nothing about it. My only concern was with the 18 hours of training and for me, that would apply to any other discipline as well as Yoga.
If that's only the entry level cert and Ollie is able to continue training with them and earn his 200 hour YA cert (which is still very little in the grand scheme of things) then I'm sure he'll be an excellent teacher.
Jonathon
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| Jackie-Cat, I am not yoga-fit bashing; my teacher got her initial training there and speaks well of it.
My concern is bascially this:
1) I am not that good at yoga right now and
2) I am not going to get substantially better at yoga at the moment.
But I do want to give back to our yoga community and my teacher thinks that I am ready.
But yeah, treating this as a first step and then doing far more work on my own practice is probably the way to go.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1738
 
Location: right where I'm supposed to be | Ollie, go for it. Your heart is there, everything else will follow as it should.
As far as yogafit, Beth Shaw has really changed the program and let it grow. Of course the first couple of workshops are basic, as with any yoga training. But if you choose to further your education and experience, you will learn important aspects of yoga. She claims she formed this through a fitness perspective but since her curriculum is ever changing, I'm sure she too is growing in her yoga practice.
I personally don't think yogafit is so bad.
Look at certifications for yoga such as AFAA and Fitour offer. That is really bare minimum. But yet, an aerobic instructor in any major corporate gym can take those certs and teach yoga immediately.
Ollie, ya have to start somewhere. Why not yogafit? Who knows where it will take you.
I think you'll be a great teacher |
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| Ollie--I think we all know that yoga, "Ain't All Asana"--or A-cubed. I think your heart and mind are in the perfect place to do what your teacher is asking of you and I read that you really want to other than that perfectly normal self-doubting, "Am I good enough?" Heck no you're not good enough to teach Anna Forest but that's not what you're looking to do. You're going to teach yoga to people who will appreciate you and learn from you. Just as you did.
I'm not yoga fit savvy but if Julie (JackieCat) says it, it's true in my opinion (afterall, she was a Bikram teacher and saw the light--just teasing you Jules). I'd be honored to be welcomed to an Ollie class. |
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| Bruce, thanks for the Anna Forest comment; I looked it up. WOW!!!
Mish, thanks for your encouragement also.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| ollie - I will just add this - sometimes the people who are not "naturals" or gifted in an activity make BETTER teachers. This is because they have had to learn step by step how to do things. It sound like you are being called by the yoga gods to teach. Go forth and teach my friend! |
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| Ollie,
Just as some here have stated that YF would be a first step in teacher education, I believe the same analogy could be drawn to those in your area who choose to practice yoga with the parks department. For those you inspire, your class will be a first step. For those for whom your class is enough in light of their schedule and interest and desires, well those students don't necessarily need (or need to pay for) expensive, time-consuming certifications. For example, in the gym environment (where I teach and which I enjoy) I believe that hours and dollars spent on the more esoteric philosophical elements of yoga would not necessarily be a good investment of time and money for the teacher.
I feel that with the explosion in access to information that a motivated learner can easily study philosophy and read about meditation techniques either for free on line or via global bookstores and it is just not as critical as it used to be to put yourself in the physical presence of someone to acquire knowledge. I know that those who depend upon dispensing the secrets of "real yoga" for a livelihood may disagree, but I feel that for most people, most of the time, this is true. Even though it may not be necessary to attend a live class to learn yoga poses these days either, I think it is a little more difficult to confirm your alignment when you are alone (versus reading about energy forces).
As for the poses you don't feel as confident about, the beauty of being the teacher is that you can simply select those you do feel comfortable doing in order to demonstrate them. My personal prediction is that simply talking the class through a pose without ever demonstrating your own ability to do the pose will be met with suspicion (outside a yoga studio). It is just human nature in most cases to want your hear your foreign language teacher speak the language competently before trusting him or her - even if it isn't technically necessary that our teachers speak the target language fluently to walk us through a conjugation.
So it seems to me that so long as you know the alignments well enough that your students won't learn bad habits which could injure them in the long-run, you should take the next step. In any event, please keep us posted as to how it goes. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 418
Location: New York | Hi Ollie-
I actually didn't think that YOU were YF bashing- sorry if I gave that impression. 
And I also apologize for not addressing your initial inquiry. I think that if you're really interested in teaching and sharing what you know about yoga (which is probably alot more than you think you know) that you should go for it. YogaFit Level 1 isn't a certification; it's a training. So while you won't get certified after the first 18 hour workshop, I think it's a great first step.
It will definitely enable you to teach a basic class, along with practice on your own, and you can then decide if you want to do any further training with YogaFit.
If you feel the call to teach, then definitely don't wait until you feel your postures are perfect. Teach what you know and as your own knowlegde grows, your teaching will grow as well. I think the key is to always be open to learning. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| JackieCat - 2007-01-10 9:59 AM
If you feel the call to teach, then definitely don't wait until you feel your postures are perfect.
Good heavens, you got that right JC! If my students had to wait for me to get the poses perfect, it would be a loooooong wait   |
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| My wee bit of an attempt to display asana proficiency has been to concentrate on doing a couple of poses intended to dazzle--warrior II is my chosen one--no brag, just fact, I can do it perfectly and hold it for who knows how long. Figure if I get a smartalek student I'll challenge 'em if need be. Hey, I know it's not very yogic but sometimes the situation calls for tough luv. |
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| Bruce - 2007-01-10 6:28 PM
My wee bit of an attempt to display asana proficiency has been to concentrate on doing a couple of poses intended to dazzle--warrior II is my chosen one--no brag, just fact, I can do it perfectly and hold it for who knows how long. Figure if I get a smartalek student I'll challenge 'em if need be. Hey, I know it's not very yogic but sometimes the situation calls for tough luv.
My beloved teacher does this with yoga leg lifts (URDHVA PRASARITA PADASANA);
http://ollieyoga.blogspot.com/2005/12/is-it-really-yoga.html
She can leg lift me under the table and, to be frank, enjoys doing so!
Once, she had to sub for a "core strength" class that met before her yoga class, and I was the only student there. I thought we might do something light and perhaps chat and joke. Instead she gave me 45 minutes worth of yoga asanas and other ab moves and she did every one of them with me, all the while smiling and asking me how I was doing, while I slowly turned various colors on my way to an early death.
Sometimes, my teacher does things to remind me who is the teacher and why. |
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| Ok, I did it; I registered for the training.
Now to do my homework.
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Location: Upstate NY | The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | You know, just out of curiosity, not that I want to do this, but which yoga certification is of higher quality that is say, accepted anywhere a person would want to teach for creditential, "I can teach Yoga" purposes??? What about Yoga Alliance?? The Asheville Yoga Center does alot of this. Looks like you have to apply seperately with YA before you sign up for the class. It's also not cheap for a 23 day, 230 hour workshop. It's like $1,950. Then they have a 500 hour as well. Interesting. That means I can go to Asheville for 23 days, 230 hours and walla, become a teacher. That would drive you guys crazy, I just know it, |
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| actually, that sort of immersion training is very normal. that's what's generally considered a 'good' training, honestly. |
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| Hi Ollie,
Just curious here, which training are you signed up for? I have worked for YF for 7 yrs now. Can I share my own experience? When I started to first teach group fitness, I had many years of self yoga practice( 5+) behind me, but none of "teaching yoga asana". If you are passionate about your practice, than that is the tapas(discipline) you need to work through this path. It doesnt matter what door you step through, its that you make a choice. If you have any question about the training/weekend, please feel free to respond
OM SHANTIH
Beth Marik |
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certification by yoga-fit?
