An Insight on Yoga Alliance

Author: Jackson Advard

Yoga Alliance is primarily an organization that is responsible for setting standards for what constitutes a certified yoga instructor. An individual registered with Yoga alliance as a registered yoga teacher has a great credibility and gets greater opportunities to teach. As a body, Yoga Alliance is an education and support network for yoga in the United States that works with the purpose of providing greater understanding of yoga and its benefits to the people while making sure that the teachers value yoga history and traditions, and accordingly pledge for quality instruction.

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History
The Yoga Alliance was born out of volunteer organizations as the requirement originated for a centralized, self regulating entity in the yoga community. Without establishing the yoga teacher training curriculum standards that were mutually agreed upon, there was a huge probability of anyone opening a yoga school, collecting money from trainees and sending new teachers into the world. If this curriculum wasn't in place then whether or not these teachers previously attended an appropriate yoga certification course and were adequately prepared for the responsibility of teaching yoga safely would have really been anyone's guess. The Yoga Alliance has set forth curriculum standards for Registered Yoga Schools in the 200 hr, 500 hr, Children's Yoga and Pre-Natal Yoga classifications. People attending these yoga teacher training programs are assured to receive instruction in an approved curriculum from an E-RYT. People graduating from these yoga instructor certification programs are able to teach this art safely and in accordance with the standards set by Yoga Alliance.
However, while it's a fact that a school should meet a set of standards stated by the Yoga alliance before they can get themselves registered, it should be noted out that the Yoga Alliance doesn't go around to yoga schools policing them. It means that they don't visit each school making sure that they actually follow these standards that have been implemented. So, while it might sound good that a school is registered with the Yoga alliance, remember that they aren't necessarily doing much to uphold the standards they put forth.

Relevance of Yoga Alliance
Once the difference between certification and registration is known, many still wonder if it matters whether a program or teacher is registered or not. The answer is yes. Even if the Yoga Alliance doesn't certify anyone, their minimum standards still offer the baseline amount of training that you'd want a teacher to possess. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, including those certified in a specialized area of yoga, such as Anusara or Ashtanga (in which case you can be rest assured they have far surpassed the 200 hour standards), however, the RYT is an extremely useful way of identifying that a teacher has completed a well rounded program and put in at least 200 hours.
If you're thinking of training as a yoga teacher, it's imperative to select the appropriate yoga alliance teacher training program. Registering with Yoga Alliance is indeed a quality assurance but doesn't necessarily mean the program's style, policies, timeline or the philosophy of its trainers will suit everyone. So, it's better to carry out a good amount of research and inquire with qualified teachers for their opinions on various yoga schools.


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About the Author
The author of this article is an experienced yoga teacher having completed the yoga alliance teacher training from Satya Yoga Peeth. The author is all praise for its teachers and the way in which they teach this beautiful art to their students.