The Evolution of Our Yoga Practice

I have been teaching yoga for about 9 years. I have had a consistent yoga practice for slightly longer than that, and have incorporated some yoga into my life, off and on, for about twice that long. I attended my first yoga class in my late teens. My mom took me to a class at a community center near where we lived, and it was a gentler flow. Honestly, it was not my cup of tea! I was a pretty serious competitive swimmer, and I liked to work out and work out hard, and the slower, gentler movements and quietness felt like a waste of time for me.

Fast forward a few years, and I started taking some at home private yoga classes, again, with my mom. I enjoyed these a lot more, probably in a large part because I really like the teacher, whose name is Sandy, who we lovingly referred to as “The Yoga Lady”. Sandy incorporated a variety of techniques into her teaching that I hadn’t experienced before, such as candlelight meditation (which we did in the bathroom, as it was the only room we could completely shut out the natural light at my mom’s condo") and breath of fire.

After some time, I began to take some classes at the gym near where I lived in Baltimore. I remember journaling about the way that these classes made me feel calmer and more at peace, but I still didn’t commit to being consistent in my attendance. A couple years later, I decided to enroll in a yoga teacher training. We were required to attend 3 classes per week throughout the 8 month training, and hence the consistency of my practice was found.

At this point in my life, I really craved the power and vinyasa of a practice that incorporated a lot of movement. Although I never have been one to seek out a heated room for my practice (I build a LOT of heat myself!), I enjoyed feeling like I pushed my body physically in the yoga room. It was actually a few years after my initial training that I started to embrace more of the stillness in the practice, and that I started to enjoy holding poses for a little bit longer and finding my breath once I got there.

The past few years I have really begun to pay attention to how I can adjust the practice based on what I need and what is happening outside my life. While I was training for the Boston Marathon in 2021, I noticed that I needed to take gentler, slower practices, and that the power yoga wasn’t really serving me. At the time, I thought, hm, maybe power has played it’s role in my life, and now I need to slow down. Ironically, after running through some foot pain training and racing Boston, I had to take a major step back from running, and I started to see the value again in the more cardiovascular style of power yoga I had enjoyed in the past- because I wasn’t getting that from running. The difference this time around was that I didn’t forget the value I had also found in slower, more introspective practices.

The amazing thing about yoga is that there are so many styles and so many ways to practice. There are days now that I love a solid power flow- but there are also days where I am able to (and need to) find the stillness and meditative components of a yin or restorative practice. And there are many days when I need something in between. All of these styles serve a role for me, and they all have value, equally. In recognizing this, I’ve learned to take a step back from labeling a “right” or “wrong” or “better” type of yoga. And I also recognize that just because I move away from a component for a period of time, doesn’t mean I won’t return to that component in the future.

In this recognition, I feel that maybe I have been able to practice some of the deeper levels of yoga- the non-attachment and non-judgement, the letting go of the ego. This recognition and open mindedness that the evolution of my own postural yoga practice has taught me has given me great steps towards the ultimate goal of the practice, which is liberation, freedom from suffering, and knowing that each part of the path is part of the path.

Wherever you are on your yoga path, I hope that it is serving you in some way, whether it is power yoga, gentle yoga, yin yoga, or a non-postural path. But observe your own evolution, and allow the space for it to grow and change. And let me know how it goes!

Tips for Crow Pose

When the words “arm balances” are said in a vinyasa yoga class, there is a wide array of reactions, from anxiety and fear to eagerness and excitement. And noticing these reactions is half of the process! But regardless of whether you are on the end of the spectrum where you dread the words, or the end of the spectrum that has you jumping at the challenge, there are some simple tips and movements you can do to prepare for the posture. Knowing what muscles to activate and how to engage them will make any arm balance more accessible - even if you choose a variation where your feet never leave the ground!

Below I list some simple prep poses to help get you into Bakasana, or crow pose, and how they relate to the pose itself.

Give them a try, and let me know how it goes.

Reclined Table Top Pose

Lay on your back and lift your feet off the floors so that your calves are parallel to the floor. Bring your palms to the top of your thighs, and gently press your palms into the legs and the legs into the palms. At the same time, press your lower back into the mat, taking out the natural curve of the lower spine, and shortening the distance between your lower rib cage and your frontal hip points. Pull your belly button towards your spine. This action starts to activate your anterior core, or the abdominal muscles in the front side of the body. This is the same action you will want to create when you are in crow! Hold for a few breaths, and then release and relax.

Reclined Crow Pose

Come back to reclined table top. Keep the big toe side of the feet together, but open the knees out wide. Extend your arms forward in between your thighs, lifting your shoulder blades and the back of your head off of the ground. Press your palms straight forward towards the front of your space. Squeeze the inner knees into the upper arms. Round the upper back and press more energetically through your hands. Draw the navel back towards your spine as you create a little bit of flexion in your lower back. Look! You’re already IN crow- Just on your back!

Malasana Pose

Rock up into a low squat with your feet slightly wider than your hips, and your toes pointed slightly out. Drop your tailbone and pelvic floor towards the ground. Draw your knees back, and bring your hands to your heart center so that your upper arms are on the inside of your upper thighs. Then press the upper things and inner arms into each other, as you lift your sternum into your thumbs. This leg to arm engagement is necessary as you move into the arm balance.

Low lunge with eagle arms

Make your way into a low lunge with the right foot forward. Reach your arms straight in front of you, then wrap your left arm underneath your right arm. Bring the backs of your forearms to touch and then cross the wrists so that your palms touch. (If this doesn’t work for you, just cross and reach for opposite shoulder blades, like you are giving yourself a hug). Lift your elbows up towards the ceiling, then press your forearms forward. Create space between your shoulder blades, protracting the scapula and creating a dome in the upper back. This is the action you will simulate in your crow pose when your hands are on the ground. Hold for a few breaths, then release and repeat on the other side.

Seated Crow Pose

Now is our second chance to do crow without balancing on our hands! Come into Navasana, boat pose. Keep the big toe side of the feet touching but bring the legs out wide. Bring your upper arms to the insides of the thighs, and press your palms forward. Squeeze your thighs into your upper arms and press strongly through your palms, protracting the shoulder blades.

Now we are ready to get on our hands!

Start by spreading your fingers out wide! The wider the fingers, the more surface area to balance on! I like a little external rotation, so that when I place my hands on the ground, the index finger is facing straight forward.

Crow Pose/ Bakasana

Once your hands are planted on the ground, and your feet and hips are in malasana, connect your inner thighs to your upper arms. Hands are about as wide as your shoulders. Begin to shift your weight forward. Keep your gaze about 8 inches in FRONT of your hands, rather than directly in between them. Think chataranga with the arms, squeezing the elbows inward so that they stay stacked over the wrists. Start to shift your shoulders forward, continuing to gaze forward, until eventually, your center of gravity starts to shift so that you begin to feel light in your feet. Eventually your shoulders end up in line with your elbows, and that allows your feet to come off the ground with very little effort! Once you are up, bring the big toe sides of the feet to touch, and pull your belly up towards your spine, as if a string is drawing the navel towards the ceiling. Push your hands firmly into the ground to create some protraction in the shoulder blades. Breathe. To come out, lower your feet back to the ground. You did it!

Take a moment to reflect on what came up for you. Exhilaration when you realized your feet were off the ground? Frustration that it was more challenging than you expected? Was it cool to see the small pieces as they came together to form the posture?! Whatever you felt, pay attention to it, and see what you can learn from it!

Drop me a comment to let me know how it went, or what other helpful hints you have for crow pose!

The Kleshas

According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there are 5 Kleshas, or causes of suffering, that we encounter in our lives. These “poisons” on the path of yoga work to cloud our mind and perspective, drawing us away from our true essence and inner self. When we learn to identify these causes of suffering and work past them, we make our way toward Moksha Shastra, or liberation, which is the ultimate goal of the yoga process. For me, each these causes of suffering tend to show up in different forms on pretty much a daily basis! It is a constant state of recognizing and adjusting to work through each of these.  It is a humbling reminder of my humanity that despite years of practice, I have not come close to removing these from my path, and I understand that I likely will never completely rid myself of suffering. But I do believe the practice and what I have learned from it has helped to to lessen my suffering in some regard, at least some of the time on some days!

Avidya

Avidya translates to mean ignorance, or nescience. It is the belief that our perspectives are the truth, and the only truth. It causes a closed-mindedness. The yoga practice reminds up that our views are not reality, but simply our own individual perspective. Imagine you are at a museum, looking at a piece of famous art. To you, the art may be beautiful, a masterpiece. Yet to someone else, it may seem worthless. Perhaps even elementary. Neither is right or wrong- they are simply different. To argue without seeing the others perspective often leads to nothing but agitation. Working through avidya allows us to recognize that others see things differently than us, and that is okay, because, in the end, we come from the same place, and return to the same place! In the yoga practice, this is applicable in remembering that one style or type of yoga, or variation of asana, isn’t better or worse than another. All yoga leads to liberation, and the path that works for one individual may not be the same as the path that works for another. Keeping an open mind allows us to move past the suffering we inflict upon ourselves that OUR way is the ONLY way.

Asmita

Asmita means ego. How often do we walk into the yoga room and have the teacher remind us to “leave our egos at the door”  Asmita leads to a limited awareness focusing on the “I”, and thinking that the world revolves around the self. When we think that everything is based around us, we often end up upset and disappointed when things don’t work out the way we want them to. An inflated ego can also draw us out of our inner awareness. For example, in a yoga practice, our ego can often pull us into variations of asana that may actually hurt us because we feel like they are “harder”. If we are able to step away from ego, we are able to tune into our body and inner self to see what we really need on a given day, regardless of what others in the room are practicing. Plus, who wants to hang around an egomaniac?!

Raga

Raga, or attachment, leads us to clinging.  To hanging onto things that are pleasurable, no matter what. The problem with this mindset is that these things are impermanent. Clinging to pleasure leads us away from mindfulness. It creates fear and anxiety. When we let go of attachment, we can be fully immersed in the pleasure of an experience while we are experiencing it, rather than constantly worrying about when it will end.  As I spoke to my therapist the other day, she asked me how things were, and I said “they are good, for now” She said, why don’t we work on getting rid of the “for now”? It is very hard to enjoy things being “good” if you’re constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong. Instead, just be with it!

Dvesha

Dvesha, or aversion is basically the opposite side of the coin to raga. It is the avoidance of unpleasant or disagreeable situations, people, or things.  When we associate something with being unpleasant, we spend our lives in fear of it.  It creates a cloud in our mind which escalates and grows. Often, as we continue to avoid, the cloud actually becomes even worse- despite the fact that what we are constructing in our mind has not even happened, or may not even happen- BECAUSE we are avoiding it!  While SEEKING out displeasure may not be as easy of a concept to grasp, if we work to accept that there will be displeasure and allow it to arise when it does, we are able to also recognize the impermanence of it.  To process and deal with it and let it move past, so that the cloud of anxiety and fear associated with dvesha can evaporate rather than take over. 

Abhinivesha

Abhinivesha is the fear of death. To me, this can be the most challenging of the kleshas to overcome. But we do so by living fully, with an open heart, with love, in each and every moment. And we remember that we are not just our body, we are not just our mind, but we are something so much more than that.  And remembering that when death comes, that deepest, truest part of us will continue to exist. 

Holiday Survival Tips

Happy December!

Whether you love them or you hate them, the holidays can be a tough period of the year to navigate. Personally, I get super excited for all things Christmas, but the reality of the challenges of the season sometimes make me a little bit of a Grinch (which, by the way, is my favorite Christmas movie! Followed closely by It’s A Wonderful Life, of course)

This is also a time of year when the body naturally wants to hibernate and restore. It gets dark at 4:30, the weather is cold, we are getting less natural Vitamin D. But we also are pulled in many directions- holiday parties, family gatherings, gift shopping, tree lightings, children’s concerts and parades. 

The holidays are also considered the season of giving, and giving is a marvelous thing. However, if you find yourself constantly giving and constantly on the go, without taking them for self- care, it’s easy to end up exhausted and drained instead of cheery and festive. You know the old saying “Fill your own cup first”?

I am certainly no expert, but as someone who has struggled with holidays in the past, I have included some of my own tried and true ways of making it through all things holiday season.  Let me know if you have tried any of these, or what your tips for survival this time of year are!?

Set boundaries

    It is 100% okay to say no to things during this season. Would you rather stay in and drink tea than go to the company party? Do it! Don’t want to participate in another Secret Santa?  Say so. Don’t feel like driving 6 hours to see the extended family? Stay home! 

    Of course we want to spend time with family and friends, but it is also okay to stay home alone or with your significant other or children. My little brother always stays in North Carolina for Christmas Eve and morning. He wants his boys to wake up in their own home that day. Do I wish sometimes they would come visit Ocean City for Christmas? Of course! Do I completely respect him staying in North Carolina. Definitely. I love them all the more for setting up their own tradition and staying true to it.  There are 364 other days of the year to see each other. 

Make time for movement

    Not movement like running to the mall to buy more gifts- but movement for your body! Even if it is 10 minutes of stretching on your yoga mat, give yourself opportunity to get stay touch with your own physical self. Carve out time for your regular yoga class, or wake up a little earlier to make time for a walk or a run before starting your day. You’ll feel 100 times better if you do. 

Give yourself permission to indulge

    Want a holiday cookie? Eat one! A sliver of pie? Yum! A glass of eggnog? Yuck! (Just kidding- if you love eggnog, have a glass!!)  You only live once, after all, so why deprive yourself of something you enjoy.

But don't OVERindulge

    When possible, remember to eat some healthy food too! Have fruits and veggies on hand at home to balance out the holiday party goods. Be mindful of alcohol too- while 1-2 drinks can be festive, too many can lead to holiday hangovers and depression and anxiety. All things we want to avoid regularly, but especially this time of year. 

 Let go of expectations

    For me, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the “perfect” holiday. How many movies do we watch where everything ends up perfect? But life isn’t a movie, and frequently things don’t go as planned. The turkey gets burnt, the flight gets delayed, someone has a cold, your husband is late. Learn to expect the unexpected, so that it is easier to roll with it when it happens. 

 Breathe!

    A longer exhale and a deeper breath activate your parasympathetic nervous system. When we are caught up in the holiday rush, our sympathetic nervous system takes over. This fight or flight response is a necessary nervous system function for survival, but when it is constantly triggered it can lead to chronic stress and disease. Learning to turn on our “rest and digest” nervous system to calm ourselves down can help prevent long term disease associated with stress. Take a few minutes to sit and breathe deeply each day!

 Start your morning with 5 minutes of meditation

    Let me tell you- I can lost my temper and react with the best of them, and I know for a fact my husband will attest to that!! Meditation helps to activate our cerebral cortex, the part of our brain that helps us create space between stimulus and response and make informed decisions. When we react and respond quickly, it is our limbic system, or mammalian brain, that is taking over. Again- this serves an evolutionary survival purpose- but losing your temper with your mother-in-law isn’t going to make your season bright! Taking a few moments to simply sit and observe your physical, mental, and emotional state can help us learn to pause before losing our temper. 

Treat yourself

    It also can be nice to treat yourself to a little R&R or pampering this month. Schedule a massage, or take a restorative yoga class or sound healing. Give yourself permission to be taken care of- especially if you are the one normally doing most of the taking care of. And see if you can do it guilt free. Trust me- the gift wrapping and pie baking can wait an hour! 

I hope these help, and I would love to hear what you do to get through this season! 

Happiest of holidays!

Non-Attachment

Non attachment. Such a huge component and lesson of the yoga practice, and one that I spent a large portion of my last week contemplating.

Last week I ran the 125th Boston Marathon. I ran Boston one other time, in 2007. I qualified to run this race in 2019 in Philadelphia. Normally, Boston is run in April on Patriots Day, but due to CoVid it was postponed until October this year. It was the most competitive year to get into the marathon, as the qualifying time period was extended (also due to CoVid), and the field of participants was cut down from 30,000 to 20,000. Needless to say, it was quite an honor for me to be accepted into the field.

Unfortunately, I hit some snags during my training. The August heat affected me greatly, and I was unable to complete a run longer than an hour during that month. In September, I started rebuilding, but did so through heel pain that nagged me daily. I knew I wasn’t set to run a personal best, but I decided to simply go to Boston and enjoy the experience.

My husband and I weren’t able to fly up to Boston until Sunday, the day before the race, because I was running teacher training that weekend at Love Evolution. I booked the earliest flight out of BWI, so that we would have plenty of time to get to Boston and the expo. Unfortunately, we woke up in our hotel at BWI to a text notification that our flight was cancelled and we had been rebooked on a flight on Tuesday. Every other flight was sold out, and so we jumped in the car and started the 7 hour drive- another less than ideal situation the day before you plan to run 26.2 miles! And I added that to my list of reasons to not be attached to a time, but to just enjoy the experience!

We made it to Boston, picked up my bib, and headed off to our dinner reservations. As soon as we placed our food order, the lights suddenly came on bright and the fire alarm started going off. Fortunately, we were notified that we did not need to evacuate, but our peaceful, relaxing pre-race meal turned into a meal with alarms blaring from the time we ordered until the time they cleared our plates. (Conveniently, the alarms finally stopped for the 5 minutes we waited to pay the bill)

Monday morning, I woke up eager and excited, and reminded myself mentally to take it super easy the first few downhill miles. But… like the best laid plans so far… it was challenging to really hold back during the rolling start with no crowds. Plus, I felt pretty good! Until about mile 13, when the heel pain was flaring up, and the legs were reminding me they hadn’t trained to RACE this race. I pulled out my phone, sent a text to my mom and Josh to be prepared for a drastic reduction in pace, and kept plowing forward.

I ended up finishing the race in 3:59.01. Not my best, by far, but also not my worst. (I think it ranked time wise as 9th out of my 12 marathons). Which was totally what I had expected, and I was happy with it- but then I caught myself feeling frustrated to not have run faster. I noticed, loud and clear, how attached I was to an outcome.

In the following days, when my heel was definitely expressing how unhappy it was with me, I reflected more deeply on attachment. I am definitely attached to being a runner. A semi-competitive runner… one who can run marathons and qualify for Boston in them. And it has been a struggle, as I wait for my appointment with an orthopedic specialist, to not run at all.

On the mat, we practice non-attachment to postures, how they look, which variation we do. For me, I often can embrace that. Yet this past week, in a slightly different discipline, I was thrown for a loop. And I also noticed how attached I can be to other aspects of yoga. To having people show up in my class. To leading successful teacher trainings. To receiving positive feedback when I offer a workshop or series or class. And it made me take a step back to investigate why I do what I do, and can I do it in a way that isn’t focused on an outcome?

And to take it one step further, how does attachment affect my relationships? My family? My friendships?

I can promise I don’t have an answer. Yoga asana is hard. But YOGA is harder. Harder than running 26.2 hilly miles on undertrained legs with an injury, for sure. Not even comparable. But if we practice every day, if we recognize our setbacks and learn from them, we show up, and we move through or past the obstacles that arise, we move one step closer to peace, to samadhi, to bliss. This is what it means to practice yoga. This is what it means to be human. This is the path.

Why take a 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training?

If you are considering taking a 300 Hour Training, you have already completed a 200 Hour Training. I know, for me, when I took my first yoga training, I was completely inundated by the amount of information that was presented to me! Quite honestly, I didn’t realize how much there was behind the practice of yoga. I also initially left my 200 Hour in awe of the amount that I learned! However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that the knowledge I had gained only skimmed the surface. 

As I began taking continuing education, and my first 300 hour, I came to the realization that it would take lifetimes to fully absorb and understand all of the components of the yoga practice. While this seems overwhelming, I don’t let it deter me from continuing to learn the most that I can, through both trainings, self study & practice. 

The information in a 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training builds on the foundational information taught in a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training. If it is something that you are considering, you likely have had some experience teaching, and are eager to learn more and build on what you learned in your first training.  You also perhaps have chosen a 300 in order to go into a greater level of depth in a certain area, so that you can integrate information that is more advanced, subtle, and detailed. When you choose a 300 Hour, there are many things to take into consideration, such as the style of yoga, the experience and connection you feel towards the teacher, cost, proximity, and timing, amongst other things. 

My upcoming 300 Hour Training aims to empower teachers to cultivate and define their own teaching styles and niches within the realm of Vinyasa yoga.  A goal is to have teachers graduate and be able to confidently employ the techniques and information presented in this training in an authentic way.  Some of the main objectives I, along with my carefully selected teaching team, have created for this training include:

• Solidify your understanding of anatomy and how to individualize postures to fit people & bodies

• Identify & learn to interweave your individual purpose within your teaching technique

• Learn and incorporate tools to help prevent “teacher burn-out” & to overcome imposter syndrome

• Feel confident working with specific individuals and their own individual differences in the yoga room in an inclusive manner

• Hone and sharpen your teaching skills, including clarity of verbal cueing, sequencing, and manual cueing

• Explore yoga history and philosophy in greater depth and incorporate this into your teaching

• Feel supported in a small group environment and have access to your teachers and mentors

• Gain confidence in your value as a teacher, and incorporate business techniques and strategies to maximize your teaching exposure

I truly believe that a yoga teacher shines when they have a vast amount of knowledge , but also the freedom and confidence to teach authentically. I do not expect graduates of my training to become carbon copies of me- nor do I want them to be! I want them to create the path that is authentic to them, to think critically and constructively, and then to encourage their students to find their own journeys as well. 

If you think this training may be the right fit for you, you can sign up on my website to reserve your spot. If you have more questions, reach out to me, and we can chat!

Is joining Yoga Alliance right for me?

The decision on whether or not to join Yoga Alliance is something I always leave up to the individual. My goal is to offer them information on the purpose of Yoga Alliance as well as the pros and cons of joining, and then let them choose whether or not they decide to register. My previous blog post gives a general overview of Yoga Alliance. This post focuses on some pros and cons of registering.  

Pros:

Credibility: Yoga Alliance is the largest directory of yoga schools and teachers. In an unregulated industry, Yoga Alliance attempts to provide some oversight and guidelines to ensure a minimum level of knowledge by yoga instructors. Having a Yoga Alliance trademark by your name indicates that you have completed the minimum number of hours of yoga training by a school that meets their guidelines.

Continuing education:  Yoga Alliance offers free continuing education to its members. There was a period where I honestly wasn’t sure that the free continuing ed was worth it, but I really noticed during CoVid that the number of weekly virtual workshops multiplied. I receive emails weekly with numerous options for workshops, and I can click to sign up for the link to attend the workshop right through the emails. It is an easy way to continue to learn and educate yourself on a wide variety of topics related to yoga.

Discounts: Yoga Alliance has partnerships with quite a few companies and organizations for its members, and it is easy to see how to access these discounts on their website. Some of my favorites are Glo, Manduka, MindBody, Yoloha, and Jade. 

Directory: If you register with Yoga Alliance, you are added to their directory. It is a comprehensive list of registered yoga teachers, and you can include your bio, specialties, workshops, and offerings.  The directory can be a one-stop place to find local teachers, classes, and teacher trainings. 

Cons:

Cost: Registration after completing a 200 Hour Training includes a $50 application fee, as well as a $65 yearly fee. Each year thereafter, annual/ renewal dues are $65. For someone who just shelled out a couple thousand (or more) dollars for a training, this can be a little steep. There are also additional fees each time you up-level, if you choose to be a Continuing Education Provider, or if you choose to register a Yoga School. For some people, the cost just isn’t worth it, especially if you are teaching at a studio where it is not required.

Reliability: While Yoga Alliance has recently updated their application standards for school (a necessary and welcome change, though tedious to complete if you already had an accredited school!), they essentially rely on the honesty of the schools to maintain their own trainings at the level at which they applied. Yoga Alliance also relies on the honesty of teachers to keep track of their own hours and continuing education for up-leveling. They have added an accountability option on their site, for members to report grievances or unethical situations- but this still relies on member reporting. While we like to think that everyone in the yoga community is honest and practicing ahimsa, it is impossible to guarantee that it is true.

Subjectivity- Because yoga can mean something different for each individual, and has many paths, it is extremely complicated for one organization to determine that a teacher training program meets the criteria of “yoga”- while saying that another program does not. For example, there is an anatomy component required for teacher training programs to become accredited… but practitioners of karma yoga (or the yoga of service) may not agree.

In summary, whether you choose to register is totally up to you, and there is no right or wrong! But it is important to think it through and make the choice that suits you best. And… it is nice to have the option! I never thought after my first training that I would one day be leading teacher trainings myself. When the opportunity at my home studio was presented to create and lead a training, I was thankful to be able to be able to get it accredited through YA, as I felt that it added a little bit of legitimacy to the program. I especially am grateful to have it approved when looking for opportunities to offer my trainings in various locations and abroad. But again- that is just me! And it may not be the case for everyone!

What designations does Yoga Alliance offer?

Ever see yoga teachers with RYT after their name, and wonder what the letters stood for? RYT means Registered Yoga Teacher. These letters are credentials awarded by Yoga Alliance for students who register with their directory up completing an approved Yoga Teacher Training.  A yoga teacher can also be a certified yoga teacher, without registering for Yoga Alliance, meaning that they completed a training but chose not to register in the directory. 

There are various designations/ levels of certification within Yoga Alliance for both individual teachers and schools, and I am going to break them down for you here. 

TEACHER DESIGNATIONS:

RYT-200

A RYT-200 is a person who has successfully completed a Yoga Alliance approved 200 Hour Foundational Yoga Teacher Training. This training is a foundational training for YA, and is usually the initial training a person takes to become certified to teach yoga. Students can do this in a weekend format over a period of time, or they can take an intensive training, where they complete the hours all at one time. 

ERYT-200

ERYT-200 (Or Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher- 200) means that a student has taken and completed a 200 Hour Training, and also taught 1000 hours since completing that training. 

RYT-500

This designation means that a teacher has completed both a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training as well as a 300 Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training, for a combination of 500 Hours of learning.  Yoga teachers can also earn this credential by completing a 500 Hour Training- all 500 Hours with one program at one time. 

ERYT-200. RYT 300

This is a combination of two credentials. Teachers with this designation have completed 500 Hours of training, and have taught over 1000 hours.

ERYT-500

This is currently the highest designation a teacher can hold within Yoga Alliance. It indicates that the teacher has completed 500 Hours of training, as well as 2000 Hours of teaching. At least 1000 of those teaching hours must be completed after all 500 Hours of training are finished. 

In addition to these credentials, there are several specialty credentials you can have.

YACAP

This stands for Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider. Any ERYT teacher is able to add this designation, and can then promote their workshops and continuing education courses through the Alliance. 

RCYT

Registered Childrens Yoga Teachers have completed a 95 Hour Childrens Yoga Program upon completion of their 200 Hour Training. 

RPYT

Registered Prenatal Yoga Teachers have completed an 85 Hour prenatal yoga program after completing a 200 Hour training. 

SCHOOL DESIGNATIONS:

RYS200

This indicates that a Registered Yoga School is an accredited for a 200 Hour foundational yoga training program, and can certify 200 Hour Yoga Teachers, allowing them to register with Yoga Alliance.

RYS300

This indicates that a Registered Yoga School is an accredited advanced teacher training. These 300 Hour programs can be completed by yoga teachers who already completed a 200 hour training.

RYS500

Schools that hold a Registered Yoga School 500 designation offer programs that combine 200 & 300 hour trainings into one in-depth program.

Keep in mind that you can take trainings and teach thousands of hours, but still decide not to register with Yoga Alliance- so just because someone doesn’t have those letters after their name, doesn’t mean they aren’t a qualified Yoga Teacher!

What is Yoga Alliance?

Chances are, if you are considering signing up for a 300 Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training, you already have heard of, and possibly have joined, the organization called Yoga Alliance. If you are considering signing up for a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, it’s likely that you have seen trainings stating that they are Yoga Alliance approved, but you may not really understand what that means. You may not really even know what Yoga Alliance is, and that is totally normal! A lot of my trainees are unfamiliar with Yoga Alliance until we cover its purpose during teacher training.

Yoga Alliance describes itself as “the largest nonprofit association representing the yoga community, with over 7,000 Registered Yoga Schools (RYS) and more than 100,000 Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT) as of April 2020. We foster and support the high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable teaching of yoga.” Based in Virginia, Yoga Alliance attempts to provide standards to the yoga industry. They do not certify yoga teachers; rather, they accredit teacher trainings, allowing students who complete accredited trainings the opportunity to register in their directory, and to take advantage of member benefits. If you complete an accredited program, you have the option to register, should you choose to- or you can decide not to. 

When trainees complete my 200 Hour Trainings, we spend some time discussing the pros and cons of joining Yoga Alliance, allowing them to make an informed decision. To be honest, when I first completed my initial teacher training, I did not register right away. I already had 2 classes at the studio where I trained, and I couldn’t justify spending the money on a membership at that time. 

About a year later, when I moved, I decided to register in case the studios in the area I moved to required a registration (they did not). I even have let my membership lapse in the past. But when I decided to lead my first training, I knew I wanted it to be accredited, and to give graduates the option to register should they choose to. Since then, I have maintained my own membership (a necessary requirement to be a lead teacher in an approved teacher training), as well as my RYS (Registered Yoga School) credential for my 200 Hour Training. When I decided to offer a 300, I decided once again to go through the recently updated and elevated application procedure to have that program accredited as well. To me, it is worth the stress (and cost) to have the validity of the Alliance behind my program.

The attempt to regulate an industry with numerous paths and lineages is not an easy task, and Yoga Alliance has faced numerous critiques. Over the last couple years, they have up-leveled their standards for approving teacher training programs, but yoga continues to grow and evolve, making it hard for an organization to keep up with the integrity of the programs they accredit.  In the next few blog posts, we will review the pros and cons of joining Yoga Alliance, and the struggles they face in their intentions. We also will take a look at the different levels/ credentials that are available.