What does it really take to be a great yoga teacher?
By Mara Colbert
Mara Colbert is the author of the book How to Become a Great Yoga Teacher Without Spending a Dime on Teacher Training. We asked her what she thinks it takes to become a great yoga teacher.
“The privilege of a lifetime is being yourself.” — Joseph Campbell
Contrary to current popular belief, you do not need to wear a certain brand of yoga gear to be a great yoga teacher. You do not need to have a blog, or play loud music in your classes. You do not need to have a super hot body, or sport a tramp stamp (that’s a tribal lumbar tattoo – don’t blame me, I didn’t name it). You do not need to play the harmonium or quote the Yoga Sutras verse for verse. And get this . . . you do not need to be an RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) through the Yoga Alliance or be “certified” by ANYONE.
What you do need to be a great yoga teacher is to have a strong sense of who you are and what you have to offer. It is also essential to have a solid personal practice of yoga. A desire to teach, compassion for others, and decent communication skills don’t hurt either.
It is important to develop your own voice as a teacher and to be authentic. No one likes to hear a teacher put on their “yoga teacher voice.” The last thing you want is to sound like either a spaced out hippie or a phone sex operator. Use your own speaking voice, conversationally, but professionally. It is your love of yoga that will inspire students, not your vast knowledge. Be yourself.
“Do your practice, and all is coming.” — Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
Personally, I think you need to have been practicing yoga regularly, as in 4-6 times per week, for at least one or two years, if not more. You need to have a genuine love of yoga, and of learning about yoga. Teaching yoga is more about having a solid understanding of yoga in your own body than it is about memorizing information, names of postures, or any other external knowledge of yoga. Yoga is experiential and you have to have some degree of mastery in your own practice, in your own body, first.
That being said, mastery has little to do with how impressive your postures appear from the outside, or how many advanced postures you can do. Mastery is having overcome obstacles and limitations of your own, through dedicated practice, and having experienced progress and transformation. A teacher does not need to be omniscient – she does not need to know everything about yoga and does not need to have mastered many advanced postures. The teacher just needs to know a little bit more than his or her students.
“Keep It Simple, Stupid.” – Kelly Johnson
Please don’t talk about things you know nothing about. For example, if you don’t in fact know the Yoga Sutras, don’t misquote them. And if you don’t know about anatomy, keep your mouth closed on the subject. (I once heard a yoga teacher claim that shorter people may have fewer vertebrae, so it would be harder for them to back bend. Huh?)
Great teachers integrate wisdom and techniques from the various areas of yoga into their classes. Use the philosophy and its lessons as a supplement to your teaching of the physical postures. Do not force yourself to expound upon the chakras or yoga philosophy if it does not feel natural or inspired. First and foremost, teach appropriate physical sequences with good alignment instruction, allowing themes and philosophy to emerge from your experience as a teacher and from your own practice.
What the Yoga Alliance is and is not
If you went around reading yoga teachers’ bios these days, you would have the impression that they are all “Yoga Alliance certified.” But the Yoga Alliance does not certify teachers. The Yoga Alliance allows teachers to pay money to “register” – it’s a directory.
The stated intention of the Yoga Alliance is to ensure that there is a thorough understanding of the benefits of yoga, that the teachers of yoga value its history and traditions, and that the public can be confident of the quality and consistency of instruction. And how do they do that, you may ask? The short answer is… they don’t. There are all sorts of rogue RYT’s running around out there who know precious little about yoga’s history and traditions, and there are no means of gauging quality and consistency from class to class.
I am not knocking Yoga Alliance. I respect what they do, and I sometimes display their letters after my name (in the years that I have chosen to send in my payment to be in the registry). For that matter, I’m not knocking a good yoga soundtrack, or the quoting of the sutras either – I often play music in my classes and even throw around a sutra or two when appropriate. But the vast majority of yoga teachers I know do NOT have the letters RYT after their names. And they are some of the best and most well-respected teachers, both in my local community and nationally, and truly some of the best in the world. Of the master teachers listed in my bio, I’m fairly certain most of them don’t register with the Yoga Alliance. Most of the well-known yoga teachers that you see gracing the covers of yoga magazines also do not display the letters RYT after their names, as they do not need them. Their teaching and experience speaks for itself. And so will yours.
About Mara Colbert
Mara Colbert is a yoga teacher, mother of a 3-year old, and graduate student in counseling at the University of Missouri Kansas City. She is the author of How to Become a Great Yoga Teacher Without Spending a Dime on Teacher Training. Having herself spent a fortune on teacher training, yoga books, workshops, and conferences over the years, she is eager to share what she knows. Check out the book here, connect with Mara on her website, follow her on twitter, or subscribe to her posts on facebook.
42 Comments !
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jennifer birch says:
damn straight, girlfriend.
mara says:
damn straight. should have dedicated the piece to you, you unregistered, uncertified, unrestrained, and unparalleled yoga teacher!
Jill says:
Well thanks for clarifying the Yoga Alliance end of things. I guess I was lead into a false sense of security by looking for an RYT in my teachers.
My question is, just like I would with any practitioner (like a doctor or a lawyer) I want some confidence that the person I’m relying on for help is actually qualified in the subject matter.
For me, in particular, I have back problems. I need to know that my yoga instructor is leading class in such a way that his/her instruction won’t actually harm me more than it helps. I’ve taken classes with instructors that clearly knew nothing about anatomy or contraindications. Scary! I need a teacher that knows enough to tell us “don’t do this pose if you’re pregnant” or “if you have heart problems, here’s a safer modification”, etc.
So where do we strike a balance between “you don’t need a college degree to teach yoga” and providing students with the assurance that their instructor does, indeed, know what they are doing?
Joe says:
I have to be careful of both my back and my knees. My instructor actively encourages me to tell her if I even start to feel discomfort. Then she switches things around with a folded blanket here or a bolster there, or tells me to sit higher in the Chair pose and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. I didn’t really appreciate it enough until I listened to the NPR interview (http://n.pr/GXNuqa) with this guy: http://bit.ly/GXNzdA.
I asked my instructor about it and she said the guy was right, anyone can call themselves an instructor, and there’s nothing magic about yoga and it’s easy to injure yourself with the wrong instruction.
mara says:
Yes, Joe! I agree. Thanks for your comment.
mara says:
Jill,
this is such a good question. Unfortunately, my answer is that you just can’t know for sure until you’ve experienced the teacher for yourself. Reputation is important, and if someone can recommend a teacher who they find to be qualified, that is helpful. If you’ve been following the debate around William Broad’s book The Science of Yoga, and read the article in the NY Times, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body (see Vanessa’s interview w/ Broad right here on this site http://recoveringyogi.com/questions-for-william-j-broad/) you are aware that a group class may not be the best place for someone with a specific injury, particularly if you are not confident about the teacher’s capabilities. But yes, like you said, if they can at least say “don’t do this if you have this issue” that is a good sign. Another is if they ask about injuries before class, and offer modifications.
But listen, it IS the same with doctors and other professionals. The most important part of their training is in residency, or internship, where they are supervised and mentored. And you can stumble upon a bad doctor any day! Good luck to you and thanks for your comment.
warmly,
Mara
Nadine Fawell says:
I love you, Mara. That is all.
I know too many teachers who have the qualifications but not the dedication. Especially the self practice thing. It’s essential, I feel. If I don’t practice, how can I teach? And I have certainly learnt more about yoga from my own practice than any other source. Great post.
mara says:
Nadine, I love you too
Ceci says:
Thank for putting into words what I have believed for so long!
sean says:
Mara – what a great piece. Thanks for writing it!
(btw, I think you kind of ARE “knocking Yoga Alliance.” Just sayin..)
mara says:
haha maybe so
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Amy Faurote says:
Thank you for this blog post. I am overweight and went through teacher training to be certified, but am not. I owed money for my training and some workshop hours. I have all that, but now my teacher wants me to teach for her and her manager before she certifies me. It kind of hurts and I felt badly. Your article has made me feel so much better and I will be a great yoga teacher. You included one of my favorite quotes, ” “Do your practice, and all is coming.” — Sri K. Pattabhi Jois” I love that! Thanks again. Peace Love JOY : )
Mara says:
Amy,
Right, you see — you have the qualifications but not the actual piece of paper. But I am curious why you are hesitant to teach for your teacher before she certifies you? I assume you mean like an audition, or practice teach for critique? That is a common part of teacher training, and not at all a bad idea. It just might contribute to your confidence and give you helpful feedback. Just a suggestion.
Good luck!
Mara
Laura says:
i agree. I have had good and bad teachers and it had nothing to do with their qualifications.
Some teachers were pathological narcissists, who cared more about their image than their students, they would show off their advance poses regardless of whether they were suitable for their students’ level, fitness, injuries. Some would start a class by closing their eyes, reciting a long Sanskrit mantra nobody understood (a bit like a priest officiating Mass in Latin), and without even scanning the room for new students, they would launch into a fast-paced vinyasa, mumbling some confusing instructions and losing half of the students who at some point just gave up and started doing downward facing dog and upward facing dog till they collapsed on the mat and stayed in child pose till savasana brought and end to their misery.
Showing off your ability to memorize an obscure mantra is not a sign of higher spiritual attainment. As a child I had to learn the Hail Mary in Latin. It seemed pointless then, and it still does. It didn’t bring me closer to self-realisation, did it?
As to Yoga Alliance, I reported a rogue teacher training school (basically a scam) and what did they do??? Nothing! As long as this school pays YA, they keep it on their registry.
Mara says:
Laura,
Thanks for your comment. You obviously get what I’m talking about! That is so interesting about reporting to YA and the “rogue” RYS still in business. Hmmm. Gives one pause….
Mara
bendybyatch says:
Jesus. another post crucifying yoga teachers. for fuck’s sake! when is Recovering Yogi going to move on from this conversation?
This is an individualized practice, and insofar, every teacher teaches from his or her own experience and knowledge. If a certain teacher doesn’t work for you, DON’ T GO BACK to that class! The free market will hopefully speak for itself and the smart sequenced/no BS cream will rise to the top .
Who knows? there may be some enlightened yogi who appreciates a specific teacher’s “yoga/phone sex voice”, and who the are you to interfere with that? Exercise your own personal preference and if you don’t enjoy that one teacher, go to another class.
What the H Recovering Yogi? It’s all yoga teacher condemnation articles, one after another after another……. Me no likey.
Joe says:
“If a certain teacher doesn’t work for you, DON’T GO BACK to that class!”
True, perhaps go to the orthopedist instead.
Mara says:
bendy,
I’m sorry that you are angry. but i’m wondering if you actually read my article, and if so, what part of it did you think was condemning yoga teachers? this article supports yoga teachers. maybe you should give it another read….??
mara
Sami Aaron says:
Hi, Mara –
It’s difficult in a typed document to share the nuances of emotion and give-and-take that we could do in person as I had hoped, but I’ll do my best to offer my sentiments from my heart. We don’t know each other well, but please know that my comments come from the place deep within my psyche that has found my yoga practice and teaching to embody the most profoundly compassionate aspects of my being. With your request that I post my comments on this article, here goes ….
Your comment, “the Yoga Alliance does not certify teachers. The Yoga Alliance allows teachers to pay money to “register” – it’s a directory. ” is misleading. A teacher has to also submit a copy of their certification from a teacher training center that is certified with Yoga Alliance. You can’t just pay money and be registered. Your flippant comment makes me feel that you’ve dissed the 300+ hours I spent in achieving my 200-hr RYT certification. If you have specific and verifiable evidence of incongruities within the Yoga Alliance certification program, please address those directly as that is important information; but if not, the way you state this just sounds like sour grapes.
“Teaching yoga is more about having a solid understanding of yoga in your own body than it is about memorizing information, names of postures, or any other external knowledge of yoga. “ I disagree on every count. I’d say teaching yoga is about having a solid understanding of the nuances, variations, injuries, deep-seated grief and illnesses of your students’ bodies and minds. Yes, this understanding arises first from listening to and training your own body, but then it expands as you reach into the vast arena of yoga that exists outside your own limited awareness and insight. When you come into partnership with and study under teachers who have a high level of experience and training you find that what you know about your own body, mind and spirit is just a tiny drop of the honey that comes when you begin to fully immerse yourself into the needs of others from their own perspectives.
You say,“ if you don’t know about anatomy, keep your mouth closed on the subject.” I would emphatically state, “if you don’t know about anatomy, you shouldn’t be teaching yoga.” When I first started teaching it was on a whim – I had no formal training, just an understanding and home practice of a few basic pranayama techniques. As years went by, I read every book I could find on the subject; I attended two 5-day Art of Living workshops; I attended three 5-day Pranayama workshops with O.P. Tiwari; I spent an afternoon in a private session with Richard Rosen, and a weekend Pranayama retreat with Ganga White & Tracey Rich and on and on, following whatever teaching caught my eye and attention. My practice expanded and I assured myself that I was a wonderful Pranayama teacher. I didn’t feel the need to be certified because there was no “Pranayama Teacher” certification and I had no intention of teaching asana classes. But one day I decided I wanted to teach at a hospital and felt that I needed some letters after my name to give me more credibility. I can state unequivocally that having completed a 200-hr RYT training program, following a set curriculum with a teacher who was able to tap into my own experience (and lack thereof!) and having to expand the depth and breadth of my own personal interests has made me a real teacher – not just a better teacher, but a teacher who embodies a true, well-rounded grasp of what it means to each of my students as my words and energy touch them.
And lastly, here’s what concerns me most. I see you are posting on RecoveringYogi.com. The word “recovering” implies to me that the people who affiliate themselves with this site believe that yoga is a destructive, harmful practice; an awful addiction that they needed to push out of their lives. The site is negative and the emotions expressed there are sarcastic and demeaning. And I ask myself, what if the first yoga class I had attended – the one I was led to on the day after my son’s funeral – what if it had been taught by a teacher who affiliated herself with RecoveringYogi.com? What would that negative energy have done to my already devastated psyche? When I read your article and the promo on your ebook, I feel your anger and disappointment inherent in every sentence.
I don’t know your background or how you came to yoga but I wonder why you continue to teach it when obviously you are deeply hurt and angered about some aspect of yoga or teacher training. With all due respect for you as a yoga teacher, as I read your posts, I breathed a prayer of gratitude that you were not my teacher that first day. And I said another prayer from my heart giving thanks for the teachers that I DID encounter. Teachers who molded their teaching to my needs. Teachers whose extensive education and experience helped them to know that the energy they put out – both positive and negative – is absorbed by and embodied by everyone they touch.
I certainly don’t believe that everyone should be required to take a teacher training course in order to be a yoga teacher, but I don’t agree with your premise that anyone can become a good yoga teacher just because they have a regular home practice and a desire to teach.
Wishing you peace…..
Joe says:
“The word “recovering” implies to me that the people who affiliate themselves with this site believe that yoga is a destructive, harmful practice…”
But in turn your own implication is that there exists something called “yoga” that is a universal constant good, and that one can’t criticize any aspect of any *particular* instance of yoga instruction without criticizing this universal good in *general*.
But in the actual world there is no “yoga” that is a universal constant good. There exist only *individual* implementations of yoga instruction. Some are better than others. Some of these implementations, whether from incompetence or greed, are hurtful to many of those being instructed. Those particular implementations can be criticized without intending to mean that all yoga everwhere needs to be similarly criticized.
“The site is negative and the emotions expressed there are sarcastic and demeaning.”
But you yourself are being negative by saying that this site is negative. And that’s fine. It’s ok, and can even be a positive moral good, to point out to others that some particular thing can be destructive to them. If you feel that this site is destructive then you are actually behaving “constructively” rather than “negatively” in pointing this out to others.
“I don’t agree with your premise that anyone can become a good yoga teacher just because they have a regular home practice and a desire to teach.”
And here you show that you agree with me. You are expressing “negative energy” toward certain yoga teachers. And perhaps with good reason. Perhaps this negative energy will help raise the general level of awareness that are in fact some some people who shouldn’t be teaching yoga.
Joslyn Hamilton says:
Thank you, Joe, for this response. I don’t have much to add to your articulate retort! But I do have to reiterate, for Sami’s sake — we here at Recovering Yogi certainly do not “believe that yoga is a destructive, harmful practice; an awful addiction that they needed to push out of their lives.” Yikes! The truth could not be further from that belief! I can only speak for myself, but I’ve been practicing yoga for over ten years now and I wholeheartedly believe in the good it has done me and the good I’ve seen it do countless others. But, let’s be real. There are a lot of shitty teachers out there, and a lot of them are “certified” or “listed” or whatever you want to call it by the Yoga Alliance. And there are a lot of fantastic teachers who don’t even know what the Yoga Alliance is. And I’d be willing to bet that most of the fantastic teachers I know would pass Mara’s test in a heartbeat. At any rate, I love a good heated discourse as much as the next East Coaster, but I continue to wonder why Recovering Yogi attracts a subset of humorless readers with zero sense of sarcasm or irony.
Sami Aaron says:
Joe & Joslyn – thanks for your thoughtful comments – they give me little different perspective on this site.
Here’s my main concern, and I’ll try it with a little bit of snark to see if it flies better for y’all:
If lots of inexperienced yogis just follow their own paths to become teachers, I can see that as a real boon for recoveringyogi.com! These new teachers will create lots more dissatisfied yoga students who won’t know how to disengage themselves from crappy teachers until they are sucked in emotionally and now need a place to vent. Isn’t that how you all got here in the first place? Crappy teachers?
“Humorless … zero sense of sarcasm or irony” – ah well, I must have been having one of those days.
Mara says:
Oh jeez, here goes. It’s taken a few days for me to respond to this b/c my feelings were hurt and I wanted to get grounded before saying anything. This morning in my inbox I read something that articulated the self-talk I’ve been practicing (from the Daily Love):
“You’re going to ruffle some feathers if you want to fly, it’s inevitable. It is impossible to please everybody. It’s far better to meet your own expectations and let someone else down than to let yourself down to meet someone else’s expectations…” – Jackson Kiddard
So, Sami, yes, it may have been easier to communicate over coffee and in person. But I was not lying when I said I was too busy — it would have been weeks before we got it on the calendar. So here we are in print.
I do not like to be defensive about my writing, but I do want to defend RecoveringYogi.com. While there is some sarcasm in the tone of the writing on the site, it is intended to be a humorous site, not a hateful one. The recovery aspect is not about recovering from yoga itself, but from the false, commercialized, positive-at-all-costs, or dogmatic aspects of the yoga “scene”. The recoveringyogi.com women are my friends (I haven’t personally met Joslyn, but the other co-founders, Vanessa and Leslie, are former students and teaching colleagues of mine from Austin, where we started teaching years ago.) They are good, smart, discerning people whose opinions I respect.
I am sorry that my article has made you feel like I am “dissing” your extensive training. I am not. And there are no “sour grapes” involved, I am just clearing something up that HAS mislead many teacher training candidates who list a YA “certification” in their bios. Like you, I revere the teacher training that I went through. It was thorough and effective, and contributed to my ability to teach. But it was not, and is not, the most important component of what makes me a good teacher. Those most important components are what I outline in this article: being authentic, having a deep personal practice, and teaching what you know.
You have listed all the various training you pursued that contributed to your knowledge and skills as a teacher, and only one of them was the 200-hr RYT training. You mentioned reading books, attending workshops, private sessions, and retreats. If you had read my book you would know that these are exactly the activities I recommend. In my experience I have learned as much from workshops and retreats as from formal teacher training, and often they are far less expensive. (And nowhere do I say that a regular “home practice” is enough. I said a personal practice. You do need a teacher and a mentor, and that is clear in my book as well. But there are plenty of RYT’s out there who have been through the training and who do not have a solid personal practice, whether home, or with their teacher.)
Really, the part that hurt my feelings and that has been the hardest to respond to is when you said “When I read your article and the promo on your ebook, I feel your anger and disappointment inherent in every sentence.” I have reread my article many times trying to see or understand where you feel there is anger or disappointment, because that is really not what is there. I am not an angry person. And the only disappointment I have is that there are potential talented teachers out there who may not be able to afford $2000 or so for a teacher training course, but who could begin sharing their love of yoga. This is how Lillias Folan and so many others of the “old school” of Westernized yoga got started — just sharing what they knew and loved with no concern for a piece of paper. That, and the disappointment I have with the YA when I hear stories of teacher trainings that are not meeting standards, not supporting their trainees in getting the required direct contact hours, but who remain RYS’s. It does a disservice to those who pay the money to get the training, and to their future students.
Honestly, I believe that had you attended my yoga class on the day after your son’s funeral, you would have had a positive experience. You wrote, “as I read your posts, I breathed a prayer of gratitude that you were not my teacher that first day. And I said another prayer from my heart giving thanks for the teachers that I DID encounter. Teachers who molded their teaching to my needs. Teachers whose extensive education and experience helped them to know that the energy they put out – both positive and negative – is absorbed by and embodied by everyone they touch.” You describe a teacher who has all the qualities I aspire to, the abilities I am encouraging teachers to cultivate. And I’m not sure who the teacher was that day, but I wonder — was it really essential that she was an RYT?
I can list dozens of teachers who are well-qualified and talented and who have been teaching for years without an RYT designation, or who taught for years before attaining it. You know them too, many of them are our mutual friends and acquaintances.
Wishing you peace as well,
Mara
Joe says:
“…dissatisfied yoga students who won’t know how to disengage themselves from crappy teachers until they are sucked in emotionally and now need a place to vent”.
You raise a very important question: Why do people become involved and stay involved in toxic spiritual groups? What don’t they “know how to disengage themselves” from such groups before they get sucked in emotionally, get hurt, and need to “recover” from the experience with the support of others?
The answer that is most commonly embraced is that “those people are just weak and stupid”. That seems to be the answer that you are putting forward.
However there is a more sophisticated answer which involves understanding the psychology of trust and belief. A capacity for trust and belief is built into us, and this is *both* a good thing and an incredible vulnerability.
A successful destructive spiritual leader is someone who has learned how to exploit that psychology. Such leaders have been discovering and rediscovering how do to this since we first crawled onto land. People don’t get into toxic spiritual groups because they are weak and stupid, they get into toxic spiritual groups because they have normal human psychologies which in turn have normal vulnerabilities involving the normal human tendency to develop trust and faith and love. And because they have met someone who knows how to manipulate and exploit those vulnerabilities ruthlessly.
Instead of being condemned for falling into such groups they should be praised for the great strength it actually does take to get out of such groups again. And to get out of such a group and to then go public about it requires even more strength because they set themselves up for the “you were just weak and stupid” attacks.
Sarah says:
The RYT-200 program I was lucky enough to have attended was invaluable, wonderful, inspiring, life-changing, challenging, deep, broad, fun, sweaty and deeply appreciated.
My students benefit from this training every time I offer class.
I am so grateful for the Patanjalim!
Laura says:
i share Mara’s misgivings about teacher training programmes.
I am sure there a lot of great YTTC programmes out there, and many certified teachers definitely deserve recognition, but Yoga Alliance doesn’t monitor all programmes and doesn’t even want to hear complaints about substandard programmes that don’t even meet basic requirements.
I was the victim of a YTTC scam and after reporting it to YA no action was taken. The school in question continues to be on the YA list of schools offering training.
Lisa says:
Yoga Alliance is NO LONGER a 501c3. It is a FOR PROFIT venture. It has no vested interest in what a teacher is teaching in a teacher training. They have a basic outline that a teacher must submit et. And once a teacher is authorized to do trainings, all Yoga Alliance cares about is getting the dues it requires. I, like Laura, had a very bad time with a Yoga Alliance Certified yoga teacher training. This was given by a “famous” yoga teacher at a well known corporate yoga studio. When I contacted Yoga Alliance they said they could do nothing. I asked what they actually did for the community and the rep I spoke to had no answer for me. Yoga Alliance is like many other “certifications” you can purchase nowadays. It means nothing. I think what is being advised is do not base any choice you make regarding a yoga teacher or a teacher training on that little RYT behind the name. Do your due diligence. Always ask to see the materials in advance and a class outline. Live and learn.
Christine says:
I have been hesitant to join this discussion- as a non-teacher, I almost feel like my voice is invalid, but as someone with a deep desire to teach, I have to jump in. First off, I have to say that a turning point in my life between ‘Gee, I’d love to teach yoga someday.’ and ‘I think I want to make this happen’. Was the day that Mara (who I have always respected and been a wee bit intimidated by) said to me: ‘You’d be a great teacher.’ Having someone like her believe in me, based on what she had seen of my practice and knew of me personally, has meant a great deal. And I *am* one of those people who can’t fork out thousands and leave my young children behind to go live in an ashram for a month. I have been taking yoga since the late 90s, and I have taken from a wide variety of teachers. I have had teachers with unbelievable credentials who are phenomenal and who have shaped the practice I have today. I have had teachers with the same impressive background who suck at it and are clearly in the wrong profession. I have had plenty of non-certified teachers who literally blow my mind with how amazing they are. I don’t think the ‘RYT’ creates a good teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have them after my name someday, for the ‘street cred’, but I don’t think it will make or break me. I love Mara’s stance on this. I don’t find her bitter (just very, very snarky. Which I love.) I’ll end with this: A bad yoga teacher is like eating bad sushi. Once you have that awful taste, you really don’t want to try it again. So let’s focus on being the good fish.
andy says:
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I think that, due to the glut of yoga teachers out there, we need to push back against the conventional notion that the next logical step if you love yoga is to become a yoga teacher. I think the next logical step is to spend years becoming a good practitioner. Then, maybe become a teacher. Yoga studios obviously make the big bucks by hosting teacher trainings, so they have them open to a large swath of their customers, if not to anyone. In a sense it doesn’t matter as much because these newly accredited teachers are “teaching” the canned yoga found at their chain yoga studio and it’s not really going very deep or paying much attention to any particular lineage. So deep study, reflection and practice I guess is not necessary in this modern age to teach a McYoga class.
Mara says:
Andy, I don’t find this opinion at all problematic. In fact, I completely agree! Deepen your personal practice over several years with a trusted teacher is the first step in my suggested program. thanks for your comment!
Vision_Quest says:
Amen!
And any teacher/teacher trainer that tells you otherwise – I would question their motivations in doing so …
Sami Aaron says:
Joe -
I can’t seem to post a reply on the same thread above, so I’m starting a new one.
You said: ‘ “those people are just weak and stupid”. That seems to be the answer that you are putting forward. ‘
If that’s what you interpreted, then I really didn’t express myself well.
It’s because so many people who come to yoga are in a position of vulnerability – because of a physical or emotional problem that brought them to yoga in the first place – and not because I think they are weak or stupid. I place the blame and point the finger of shame at the teachers who, as you mentioned, exploit this vulnerability for their own purposes.
New students don’t have any other similar type of experience in their lives to allow them to set their BS gauges properly towards their yoga teacher(s). My heart breaks for those who are burned by a “destructive spiritual leader”.
Joe says:
Thank you Sami for clarifying what you really meant. Although I strongly feel the things I wrote in general, I withdraw the implication that they have anything to do with you.
Sami Aaron says:
Mara –
It’s coming up on a full moon so I’m going to try not to let the crazies show up in my reply. First, I want to apologize for hurting your feelings; it wasn’t my intention. The thoughtful reply you gave here, coming from your heart, has made me look at your posting again in a different light.
Maybe it’s just a matter of semantics and wording and writing style. Or maybe I was just in a snit about something else, so I also re-read your post and revisited your site and yes, I feel less defensive and way more receptive, but I’m afraid I still feel a negative essence there. If you just count the number of times the word “not” is used, it sure makes me think you’re defiant about something.
Here it is in a nutshell; the article implied to me (right, wrong, or just misinterpreted) that I could become a great yoga teacher by having my own personal practice (which I interpreted as home practice) and without taking any teacher training classes (which I interpreted as any workshops or even classes with an experienced teacher.) In the back of my mind was the sub-title of your book “without spending a dime on teacher training” which I interpreted as “without spending a dime”. And of course, there’s the “if you don’t know anything about anatomy” sentence. I had visions of people I’ve met who have done yoga for years solely from their favorite videos and was freaked out that someone like that could read your post and think they were qualified enough to start teaching yoga!
More than likely, I agree with everything you are espousing, but perhaps just not within the limited context of this particular post.
Someday when your schedule opens up a little, let’s get that coffee. For now, I’m going to throw this topic under my meditation cushion and see about transforming whatever negative energy might still remain into something full of love.
SoulVista says:
Wow, this discussion has almost come full circle. I happened upon this blog when trying to find peace with a local pilates and allegedly certified yoga teacher. For some reason, this teacher is lying about being certified in a couple schools of yoga, even though it is easy to verify the information online. I agree that some students/practitioners of yoga can gain fine experience in their own studies and practices. I also agree that some of the Yoga Teacher Trainings leave much to be desired and do not necessarily turn out great teachers. When I first attended a 200hr teacher training, I had no illusion that I would come out a great teacher on the other side. An intention to learn how to teach and begin to unfold the vast subject that is yoga is a requirement for being a great teacher. Whether it is from working closely with a senior teacher to learn more about yoga and teaching yoga, or from attending teacher trainings, focused effort is necessary. Otherwise, one is probably teaching bhoga and not yoga. Right? There is not one teacher to suit all people, so we all find our teachers. But to say that a home practice and attending some classes is enough to qualify you to present the subject of yoga with any sustainable grace is probably misguided. I have been teaching for 8 years, studying for 20 and am certified by a Yoga Alliance approved school and could even register as an educator with Yoga Alliance. But I let my registration with YA go, because like you are saying, what does it really mean? Not much.
read my article on RecoveringYogi.com says:
[...] http://recoveringyogi.com/what-does-it-really-take-to-be-a-great-yoga-teacher/ [...]
Amy gol says:
Hi Mara;
I have some questions to become Yoga Teacher.
I have slipped down 4 months ago and had small herniated disc in my lower back (L5-S1). Can I still attend any yoga teacher training classes and obtain traning certificate? Or, once you have herniated disc , you can not be Yoga teacher anymore?
What do you think?
Thanks for your answer
Amy
mara says:
Amy,
You will need to seek out a teacher who can help you work toward healing your back, and modify postures so that you can practice without doing further harm. If you can master this, it is possible to become an excellent yoga teacher with a true story of healing and an expertise in working with herniated discs. Good luck.
Francis says:
I still left a vinegar relevant reply on yesterday’s put up (failed to see the day division line ’cause I hadn’t ingested enough caffeine on the time)…the prolonged and small of it was to rinse your woolens in vinegar to aid the cuticle lie flat thus trying to keep potential itchies at bay, and using a facet be aware that rosemary or lavender crucial oil allows while using the sour (unpleasant?) vinegar smell. Amongst baking soda and vinegar, I’m able to get practically whatever clear.
I’ve a couple of feedback with your tips. (Sorry it got so extended. Hope it can be valuable!) I wrote a long comment and it does not seem to be showing up. I really hope it did not wander off…
Larisa Kumacheva says:
Thank you, Mara! You’re inspiring me!