Okay, let's take a look at the five steps of choosing your 200 hour YTT. Here's your order of operations:
Define your goal - Get clear about why you're signing up for a YTT.
Set your budget - What would you be willing and able to pay for the ideal YTT?
Find your format - Where and how would you like to study?
Compare your options - Look at the details of different trainings.
Choose wisely - Pick your program primarily based on the teacher.
Now let's look at each step in detail.
Why are you signing up for a yoga teacher training? What do you want to get out of your 200 hours? In our experience, most people have one of four main goals.
Depending on your goal, you need to pay special attention to different factors. Here's an overview:
#1 - Teach yoga professionally.
If you want to teach yoga professionally, you need to pay special attention to the credentials and industry experience of your YTT leader. Because the best way to become a standout yoga teacher is to learn from one.
⚠️ Not all famous yoga teachers are automatically good yoga teachers, let alone good educators who can teach you how to teach.
#2 - Advance your asana practice
If you want to advance your personal practice, make sure that your YTT leader embraces the fact that every body is unique; and that they understand how individual bone structure, body proportions etc. impact our asana practice.
⚠️ Many YTTs teach outdated one-size-fits-all cues that will not help you advance your practice. Plus, if you want to learn advanced poses (e.g. certain arm balances), make sure they are part of the curriculum. These days, many YTTs avoid advanced poses altogether.
#3 - Unlock the health benefits of yoga
Yoga is incredibly beneficial for your physical and mental health. Your teacher needs to be bit of a nerd who experiments a lot and reads medical journals in their fee time. This kind of teacher will be able to explain the benefits of yoga beyond the cliché statements you've already heard a million times. Plus, they'll expose you to a broad range of practices that other YTTs don't include.
#4 - Bring yoga into your everyday life
Find a teacher who teaches from the heart because yoga has transformed their life. Your teacher needs to be a true yogi if they're supposed to teach you how to become one yourself.
⚠️ Most YTT leaders in the Western world care a lot more about stretching and aesthetics than about yogic tradition / mindset / worldview / philosophy. They'll include those things in the curriculum to comply with the standards of the Yoga Alliance, but you might just get Wikipedia articles read out loud.
You don't know what you don't know. And plans can change. So find a strong all-rounder YTT first, and specialize later.
Plans change!
Clarity about your top priority will help you choose the right YTT. But please keep in mind that your motivation is not set in stone. Plans change. At Movement Wisdom we've seen this happen over and over!
You may think "Oh, I'll never ever (ever, ever) teach a real yoga class. I'm way too shy!" But then you go to teaching practice and you kind of like it. Then you give a try with a few friends … and all of a sudden you find yourself teaching at a local studio.
Or you may start your training with the intention to finally hold a handstand for five minutes and learn some super advanced poses that you've seen on Instagram. And then you listen to a yoga philosophy lecture about non-attachment and... puff... suddenly you're not attached to your physical performance anymore.
Our recommendation: Find a comprehensive YTT
What you want from your YTT today depends on what you think yoga is. But we don't know what we don't know. Most people who start a teacher training have not yet been exposed to the full spectrum of yoga.
That's why we highly recommend that you find comprehensive YTT first. You can always specialize later. If you pick a specialized program first, you'll never know what you missed.
How much would you invest in the 200 Hour YTT of your dreams?
If budget is your first filter. Format is the second. There four main options to consider:
Join a YTT at a yoga studio near you.
These kinds of trainings usually happen over a series of intensive weekends. If your YTT is spread out over 10 weekends you can expect 20 days with 10 hours of study per day (so 12 to 14 hour days if you include time for breaks).
Book a YTT at a retreat center
These trainings typically happen in beautiful locations and last 3 to 5 weeks. So you'll have to set aside a lot of vacation days. And they're also very intensive. In a 4 week training you'll typically have 1 day off. This means your 200 hours are spread across 24 days (8.5 hours of study per day).
Take your training online with a group
Schedules and training structure vary significantly between trainings. But if you join a group, this means you'll probably spend a lot of time on Zoom and you're bound by the group schedule.
Join a self-paced online YTT
These trainings are mostly prerecorded. You'll still get some live elements, but you can start anytime and you're mostly free to study when and where you want.
Every YTT format has advantages and disadvantages. And there isn't one perfect format for every student. But we recommend the following:
Get your yoga education online, and your yoga experiences in person.
Please note that I'm saying this as someone who LOVES in-person yoga and is still leading in-person events. It's just that the advantages of online YTTs (especially the self-paced programs) over in-person trainings are HUGE!
Here's a quick overview. For more details check out our definitive guide on Online vs. In-Person Yoga Education
13 Advantages Of Taking Your YTT Online
Now we get to the nitty-gritty part. You know what you want, and how much you're willing to invest. Plus you've considered the pros and cons of different YTT formats. Time to open a bunch of tabs in your browser and/or and see what different teachers have to say.
At first glance, every YTT looks the same. That's because everybody - at least on paper - follows the requirements of the Yoga Alliance. You can look them up here. The problem is that a short description doesn't tell the whole story.
Just think about the last time you went to a bad restaurant. The menu probably looked good, right?! The menu always looks nice. But it doesn't mean that the chef is good, or that the restaurant owner spends money on quality ingredients, or that the waiter will be nice. It's the same with yoga teacher trainings!
A few examples
"Yoga anatomy" might mean "Here's a list with all the Latin names of muscles and bones. Please memorize them." But it can also mean "Here comes cutting-edge research wrapped into easy-to-digest storytelling."
"Yoga philosophy" can mean "Okay, I'll now read you some Wikipedia articles out loud because I have to." But it can also mean "Let's take a deep dive into timeless yogic wisdom and find out how we can make this stuff relevant for everyday life."
"Teaching methodology" can be interpreted as "Here's a some class templates, here are some assists, and here are all the cues that my teacher taught after their teacher taught them after their teacher..." Or it can mean "Here is how you find your voice as a teacher; these are the principles you need to understand in order to sequence great classes; and here are some examples of excellent cues vs. outdated cues."
The takeaway is this: All YTTs look very similar at first glance. But in reality, the differences in quality are HUGE.
Do your research, ask questions, and bring a small dose of skepticism to make sure that you get a solid yoga education.
The 10 Non-negotiables
Now you might be thinking "Okay, cool … I need to be careful. I get it. But what exactly should I be looking for?" Good question.
Here is a list of 10 elements that a gold-star YTT should include (we call them the non-negotiables but actually they are very hard to find in one single comprehensive training):
The 10 non-negotiable elements of standout YTTs
Okay, now it's time to choose your 200 Hour YTT. Let's say you have looked at a bunch of options that all fit your budget and your preferred YTT format. You've looked at each of them in detail and eliminated all but 2. How should you choose?
We recommend that you decide based on three questions:
Which teacher do you trust more?
When you join a 200 hour YTT you put a lot of trust in your teacher. You trust that he or she is an expert in the field, and that they can and will share as much of their knowledge with you, helping you to become an expert as well. So go with who you think is the best yoga teacher and educator.
Who would you rather spend 200 (!) hours with?
200 hours is a long time. So when you choose your YTT, make sure that you resonate with the teacher and that you enjoy listening to them. Imagine you were locked in a room together for 200 hours. Who would you pick?
What's the worst case scenario?
Finally, what happens if everything goes wrong? Can you get your money back? Will you pack up your things, leave the retreat center and enjoy a vacation on your own? Do you have to bite the bullet and kiss your investment goodbye?
There isn't one factor that decides everything. But any of these three questions is, at least in our opinion, more important than price, the exact rating on the Yoga Alliance website, or some details in the course curriculum.
Okay, we hope you found this guide helpful.
Choose wisely and enjoy your 200 hour YTT!