Written and recorded by:
Jess Rose
Read time:
10
min
Full workshop
75
min
Full Podcast Workshop
Hey future yoga teacher!
Before you hand over your credit card and commit 200 hours of your precious life to a yoga teacher training, let's talk about the most common mistakes that literally thousands of people make every year.
I learned these lessons the hard way - through a series semi-successful YTT journeys, a serious knee injury, and way too much money spent. But you don't have to.
Ready to dig in?!
I joined my first YTT based on the recommendation of a friend. Didn't spend a single minute on research and comparing my options. The fact that you're here means that you are already on the right track. Keep going. If you're going to invest 200 hours into a training, spend at least 2 hours doing your homework.
A few tips for the process:
Recommendations, ratings and reviews can be extremely helpful. But when it comes to products and experiences that most people only do once, you have to be careful. Why? Because people have no basis for comparison. If you read reviews about a restaurant you can assume that people know what they're talking about. Most people have had good and bad restaurant experiences. It's just not the case with yoga teacher trainings.
Also, be careful with rankings you find online. Most "top 10 lists" are pay to play articles where the yoga schools pay commissions in order to get listed. Nothing wrong with that per se. It's just how it works. We also do this because we have to. And the people who run those blogs also have to earn money somehow. It's just important that you don't follow any recommendations without doing your own research.
What to do instead: Understand what characterizes a really strong training, make sure to try before you buy, don't be afraid to ask questions, and read between the lines of both YTT descriptions and student reviews.
The most expensive YTT isn't automatically your best bet. And the cheapest one isn't automatically horrible. In my opinion, price is actually a very weak indicator of quality when it comes to yoga teacher trainings.
I once paid a fortune for a 300 hour training with a super famous teacher and learned absolutely nothing new. Zero. It was the biggest waste of money in my entire yoga journey.
And now I offer my own training - which goes above and beyond what you get in most YTTs - for very little money.
What to do instead: Two things. Number 1, think about your YTT as an investment, not just an expense. A great training might cost more upfront, but it'll set you up to actually make money teaching yoga. And even if you don't plan to teach yoga, an excellent YTT will be worth every penny and every minute you spend on it. Second, think about what you would be willing to pay for the YTT of your dreams and then forget about the price tag until you have narrowed your options down to 2 or 3 trainings.
Some YTTs promise they'll teach you the "secrets" to getting millions of followers on Instagram. Sounds wonderful.
But here's the truth: those secrets don't really exist. Building an audience online takes consistent, quality content. To make that happen, you need to either be very entertaining or really have interesting stuff to say. So don't fall for these promises. They're a distraction.
What to do instead: Look for a YTT that focuses on making you an amazing yoga teacher first. If there's a business module included - great! Just make sure it's a side show, not the main event. There is more than enough material to fill 200 training hours with things that yoga teachers should know about yoga. Remember that you can always add business training later.
200 hours is A LOT of hours to spend with someone! And your teacher is the most important factor to consider when choosing your YTT. A good teacher makes your experience life-changing and fun. A bad teacher, or even a good teacher who you personally don't resonate with, will ruin your YTT.
The most important thing to understand is that a famous yoga teacher isn't automatically a good educator. And just because someone can do crazy poses, doesn't mean that they'll be able to teach you how to do the same thing.
What to do instead: Check your teachers credentials, try to get your hands on a lecture and/or take at least one class with them before you sign up for their YTT. If your goal is to teach professionally, try to pick a teacher who has taught more than just studio classes (e.g. workshops, retreats, corporate yoga, private clients, online classes etc.) The more experienced they are, the more you can learn from them about how things work.
Before Covid, online YTTs weren't really a thing. Now they are. And they can be pretty awesome! We've put together a detailed comparison of the pros and cons of online vs. in-person YTTs. And it turns out that online trainings are the best option for most people in most situations. They are more affordable and more flexible. You don't have to invest 10 weekends or 4 weeks of vacation. It's less harmful for the environment. Your teacher can make better content because they don't have to teach 10 hours per day for multiple weeks in a row. You can learn more because you don't have to study for 10 hours per day. And if you realize that the training actually isn't as good as you thought, you can just get your money back.
What to do instead: Easy, don't rule out online options. Focus on finding the best education from a teacher you trust. Whether it's in-person or online is secondary.
In my first 200 hour training in India, we had zero - ZERO - lessons on anatomy or movement science. Our teacher just got on stage, called out pose names, and we copied him. No cues, no explanations, nothing.
One day he decided to "help" me get deeper into Lotus Pose by pushing down on my knees with his full body weight. I felt something tear in my left knee (it was my medial meniscus). That injury affects my yoga practice to this day.
After that training, when my friends asked me to teach them, I had no idea how to answer their questions. "Why can't I straighten my arms in Cobra?" "Why won't my heels touch the floor in Downdog?" I didn't know!
My second training taught me tons of alignment cues. But I found out later that they were all based on an outdated understanding human anatomy — and had to start over.
From talking to hundreds of fellow yoga teachers and lots of students I know that it's really common that YTT leaders don't actually understand movement science, human anatomy and how it all impacts our yoga practice.
But that's exactly what you need to learn if you want to become a really good yoga teacher, or simply to optimize your own practice for your unique body. So don't assume that all YTTs will teach you the same information about the human body in relation to yoga.
What to do instead: Make sure that your YTT covers the right subjects and goes in-depth. Here's a short list of what you can expect from an excellent curriculum in terms of movement:
The ins and outs of 100+ common poses
Which cues to use and which outdated ones to avoid
Human anatomy as it relates to yoga
Explorations of human uniqueness and how it effects yoga
How to use props to help all students thrive
Wisdom (you could also call it philosophy, mindset, worldview or spirituality) is the special sauce that separates yoga from pilates, cross fit, boxing, or any other physical practice. If you want to really understand yoga, and especially if your goal is to become a yoga teacher, you can't just focus on the physical dimension. You also need to learn about the yoga tradition and the way how yogis think about life.
My first training in India was an incredible experience because I got introduced to so many mind-blowing concepts. As I mentioned above, I didn't learn anything about the physical side of yoga. But in terms of philosophy and wisdom, the training was a gold mine! We meditated for hours every day starting at 5am. We had daily dharma talks. We learned breathwork and tried different rituals. After 4 weeks, I left a different person.
The philosophy helped me deconstruct my identity, let go of attachments, become more resilient and compassionate. My entire life changed - not just my yoga practice.
But in all the trainings I took in the West, my teachers didn't do a good job with regards to yoga philosophy. It was an afterthought. I knew what I was missing because of my previous experience in India. But all the other students in the training just thought "Ah, okay, so that's yoga philosophy. Pretty dry. I guess it's not my thing."
What to do instead: Make sure your teacher genuinely cares about yoga philosophy and has put in the work to embody the teachings. Watch a lecture. Attend a workshop. Ask them directly about their approach to the wisdom side of yoga. If they teach philosophy because they have to - stay away.