5 things to consider when choosing a yoga Teacher Training

Choosing a yoga Teacher Training (TT) is a life changing decision. With hundreds of courses available, Beth Crivelli, Programme Lead at Sadhana Yoga & Wellbeing, shares what five things you should consider when finding the right one for you.

1. Are you ready?

Embarking on a 200 hour TT is a unique, dynamic, powerful and rewarding experience. But above all it requires one thing – commitment!  Aside from the obvious, such as your time and cash, TT is a considerable commitment for your physical, mental, and emotional self. It requires you to dig deep, face your fears, and open your heart to the world. This can be a profound and transformative experience. Before making the leap, consider if you’re really ready to give it everything you’ve got (and then some!).

2. What do you value?

Finding a school with core values you can relate to is the most important factor. Visiting the school, attending classes and meeting the teachers delivering the training is a good place to start. Ask yourself if you connect to the style of teaching, if you feel inspired, supported and encouraged by the community. Understand how established the school is, and also ask about the teacher’s background to know if they hold the relevant experience and credibility. Sadhana’s lead teachers are also qualified as yoga therapists, putting them in a very unique position.

 

3. Will you learn how to teach?

Review the full structure and content of the course, but more importantly, make sure you understand how it will be taught. A comprehensive syllabus covering whatto teach is useful, but will you finish knowing howto teach? Will you get a chance to practise teaching, learn what things to watch out for and how to modify common injuries and conditions? How much anatomy is covered?

Ensure the training meets industry standards (e.g. Yoga Alliance) so you are eligible to register as a certified teacher upon completion.

4. Part-time or full-time?

Choose a structure that suits your lifestyle and learning style.  At Sadhana, we run our 200 hour programmes part-time over the course of 4 months to give participants time to absorb everything, maintain a regular practise and build confidence whilst carrying on with everyday life. By the time participants reach the end, they have had time to fully prepare, practise and ask all questions so they feel ready to hit the ground running!

5. Your journey after Teacher Training

Have you considered what happens after the course ends? Is there a support structure, a community of yogis to share and learn from, an opportunity to teach? Sadhana strives to give all graduates the best possible start, which is why we host special weekly community classes at our studios just for graduates to gain real life teaching experience. The programme teachers regularly attend these classes and provide feedback so there is an ongoing support network that everyone benefits and learns from. This is actually a very rare and unique scenario, but is what our students find one of the most beneficial parts of our programme!