Registering for Yoga Alliance is a pain in the ass.
And the bottom line: registration does not mean that a program is any good. Yoga Alliance lacks the manpower to enforce or monitor the standards of its schools, so being approved is unfortunately not an indicator of quality. However, if you’re running a teacher training, I usually suggest that you pay up and register. (If you’re registering as a teacher, however, it’s a toss up whether or not it’s worth it.)
Here’s why:
- most students recognize and look for the affiliation
- it’s currently the most widely recognized affiliation, at least in North America
- it forces you to do some legwork that can be darn useful
If you’re new to creating education, the registration process can seem overwhelming. Here’s how to keep it simple and make the process work for you.
1. Brainstorm Your What
Step one: do a giant brainstorm. Think about your ideal student and what they will be able to DO and KNOW at the end of your training. Imagine your perfect graduate: how are they showing you that they understand your material? (Bonus: How to Avoid The Great Mistake.) Think about their actual teaching performance (cuing, voice, teaching skills) as well as what they need to be able to draw up on in knowledge (anatomy, philosophy, ethics, business, sequencing).
Then, group your brainstorm content into the Yoga Alliance buckets:
- Techniques, Training & Practice – this includes all asana work, cuing, teaching skills, in class practice and asana labs
- Teaching Methodology – this is a smaller bucket and includes “how to teach,” sequencing, and the business of yoga
- Anatomy/ Physiology – includes both physical and subtle body
- Philosophy – includes philosophy and ethics
- Practicum – includes practice teaching, evaluation, class observation and class assisting time
I highly recommend that you use a spreadsheet for this (excel, Google Sheets, Numbers) and use one line for each primary learning requirement. We’ll call each of these a “topic.”
2. Brainstorm Your How
For each learning requirement, write a brief description of how the students will learn. Examples:
- “Though discussion and lecture, students will learn to apply Ayurvedic principles to their class plan and create a targeted sequence for each dosha”
- “Through discussion and practice teaching, students will learn strategies for teaching a multi-level class in a group class setting.”
Your “how” might include activities like lecture, group discussion, practice teaching, partner work, practice, powerpoint, or worksheets.
3. Estimate The Time
For each topic, take a guess at how many class hours you will allocate to this topic. You may have several lessons that fall under one topic, so you may allocate five hours to learning about Ayurveda, even if it’s broken up in your course into five one-hour sessions. You can designated these hours as “contact hours” with your Lead Trainer (registered with Yoga Alliance), contact hours with a non-lead Trainer (doesn’t have to be registered with Yoga Alliance) and non-contact hours (time they spend on the topic in the form of homework or outside the classroom).
Register!
Your sweet little spreadsheet now includes – in a wonderfully organized way – all the information that you need to get registered for Yoga Alliance. And you’ve also managed to take a good first draft at organizing all your course material.
Expert Tip: Register early
Don’t wait to complete writing your course before your register. Register early in your creation process so that you can start marketing your course as “Yoga Alliance Registered”as soon as possible! You’ll want to market your course at least six months in advance, so get registered first, start your marketing, then take your sweet time to build your awesome program while the buzz increases.
For more information on how to register for Yoga Alliance, check out this course that takes you step by step through the whole process (and includes sweet templates to make life easy! Yay!).
