Designed for yoga teacher trainings, these four ethics lesson plans are designed to help students recognize the responsibilities of holding space as a professional yoga teacher and create a platform for guiding their behavior, boundaries, and professional relationships. Includes rich discussion sets that should be used to help students begin to tackle thorny questions.
Detailed Overview and Learning Objectives
Ethics 1 (90 min)
By the end of this lesson, your students will be able to:
- Describe how teaching yoga is different from teaching a non-spiritual discipline
- Define transference and describe how it may show up in the yoga classroom
- Describe an appropriate professional teacher – student and teacher – management relationship
- Define sexual misconduct, harassment, and our responsibilities as yoga teachers
Ethics 2 (90 min)
- Describe the boundaries of a teacher’s scope of practice
- Define Equity in Yoga
Ethics 3 (90 min)
- Students will create their own Code of Conduct
Ethics 4 (2 hours)
- Students will compare, contrast, evaluate and refine their Code of Conduct with their peers
- Using the lens of their ethical code of conduct, students will discuss how to resolve thorny ethical issues
Total Lesson Time: 6.5 hours
Where It Fits
- Best used in the philosophy (“Yoga Humanities) portion of a 200 hour yoga teacher training.
- May be used for continuing education offerings
Why Use Ready-Made Lesson Plans
- Creating a teacher training from scratch can take hundreds of hours
- High-quality lesson plans help studios and trainers:
- Save months of curriculum development
- Focus on editing/adaptation rather than building a program from scratch
- Access best educational practices to optimize student-centered learning
- Ensure topics build logically and progressively across modules
- “Bulletproof” your training from faculty absence/change; creates program consistency even with multiple trainers
- Maintain clarity on IP/program ownership
- Launch a program more quickly
- More easily register with key professional organizations, such as Yoga Alliance or the American Yoga Council
How Studios Use These Lesson Plans
Studios typically use these materials to:
- Launch a new 200-hour yoga teacher training
- Supplement an existing curriculum
- Support guest faculty teaching
- Maintain consistent teaching quality across cohorts
What You Need
- Postersheets or whiteboard
About Rachel
Rachel Scott is a yoga educator and teacher trainer with who has been leading YTT’s since 2008. Holding a Master of Science in Instructional Systems and Learning Technology, she blends real world experience with academic integrity to design structured, high-quality curriculum for yoga teachers and studios. An avid philosophy student, she anchors her studies in the scholarship of Christopher Hareesh Wallis, Carlos Pomeda, Edwin Bryant, James Mallinson and the Yogic Studies platform. Her lesson plans are used by yoga teacher trainers around the world to support clear and engaging educational experiences.
Testimonials
- “Working with Rachel was the best investment I could have made-both for myself and my students! The excellence of her product provides an intelligent easeful structure that allows me freedom to focus on what I love about teaching rather than being buried in logistics. Rachel takes time and intention to work with you the entire way and was more than gracious with my many questions. From the daunting process of the YA application to the hourly logistics of our weekend layout, Rachel’s expertise and guidance have not only saved me hundreds of hours of administrative work but have helped me feel confident in the program I am offering while still getting to incorporate my own voice, language, and style. Thank you Rachel for all the work you’ve done and how generously you share it!!” – Giuliana D.
- “I feel beyond grateful to have been able to teach a course as professional, detailed, and thoughtful as this. Seriously, it was the most incredible experience, and I can’t wait to do it again.” – Kanami A.
- “The curriculum is very comprehensive. Rachel has been fantastic about answering any questions that I have had in a timely fashion. I feel very supported and confident in the material that I will be delivering to my students…Highly recommend this curriculum to anyone in the market!” – Melissa B.
FAQ
Can I edit the material?
- Absolutely! The materials are provided in Google Slides (when applicable) and Google Docs.
- You can copy the materials into your own Google Drive or download and edit and make them to make them your own.
Can I use this in my own teacher training?
- Yes! These lessons are designed for use in yoga teacher trainings.
How does the copyright work?
- All original copyright stays with me and you have permission to use and edit these materials for your own educational programs.
- The limitation on use is that you can’t re-sell the materials or transfer their use to someone else.
Does this material align with Yoga Alliance requirements?
- Yes, my lesson plans and materials have been used in hundreds of successful Yoga Alliance (and other governing body) submissions.
What do I need as teacher trainer to present the lessons?
- All anatomy lessons and some philosophy lessons contain a visually rich presentations, which require a projector and computer.
- Some lesson plans benefit from having a whiteboard or poster sheets available.
- For anatomy lessons, I recommend having a skeleton, though it’s not required.
Can I buy a whole 200 or 300 hour program?
- Yes! Purchasing the curriculum as a program will:
- Save you money versus purchasing a la carte
- Give you access to robust student assessments
- Include a custom built training schedule
- Access to coaching for Yoga Alliance registration and consulting
Do I get materials immediately?
- Because I want you to have my most recent and update files, I will personally email you the links to your lesson plans within 48 hours of your purchase.
Are there recurring fees?
- No ~ I want you to take these lesson plans and make them your own 🙂
Secure checkout on my course platform.
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