How to Choose Faculty for Your Yoga Teacher Training

Summary: Your faculty are the front line of your yoga teacher training, and choosing the right trainers is essential. Choosing the right faculty is essential for a successful yoga teacher training program. However, many studios default to choosing trainers based on their popularity as teachers – which can be the wrong criteria. Consider teaching ability, subject expertise, communication, mentorship, collaboration, and student engagement. Observe prospective trainers, clarify responsibilities, and build a cohesive team.

Your faculty are the face of your yoga teacher training and choosing the right fit is essential to your programs’ success. You may have great marketing, a stellar curriculum, expansive manual and keen students ~ but without the right faculty, your program can lose its impact.

Hi, I’m Rachel Scott. After years of leading teacher trainings and developing educational programs, I have learned that choosing YTT faculty is a strategic decision that warrants research and contemplation.

Here are the things yoga teacher trainers should consider when choosing their faculty:

Key Ways You Can Find the Right Faculty for Your YTT

Look Beyond Popularity

A savvy studio owner will naturally think that their most popular teacher would make a great addition to their teacher training faculty. After all, a popular teacher will attract students to the program and you need to have students register to make the program a success. While popularity may be a worthwhile consideration, my experience has also taught me that the most popular teachers don’t always make the best trainers. To be blunt, sometimes your “star” teachers are also a wee bit “diva-ish,” which is the last thing you need in a trainer. You need to look beyond popularity to make sure your trainer will be a great fit for the needs of your school.

Choose Emotionally Intelligent Teachers

Being a class instructor is not the same thing as being a teacher trainer. A teacher trainer needs to assess group dynamics, emotional self-regulate, create a safe class environment, and support individuals to succeed. You need a teacher trainer with the emotional maturity to hold a professional and safe space for learning.

Choose Team Players

I highly recommend that you choose trainers who express the ability to cooperate, be team players, and adapt. If you have multiple faculty, they need to be delivering a coherent training methodology to their students, which may mean that they will adapt their language and teaching style to support the vision of the school. You also need to choose trainers that are organized enough to show up on time and manage logistics like attendance and cleaning the space.

Know Who is Core Faculty, and Who May Be Spice

Your core faculty teach foundational teaching skills such as cuing, sequencing, and teaching skills (assists, demonstrations, presence). You need these faculty to be on the same page, deliver the same message, and reinforce the same key principles. However, it’s also okay to have faculty that offer the “spice” of the training and speak with passion and skill to a specific niche. For example, you could add some interesting voices with philosophy, anatomy, the subtle body, pranayama/meditation, Ayurveda, and specialized yoga styles. You do not need every faculty member to teach every subject. But you must ensure that your teaching methodology is consistent and clear.

Notice Certifications, But Don’t Get Hung Up

Different registration organizations may have different faculty requirements. For example, if you register with an organization like Yoga Alliance, your lead faculty will need to be ERYT-500 teachers. However, lead faculty only need to teach 150 out of 200 hours. Do your due diligence beforehand to make sure you have faculty who can cover the hours you need.

Give Everyone a Clear Training Structure

Even great faculty struggle with expectations that are not clear. Your team needs to understand how their individual sessions fit into the overall YTT curriculum. Before training begins, clarify:

• Learning objectives
• Lesson plans and teaching materials
• Faculty responsibilities (including logistics, like locking/unlocking and cleaning the space)
• Assignments and assessments
• Practice-teaching expectations
• Student feedback processes

For your program to really feel like a unified experience, it’s important to have your faculty on the same page.

Choose Mentors, Not Just Instructors

Your teacher trainees need opportunities to practice, receive feedback, ask questions, and build their skills. You faculty need to be able to act as trusted mentors – not just role models. Choose trainers who can assess trainees clearly, communicate kindly and concisely, and cheerlead your trainees’ successes. Look for faculty who are generous with their knowledge, open to collaboration, and genuinely invested in student development.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right faculty is essential to the success of your yoga teacher training program. Great faculty go beyond just imparting teaching skills and help create a once in a lifetime experience for your students. They also facilitate connection, communication and community. Choose faculty that align with your greater vision for the studio and are on the same page with your mission.