Familiarity with yoga poses is key to becoming an instructor.
Becoming a certified yoga instructor can be a fun and rewarding career, but it also involves a great deal of training and dedication. The Internet and online training courses make this task achievable for many who would otherwise not be able to fit traditional studio training into their busy schedules. There are a number of things to consider before beginning an online training program.
Instructions
Learning to Teach Yoga
1. Learn about yoga. It is imperative that an instructor understands all aspects of the form of yoga that they are teaching. Some yoga forms involve intense spiritual beliefs and meditation, where others, such as Hatha yoga, only involve the understanding of the physical body movements. The history and physiology of yoga are often covered in online certification courses, but it is always recommended that the student is familiar with yoga before going into the instructor training process.
2. Learn the postures online. There are several websites that begin to teach yoga instructors by first teaching the postures. There are more websites that offer the postures for people looking to learn the styles of yoga. Totalyogapractice.com is a website that offers DVD quality video streaming to your computer. Without understanding and doing the postures, the person looking to become a certified instructor will not understand the limitations of the body. This can lead to injury among the future students.
3. Choose a style of yoga. There are several styles of yoga, and each has its own requirements for teaching. The person looking to become certified should take into consideration his own beliefs and preferences when it comes to styles of yoga. Ashtanga yoga instruction, for instance, cannot be learned online but must be certified through a specific institute in India. Hatha yoga, on the other hand, has very little in the way of belief structure surrounding it, so it is often a more popular form of yoga instruction.
4. Find an accredited online course. Some employers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, require that the fitness instructors they employ also have a bachelor's degree in a related field. This should be a consideration when choosing an accredited online course. The person looking to gain certification and employment in the fitness field may want to check local colleges for distance learning courses leading to a bachelor's degree in fitness, nutrition or many other fitness related fields. If the person looking to certify can find a bachelor's degree program in fitness education or yoga specifically, that may be the best option. There are many accredited schools online that offer certificates or diplomas in certification, but you will want to research them very carefully to avoid fraudulent colleges.
5. Do the coursework and take the certification test. This seems very simple; however most people who fail courses simply didn't do the coursework. The coursework should help you to really understand the questions on the certification test. Classes, after all, are supposed to prepare the students for work in the field. The test is simply a measurement of how well the person looking to be certified understands the material. Some online schools offer follow-along videos to help the person learn what it takes to be a yoga instructor. Aura Yoga Teacher training is an accredited school that offers this service.
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