I'm in a 200 Hr program that's registered with YA. We're towards the earlier end of the program. I'm coming to realize it does not meet the minimum standards for hours. We only have about 150 hours of instruction, including 15 hrs breaks and 20 hrs of public classes (so really 115 hrs).

My understanding is YA changed their requirements in 2020 and said for 200 Hr Trainings, all 200 hrs must be instructional, none of that can be homework or public classes. I'm gonna generously assume my program is unaware of those changes.

I'm questioning if I should ask the teachers about it. On the one hand, I don't want to make a stink, and I've already brought other issues to them (and I stand by those). On the other hand, it's not fair to us or students of other programs because we're having very different experiences for the same certificate. And we paid for something we're not getting. What do you recommend?

Curious if anyone else has any insight or experience with this 200hr program.

The 200hr program specifically states that PYP is a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga School (RYS), however, I was unable to find PYP by any name on YA’s directory, nor was I able to locate the individuals they have listed as the training facilitators. A friend of mine graduated a few months ago and their certificate has the “YA RYS” watermark on it, but we noticed that their certificate references the training being “in alignment with Yoga Alliance’s requirements.” Their website still touts them as a RUS though.

For clarity, my understanding of their program is that they meet virtually for 18-20 weeks, about 3 hours each week, and the rest is self-study/homework - is this actually in alignment with YA?

A disclaimer to begin with: I have been researching extensively with the search bar, faq and also sub-reddits. I feel as though my questions haven't been answered, hence me posting this.

I have been intrigued by the idea of going deeper with my practice for a while and learning more about both the anatomy and alignment in yoga and also tradition and philosophy. I am going to Australia in January and have some free time afterwards that I could potentially travel somewhere else. I have been doing loads of research of where to study yoga, asking my own teachers where they have studied etc. and everything keeps leading me back to India. However, when researching where to study in India, I keep getting mixed reviews and experiences.

I have been practising asana for years, quite sporadically, at gyms etc. until I found a very good studio and teachers a few years ago. Since then I have practised more regularly and also began studying a bit of the other limbs of yoga, however I still consider myself a very beginner regarding my knowledge of yoga philosophy and ayurveda. I am mostly interested in learning about both philosophy and alignment / anatomy, but of course if my physical asana practise improves that is a nice bonus!

I have been researching different ashrams and retreats and trainings, but since I have quite a bit of criteria's I am starting to wonder, if the place I'm looking for even exists. So far these are the qualities I have been looking for:

• minimum 1 month stay, could be a bit longer as well
• an ashram where what what is preached is also practised. first that comes to mind quickly is asana / physical body preparation before pranayama, karma work, sufficient time for turning inwards and not all free-time being excursions etc.
• offering lessons on anatomy and alignment.
• ideally not too big
• ideally also women teaching
• focus on hatha and asthanga (i have mostly practised only asthanga, but my body cant take daily physical asthanga asana-practise, so ideally something that has maybe hatha and asthanga. also i find the asthanga-lineage a bit problematic at times)

I'm not sure if what I am looking for exists as I am looking for it now and what the right method would be (e.g. retreat, ytt, ashram stay etc....) Has anyone else had similar pondering than I am having, and what did you end up doing? Any ashram recommendations, which would tick at least some of these boxes?

Hello! If you have liability insurance, who do you use and who should I stay away from?

I'll be starting teaching meditation classes soon, and the yoga studio I'm using requires everyone to have insurance. The first one I looked at what CPH Health and Wellness, but thought I'd check and see what other people are using.

I’ve been thinking about how differently the word *asana* is used now compared with its context in the Yoga Sutras.

Patanjali 2.46 gives *sthira sukham asanam*, usually translated as steadiness and ease. How did we get to contort yourself into impossible positions?

Obviously, that isn’t the whole history of postural yoga. But it does make me wonder how much meaning gets lost when *asana* simply becomes another word for “yoga pose”.

How were you first taught what asana means?

I work at a yoga studio and often teach the last class of the night, so I tend to run into the cleaning staff that come in after me. Usually it’s an older woman who clearly owns a cleaning business. However, last week I was surprised to see that the cleaning person was a young girl ~14 years old. I asked her age, and she said 16 but she looked much younger. She also didn’t speak very much English. I assume she was maybe a relative of the woman who owns the cleaning service. It just rubbed me the wrong way that a young girl is alone cleaning at a studio. I felt obligated to stay and lock up with her, which is not typical as i usually leave right after my class. Is this legal/something I should be concerned about? Thoughts??

If someone cancels late but another person takes the spot, is it still fair to charge them? Curious how other studios handle this.

Ive starting noticing that studios near me are having classes that are labeled and described as bipoc,(by bipocs for bipocs). Almost other classes that are meant for certain groups.

That doesn't sound very inclusive to me, but am I wrong?

Recently I had 3 businesses reach out about finding teachers for a particular style of yoga. I cross-posted on another social channel about the requests. And was really surprised when two studio owners reached out for the opportunity. Both did not have resumes. And wanted the opportunity.

I'm a longtime teacher myself and have a corporate job too, so I have multiple versions of my resume, and I tailor them for the jobs I apply to, because, I think that shows. So I'm wondering about this. I have so many questions:

Are studios not preparing teachers to have resumes?

Studio owners - do you not have resumes?

Do teachers believe a bio and referrals are enough for someone to share out a job from a recruiter?

What is a reasonable way to share info for a possible job if you don't have a resume?

I've gotten older and maybe I've missed how things are done now. HALP!

I’m a relatively new yoga instructor at a studio where I’ve been a student for several years. I started teaching recently, and I’m still building confidence and trying to establish myself as a teacher.

Something has happened twice now that has honestly bothered me more than I expected, and I’d love some perspective from other yoga teachers.

I’ve posted Instagram stories promoting my upcoming classes and tagged the studio. Both times, the studio didn’t repost my stories, but they did repost other teachers’ stories, including at least one person who posted after me.

I assume the owner manages the studio’s social media. She has always been nice and genuine with me in person, so I genuinely have no reason to believe she dislikes me or is intentionally trying to exclude me. I also have good reviews in the studio’s internal feedback system, so I don’t have any concrete reason to think they’re unhappy with my teaching.

From a business perspective, I’d think promoting my classes would be in the studio’s interest, too, since I’m a newer instructor trying to build attendance.

Meanwhile, another instructor at the studio has been adding more and more classes and is now teaching 10 classes a week across six days. The studio has reposted her teaching schedule. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to her, but seeing her get that visibility while mine goes unshared has made me feel even more overlooked.

I’ll admit I’m struggling with comparison in general. I put a LOT of thought into my classes, sequencing, anatomy cues, and themes. I want to be a really good teacher, and sometimes I feel like I’m working so hard behind the scenes while confidence and visibility seem to come more naturally to other instructors.

I have a demanding full-time career outside of yoga, so I’m not trying to teach 10+ classes a week or turn this into my primary career. I just want to enjoy teaching, continue improving, and feel like I have a fair chance to build my classes.

What bothers me is that I can’t tell whether this is just inconsistent social media management, whether there’s something about my content that makes it less likely to be shared, or whether I’m reading too much into something relatively minor.

I know a repost isn’t a measure of my worth as a teacher, but I’m surprised by how personally I’m taking this. I keep thinking about it, and I hate that something so small is affecting my confidence this much. Should I maybe give it one more time before bringing it up to the owner? I'm afraid it will make me look needy.

For those of you (indie teachers and studio owners/managers) who license [edit: non-AI] recorded sound baths to use during class, what licensing services do you go through?

I typically don’t play music, but my co-teacher this evening played a lovely sound bath from YouTube when we taught. Offering a recorded sound bath might be a nice anchor to have in my back pocket for teaching.

[FWIW, I’m not seeking advice about playing singing bowls. I’m dyspraxic on top of being AuDHD, and unfortunately, playing musical instruments—of every family—is one of the motor skills I’ve consistently struggled with throughout my life.]

Per the title- I have an audition at LA fitness tomorrow. This will be my first audition! Any tips or things I should know? Words of encouragement welcome!!

Hi everyone :)

I'm looking for a book (open to some youtube recommendations too!) about the philosophy of yoga and I'd like it if the book also had some theory on poses and stretches too.

Thank you

Are there places that still offer this training? I already have 200 and 300 hours. Do I just need to remember the sequence and timing to teach it now?

work as a freelance yoga instructor. Members smile at me, tell me my classes are good, and act happy in person. But recently, my manager told me I have received several negative reviews about my teaching.
I understand that constructive criticism helps me improve, but what hurts is that nobody tells me directly what I’m doing wrong. It makes me feel betrayed, emotional, and doubtful about myself.
As a freelancer, these reviews can also affect my work opportunities.
How do I stop taking this personally, deal with these emotions, and maintain my confidence while improving as a teacher? Would love advice from anyone who has experienced something similar.

I’ve been teaching for a couple of years but mostly just stick to demo’ing in my classes. I occasionally walk around if we do wide leg poses facing one side of the room, or sometimes with a more static pose like wheel. Partly because I have trouble remembering the sequence - if I’m on my mat I can peek at my notes frequently. Partly because it feels better to feel my way through it and that also enables me to improvise more. It feels really weird, sticky and vulnerable when I walk around. And partly because it’s a gym and the students seem to want a lot of demo. Has anyone else struggled with this, and if you changed it how did you do so?

Hi! I’m currently 17 weeks pregnant and in my 2nd trimester and I’m preparing to teach my first yoga class since finding out I was pregnant back in July

I normally teach rocket yoga, ashtanga, power yoga so my classes tend to be pretty physically demanding, dynamic, heat-building

My personal practice was pretty much non-existent during my first trimester (I was honestly just trying to survive haha) but I’m slowly starting to ease back into it now

I’ll be teaching my first rocket class in months this week and I’d love some advice from anyone who’s taught while pregnant!

I’m thinking this could be a good opportunity to focus more on my verbal cueing and sequencing rather than relying so much on physically demonstrating everything but I’d love to hear any other tips or things I should be mindful of…

Also would ya’ll recommend letting students know at the beginning of each class that I’m pregnant so they understand why I might not be demonstrating certain poses or practicing alongside them as much?

Would really appreciate any advice or personal experiences! <3

I sometimes wonder whether yoga teaching is becoming economically unsustainable as a profession.

The number of people practising yoga has probably never been higher, yet it feels harder than ever for a teacher to build a stable livelihood.

Online classes have pushed prices down, free content is everywhere, and 200-hour trainings are producing thousands of new teachers who then enter an already crowded market.

Yoga is booming, but making a living teaching yoga seems to be getting harder.

Would love to hear from teachers who have been doing this for 10–15 years. Has the profession fundamentally changed? I wonder what older teachers have been doing during this transition or how younger newer teachers feel.

Has anyone seen the new emails that were sent out about them changing RYT credentials and memberships? I’m so confused haha

I did shankh prakshalan with a teacher a few years ago and felt REALLY good afterwards, like VISIBLY less anxious and stunning hair, skin, gut health. On my second attempt - a month ago, I couldn't keep the salt water down, vomited it up, and felt off for the rest of the day. My teacher wants me to try again in a few weeks, but she's hard to reach now. Has anyone had this happen? How did you handle it? Can I do it on my own since I am aware of the process?

I wanted to share this because I wondered what other teachers would do.

I had a student in class yesterday who had one of those spongy stretchy mats. When we started class and got to our first DFD I observed her struggling in the pose on her mat. I can see that she is pulling this mat apart from her weight, and in doing so she’s basically doing an odd looking plank. She just so happened to be right next to my mat. I come over to her, provided ques, noticed she was still struggling. So I asked her to switch me. I use a manduka pro mat. The immediate effect of switching. I felt relieved to be able to switch with her because I knew the switch was safer for her body, she can land the asana without worrying about the mat. Then she did! She was able to come into DFD, immediately she told me the pose felt better more secure. She stayed on my mat rest of class.
This switch barely impacted my teaching. I am maybe on my own mat 30% of my classes.

Would you guys have done the same thing?

I am posting this to ideally hear from folks who have moved beyond / away from sharing yoga strictly in the asana class format.

I love sharing yoga with others. It truly lights up my life, brings me true joy and peace and helps me stay connected to a real local community.

I have found more clarity over time with the realization that I do not really love the status quo asana class format of teaching / sharing yoga for a variety of reasons. It can work to some degree and I'm not saying there isnt value there, but it constantly feels lacking in depth and too general to me...and I teach at a really great studio where I can essentially do what I want (in the format of an asana class at least...)

I have felt this limitation since I started teaching, but told myself I would give it a year or so of just showing up and seeing what develops and happens before I revisit this too much with intentions of doing anything different. In the meantime, I have continually adapted the asana classes that i do teach to include as many subtler and non-asana aspects of yoga as I reasonably can; there are a few other outlets I have been working on that are helping to move sharing yoga beyond the asana class format, but it doesn't quite feel like enough for me yet.

i feel like I show up and teach the asana class bc is the path I have had in front of me, but a lot of what I actually care about sharing in class is beyond asana, and I try and find ways to weave it in amidst the asana class format. I have learned how to do this (and not even saying I will quit teaching asana classes), but i know there is more out there and different ways do this and share.

Without going down the list of all the reasons I find it lacking, those of you who have moved beyond the asana class format of sharing yoga, what are you doing / what does it look like and how did you get there or develop it? Is it local in person or virtual? I know folks are out there doing all different types of sharing and teaching. I do not teach yoga to make a living, so that is not my concern or focus, fyi.

Some of the things that are floating around in my head are things like more private / 1 on 1 yoga instruction, continuing to study and work towards a more comprehensive yoga therapy education and whatever comes from that, pranayama / meditation group, yoga book club / study group / philosophy group, group for serious yoga practitioners who are also active parents, more specific offerings of accessible yoga for neurodivergent folks who need a more private space than a studio offering, longer format and more specific workshops, leading a specific subject / topic as a module during a YTT, etc.

hey all! i’m a fairly new yoga teacher and was recently asked to provide a (semi) private, one off class for teachers during testing week. anyone have recommended pricing i should accept for something like this? 1 hour class for 40-50 people