First and Foremost: Is it a Reputable School?
It’s incredibly important to do some digging.
When considering which program to choose from, consider the following points before investing your money and ask yourself, ”Does the yoga studio/school have an excellent reputation for training teachers?”
There are many training programs to choose from, so pick one that will give you the knowledge and expertise needed to teach and deepen your understanding of yoga. You’ll be making a significant financial and time investment and not all trainings are created equal.
Look up the school’s information on the Yoga Alliance website and make sure they have a great rating. These ratings are given by past teacher trainees and are an indicator of whether or not you will be given the proper skills it takes to become a talented yoga teacher.
SYJ has a 5 star rating on Yoga Alliance. Our reputation is unsurpassed. Read the reviews by past trainees for a glimpse of why!
“Donna & her team at SYJ are phenomenal! Highly recommend this training if you really want to learn about anatomy; alignment with experienced, friendly and super cool yogis!!! Learn to teach kick ass yoga classes here!”
“SYJ is an incredible studio to complete YTT. You can tell how much effort and care goes into the program and this is exemplified by the level of teachers that employ this studio. This type of training is like nothing else you can find in our area. SYJ spends extra time focusing on the health of the spine through understanding the body’s anatomy with an emphasis on alignment. When you complete this training you not only know asana, sanskrit, and history- but also how impactful it can be on the body. I am so grateful to have found this studio and to be able to share all of the knowledge they have taught me with the yoga community.”
“The experience was above all of my expectations and amazing in so many ways. I grew, learned and deepened not only my yoga practice, but grew in so many personal ways myself. The teaching environment was so safe, supportive, and above all created a connection between all of the teachers and the students.”
“This was a comprehensive, thoughtful program. SYJ created such a supportive environment and the opportunity to learn and grow our understanding and teaching skills throughout the program. I had a wonderful experience and credit it to the commitment, discipline, and diversity of the SYJ staff.”
Has anyone you know graduated from the program?
Chat with graduates of the training, ask them about their experience. You’ll learn first-hand if it’s a reputable program or not. If there aren’t any graduates who can give you an idea of their experience, you might want to be careful.
We have trained teachers all over Fairfield County, many of whom are the most celebrated teachers in your local yoga studio. If you are interested in meeting the current SYJ teachers, come take a class. Let us know you are shopping for a training, we’d love to have you as a guest!
Experience and expertise :
Look at how many years the program has been operating and how many trainings have been completed.Unfortunately there is no regulation in place regarding who can run a yoga teacher training program and this leads to many inexperienced trainers running trainings without accountability.
SYJ has been teaching teachers all over Fairfield County and the US for nearly 18 years. We have led multiple trainings throughout these years and have trained hundreds of teachers who now teach all over the world!
What is the curriculum being taught?
SYJ has a truly unique curriculum that has been developed over the last 20 years. Our comprehensive and well put together curriculum includes :
Anatomy – Taught by teachers well trained and with graduate level degrees in Anatomy
Philosophy – SYJ’s lineage is based on Rajanaka. We teach this with super fun mythology and storytelling that will truly make you laugh and touch your heart. It’s important to note that many schools have no particular philosophy and just teach a garden variety without much credit to lineage. This makes us unique.
Alignment-based Asana – SYJ has been a leader in teaching alignment- based asana for 20 years. Our lead teachers who developed our expert alignment system have a combined experience of 60 years of teaching alignment based yoga. ‘Learning the alignment informed by many years as physical therapists, massage therapists, and experienced yoga teachers will equip you with what you need as a teacher to keep your students safe and healthy so they can continue the āsana practice for many years to come!’
Meditation – Our meditation curriculum is taught by teachers with multiple trainings and certifications in mindfulness and meditation, which also makes us unique.
Restorative yoga and pranayama.
Practicum – No other schools that we know of give the trainees as much experience as we do with practical teaching. You will not get the same practical experience anywhere else. In this process, you will learn to tap into your authentic self, how to take the seat of the teacher, and teach a soulful, sweaty yoga class that is seriously informed and seriously fun!
Cost of the training:
Generally, a teacher training will cost between $2600- $5000. You very often get what you pay for.
Cheaper trainings are often being run by less experienced trainers who may not have a proven reputation for creating great teachers. Underselling is a tool often used to recruit students to teacher trainings they might not be able to lure without a good reputation.
Higher priced trainings are often led in places that may be beautiful to go to but not necessarily that practical for many.
Let’s be totally transparent, yoga studios often run trainings to make income because it is incredibly difficult in this climate to profit from classes alone. The caveat is the trainers in these programs might not necessarily have the expertise needed to send you on your way as a teacher. This happens all the time.
Teachers running the training:
We highly encourage you to take multiple classes from the people you will be studying with. Ask yourself these questions:
Is his or her style something that truly resonates with me?
How long have they been teaching yoga?
How many trainings have they been involved teaching in?
How many trainings has the studio they teach in actually run with success?
Do you feel a strong connection to their methodology and their personality?
In sum:
At the end of your query remind yourself that a deep dive into yoga, whether you want to teach or simply pursue a deeper understanding of the practice you have come to love, can and should be a wonderful life changing quest. As we stated before no 2 trainings are the same and yoga is not any one way as there are multiple lineages and a lot of different ideas about what yoga actually means. We are super proud of our teacher training and welcome any conversation you might want to have about our program. We wish you luck in your pursuit and we hope this helped guide you in an informative way.
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