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I’ve taken lots of yoga classes. Lots. They have ranged from challenging, to utterly amazing, and also awfully B-O-R-I-N-G, hard, and frustrating. The difference is in the instructor. The right one will send you off feeling like a taller, tighter, more energetic (yet, strangely relaxed) version of yourself. A not-so-great instructor might send you off feeling no different than when you arrived, and since the whole point of mind-body fitness is to alter both the mental and physical state, you want to enter each class knowing that your hour won’t be wasted. Many of the best instructors are registered through Yoga Alliance.
Yoga Alliance® fulfills the duel function of registering individual yoga teachers and yoga teacher training programs who meet minimum educational standards. Studios employing Registered Yoga Teachers (RYTs) and Experienced Registered Yoga Teachers (E-RYTs) have met the minimum training standards. Studios who employ instructors meeting Yoga Alliance® standards usually note this somewhere on their website or in their marketing materials. You can also do a bit of homework on your own before you take a class.
4 Questions to ask your Yoga Instructor or Studio
1. Yoga Alliance recommends a minimum of 200 hours of training before teaching yoga. If you aren’t sure if your studio’s teachers meet this minimum requirement, ask the studio owner or director whether any of their instructors do. At least three years of regular practice is ideal prior to teaching.
2. Yoga instructors should be comfortable doing the poses. Does the instructor demonstrate all of the poses before queuing the students? Is the instructor dedicated to his/her own yoga practice? How does the instructor further his/her own knowledge and skill level
3. Classes should be small enough that the teacher can get around the room to correct form and alignment. If you have any special needs or health problems that might interfere with safe yoga practice, ask the teacher if she would be willing to show you modifications.
4. A good teacher teaches in “stages,” explaining postures and poses in detail, from the simplest version of the pose, to the most advanced, so that each student in the class can tailor the pose to match their level of training.
Note: A good teacher should be willing to bring new students up to speed, rather than leave them to fend for themselves in a class full of more experienced participants. When you attend a new class or decide to experiment with a different type of yogaM, arrive a bit early, introduce yourself to the instructor, and point out that it is your first class. In most cases, teachers are more than happy to accommodate novice yogis.