The International Yoga Alliance is total bullshit. However, I am a paying member in proud standing.
Some years ago, the International Yoga Alliance set forth a standard of education by which yoga teachers should be educated. They also have a hierarchy of letters and numbers after one’s name that denote the amount of education and teaching hours an instructor has.
The idea was a noble one: streamline the profession of yoga, allow yoga teachers to track their progress both in education and teaching and allow consumers to better understand the background and knowledge of any given teacher at first glance.
Today much of that has changed.
The Yoga Alliance might be a “non-profit” but with over 52,000 yoga teachers registering last year in the U.S. alone at $55+ each I’m not really sure where the dollars are going. Yoga Alliance certainly doesn’t offer anything more than a piece of paper and a poorly designed wallet card in return (oh yea and rental car discounts, insurance provider links and hotel discounts which I’d bet they get a kickback or commission from). It seems The new motivation is to broaden the pool of teachers rather than standardize the education. Yoga Alliance will approve just about any curriculum, manuals and syllabus (the 18000 schools pay about $300 per year to be part of this coveted group).
Why am I a member then? Because there’s no other option.
This has jarred me for many years. But recently an occurrence triggered me to come out of silence. A yoga instructor trainer recently held a teacher training in my town with 30 people over a period of just 12 class days here in Costa Rica. Yoga Alliance- How can you let this fly?!
All the Yoga Alliance seems to be doing today is diluting our profession with under qualified and undereducated instructors, making all yoga teachers out there, regardless of experience level, training or credentialing get jumbled in with the masses of people who attend sub-par courses and call themselves certified yoga teachers.
People don’t speak out about this much, or like ever. But I am. I’m pissed and I’m taking a FIRM stand.
The teacher who led the training seemed well prepared, organised and knowledgeable. I do believe she passed on some wonderful insights during those 12 days. I believe that she would be fully competent and capable to lead a full-length training. But how can 12 days even be registered as a 200-hour training? There must be a bare minimum of contact hours with the teacher, I guess.
I don’t completely fault her. I don’t even mostly fault her. Like the rest of us she is just trying to earn a living in what is becoming a more and more cutthroat and franchised industry. I get it. Yoga teaching might be amongst the top 100 most desirable careers (according to CNN) but it also yields the 4th lowest income on that list of 100. It is HARD to earn a living at yoga and we all are just trying to do what we can to sustain. Yoga Teacher Trainings are a way to do that.
But how can one possibly pass on what is necessary to move people from a lineage that is 3000+ years old in just 12 days? Do any of the trainees actually get to guide a class in that timeframe? I doubt it. Teaching Yoga isn’t just about knowing poses or sequencing or spitting out fluffy Osho quotes. It’s about having, knowing and speaking an individual voice and style. It is about living yoga, as we each interpret it.
If we are offering people a chance at a new career, teaching people how to touch others, both physically, spiritually and energetically, how is this possible in so little time? Yoga Teacher Training is a course where we offer a diploma, eligible for a livelihood. As such, the level of education should be college or trade school equivalent.
We need yoga teachers aware of the history, philosophy and traditions from which they came, with a further education in the modern interpretations of yoga in the west including solid (VERY SOLID) anatomy training to keep students safe.
Both yoga teacher trainers and The International Yoga Alliance need to check their ethics. Yoga alliance is the ONLY governing body of yoga that set forth a standard. So we register and we comply.
But that standard isn’t high enough.
Aspiring Yoga Teachers must do research beyond a pretty location and convenient time slot.
Put education first.
Yoga Alliance isn’t going anywhere and a new institution might not pop up soon. So we need to respect ourselves, our students and our professional credibility. It is on each individual school and teacher to change this.
Rise up. Do better. We can all take that responsibility.
