- Ashmayu Yoga
What is a Yoga Teacher Training Course?
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Yoga Teacher Training is a course which is specially designed for yoga seekers to learn yogic philosophy, Asanas practice, its importance and related concepts like Ayurveda, diet and nutrition etc. in a detailed manner where the participant goes through its theoretical aspects to practical aspects of yoga and deepen the understanding of the divine art and science of yoga.
In a well-defined Yoga teacher training course, you would learn about the origin of yoga, yoga philosophy, Patanjali yoga sutra, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Anatomy and physiology, Kriya, Chanting, Asana, Pranayama, Meditation, Yogic Diet, Basics of Ayurveda, Teaching ethics, Class planner, Internship etc.
Different Types of Yoga Teacher Training
There are many types of Yoga Teacher Training courses offered but the major one’s are Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training, Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training, Children Yoga Teacher Training Course, Yin Yoga Teacher Training and many more.
It would definitely be a big challenge to understand which course to opt as there are many styles which you wouldn’t have clue about initially.
So how to select the right teacher training course for yourself:
The best thing is to meet some senior yoga teachers of a different style, share your goals of what do you want to achieve through the course. With the help of their counselling, you will be able to understand what style to go for.
3 simple ways to choose the right YTTC for you:
1. Context:
Every school has a different focus and ratio of theory and practice in their Yoga Teacher Training courses. The best way to understand which one will suit you?
is to visit the school, meet the faculty and get to know more about the focus of the course whether it is more towards practice or theoretical aspects or a good balance of both. Once you get to know the focus, you will understand whether it is aligning with your goals that you have set for yourself in terms of achievement from yoga teacher training course.
2. Content:
You should also look at the syllabus before joining the course. It will help you understand what topics are covered in the course.
E.g. Syllabus from X Institute contains only topics related to Yoga
Syllabus from Y Institute contains Topics related to Yoga, Ayurveda, Diet, and Nutrition
You should always opt for an institute which has added some additional topics apart from Yoga which compliments your learning.
3. Faculties:
A good syllabus is a great opportunity to opt for only when it is complemented with Good Faculties. Make sure, you ask the institute about the teachers who will take you through the course. You can also request the institute to meet one of the teachers, share with them what this course means to you and understand more about the course whether it would serve the purpose that you are looking at.
E.g. If you are more interested in the theoretical aspects of yoga such as Patanjali Sutra and Yoga Philosophy and if the course is more focused towards Asana, Pranayama and Meditation practice then you can take a call if you want to see some more options before you sign up for the course.
Broadly there are 2 major reasons:
Self-Learning:
If you are a yoga enthusiast and want to take your understanding of yoga to a deeper and meaningful level, you must consider joining a yoga teacher training course. It will take you to the next level of understanding about yoga. You will also start seeing many changes to your own personality as an impact from yoga philosophy and deeper understanding of yoga sutras.
To become a Teacher:
If you have planned to become a yoga teacher, joining a Yoga Teacher Training course becomes an obvious choice for you. A Yoga teacher training course will assist you in understanding the concepts and strengthening your personal practice. However, this does not come with a guarantee that you will become a teacher. To become a teacher, you need to take another step which is to start sharing your knowledge gained in the course with the world by actually teaching. Initially, it is advisable to start teaching either individuals or small group of people. And by doing so, you would gradually improve the way you teach. Once you have spent many hours in teaching yoga, you will become a good teacher as the information that you learned in your course has now become your internal knowledge which your body and mind resonates to.
Success Mantra of becoming A Great Teacher
Learn – Practice – Teach – Repeat
2. What do you want to achieve from the yoga teacher training course?
Once you have understood your “WHY” to join YTTC, you would need to spend some time in understanding “WHAT” do you really want from your yoga teacher training course.
Now, this scenario was not there 20-25 years back. Back then there were not many options (Places) where you can go and join TTC. We also did not even have many of the forms of yoga like power yoga, kids’ yoga, pregnancy yoga, yin yoga, aerial yoga, Vini yoga, multiple style yoga etc.
In those days, the options were either Hatha Yoga or AshtangaVinyasa Yoga. Based on what the students want to achieve, they used to join for teacher training courses.
But today, you have plenty of yoga schools offering Yoga TTC with different forms of yoga.
We suggest beginners start their yoga journey with a Hatha Yoga teacher training course. Hatha Yoga is the oldest form of yoga and also the root of all the forms of yoga that we see around us. Hatha will also help build a strong foundation within you.
You can surely join for the other forms of yoga TTC as well, once you have completed the hatha yoga teacher training course.
3. How do you want to do the Yoga teacher training course?
I would say half of the battle is won as we are done with our WHY and WHAT. Let’s focus on the rest.
Broadly, there are two formats of teacher training courses:
1. Day Scholar YTTC 2. Residential YTTC
In the “HOW” part, we will focus on how do you want to learn yoga? Whether by going to an institute, spending few hours in learning and come back home every day? Or you want to take a break and go to a place where you can live for a month or so and spend all the time in learning yoga over there itself.
Both come with their advantages and the best part is none of them has any disadvantage.
So, it’s just the matter of your choice either day scholar or residential.
4. Where should you join yoga teacher training course?
Now we are done with our WHY, WHAT and HOW. Whatever we have discussed above is all about how do you think/ feel/want.
The next question if you are ready to join a Yoga TTC, WHERE to join? Which institute to join? How do we make sure that institute we are planning to join has everything in place to run a teacher training course?
There are a couple of factors that you can look for to make sure you are joining a right institute for your yoga education.
Curriculum
The first thing you need to look in to is the curriculum of the course. A well-organized institute surely will have a well-defined curriculum which will help you understand the content of the course.
Teachers
Get to know a little bit about the teachers who would take classes in the course. There is a possibility that you might not be able to connect with them directly before joining the course. However, if you talk to the concerned person at the Yoga Institute and I am sure, they would help you out with the details about the teachers, their qualifications, and experiences.
Once you have the details about the teacher, the ball is in your court. You can self-assess the whole situation and make a wise decision for you.
5. When do you want to do your yoga teacher training course?
Once you’ve done decent research about the institution and finalized it, you also need to finalize on to the Months.
Almost every good yoga institution has courses at different times of the year. There is a perfect opportunity for you to figure out which time of the year you can dedicate towards your course.
Don’t make your decision in hurry and join a course. Check your complete schedule and join otherwise in between the course you might have to apply for leave. It is not a good idea when you are planning to choose teaching yoga as your career.
Even if you are learning it, only for yourself, there is a high chance, you might miss out on some major concepts which you will not be able to understand later on.
6. Value Add
When the competition is high in the industry it is clients who can get the most advantages out of it.
The most recent example is JIO (A telecom company) because JIO came with a lot of offers and Airtel started giving a lot of Value Add.
Same is the case with Yoga Institutions. When it comes to yoga institution the value-add could be in terms of more practice sessions at the institute, short-term courses like pregnancy yoga, kid’s yoga, sound meditation or any healing course, entry in the next batches for revision, job opportunities, books, mat, props, etc.
You don’t have to finalize on yoga TTC just because you get extra value-add. However, if you have already gone through all the institutions and there are 3-4 institutes which are equally good in terms of quality then the next criteria which you can look in to is the value-add they are providing.
7. After Course Support
“Once you stop learning you start dying”
― Albert Einstein
If you truly want to become an expert in the field of Yoga and related subjects, consistent learning, and educational support is the only key. You should surely look for an institute which provides after YTTC support in term of assistance in providing higher education, a career in yoga, a community wherein students can be connected with the teachers even after the course and can clear their doubts, share their research and success stories.
The Journey of Ashmayu Yoga
A few years back, Sireesha (My Wife and Co-Founder of Ashmayu Yoga Institute) and I were looking to join our first yoga teacher training course. We noticed that most of the yoga academies in Bengaluru either provided physical practice or theoretical aspects of yoga, but not both. That’s when we decided that we would open a yoga institute where we bring both the practical and theoretical expertise into our courses so that students can understand both in depth and take their journey to a deeper level when it comes to their own Sadhana.
Another thing that we noticed was that most of the institutes were working in the same fashion the way “Schools and Colleges” work wherein you join, study and leave and never return or be connected with the classmate or the institution.
The meaning of Yoga itself is “Union”. We truly feel that all the students who study Yoga from a School shall be connected through a thread. This would help them share their new developments and stories that they live and experience which can act as inspiration for others. This also gives an opportunity to create a community of like-minded people.
One more situation that we observed was about the after TTC support which no one is bothered about.
Our Passion for Yoga and Holistic Health and above-mentioned issues made this thought stronger in our minds. We would create an institute wherein students can get the best quality education. It would have a complete understanding of the tradition, modern science, yoga applications for today’s challenges. We wanted to create a community of people, interested in yoga and holistic health, after YTTC support etc.
And we came up with Ashmayu Yoga Institute
Yoga Teacher Training Course in Bengaluru
Ashmayu Yoga Institute is committed to bringing the best of the experts on board to spread the knowledge of yoga and holistic health practices.
We offer certification courses in Hatha Yoga (Level I and II), Yoga for Pregnancy, and Yoga for Children.
The Institute follows all the guideline in their Yoga Teacher Training Courses level I and II laid down by the ministry of Ayush. Students can apply to write the QCI Level I and II exam on the website of India Yoga Association http://www.yogaiya.in/iya/
After passing the exam, students will become certified teachers under the ministry of Ayush.
AYUSH Ministry
The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, abbreviated as AYUSH, is a governmental body in India. Ayush was purposed with developing, education and research in Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine), yoga, naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, homeopathy, Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan medicine) and other Indigenous Medicine systems.
This was created in March 1995 as the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H). It is operated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
AYUSH received its current name in March 2003. The Ministry of AYUSH was formed with effect from 9 November 2014 by elevation of the Department of AYUSH.
Information regarding Ayush Ministry is from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_AYUSH
If you have any questions, please share your comment and I would be more than happy to answer your questions.
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