What is Yoga Alliance and should I choose registered yoga school for my yoga teacher training?
Simply speaking, The Yoga Alliance is the organization that awards stamps/logos to ‘registered’ Yoga Schools (RYS) and “registered” Yoga Teachers (RYT). More on this shortly.
If Yoga schools' names and yoga teachers' titles mean nothing, then why is it important that you attend a school with Yoga Alliance approval?
When it comes to Yoga Alliance, or any attempt to standardize Yoga for that matter, some people are supportive, other people are skeptical.
We cannot, nor would we want to, give you a black-and-white, hard-and-fast, answer to the value of Yoga Alliance. What we will offer instead, is a number of perspectives that we hope will support you in making an informed decision.
In an ideal world, names and titles should mean nothing when you choose a yoga teacher. You would choose them based on their skills and commitment to Yoga. But this isn’t how the world works, not yet anyway. Check out our teachers.
If time and money were no issue, you would have no trouble selecting a Yoga School. Plus, you would not worry too much if you chose wrong. But these courses require a significant investment in both time and money. Therefore, you cannot afford to make a poor choice.
Learn how to choose a yoga teacher training that's right for you.
What if we told you that there was 1 thing to look for? One title, one badge, that would give you a degree of certainty when selecting the right course for you?
We have attended our fair share of Yoga Schools, some great, others questionable. Whether you choose to join Alpha Yoga School or not, our hope is you do not make the same mistakes that we did.
What does Yoga Alliance DO?
According to recent statistics around 5% of the total population of the Earth practices Yoga. For context, that is 300 Million humans practicing a tradition that spans back over 5,000 years.
The mission of Yoga Alliance is a huge (others would say impossible) task:
To establish a minimum standard for Yoga Schools around the world.
Yoga Alliance US was established in 1999 in an attempt to protect, some say profit from, Yoga and its popularisation in the West.
One of their decisions was to give all Yoga courses the same title, “Yoga Teacher Training”. Before this, the courses were called; Foundation Yoga Course, New to Yoga, Fundamentals of Yoga, How to Practice and Teach Yoga, or Beginners Yoga course” to name just a few.
Yoga Alliance works in two ways; approving Yoga Schools and registering Yoga Teachers.
Yoga Alliance only approves schools whose curriculum meets their 'standards’. These standards include which topics are taught and how many hours teachers spend teaching them. Upon approval, the school is granted the title “Registered Yoga School (RYS)”.
What is Registered Yoga School (RYS)?
Upon completion of your Yoga course, you will receive a certificate. Although there is no formal nor universal Yoga qualification, this certificate will suffice in allowing you to teach Yoga.
Some certificates will have the stamp "RYS", which stands for Registered Yoga School. Others will not.
What Yoga Alliance is NOT!
As far as we know, the Yoga Alliance does not send undercover agents, disguised as Yoga students, to check out the quality of training. Even if they did, they could never check them all. Or maybe they do, and they do an excellent job of going unnoticed…
The Yoga Alliance works on an honor-based system. Therefore they cannot guarantee that the school will teach exactly the curriculum which they submitted. However, you have to wonder, would a school go to the lengths of creating a curriculum, submitting it, and not bother to teach it?
Ultimately, The Registered Yoga School title is based on the number of hours spent teaching specified topics. It cannot guarantee the quality of exactly what is taught in class.