Is 200 hours enough time to learn to teach Yoga?! What can you expect to learn in a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program.
The 200-hour training requirement has been set out by Yoga Alliance, which is the international governing body for yoga schools. The 200 hours is a baseline for yoga instructors. I had a student ask me today if 200 hours was enough to learn yoga…. The short answer is no! It is not enough time to learn the very vast and varied subject of yoga, however it is industry standard for the very first level of certification.
At the end of a 200-hour program you should have enough knowledge to safely lead a multi-level yoga class. You should also get a brief introduction to some of the deeper aspects of yoga like aruyveda, meditation, chakras, bandhas etc. However, it is impossible to learn everything about yoga in 200 hours. For example, it is said that it takes about 20 years to master the 3 bandhas! A good teacher training program will give the basics that you absolutely need to know in order to teach a class, lots of practice teaching time, and an introduction to many other aspects of the yoga discipline.
After the 200 hours the next level of certification is an additional 300 hours for a total of 500 hours. After the 200-hr. then you go on to take additional trainings based on your interests. You can do meditation, kids yoga, prenatal, yin yoga, more anatomy, an aruyveda course etc.
As yoga instructors we are life long students, always learning and growing. You never learn everything. This is one of the many things that I love about yoga…. there is always something new and exciting to learn! I have lost track of how many hours I have done but I know that I’m well over 800 🙂 I’ve been a student of yoga for 15 years, teaching for 13, and I still take trainings and workshops all of the time!
You can do your 500 hr. all at once but I actually don’t recommend it. There is SO much information that it is hard to process it. The best way to learn information is to teach it. So I recommend doing your 200 hour and then teach for about a year to really process and develop what you know. Once you have a solid base then go on to take more training, adding layers to your knowledge.
If you’d like more information on the O2 Yoga Teacher Training program please let me know, I’d love to answer any of your questions.
Christina Raskin
O2YogaTeacherTraining@gmail.com