Education in Yoga: Advanced Training Courses

Centered Yoga 1100-hour and Yoga Alliance 500-hour accredited

Continuing Education

While professional organizations, such as Centered Yoga and Yoga Alliance, require continuing education for teachers, we hope you choose to take these courses out of a sincere and genuine interest in learning rather than out of obligation or necessity. If you put your growth and development first, everything else follows easily and automatically, even any requirements you may need for certification.

The yoga path is continuous. To grow in your practice, some focused time in study is essential, with proper guidance. The advanced training courses serve as part of this continuing education by covering specific subject matter in depth, furthering practice, and offering the opportunity for you to spend time in direct contact with your teacher(s).

Specific requirements are listed below. We feel, however, that these requirements barely fulfill the minimum in terms of what tools in you need to become a competent yoga teacher, and we strongly recommend you go far beyond them.

Centered Yoga 1100-hour Requirements

Centered Yoga offers a number of two-week advanced courses throughout the year, mostly at Yoga Thailand but sometimes at other locations as well. In addition to the foundation-level 200 hours, we offer courses that fall under each of the following areas: Asana and Pranayama, anatomy and physiology, philosophy and chanting.

Typically, each advanced course is two weeks long and qualifies for 100 hours. Upon completion of the required courses, you will become recognized as a Distinguished Advanced-Level Teacher, a qualification that reflects many years of dedicated practice and study.

Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Credits

Requirements

The continuing education credits required by registered teachers (both RYT 200 and 500) fall into two categories: direct teaching and further training. To continue to be part of the registry, RYTs require the following two things in each three-year period:

teach a minimum of 45 classroom hours of yoga.

accumulate 30 CEUs (continuing education units), 10 of which must be within the direct presence of a qualified yoga teacher or anatomy and physiology instructor.

Continuing Education Standards

Contact and non-contact CEUs can be obtained in any of the five standards categories:

training/practice techniques-Includes Asana, Pranayama, kriyas, chanting, mantra, Meditation, and other traditional yoga techniques. Hours may include (1) analytical training in how to teach and practice the techniques, and (2) guided practice of the techniques themselves.

teaching methodology-Includes principles of demonstration, observation, assisting/correcting, instruction, teaching styles, qualities of a teacher, the student's process of learning, and business aspects of teaching yoga.

anatomy and physiology-Includes both human physical anatomy and physiology (bodily systems, organs, etc.) and energy anatomy and physiology (chakras, nadis, etc.). Includes both the study of the subject and application of its principles to yoga practice (benefits, contraindications, healthy movement patterns, etc).

yoga philosophy/lifestyle and ethics for yoga teachers-Includes the study of yoga philosophies, yoga lifestyle, and ethics for yoga teachers.

practicum-Includes practice teaching, receiving feedback, observing others teaching, and hearing/giving feedback. Also includes assisting students while someone else is teaching.

Contact CEUs

One contact CEU comes from 60 minutes of class time in the physical presence of a qualified yoga teacher or anatomy and physiology instructor. Contact CEUs can be accrued through yoga teacher training workshops/courses as well as ordinary classes in any of the five subject categories. In addition, participating in yoga discussion and study groups also earns contact CEUs. (Note: three classroom hours as a student in another teacher's regular yoga class equals one contact CEU.)

RYTSM 500s with 5,000 hours of teaching experience may use hours they teach during Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) programs as contact CEUs.

Non-contact CEUs

Yoga Alliance recognizes that home-study can be an important component of continuing education. One non-contact CEU comes from five hours (300 minutes) of non-contact study. Non-contact CEUs may be accrued by any of the following activities:

reading a book or article that supports the deepening of your yoga practice and understanding

working with a yoga video or study with a yoga tape that supports the deepening of your yoga practice and understanding

taking an on-line course related to yoga

taking a correspondence course related to yoga

being mentored by telephone through a yoga-related program

publishing yoga books or articles in newsletters/newspapers/magazines

developing yoga class materials for distribution to students

producing yoga videos or yoga tapes

As part of your non-contact CEU documentation, you may be required to write an explanation of each activity and how it influenced your practice and/or teaching of yoga.