WARNING! 3 must ask questions before you invest thousands in yoga teacher training!

FACT: Yoga teacher training is a significant investment!

Costs tend to average around £2500 or $4500 mark – NOT including any travel costs and sometimes not even including the required reading list!

Despite this, more and more enthusiastic yogis are paying this significant amount of money to become registered yoga teachers.

Investing in ANY kind of learning is valuable. I know. I’ve invested thousands myself.

But would you spend thousands of pounds without at least doing some homework first?

Hopefully, at the very least, you’ll be researching a number of providers – just like you would universities you might like to study at.

But even more important in my experience, is being clear about what you want to DO with those qualifications at the end of it – so you can work out if yoga teacher training is actually the best way to help you achieve your goals.

It makes sense, if you are even thinking of investing what is a significant amount of money in yoga teacher training, to ask yourself some direct, sometimes tough questions first.

Seriously. Keep your credit card in your pocket – and do this first!

Don’t just read this. Grab a coffee – a pen and paper – and write down your answers.

Then leave for a couple of days to mull over and see if anything else occurs to you. As a coach, I find this process is great for “seeding” our brains with important questions. You’ll find other things pop into your head over the next couple of days which are important for you. It’s useful reflection! And once you’ve done that you’ll feel more confident about getting out that credit card – or not, as the case may be!

3 key questions to ask yourself before investing in yoga teacher training:​

1. What is your PRIME reason for wanting to take a yoga teacher training course?

This is important. Some US research (Yoga in America study) shows that almost 80% of students on yoga teacher training do not particularly want to teach – or at least it’s not the primary reason they booked on the programme. I find that a little odd – never mind disturbing. You may simply want to deepen your own practice or just immerse yourself more in the whole field of yoga and to learn more about the philosophy and wider teachings. You may just want the experience of going deeper with other, like-minded souls. You may be at a crossroads in your life – and sense that time away in an intense yoga teacher training, will help you get a little clearer about the next steps for you.Whatever the PRIME reason is for you- write it down.

2. Is yoga teacher training actually the most appropriate solution to help me achieve my answer to Q1?

How else might I achieve that objective instead?If your prime reason is NOT that you want to teach, hold back your credit card!!!Take some time to reflect!Yoga teacher training does exactly what it says on the tin: it teaches you how to teach!It’s focus is ALL about how you teach postures, meditation, modifications etc for others. PLUS you have what is for some, the rather scary experience of having to demonstrate your own teaching and an exam/assessment at the end – which you either pass or fail.When I re-did my own RYT last December, for the last 5 days of training there was a lot of anxiety about the assessments.

Why put yourself through this if you’ve no intention, or only a “vague idea” that you actually want to teach?

Believe me, I’ve been a coach for over 13 years now and I KNOW that vague dreaming about something you “fancy” doing – rarely turns into reality. It remains a pipe dream! Because here’s the truth: turning ANY dream of making any kind of income from teaching yoga into reality will take a fair bit of work and courage in equal measure.There are SO many ways in which we can deepen or extend our own personal practice – without doing teacher training, and which are much less expensive and time consuming and which won’t subject you to the anxiety of being assessed. So, do yourself a favour.

If your prime reason is NOT that you want to teach – consider the other options open to you first! There’s some fab yoga holidays; retreats; ashrams; local Buddhist centres where you can learn meditation/attend weekend retreats – the list goes on! Make your own list – research those! And try those first.Nothing is wasted. No decision is final. If at a later date you ever find your answer to question 1 is a resounding “I want to teach” as your prime reason – believe me – the yoga schools will still be there – only this time – you’ll be more ready to make the most of the experience!

3. What do I want to do with my yoga teaching certificate?

Truthfully, I know I’m really just helping you think through the first 2 answers more deeply here – but bear with me because it’s still time well spent!If your prime reason for attending yoga teacher training was not to teach – then, honestly – what will you do with your certificate? (I hope this reinforces it’s worth looking at the alternatives!) Storing it in a cupboard somewhere – never to see the light of day again is NOT a good reason to spend thousands of pounds on yoga teacher training.

Finally, if – having answered those questions you realise you still want to teach – then you’re ready to embark on a journey.I don’t know what type of work you do now – but it’s likely when you first began you had a lot to learn, you may have studied at university or some other learning institution before hand – and then you had to slowly find your way on your chosen career at that time.

Becoming a yoga teacher is no different. There is no magic bullet to success – but it’s highly unlikely making anything a successful career just “happens.” It happens because you are clear what you want; you take the right steps to help you move down that path – and you stay focused. And if you’re ready to take that journey, then you can shorten the time it takes to get there, and be more effective if you follow some guiding principles and steps – and that’s what Yoginiors is all about.

Actions you can take:

• • checkJoin our Yoginiors Facebook Group  and share your stories or experiences about how YOU have felt starting out teaching yoga. Did you start out enthusiastic then it waned?  What made it hard?  I’d love to hear from you!

• • checkExplore some of the growing articles/resources on this site.

• checkRead (and act upon!) this essential and practical guide for ANY new or aspiring yoga teacher: “Develop a successful career teaching yoga: 3 steps to finding your own voice as a yoga teacher and developing a thriving career in 12 months or less, without quitting your current job.”

If you’d like to learn more about how to build a successful yoga teacher career, join our Facebook group.