As I gathered my credentials to register for Yoga Alliance’s eRYT500 certification, I couldn’t help but reflect on how far I’d come as a yoga teacher. Yoga Alliance (YA) is an institution that sets standards for yoga teachers. It has taken me over fifteen years to reach the 500 educational credits that are required for their higher certification. In that time, I went from someone who struggled to keep up with their continued educational (CE) requirements to one who sees YA for what it is: a gatekeeping institution. It’s a system that excludes folks who don’t pay into their membership. If I wasn’t a trainer for a YA Certified school, I wouldn’t be registering. The criteria for YA certification is based on how many courses one has taken, not on one’s actual ability to teach. While I recognize that a lot of yoga schools place a heartfelt effort into providing quality education, I also know that teacher training is expen$ive. Even though these schools mean well, the gatekeeping aspect of certification upholds a caste structure: excluding the poor and catering only to those who can afford it. I don’t support the idea that I need an institution, who doesn’t know me, to validate my ability to teach yoga well. And I especially don’t think money should be the deciding factor. No need to actually live the teachings, all it takes is 200 hours (and MONEY!) to teach this 3,000 year old discipline.
The criteria for YA certification is based on
how many courses one has taken,
not on one’s actual ability to teach.
I didn’t always feel this way. Early in my yoga teaching journey, I thought I needed it too. For a time I had the thing we now call, “impostor syndrome.” I was teaching yoga for over a decade and only had the basic 200 hour certification. My knowledge was based on life experience and self study, but I didn’t have a certificate to show for it because I just couldn’t afford the courses. My family lived paycheck to paycheck and I didn’t have the luxury to take time off for training. The only reason I was able to get my 200 hour yoga certification in the first place was because it was offered on weekends and I was allowed to pay in installments. Even then, it took me months after graduation to pay it off because my checks kept bouncing.
I was teaching yoga for over a decade
and only had the basic 200 hour certification.
I understand that people need some kind of proof of being a qualified teacher. I just don’t think a piece of paper does it. Yoga Alliance emerged from a desire to standardize training for yoga teachers because the market demanded more teachers and it could not wait for them to fully develop. YA Certification just means you had the money to pay for courses and the annual membership. There are many dedicated aspiring teachers out there who, like me, couldn’t afford that piece of paper. Because I believed teaching yoga was my calling, I had to find a way around this system that left me out. I started out teaching family, friends and coworkers, who then became references. I had this attitude that yoga was always going to be in my life and that faith led me from one opportunity to another, outside the radar of YA.
YA Certification just means you had the money
to pay for courses and the annual membership.
My Sifu (kung fu teacher) told me that one becomes a teacher when someone recognizes your competence and asks to learn from you. The credential comes from your character, developed through personal practice (sadhana), and applying the teachings everyday. Teaching comes from living and demonstrating yoga. Knowledge gained from theory and based on second hand information lacks authenticity.
The credential comes from your character,
developed through personal practice (sadhana),
and applying the teachings everyday.
Yes, the authentic approach is much slower, but hey, it’s FREE! More importantly, the hard-earned wisdom comes from within, wrought through dark times and lots of ugly-crying. I liken teaching yoga to a quote by St. Francis of Asisi which says, “Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” When someone wants to learn from you, that is all the validation you need. In hindsight, I am thankful for the obstacles. It has given me an unshakeable confidence as a teacher outside of YA.
When someone wants to learn from you,
that is all the validation you need.
Am I a hypocrite for signing up for the credentials? Maybe. I hate enforcing arbitrary YA standards, but I haven’t figured out how to overcome this class-dividing system as a trainer. In their hurry to bring “quality,” Yoga Alliance inadvertently replicated the caste system. Even with thousands of new certified teachers each year, yoga is still inaccessible to communities who could really benefit from it. Certification perpetuates the part in yoga’s history where it was available only to the privileged castes. Can we leave that behind already? It’s been like 3,000 years.
Written by Mia Velez for Mukunda Studio 2023 – “Certification Nation”
