200 hour? 300 hour? Continuing Education? What does it all mean?
Navigating all the world of yoga teacher trainings (ytt), continuing education, and what it all means for you can be a lot to digest. We have taken the liberty to explain the potential progression of teaching yoga and taking trainings based on the standards and expectations outlined by Yoga Alliance.
We have created a flow chart to help simplify the journey of a yoga teacher in their careers. At Mynah we want to shift the status quo of the industry and help set teachers up for long-term success so they can continue pursuing their passion and for their love of teaching.
Keep reading on for further explanations and details of the flow chart.
The two ytts offered: 200 and 300.
Yoga Alliance certifies teachers under two different programs, the 200 hour ytt and the 300 hour ytt.
200 hour ytt is the introductory program meant to introduce trainees to a variety of topics (philosophy, anatomy), methodologies, and techniques that are all geared to prepare a graduate to start teaching yoga after graduation. Upon graduating, the Yoga Alliance status gained is often denoted as RYT-200 (Registered Yoga Teacher 200). When a teacher gains 1000 hours of yoga teaching experience, they can then upgrade their status to E-RYT 200 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 200).
In previous Yoga Alliance standards, an E-RYT 200 could lead 200 hour yoga teacher trainings themselves but this has now been elevated to E-RYT 500.
300 hour ytt builds off of a 200 hour program and starts deepening a trainee’s knowledge base and starts to bring forth more challenging expectations. One can expect in 300 hour to not only deepen what they have learned in 200 hour but to be introduced to a variety of lineages (ex. yin yoga, pre-natal / post-natal yoga, etc…). Pssttt, we are soooo lucky in Mynah’s 300 hour program to boast many guest teachers. Upon graduating, the Yoga Alliance status gained is RYT-500 (denoting the completion of both 200 and 300 hour programs). E-RYT 500 status is gained when a teacher has totalled 2000 hours of teaching experience with a minimum of 500 hours completed post 300 hour graduation. At the E-RYT 500 hour level, this teacher is now able to start leading their own teacher trainings.
Continuing education
Continuing Education (CE) are mini workshops to expand what you have learned in 200, to brush up or gain another perspective from 300, or to learn something entirely new. There are always benefits in dedicating oneself to continual growth and evolution by always be learning and CE can be a resource to indulge in.
However, if your goals have to moving through the flowchart, then it should be noted that Yoga Alliance requires 30 hours of CE every 3 years in order for you to maintain your status.
moving through the chart
Though this is what Mynah believes can be a potential map for yoga teacher, it is not exclusive to Mynah and can be applied in any program offered, in any city, and in any country.
We want to change the status quo of our industry and provide a framework of how one can continue what they love and not lose great teachers because of burn-out from teaching too many classes. We want to help shed some insight of where a yoga career can move towards.
YTTs can sometimes have an official position of a teacher’s assistant. It also doesn’t hurt to ask a ytt if they would like to consider adding that role. This role could look like but not limited to leading certain parts of the training, creating and marking assignments, and being a mentor for the trainees enrolled. It is to prime one towards eventual co-lead positions themselves or as faculty in ytts. We may like to add that reaching this level also opens up the opportunities to lead Continuing Education sessions themselves and presenting those sessions to multiple studios.
If the goal is to start leading 200 hour ytts and/or 300 hour ytts, then reaching E-RYT 500 status is the part of the chart that one would move through. And while one moves through this section, the opportunities are not limited to teacher’s assistant but also as a guest speaker for other ytts or as a part of the faculty in a ytt, offering continuing education courses themselves, offering workshops from knowledge gained from ytts, and diversifying class / retreat / studio offerings.
We hope that this information is helpful and if you ever have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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