Ask if courses have ever been cancelled or
postponed and check the refund policy.Where:
There are trainings in your home town
where you can go home at night and have
some down time and residential where
you can be away from all home and family
responsibilities. Think about what might suit
your needs.
And then there’s India! Many people wish
to combine learning yoga with learning it in
the place of its birth. It can be even harder to
separate the poor course from the great one
when it is a culture so different from our own.
Just because a teacher training is in India
doesn’t necessarily make it more authentic or
relevant to being a teacher in the West.
I visited a famous yoga training centre
in India and was astonished to see that
the students were being trained entirely by
Westerners in their 20’s, which again might
not be a problem, unless you were expecting
to be taught by Indian yoga masters.
Teaching Westerners yoga is as big business
in India as it is in the West.
Trainings can be as quirky and original
or as bread-and-butter as the tutors
themselves, so it’s important to gain clear
information. If the information is couched in
self appointed titles, hyperbole and flowery
language, don’t feel timid to question the
organisers, if they are worth their salt they
will be happy to answer your questions.
And once on a course – know that whatever
course you have chosen, you will benefit from
it, and the experience will enrich your life.Michele Pernetta is the founder of Fierce
Grace (fiercegrace.com)kids, and is less intense. As the camaraderie
of an intensive isn’t there, ensure there is
enough personal support given for questions,
discussion and corrections.
It can be daunting to go from a teacher
training to teaching a room full of people.
Ask if there is support or further training
after the course ends.
What to be careful of:
There are many courses that offer strong
syllabuses but have less conventional
ideologies. Occasionally the studio owners/
course tutors have their own ideologies and
while those ideologies might be perfectly
wise or reasonable, they very often have
absolutely nothing to do with becoming
a yoga teacher. They can be a way for
immature teachers to exert their own
ideologies or agenda on students. They
could be about diet, discipline, spiritual
leanings or religion for example. Ensure you
are aware of them and if they are right for
you. For example, becoming vegan might be
something you aspire to, but is a teacher
training the right time for you to take this on
and does it really have any bearing on your
learning how to teach yoga?
Sometimes studios or training
leaders misrepresent who they are, or
their qualifications. They may promote
qualifications that really have no relevance
to teaching people how to teach yoga.
Check. Ask others in the industry.
Some course leaders (especially of
smaller outfits) wait until they have enough
bookings before they go ahead with the
training, often cancelling at short notice.
One woman had the same course cancelled
on her twice after she took the time off work.