Which Yoga Certification is Required To Teach In the US?

Have you recently completed basic yoga teacher training? Trying to start your yoga teaching career? There are a few things that you must keep in mind before beginning.

For example, are there any certifications or registrations required for teaching yoga in your state? What if you want to teach yoga in Illinois?

If you’re not aware of the process, keep on reading. We’ll tell you exactly what yoga certifications and yoga insurance you’ll need to start your career as a yoga teacher.

What Certification is Required for Teaching Yoga? Is Yoga Regulated in Illinois?

Teaching yoga is an open profession. In simple words, it means you can start teaching yoga without any education or experience in the field. However, the quality of your yoga classes will be significantly inferior compared to those that get prior education.

To make sure every yoga teacher is following quality standards, organizations have emerged throughout the world to regulate yoga in terms of safety and ethics. There are currently several international organizations such as the International Yoga Federation, or the Yoga Alliance in the USA. Other organizations also exist such as the Dutch Yoga Alliance and Yoga Alliance UK.

To be able to become a respected yoga instructor in the USA, you’ll have to be registered with the Yoga Alliance USA.

What is the Difference Between Yoga Alliance USA and other Yoga Alliances?

Yoga Alliance USA is one of the biggest and most well-known Yoga organizations around the world. Most of the smaller and local organizations are actually registered with the Yoga Alliance USA or at least accept certificates accredited by the organization.

Most local alliances also maintain the same standards put forward by Yoga Alliance USA, but there are some local organizations that follow a different set of standards. For example, certain alliances may require educational requirements before you become a member of them. 

Some yoga alliances have a criterion of at least 200 hours of yoga teacher training, while others may require you to have at least 500 hours. It depends all on the standards the organization follows.

To teach yoga in New Jersy with full credibility, you must acquire yoga certification from a Registered Yoga School (RYS) such as Wild and Abundant Life in Wheaton, NJ.

How Do You Tell if a School Is Registered with Yoga Alliance USA?

Yoga Alliance USA has a criterion for registered yoga teachers as well as a set of requirements for quality of the yoga teacher training. A yoga school must be registered directly with the alliance’s directory. If they meet the requirements, you can easily look them up at the Yoga Alliance USA website.

Do You Have To Register Yourself as a Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance USA?

You do not necessarily have to be registered with Yoga Alliance, but being a registered yoga teacher means that you will appear trustworthy, reliable, and professional to your students.

If the yoga teacher training school is already registered with Yoga Alliance USA, the certificate you will get will already have the registration logos. So basically, you will not have to register individually.

Should You Opt for Yoga Insurance?

As a yoga teacher, you will probably work as an entrepreneur or a freelancer, so it is important to protect yourself. For your best interest, you may want to opt for either a general liability insurance plan or a yoga liability insurance plan.

Some of the Yoga alliances also offer the option of joining collective liability insurance which is another great reason for you to become a member of an alliance.

Tips to Further Your Career as a Yoga Instructor

Apart from the quality controls and the amount of training to start with, make sure to look at the content of the yoga teacher training program. See which topics are covered and how much time is spent on teaching those skills. Also consider looking into what yoga techniques, yoga styles, ethics, and philosophy is being offered through the training course.

Wild and Abundant offers world-class yoga teacher training programs including 200, 300, and 500-hour RYT certified yoga teacher training programs. We are a registered yoga school with Yoga Alliance USA which means as soon as you receive your certification from us, you automatically become a member of the alliance.

We teach yoga in our state of the art yoga studio as well as through the internet with specially developed yoga audio and visual content.