The One Thing I Wish I’d Known Before Getting My Yoga Certification

Before you start your yoga certification journey, you probably did a lot of research about the right yoga teacher training program for you. You likely also had a lot of logistical questions about how long your yoga training would take, what you’d learn, who you’d be guiding you, whether the program was certified by Yoga Alliance, etc.

And once you found a yoga training program that could meet your needs and fulfill all your requirements, my guess is that you dove right in, learning everything you possibly could about yoga. If you’re anything like me, this is an eye-opening and transformative experience. I can honestly say that if you’d told me 25 years ago that I would be a full-time yoga professional, I would have laughed. I certainly wouldn’t have believed you.

Yoga, however, has a way of getting its hooks into you. It did for me, and if you’re currently in a yoga teacher training program, I bet you’re finding that to be the case for you as well. That’s why I want to share the one thing that I wish I’d known before getting my yoga certification. No matter where you are in your yoga journey, you’re going to want to pay attention to this piece of advice.

What to know before you get your yoga certification

My best advice to maximize your yoga teacher training is to commit to higher education in yoga right away. A 200-hour yoga teacher training program is an amazing place to start. You learn a lot of valuable foundational information that will put you on the right track to becoming an extraordinary yoga teacher.

That said, you’ll quickly find that there is so much more to learn. Every 200-hour yoga teacher training program is simply a starting point – and I firmly believe that applies to my own 200-hour online yoga teacher training program, The Kaivalya Yoga Method.

I’m sharing this with you because this is what I wish I’d known before getting my yoga teacher certification. If I had, I would have saved myself a lot of time and energy jumping from one program to the next.

Instead, I would have jumped right into a 500-hour yoga teacher training program, opting to pursue continuing education courses (like programs on astrology, tarot, the chakras, etc.) as often as possible. The sooner you commit to a life-long yoga education, the more impact you’ll be able to have throughout your yoga teaching career

But wait, why isn’t a 200-hour yoga training program enough?

Simply put, yoga is an incredibly vast, varied and comprehensive practice. It would be impossible to teach everything there is to know about yoga over the course of 200 hours. Even a 500-hour yoga teacher training program can only ever scratch the surface.

This isn’t a critique of yoga teacher training programs. After all, I have my own online programs, and I put my heart and soul into attempting to distill the ocean of yoga into several hundred hours. I still offer continuing yoga education because there’s more to learn. And because I always want to walk the talk, I also pursue my own continued education to keep growing and improving as a yoga professional.

While this may seem intimidating–like you could never understand enough about yoga to become a successful yoga teacher–knowing that there is more to learn gives you an advantage. It will help you invest in the right yoga programs and teachers, the ones that will get you where you need to go.;

OK, but I already took a 200-hour yoga training program. Now what?

If you’re a yoga teacher who has a 200-hour yoga certification, you’re on the right track! The trick is to keep going. You can start by finding a 300-hour program that will help you complete 500 total hours of yoga training. You might also pursue further yoga education or continuing education courses in topics related to yoga, such as mantras, mythology, chakras, etc.

You have a lot of great options available to you. Just as you researched your 200-hour yoga program, you’ll want to look into several programs before you find the right one to take your yoga education to the next level.

Another thing you’ll want to pursue is mentorship. Do yourself a favor and find yourself a yoga teacher who is further along in their yoga journey and can help you grow. If you’re not sure where to start, read my blog post on the topic here.

Remember not to get discouraged. Nearly every yoga teacher begins with a 200-hour certification program. If you’re serious about setting yourself apart from the crowd, commit to becoming a truly extraordinary yoga teacher with additional training.

For more information on this topic, check out my YouTube video: