Competence in yoga teaching:
C.Y.T. registration

Competent yoga teaching includes good observation of students, clarity in cueing, knowledge of pose forms, benefits and contraindications of various postures, and being a decent, trustworthy person.

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Yoga Alliance, the organization I was affiliated with for many years has failed to provide any meaningful

oversight, testing or standards for competence in yoga teaching.  I decided to forgo any more support for that organization.

 

In September 2023 I created a very simple solution: C.Y.T. registration.  A Competent Yoga Teacher is one who is able to illustrate their competence in teaching safe and effective postural yoga.  How is this accomplished?  By sending a video recording of your teaching to C.Y.T. and having that recording uploaded to a Youtube channel where any potential student or employer can view your teaching.  There is, and never will be any cost for this service, as I feel it is my responsibility to do what I can to advance the benefits yoga, taught well.

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Who decides what competence is?  To begin with, you do.  As you record your video illustrating competence in the key areas described in the first paragraph of this document, you will of course review your video before sending it to me.  If you feel your cueing is not clear, your observation not adequate, your knowledge of pose forms uncertain....then you know what needs to improve and you can go about improving those skills until you are confident that you can record another video.  When you send it to me, I will review it before uploading it to the C.Y.T. channel.  If I feel there are certain areas that need improvement, I'll tell you and ask you to re-record and improve those areas.  

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Once your video is uploaded, it will be made public for anyone interested to view.  This is yet another stage of competence determination: the potential student or employer.  The public, unschooled in determining competence in an area they are not educated in can nevertheless get a general idea of your teaching via your recording.

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My hope is that this designation will allow those of you disenchanted with Yoga Alliance or any other organization motivated by yearly registration fees an opportunity to align your values with something that just makes more sense:  an opportunity to illustrate real competency in your profession.

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If you'd like to upload a video, please make sure you record yourself teaching at least one student in a quiet environment in which both you and the student can be seen.  Include at least two standing postures, two seated postures.  Make sure your cueing is clear and well-paced, and your student appears comfortable with you and the teaching environment.