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In many parts of the world Yoga certification is a new phenomenon.  In the past, Yoga teachers had very small groups of loyal students and Yoga was not a mainstream activity.

As Yoga has become more popular the need for certification has become clear.  Yoga teachers should be certified for their own protection.  With liability law suits being so popular these days, it would be prudent to have a Yoga teacher’s diploma on your wall.  While Yoga is not considered to be as dangerous as some of the other activities in health clubs, some Yoga classes can be surprisingly vigorous, to say the least.

The popularity of Yoga has some new students jumping off the couch and heading straight into the nearest Yoga class. They may be there from a doctor’s referal or workplace incentive.  A certified Yoga teacher would be able to assess health conditions, ailments, history, fitness level, or if a Yoga student is pregnant.

Yoga certification makes acquiring liability insurance much easier. Depending upon the activities within a studio, the liability insurance policy chosen could be for Yoga only or a sports liability policy similar to what a health club would carry. While Yoga is a relatively safe pursuit, it’s all about liability and you shouldn’t leave yourself uninsured.

For these and other reasons, there have been some recent changes within the certifying bodies who train Yoga teachers. Yoga teaching credentials are a relatively new concept.  As a result, many “seasoned” Yoga teachers have suddenly found themselves in need of credentials. In such cases, they should contact a certifying body to inquire about recognition or credit for past experience.

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The current minimum international Yoga teacher training standard for Level 1 is 200 hours. Typically, Yoga certification can be acquired with ‘on-site’ training or by ‘home study’ through correspondence or online courses. On-site training can be expensive, require travel and time away from work. Home-study courses allow much greater flexibility and time for study and allows for practice locally.

Yoga teachers seeking on-site certification should avoid so called ‘weekend certification’ courses. They are often used to teach Yoga as an exercise program by learning a dozen or two dozen asanas, and not much beyond this. Typically they learn a few postures and breathing techniques, but are left knowing a little more than the average Yoga student. The fact is, Yoga is much more than an exercise program. As a result, many of the quickly certified Yoga teachers soon realize they need to be re-certified to learn about contraindications, modifications, working with special populations (seniors, pre-natal, etc.), Yoga methodology, and a multitude of other Yoga subjects.

Some would say Yoga is the most complete health maintenance system known to mankind, with a lineage of thousands of years. Whole health needs to be addressed by much more than an exercise program. This type of knowledge simply cannot be absorbed in one weekend. Given that 200 hours of study has become the international standard for level 1, choosing a course which offers a complete Yoga certification course is very important.

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