Can I Teach Yoga Without Being Certified?

"Can I teach yoga without being certified?" It's a question I've been asked often. And the answer isn't quite as simple as yes or no.

"Can I teach yoga without being certified?"

It's certainly a fair question to ask, because all professions require some degree of education, certification, or training when it comes to being hired or having a chance to achieve long-lasting success in a particular field. However, when it comes to teaching yoga, the requirements of being certified vs. not being certified fall into a bit of a grey area.

So back to the question…

"Can I teach yoga without being certified?" The short answer is yes.

You can absolutely teach yoga without being certified. It is not illegal, nor is it in violation of any industry rules. However, there are several key points to consider when it comes to this multilayered topic.

The purpose of this post is to help you see all sides of the issue so that you can make the best and most informed decisions for yourself before enrolling in any training program with the intention to teach yoga.

What Yoga Alliance actually is

Yoga Alliance is a professional trade organization for yoga teachers, designed to create industry standards and norms to elevate the profession of teaching yoga.

However, contrary to popular belief, Yoga Alliance does not certify yoga teachers, nor does it provide accreditation of yoga trainers or yoga training schools. Yoga Alliance is a registration service. A registration is an "official list or directory." Registration does not mean "approved," "certified," or "accredited."

Here's a deeper look at these terms:

• Accreditation — The action of officially recognizing someone as having a particular status or being qualified to perform a particular activity.
• Certified — Officially recognized as possessing certain qualifications or meeting certain standards.
• Registered — Entered or recorded on an official list or directory.

In the cases of both RYT (registered yoga teacher) and RYS (registered yoga school), acceptance is based on paperwork and fee submission only. Registered teachers, studios, and teacher trainers receive the following primary benefits:

• Use of the Yoga Alliance logo and the RYT acronym to promote yourself
• Being listed in the national directory of instructors on the Yoga Alliance website
• Discounts on purchases with Yoga Alliance partners and vendors
• Access to a video workshop library

It is also not required to be an RYT or a "Certified" Yoga Teacher in order to obtain teaching liability insurance. Having liability coverage is not optional — it's something that all responsible and ethical yoga and fitness instructors should have.

A brief history

Yoga Alliance was started in 1997, so the idea of being a registered yoga teacher is actually a fairly new concept. Before Yoga Alliance became the "gold standard," most yoga teachers started teaching after many years of being a serious yoga student and then making the personal decision to begin teaching. The other traditional method of becoming a yoga teacher was via mentorship and apprentice programs with master yogis who would one day grant their long-time students their blessing to teach themselves.

What is a 200-hour training, exactly?

While there are several levels of training that will allow you to register with Yoga Alliance, the most common one is RYT-200.

Yoga teachers who have completed a 200-hour training from a Registered Yoga School (RYS) and who choose to register with Yoga Alliance use the acronym RYT. This stands for Registered Yoga Teacher, not Certified Yoga Teacher — because technically these teachers are not certified by Yoga Alliance, but registered with them.

When you see RYT-200 behind an instructor's name, it means that the instructor has completed a 200-hour training through a yoga teacher training program at a studio or online training that was submitted to Yoga Alliance. To gain Yoga Alliance's stamp of approval, there is an application process and appropriate fees. At the time of this writing, the initial fee to become a Registered Yoga School totals $640 (non-refundable). After that, it's $50 annually to maintain your RYS status.

Once the application and fees are approved by Yoga Alliance, the yoga studio or facility offering the training becomes a Registered Yoga School.

Therefore, anyone who completes a 200-hour teacher training from a Registered Yoga School has the option to "register" with Yoga Alliance (after successfully completing the requirements of the training) in order to use the RYT acronym. At the time of this writing, the fee for the initial application to become an RYT is $115 (non-refundable), then $50 annually, along with the hundreds if not thousands of dollars you'll pay for continuing education (CEUs).

In addition to paying annual dues, a big part of maintaining your RYT status is completing a minimum of 30 CEU hours every three years. These hours must be logged online in your Yoga Alliance dashboard, although there is currently no third-party verification system in place to confirm whether or not these CEU hours were actually completed. It's all done on the honor system — and therein lies one of several rubs.

Suffice it to say that there are many professional and experienced yoga teachers who choose not to register with Yoga Alliance. It is a very controversial organization in the yoga community. Some teachers find it very valuable; others feel that it is nothing but a glorified fee collector that does very little in the way of helping anyone advance their yoga teaching career.

While I understand and respect both points of view, I have chosen to register with Yoga Alliance for the overwhelming majority of my 12+ years of teaching. Being an RYT is often a requirement for many teaching jobs. When I was a new teacher, I felt it was important to be an RYT so that I could get my "foot in the door." As an experienced teacher, my feelings are much more complicated. While I am still currently an RYT, there may come a time in my teaching career when I choose not to be.

How long and how much?

Most 200-hour yoga teacher trainings can take anywhere between several weeks and as long as a year to complete. The average cost is anywhere from around $300 for an online-only training to $3,000+ for an in-person training. The more expensive trainings are not necessarily of better quality — all of the requirements of what should be included in a 200-hour training are already predetermined by Yoga Alliance's RYS application process.

More expensive trainings cost more because they are led by master teachers from India, western "yoga celebrities," or are held in all-inclusive paradise retreat centers where the cost of travel, spa-like accommodations, and organic vegan meals is factored in. Other more costly trainings are hosted by large corporately-owned yoga studios, where the potential to be hired for a full-time teaching job in the months after completing the training can have great appeal for those making a career transition.

What will I learn in a 200-hour training?

In terms of curriculum for a Registered Yoga School, Yoga Alliance's website states that a 200-hour teacher training should cover the following main points:

• Techniques, Training and Practice — 100 hours
• Teaching Methodology — 25 hours
• Anatomy and Physiology — 20 hours
• Yoga Philosophy, Lifestyle and Ethics — 30 hours
• Practicum — 10 hours

The remaining hours to fulfill the 200-hour requirement come from:

• Elective hours — Like a college course, trainings may offer workshops on Ayurveda, chakras, arm balances and inversions, etc.
• Contact hours — Additional training hours completed in person with a training lead or co-lead
• Non-contact hours — Additional training hours completed independently via self-study

Why consider an alternative path?

Even though being an RYT carries a degree of respect, there are still many reasons why someone would choose an alternate route to begin teaching yoga:

• To see if teaching is right for you with a minimal investment. After 12+ years of teaching, I've met many people who never taught a single class after completing their 200-hour training. Loving yoga yourself doesn't always translate into loving teaching yoga to others. This can be an expensive lesson to learn.
• You are unable to make the investment of time and/or money to complete a 200-hour training.
• You have an extensive background as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, wellness coach, or in another discipline where a traditional 200-hour training may not be absolutely necessary to add a yoga component to your offerings.
• You have no interest in teaching yoga but want to participate in a training program to learn more about yoga and/or as a route to strengthen your own personal practice.

So if you can be a yoga instructor, get insured, and teach without going the traditional route, then why go through a 200-hour training at all?

This is a personal choice. But know that if you have the time and money to complete a 200-hour training, doing so will most likely open up more doors — especially if you're considering making teaching yoga your full-time career.

Weighing the advantages and disadvantages

Disadvantages of teaching without being an RYT:

• Most top-rated yoga studios prefer to hire only RYTs. This is now also common in gyms, boutique fitness centers, and community center fitness settings. If you aren't an RYT of some kind, you may not be seriously considered for a job at many facilities.
• You may be less respected by other yoga instructors. "Where did you train?" is an inevitable question. If you don't have the "right" background, some circles may feel that you aren't a "real" yoga instructor.

Advantages of teaching without being an RYT:

Yoga is an $84 billion worldwide industry, and even with its far reach, it is still not completely oversaturated. There is still room for anyone with passion and drive to carve out their own path.

The top disadvantage is that your prospects in the traditional job market may be limited. But if you have an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong work ethic, you might consider going into business for yourself. This is especially true in today's world, where the effects of the 2020 pandemic pushed many students into virtual practice. Many of those individuals now love the convenience of not having to travel to a studio, and they appreciate being guided live rather than following an app.

There are also many people who feel left out of the mainstream yoga studio environment. Many senior citizens, BIPOC folks, and people in larger or differently-abled bodies may feel more comfortable practicing in their own safe spaces rather than feeling labeled as the "other."

Options for working for yourself

• Start your own virtual yoga studio website and offer classes within your own niche
• Teach regular classes on Zoom, Facebook Live, or Instagram Live
• Teach virtual or in-person classes as part of corporate wellness initiatives
• Market yourself as an e-book or blog writer specializing in yoga or related topics
• Start a yoga or guided meditation YouTube channel
• Teach classes only to people you know — friends, family, coworkers, neighbors — to gain experience before going wider
• Collaborate with a personal trainer and create a client referral program
• Teach donation-based classes at your child's school as a parent meet-and-greet
• Partner with a social service agency or therapist to offer mindful yoga to their clients
• Lead classes in related topics like guided meditation, yoga nidra, or general mindfulness

Remember that working for yourself is much more complicated than just teaching. You'll be responsible for everything behind the scenes as well: promotion on social media, deciding pricing, building a website, attracting and retaining clients, running email campaigns, handling customer service, processing payments, filing taxes, and bookkeeping.

Though you may decide to use outside services like an accountant or social media manager, the success — or lack of success — of your business will primarily be your responsibility. This can be an awesome thing if you're cut out for it. If the thought fills you with dread, yoga entrepreneurship may not be the right fit.

My own experience

I'm speaking on this topic based on my own experience as someone who has taught yoga, Pilates, and meditation as my full-time career for the past 12 and a half years.

Like many teachers, I spent most of those years doing the "studio shuffle" — driving all over the city and suburbs to teach multiple classes at several studios per day. But in 2020, due to the pandemic, this way of working was no longer an option. I had to move my classes to the virtual space. While I still teach a good number of in-person classes per week, the majority now happen virtually.

I teach virtual private lessons, offer yoga lifestyle education and coaching programs, and sell small items like crystal jewelry in my online store. Combined, these serve as important revenue streams for my online yoga and wellness business.

I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and I've always wanted to own my own yoga studio but was always nervous about taking the financial risk. Since starting virtual offerings in spring 2020, I've had much success — and many failures. I have learned a great deal through endless research and good old trial and error.

On the flip side of the lows, there have been many highs:

• I set my own hours.
• I set my own prices and am paid directly by my clients.
• I have 100% creative control with my class sequencing. I teach how and what I want to teach.
• Because I don't have the overhead of a traditional brick-and-mortar business, my virtual yoga offerings became profitable within the first 6 months.

What actually matters in a hiring interview

At the time of writing this post, I have 12+ years of experience teaching yoga, and I have never been asked in any teaching job interview to present my 200 or 300-hour certificate, verification that I'm an RYT, or any other credentials — except a resume outlining my previous teaching experience.

Typically, a teaching audition is also part of the interview. Sometimes 15–20 minutes is enough. Sometimes you'll teach an entire class. I've even had a teaching audition where I taught an entire class with studio members invited so the owner could get their feedback. And honestly, to me, that's what really counts. Not your certificate, the number of hours of your training, how great your Sanskrit pronunciation is, or how many letters you have behind your name.

In my experience, my expertise, professionalism, personality, and ability to teach a well-balanced, safe, and enjoyable class in the audition was always far more important than anything else. All the credentials in the world mean nothing if you teach a disjointed or unsafe class that causes injury, or if your teaching style is boring and disengaging.

What studios actually want

Being an RYT does carry a level of respectability, but studios, gyms, and places that hire yoga teachers are much more interested in whether you have:

• A strong understanding of the practice of yoga in your own body
• A clear, practical understanding of basic anatomy, body alignment, and how both pertain to yoga
• A strong understanding of how to cue and teach proper breathing for yoga
• The ability to deliver cues safely and clearly, without confusing clients
• A proper understanding of the art of sequencing, so postures link together safely
• The skill set to quickly assess and adapt to the level of your class — not showing off your own practice
• A kind heart, and personability, patience, and helpfulness (including with tech issues in virtual classes)
• An authentic personality that comes through in your teaching
• Respect for the profession — showing up, being on time, being reliable

A gentle final thought

The truth is that there are exceptions to every rule. Every studio, gym, and fitness or community center has different rules for hiring instructors. There are many people and businesses in the world who would be very willing to give a yoga instructor who is great at their craft an opportunity to lead classes, regardless of their credentials.

When you decide to enroll in any yoga teacher training program — 200-hour or otherwise — it is a personal decision and one you must feel 100% confident about. If you feel called to teach yoga, I encourage you to consider all the possibilities and avenues available to help you reach your goals.

Be empowered. Do your own research. Decide for yourself.

If you're still weighing what "teaching" even means to you, my piece on the difference between Pilates and yoga might help clarify which practice you're actually being called to guide.