What is Yoga Alliance? | Skill development or certification.

What is Yoga Alliance?

Skill development or certification.

 

Have you ever wondered what Yoga Alliance is all about?

 

Is Yoga Alliance pushing us towards skills development or is it all about certification? Let’s find out who Yoga Alliance is. Stick with us to find out. Yoga has deep roots in Indian culture, with a strong focus on inner development and mental growth. But as yoga’s popularity has spread around the world, the traditional concept of the art has been widely commercialized.

One of the most important things to come out of this is the Yogaalliance, which has set standards for teaching and issuing certificates in yoga. It’s had a big impact on the field. In this article, we’re going to look at the criticisms of the Yoga Alliance system and the importance of actual skill training in yoga coaching, compared to receiving certifications.

 

What is Yoga Alliance?

Is Yoga Alliance standardizing or monopolizing?

 

Yoga Alliance was set up with the goal of creating standards for teaching yoga, improving the quality of instructors’ work, and increasing their knowledge and skills. The organization has been able to carry out activities in this direction. This organization is now one of the most important certification authorities in the field of yoga, having defined documents such as RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) and RYS (Registered Yoga School). A lot of trainers and educational institutions are looking to get accredited by Yoga Alliance, so they can offer their students YogaAlliance certificates.

 

But in practice, this standardization has somehow turned into a monopoly. With the requirement to pay annual fees and renew the certificates, it’s become more of a commercial system for issuing certificates than a way of developing and cultivating the skills and knowledge of trainers.

 

This issue has led many people to view Yoga Alliance solely as a certification authority, rather than as a means of deepening their skills and knowledge. Consequently, the organization can be seen as a monopoly, where the primary objective is to gain professional status and credibility through qualifications, rather than to develop lasting expertise in the field of yoga. This is fundamentally at odds with the essence and philosophy of yoga.

It’s pretty clear that our advice to yoga coaches is to focus on developing real skills and in-depth knowledge in this field. Yoga is not just a sport; it’s a set of mental, psychological and physical principles that require deep understanding and extensive study.

It’s also important for yoga instructors to understand that skills like understanding body anatomy, yoga philosophy, breathing exercises and meditation take years of practice and experience to master. It’s worth noting that certifications should be seen as a way to demonstrate a basic level of instructor knowledge and abilities, rather than as an absolute measure of skill and experience.

A trained and expert trainer is someone who goes the extra mile to develop their skills further. This is done through study, knowledge enhancement, practical experience and continuous training. So, if your reason for taking part in different workshops is to get a Yoga Alliance certificate, you won’t necessarily be seen as an expert or skilled worker.

 

In addition to accepting reviews, we are preparing the necessary conditions for obtaining certification from YogaAlliance.

 

What is Yoga Alliance?

Despite these criticisms, we have included conditions in our collection to make it easier for yoga teachers and schools to obtain valid Yoga Alliance certificates. These documents can play a positive role in gaining the initial trust of students and the formal introduction of instructors. But we believe that before people simply look for certification, they need to know that certification is only one of the tools and, more importantly, the real value that can be gained through proper training and strengthening of coaching skills.

Particularly if your ultimate goal is to teach yoga to children, you will need to have attended specialized training courses for children, as well as having experience of practicing and teaching yoga to adults and being aware of the differences from adult yoga. For more information on teaching children’s yoga, see How to become a children’s yoga teacher.

 

Finally, it should be emphasized that a degree in itself does not guarantee in-depth knowledge and skill in yoga. Focusing on learning and mastery is the path that leads to real progress and transformation in this area, and this is the main purpose of yoga and its true spirit.

Another key objective of our collection is to provide training for interested and concerned trainers. Following the successful completion of numerous courses, we recruit trainers to teach in our classes. Further details can be found in the “The Best Children’s Yoga Instructor” and “Kids and Teens Yoga Instructor Club” sections.

 

Let’s conclude: despite the criticism and popularity of these organizations, what should we do?

 

In today’s modern world, where degrees and certifications have become marketable values, it is imperative that yoga instructors understand the difference between certification and mastery. Yoga Alliance can be a useful tool for gaining credibility, but the most important thing is that people continue to develop real skills and gain lasting knowledge and experience.

 

Therefore, our advice to yoga teachers and enthusiasts is to pursue the path of learning and practice with commitment and enthusiasm, and to understand the true meaning of yoga, rather than focusing only on qualifications.

Ghazale Adampour (viveka)

 

 

We recommend the following resources for educators and those who are interested in this topic ( What is Yoga Alliance? )

 

We encourage you to get to know more authentic styles of yoga. Attending authentic courses under the supervision of authentic centres and standard trainings of any style has a much higher educational value than many institutions that may not have a specific educational structure and whose only credit is the Yoga Alliance certificate.

 

For a deeper understanding of yoga, we recommend the Rah e Yoga Book. In addition, the Sun Salutation training course discussed the introduction and differences of yoga styles at the beginning of the session. The seminar held in the autumn of 2024 under the supervision of the Sarzamin Institute also discussed the role of yoga in human life and the differences and origins of different styles of yoga.

 

Training courses that are related to this topic:

If our students have attended the Australian Rainbow Children Yoga teacher training Course under the guidance of Ghazaleh Adampour. This course is valid in itself, and many of our teachers teach yoga to children and teenagers in prestigious centres in Iran and abroad, along with a Rainbow certificate (without the need to register with Yoga Alliance).

We can also provide applicants with an International Yoga Alliance certificate for courses over 50 hours.