Finding
a Good Yoga Teacher
Teacher
Training and Experience Questions
Yoga is very popular
these days, so finding a class for most people is usually
not an issue. However, finding the right yoga teacher
for your specific needs may be a bit of a challenge. As of
this writing, there is no national licensing or board of certification
for yoga teachers. A teacher who says he or she has a training
certificate may mean a several week or correspondence course
or years of study with a master yogi in India.
A good way to find
a teacher is to ask your friends, relatives and coworkers
for references. If that doesn't work out try the Internet,
local gyms, the Y, bulletin boards at local health food stores,
or the phone book. Teachers vary greatly in their talents,
so it may take some shopping around to find one that is right
for you.
The magazine Yoga
Journal has an online
teacher directory. There is also an extensive
list of teachers and classes at the Yoga Finder site.
Here are some questions
to ask a prospective teacher:
1. Where did they
train, and under what teachers? (If you are not familiar with
any of the schools or teacher names provided, run them through
Google or your favorite search engine).
2. Is teaching
yoga his or her full-time career?
3. What yoga organizations
does the prospective teacher belong to?
4. How long have
they been teaching and how many classes, on average do they
teach a week?
5. How many students
are in the class? I once signed up for a yoga class at the
local adult center and 50 people were in the class for one
instructor. The class was inexpensive, but with that many
students there was simply no time individual feedback with
each student. Personally, I'd rather pay more for a class
with more individualized instruction.
Another area to
be concerned with is the safety habits of the instructor.
Some complex yoga positions such as the headstand and shoulder
stand are generally not recommended for beginners. I was in
a class once where the instructor was trying to class members
to do headstands even though we told her we didn't feel ready.
She persisted, practically mocking the students who did not
want to do headstands in front of the other class members
for being overly cautious. I finished out the night but never
went back
Evidently many
other people had left the class, too, never to return, for
similar reasons, but somehow the teacher did not link her
pushing students beyond what they felt were their own safe
limits to her shrinking enrollment.
Resources:
Yoga
Classes in NYC and Long Island by Sivananda Master Yogi Grace
Welch
- Grace (Durga) offers personalized yoga - beginner, intermediate,
advanced, Cardiac Yoga(R). Manhattan & Islandia (Exit 57 LIE).
Group, Private, Corporate. Japanese Meditation Garden. Italian
language by appointment. Member: NYYTA, LIYA
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