:: September/October 2003 Volume 2/Number 5

The Dawn of a New Yoga Teacher

By Ryan Allen

According to the Yoga Alliance Registry, there are 6,500 Registered Yoga Teachers in the U.S., with approximately 300 new teachers signing up each month. The numbers doubled last year and are predicted to swell by twice that in 2004. Not all choose to register and it is estimated that there are as many as 100,000 yoga teachers in this country. Who are these people stepping onto the path and what will they find there?

Pictured here is Adam Schell, a new yoga teacher in the Anusara style.
He is also a novelist, chef and staff writer for LA YOGA.
Photo by: www.californiaimage.com

I just love to teach," muses Caleb Asch. "Maybe the one gift I have is that I've always been at home in my body." Prior to yoga, his background was in martial arts and included teaching. After taking Bryan Kest's yoga teacher training program, Asch immediately began subbing and took up teaching fulltime when his 'day job' closed down. He was teaching 17 classes a week, with an additional five to six privates, and making about $60,000/year in cash (his classes were offered on a donation-only basis).

This went on for almost two years, but gradually he began to feel he was not providing enough time and security for his family, which included two small children. Asch also found that relying solely on his income as a yoga teacher proved possible, but at the expense of the joy that initially led him to teach and the peace of mind that came with it. When he was offered a job (one that included health benefits) with the business with which he was previously affiliated, he took it. Now, Asch is able to maintain a presence with his family and still teach four classes/week in the evenings.

For most, teaching yoga may provide a sense of happiness and contentment but it has not proven to be a road to riches or to a bulging bank account. However, events such as Bikram Choudhury's franchising of his yoga system and Yoga Works' sale and subsequent acquisition of additional yoga studios in Southern California have stirred up both speculation and opportunity. As the number of yoga studios increases, so does the need for yoga teachers. And as other areas such as healthcare, fitness, corporate and tourism continue to open up to yoga, the growing demand for yoga teachers in both the public and private sectors may help shape it into a viable career with adequate compensation. But those who rush into teaching with notions of instantaneous grandeur usually hit a wall called reality. The perseverance and commitment required to make a career out of teaching yoga will most likely have to stem from some thing deeper than the need to line one's pockets. Lisa Walford, Co-Director of Yoga Works' teacher training program, was once asked "Why do you want to be a teacher?" When the answer, "I have to," flowed from her mouth, she realized that it was no longer a mere matter of something she wanted to do. "When it comes from that internal necessity, it's a part of your dharma."

For many people, the first step in the process of becoming a teacher is to take a yoga teacher training course. A number of students sign up for the courses with a desire to deepen their own practice rather than an intention to teach, and others are already teaching but wish to add to their experience. Walford estimates that only one-fourth of the students who take Yoga Work's 8-week basic teacher training program go on to make it a profession. "It is a fantasy to think one can become a teacher in eight weeks."

Often a minimum of two years is needed to complete a basic teacher training and the additional requirements for certification with either a yoga studio's program, Yoga Alliance (YA) or in a specific style, such as Anusara or Iyengar. With many studios certification is not a mandatory prerequisite for being hired to teach, but a minimum level of experience is required and certification has thus far proven to be the most obvious way to account for it. "Integrity is of paramount importance to us in the hiring process," says Gina Caputo, part owner and General Manager of Sacred Movement Yoga in Venice. "From the 'yoga as a business' perspective, the ideal candidate would have invested equal energy in learning and practicing asana and the other limbs of yoga, have been trained by teachers who had done the same, and who has earned a loyal student base with potential to grow."

Although it's never listed on the mission statement, yoga teacher training programs have become a real moneymaker for studios. Students pay as much as $5,000 per program, and over time most take more than one course. Traditionally, those wanting to study yoga had to apply to schools. If accepted, they could study for the rest of their life but could not teach unless appointed to be a teacher. These days, all that's basically required for acceptance is an application and a fee. Teacher training programs come in all shapes and sizes. A frequent scenario includes a 6- to 8-week intensive basic training that introduces teachers-to-be to the family tree of yoga, with emphasis on the asana limb. (Typically, the review and practice of postures and safe instruction make up roughly 70% of the curriculum.) There are also shorter intensive programs that might take place over a time span of one to two weeks, as well as those that are spread out over six months.

Finding a suitable program depends on the seeker and chances are that their practice will put them in contact with different styles and schools. If not, a quick call to YA can get a list of registered teacher training programs in the area. Not all schools are registered, but it's a good place to start and can help avoid programs that promise to certify after merely one weekend or completion of an on-line course without assurance that graduates at the very least know how to teach postures safely. Within the yoga community, some accuse YA of trying to regulate a practice that is ultimately about freedom and are not happy with an organizing body telling them what is and is not a good teacher. But, ironically, most of the efforts of YA are aimed at keeping outside forces from getting involved, since the reality of the political and economic environment here in the West means that if no one steps in, the government will.

It seems inevitable that in this country - with its love for brand names, labels and pedigrees - that the trend will be towards formalization. "You can't legislate the heart of yoga. The purpose of Yoga Alliance is to acknowledge people who have a minimum education in yoga and allow the community to self regulate," says YA President Hansa Knox. "HMOs, insurance companies, colleges hiring yoga teachers are asking, 'How do we know we've got a good teacher?' These types of organizations come to Yoga Alliance and use our criteria to determine the experience of yoga teachers. It's not required, but it is becoming more and more common."
But Mas Vidal, owner and director of Dancing Shiva Yoga & Ayurveda Healing Center in West Hollywood, thinks YA should change its name to "Asana Yoga Alliance" and that most teacher training programs should be called "asana teacher training programs." He asks, "How can you license someone to teach spirituality?"

Vidal also advises, "Don't confuse an asana teacher with a yoga teacher. And let's not confuse yoga - a very ancient science of great, great consciousness coming from enlightened souls, with a practice of exercise, of postures." His own program is titled "Yoga and Ayurveda," a very small part of which deals with asana. "Maybe 10%. The rest of it is teaching yoga as a whole science - pranayama, mantra, meditation, yamas, niyamas." Vidal appears genuinely more concerned about his applicants' intentions than the numbers that sign up. Presently, he limits his program to seven students and turns away those who he doesn't believe are ready. "You can't just jump right into it. They need to have arrived at a place where they're seeking something beyond asana."

Ganga White

Ganga White, who founded the Center for Yoga in L.A. (which held its first teacher training - one of the first in the U.S. - in 1968) and later the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, reveals that, "Yoga teachers were mostly gurus until the last century. It was part of a spiritual and religious context. Swami Shivananda was instrumental in opening Yoga to a broad audience and moving it beyond the ashrams to the public. Krishnamacharya did something similar. It wasn't technically a profession until last century. It was more part of a spiritual path."

Ultimately, yoga is designed to take practitioners to a level of being beyond their minds. Therefore, it should come with little surprise that efforts to define it with a tidy Western mindset have proven repeatedly elusive. Mark Whitwell, who has been teaching for 30 years, feels that much of the information taught at the teacher training pro-grams is arbitrary. His training links him to Krishnamacharya, who was the teacher of B.K.S. Iyengar and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois amongst others, and his son Desikachar.

"Desikachar said to hold the teacher at arm's length until you are certain you can trust him," says Whitwell. Although the basis for this trust might be subject to discretion, the qualifications for teaching are not. He sites three, "First, in order to be a good teacher, you must have a good teacher; second, you must have a personal practice; and third, you have to care about people and have respect for the individual."

Kelly Wood took Golden Bridge's teacher training program with the intention of starting up her own studio, Karuna Yoga, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. For over six years, Wood previously worked in a corporate environment. It was this experience that inspired her to change her career, while at the same time gave her confidence that she could make it happen.

Now, Wood gets confirmations every day that she made the right choice regarding her career change and the opening of Karuna Yoga. The numbers are growing and she hopes to expand. Regarding the increase in yoga studios, Wood feels no competition even though there are four studios nearby. "There are so many people in Los Angeles waking up to a practice that there's plenty of opportunity for all. The yoga community has a chance for a new way to build a business."
In addition to those mentioned in the article, the writer wishes to thank Rama Berch, Lisa Haase, Sada Sat Kaur, Judith Lasater, Romy Phillips and Lamar Rutherford.

Ryan Allen is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor.