Have you always dreamed of becoming a certified yoga instructor? But time is short with so many obligations like your full-time job and taking care of your family. And then there’s the money you need to spend on the training as well as the accommodation. Well, maybe an online yoga teacher training may just be what you’re looking for.
Our world is still becoming more and more digital. So, an online yoga teacher training is most likely not just a short-term trend. Many yoga studios and teachers have been designing online yoga instructor training programs that are in no way inferior to in-person courses. Most of them include tests and exams to ensure that students are ready to actually teach a yoga class. Frankly, getting certified as a yoga teacher online has never been easier.
However, with the huge number of online services offering yoga instructor trainings including a yoga teacher certification, it’s almost impossible to find the best online yoga teacher training for your individual needs and learning style. Let us help you find the perfect fit for you.
This article covers:
1. The Benefits of an Online Yoga Teacher Training
Times are getting faster and faster. Sometimes, it seems impossible to be able to keep up with everything and to manage everything in time. Sounds familiar to you? In that case, fulfilling your dream of becoming a certified yoga instructor online may be for you. Here’s why you should consider this option.
1. Save Time and Money
One of the most obvious benefits of an online yoga teacher training is that it’s usually more affordable than an in-person training. This is because the teacher’s expenses will most certainly be lower, enabling them to pass these savings on to you.
Apart from that, you also save any additional costs like travel and accommodation expenses. Neither do you have to give up your job for several weeks or months and lose income, nor do you have to leave your family taking care of its own.
A more comfortable time management is another important factor. Offline trainings usually require full days of practice. These can either be squeezed into several weeks or spread out over a number of weekends and months. Even if you manage to align the training sessions with your job and other daily obligations, it may still be challenging to change up your routine. The flexibility an online yoga teacher training offers with some live sessions and on-demand videos that you can work through in the free time slots your schedule has is a huge advantage – especially for those who have a busy life and don’t have much time to spare.
2. Practice According to Your Pace and Schedule
Most online yoga instructor trainings are self-paced or allow at least for a certain degree of flexible timing. This allows you to learn and train at the pace that works best for your schedule and your learning style.
You can easily squeeze the individual sessions into your daily routine. You could, for example, watch the training videos from your home, while traveling, or even on the beach. Or you can listen to lectures on your way to work, while preparing dinner, or when your kids are in bed.
Usually, you can watch online yoga instructor training courses at any time, from anywhere and from any device. All you need is a solid internet connection. In some cases, you can even download the video content if you know you’ll be without internet connection when you’re on holiday, for example.
In this way, training online to become a certified yoga instructor can easily fit into your daily life and you can adjust the training sessions according to your unique learning pace and schedule.
With an online yoga teacher training you can easily learn from any device. Photograph by TINT.
3. Learn From International Yoga Stars
Choosing an online yoga teacher training course also enables you to practice with yoga teachers who would otherwise not be available to you since they live and teach on the other side of the world. Online services offer you the possibility to train with international yoga stars like Matt Giordano, Young Ho Kim or Barbra Noh without having to fly around the globe.
4. Access to Content for Review
Most online yoga teacher certification programs offer prolonged or even lifetime access to the training sessions. This is a great opportunity to go back to some videos if you realize you haven’t quite understood a specific alignment concept, but also to refresh what you’ve learned anytime throughout the course or years later. This allows you to deepen your knowledge and understanding.
If you’ve already taken an in-person training (of any kind), you may know the feeling that you wanted to review the interesting lectures and engaging discussions since you hadn’t been able to take notes of everything. Or you weren’t quite able to concentrate on what the teacher said in front of you and wish you could go back in time to listen closely once more. Learning to become a yoga teacher with an online yoga teacher training will solve issues like those by enabling to rewatch videos anytime.
In an online yoga teacher training that includes live sessions when you meet the teacher trainers online, the sessions are usually recorded, and also other learning materials like workbooks are provided online. You can find everything neatly organized at one spot instead of having piles of papers and notes flying around. You can also rewatch, fast-forward, or rewind the videos.
5. Connect With Students From All Over the World
Yes, if you’re doing an offline course, you will certainly have a great sense of community among the students. You get to know so many people with different backgrounds and different stories, but you all share time and space, the same goal, and you experience similar things. You may laugh, cry, and sweat together.
However, just because you’re attending a yoga teacher training online doesn’t mean you won’t connect to others and feel a sense of community. A profound online yoga instructor training course will provide regular calls, live attendance, or even a private group on a social media platform to share thoughts, feelings, and photos of your yoga practice. This will help you connect with your fellow students.
What is more, you may even get to know students from China, California, or France – without leaving your home country or even your house. In this way, you may make friends all over the world and find yoga buddies that you may want to visit on your next vacation.
2. The Downsides of an Online Yoga Teacher Training
While it’s nice to get a yoga certification online as it’s much easier than going to a yoga studio several days per week or months, there may be also few things you might be missing if you take an online yoga training course.
1. No Face-to-Face Interaction
For many people, in-person contact and 1:1 interaction with the teachers and fellow students is an important part of a yoga teacher training. They long for the lasting bonds created during extensive training programs. This is because you usually meet like-minded people that may become friends for life.
However, when you do your yoga teacher certification online, you don’t have this in-person experience and may feel you’re missing out on valuable friendships. Chatting in an online forum and via video calls isn’t quite the same kind of connection. You won’t be able to hold each other’s hands, wipe away each other’s sweat and tears, or swing your arms around each other after having passed your final exam. If this is something that you, then online might not be the best option for you.
2. Self-Motivation
Something you also need to consider is whether you’re generally able to motivate yourself on your own and stick to your own schedule. While for some people, a self-paced training course can have many benefits, it may not be the best option for those who need hard deadlines, continuous in-person check-ins, and due dates to be able to stay on track.
While the flexibility offered by an online training helps you to continue managing all your other tasks, it may be the exact reason why you find it more difficult to stay committed. Being able to do other things on the side may distract you and prevent you from focusing on your yoga teacher certification altogether.
Ask yourself whether you’re able to keep working when nobody is checking in on you and supporting you the entire time. In an offline yoga teacher training, you’re motivated by those around you and your teachers. The dedication within the group will inspire and encourage you to learn. Losing commitment when you’re surrounded by highly motivated fellow students is much less likely than when you’re all by yourself. In the worst case, you’re even surrounded by people who may – intentionally or unintentionally – hinder you and prevent your progress.
An online yoga teacher training cannot provide hands-on adjustments. Photography by TINT Yoga.
3. No In-Person Adjustments
Especially in yoga, one of the best ways to understand specific concepts is through hands-on adjustments and corrections. Although you still have the opportunity to practice yoga in an online yoga teacher training, certain learners benefit more from an in-person approach to teaching and learning.
When doing your instructor training online, it is a lot harder for teacher trainers to check and verify the quality of your yoga practice. In many cases, when you practice yoga online, there’s nobody giving direct instructions specifically aimed at you. In an offline setting, you are surrounded by other aspiring soon-to-be yoga teachers. You’re able to watch and observe others and adjust yourself accordingly and increase your knowledge.
Although you may be able to understand what you see and hear in online videos, you sometimes simply need somebody who gives you clear guidance and adjustments. When you practice yoga poses on your own, you may have the impression you’re doing it properly while in an in-person yoga teacher training, you might be adjusted by someone else in order to be correctly aligned.
Also, seeing your fellow yogis being adjusted is just as useful as it helps you to understand how the pose should be performed correctly. Understanding proper alignment in your own body is the key to being able to offer valuable adjustments to your future students.
3. Nine Tips to Find the Best Online Yoga Teacher Training
1. Who Are the Teachers?
Can you still remember your teachers from school? If you’re like most people, you probably still have a clear picture of your favorite teachers and the ones you really disliked. Wondering why? Because they shaped you and your experience. With their expertise and empathy (or lack thereof), they accompanied you during a significant time in your life. The same goes for your yoga teacher(s) during your yoga instructor training. They help to turn you into the yoga teacher you’re going to be. So choose them wisely.
Before signing up for an online yoga teacher training, make sure you know exactly who your teachers are. Do you trust their expertise and knowledge? Does their teaching resonate with you? Does their philosophy and approach to yoga speak to you? Make sure you get as much information about them before choosing an online yoga instructor certification program.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to them and ask them (or their team) any questions that you have. Maybe you even have the opportunity to attend one or more of their classes to see whether you feel safe under their guidance and whether you enjoy their class. We actually recommend you to do that.
TINT Academy, for example, provides extensive teacher trainings with Young Ho Kim, Barbra Noh or John Friend. And all of them have separate classes on TINT that are included in the membership.
Another important factor to keep in mind is the style of yoga they’re teaching and that you’re going to learn. From Inside Yoga, to Anusara, Inside Flow or Yin yoga, there’s a huge variety of yoga styles out there. Make sure you choose a yoga teacher training that is in line with what you want to learn and with what you want to teach.
2. Are You Allowed to Teach Afterwards?
You should also familiarize yourself with the value the online yoga teacher certification offers. Is it an advanced training that provides further education, requiring you to have completed a basic yoga teacher training? This is often the case when you attend a yoga teacher training for a specific yoga style such as Inside Flow. In that case, you need to have a general yoga instructor certification allowing you to teach yoga in general – or at least it is advised to have done a basic training so you don’t struggle too much with advanced teaching methods.
Also, make sure that this yoga-style specific teacher training gives you permission to actually teach the yoga style after having completed the training course. Some online yoga teacher trainings out there are actually only extensive workshops that provide you with the knowledge of the relevant yoga style but do not make you a teacher of the style.
The Inside Flow Fundamentals Teacher Training enables you to teach Inside Flow after its completion.
3. Is There Any Interaction?
Although modern technology allows making online yoga sessions just as interactive and fun as in-person yoga teacher trainings, this doesn’t mean the training provider makes use of this possibility. Some online instructor training courses out there are just a carelessly compiled collection of pre-recorded videos. This makes the whole experience boring, cold, and impersonal.
On the other hand, although pre-recorded sessions are less interactive, they tend to have a higher quality and allow you to watch and learn at your own pace as you can pause, replay, rewind, and fast-forward them.
Also, taking an online training course can be very lonely as you’re all by yourself. The support of an engaged community will help you tremendously to stay motivated and complete your online yoga teacher training. This is why you should check whether your online yoga academy offers ways to connect to and interact with your classmates. You also want to find out whether they provide support outside the classroom. This can be in the form of a learning forum or a community group on a social media platform.
Definitely be suspicious if you get no answer when reaching out to their support team – or if you can’t find any contact person at all.
Apart from that, you should always be aware that, no matter how ambitious and good the intentions behind an online yoga teacher training course are, the reality of live technology can always cause challenges to the plans. Low sound quality and delays in video transmission due to the internet connectivity can always lead to unforeseeable issues and make group interaction more difficult. Also, if the class size is too big, the teacher will hardly be able to see and interact with each student.
Note that learning to become a yoga teacher – online or not – requires extensive feedback, support, and guidance. Make sure that your chosen online yoga school has feedback mechanisms to support you.
We at TINT Yoga do our best to provide you with the warmest customer experience possible. Most of our TINT Academy courses are hybrid programs, meaning they are a mixture of pre-recorded videos and live sessions to a set time and date (which will also be made available as replays). Some of the teacher trainings also provide an exclusive community group for the participants. That way, every participant can interact with each other – plus the Support Team is also always there to give answers to your questions and to motivate you. Additionally, you can always reach out to our Support Team via email, too – we are always happy to assist you on your yoga journey.
One of these programs is our 200-Hour Inside Yoga Online Teacher Training with on-demand video content, live online sessions and student interaction in the online community group. With this hybrid model, we aim to provide you with the best of both worlds. Every year, it takes place twice for approximately 4 months: from January to April, and from July to October. Once registered, you will have lifetime access to the on-demand training materials including any updates. Check the details on our product page.
Ready for an online 200-hour Inside Yoga teacher training? TINT makes it possible.
4. Do You Get Learning Materials?
You should also carefully check what’s included in the online teacher training package. Check whether you have to spend additional money on workbooks and learning material, exams, and certifications.
A sound online training course includes learning materials such as a workbook, guidance questions, and the possibility to ask questions.
Some online yoga instructor trainings charge extra for that or don’t provide any learning materials at all. This may be the “price” you pay for getting an extraordinarily cheap training course. So, always make sure to find out what’s included and at what value.
Our TINT Academy programs, for example, all include extensive workbooks and are accompanied by guidance questions, a final exam, and a certificate at the end.
An extensive workbook supports your learning progress in our German Inside Flow Grundausbildung.
5. How Much Does It Cost?
The prices for online yoga teacher trainings range from as little as a few hundred to a few thousand US-Dollars. Our advice here is to be aware of too low prices. While it’s certainly attractive to find a bargain, don’t forget that good quality has its price. Lower prices may reflect less support, lower quality, less experienced teachers, or the lack of a profound certification. Sure, this doesn’t always have to be the case, but it’s important to remember that an online yoga teacher training is always an investment in yourself, your career, and professional development. What is it worth to you?
6. Is It Registered With Yoga Alliance or Otherwise Authorized?
Yoga Alliance® is one of the most recognized entities in the world that provide online yoga teacher certifications. However, note that it’s a private, non-profit entity and that it’s optional for yoga teachers to join.
Yoga Alliance® has no connection whatsoever to any local, state, or federal governmental body. So, being registered with them is not required to be allowed to teach yoga. Nor is it required in order to get insurance or be legally protected while teaching yoga. In addition, registering with them comes at quite a cost.
However, most yoga studios don’t hire a yoga teacher because they’re a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). A trustworthy yoga studio selects their teachers because of their amazing skills, experience, professionalism, and their ability to guide, motivate, and inspire their students.
To decide whether a yoga-alliance certified yoga teacher training is a must for you, we recommend you do your own comprehensive research. In the end, it comes down to your personal choice (and the size of your wallet).
7. Is There an Exam in the End?
Completing a teacher training without having to do an exam in the end sounds too good to be true. While this may seem attractive – especially when time is short and you fear exams – remember that an exam is always a form of quality assessment.
Imagine your teachers didn’t have to provide any proof of their knowledge and teaching skills. Would you feel safe being instructed and guided by them? Certainly not. The same is true for your own online yoga teacher certification – you need to earn it.
Also check whether the costs of the exam and certificate are included in the tuition fee. Otherwise, you may end up paying way more than you expected.
This is something you don’t need to worry about if you decide to learn and train with TINT Academy. We reward your efforts. All completed online exams are accompanied by an individual feedback and a personalized certificate just for you. Show others what you achieved. And one thing is for sure: The exams aren’t easy-peasy – it is indeed possible to fail. But every failure is an opportunity to grow, right? With the feedback, the students receives, they know what they need to improve to go out into the world and teach. Meaning, the TINT Academy certificates stand for themselves.
Complete Barbra Noh’s The Art of Teaching with a final exam.
8. What Do Testimonials Tell You?
Is there any better way to find out whether an online yoga teacher training is good than recommendations from former students? Word of mouth may be one of the most reliable indicators of quality. Check whether your targeted online yoga school has any testimonials or reviews from past course participants. If their website doesn’t offer any, it’s certainly not a sign of modesty.
Also, feel free to reach out to past students to find out about their experience. They will most likely be more than happy to give you some insights that the school’s sales page doesn’t provide.
9. What’s Your Own Gut Feeling?
This last tip may sound so simple but should certainly not be neglected. In most cases, you know best what’s good for you. You know what you want and what you don’t want. Trust your intuition and your gut feeling. It tells you whether an online yoga teacher training is right for you or not.
4. Conclusion: Is an Online Yoga Teacher Training Worth It?
This question can hardly be answered with a general ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Instead, the answer depends on individual preferences, circumstances, and needs – and every individual training program.
For some people, an online yoga teacher training may be the only possible way to become a certified yoga instructor. Others may simply want to get certified online because it’s more convenient, less time-consuming, and less expensive.
On the other hand, some aspiring yogis don’t find an online yoga teacher training appealing at all. They rather prefer in-person contact, face-to-face interaction, and the sense of community that can only be provided by an actual yoga school. There are also students who need a more hands-on approach to have a good learning experience. They would therefore benefit more from an in-person yoga teacher training.
As with any important decision, carefully assess the different options you have. Weigh the benefits against the disadvantages and decide what kind of learner you are. Compare different online yoga certification programs as regards their learning approach, focus, and teachers. Not to forget duration, cost, and location, although this should be secondary. Take your time to arrive at an informed decision that feels right for you.
Don’t let people confuse you who tell you that online yoga teacher certifications are less valuable. We at TINT Yoga are here to change that and to provide you with the best online learning experience possible. Check out our TINT Academy programs such as the Inside Flow Fundamentals Teacher Training, the Inside Flow Academy Plus, the 200-Hour Inside Yoga Teacher Training and The Art of Teaching.
Check out our different TINT Academy courses to get online yoga teacher certifications.
We and our TINT Instructors have been putting all our efforts in these online yoga teacher trainings to ensure you get high-quality education. We’d be more than happy to welcome you on board and accompany you on your journey to make the most of your yoga teacher career.
Header picture by TINT Yoga.
